This trip was a spur of the moment decision that happened on a phone call. My friend Soph and I were on the phone, and she asked me what she should do because she was going to lose her status for Alaska Airlines. I told her to go to Alaska, and that my husband and I would go with her. Thus, my Alaska vacation was born. Soph planned the first part of the trip, and my husband planned the second part.

My husband and I got an amazing flight deal. From Atlanta to Fairbanks, we paid $245 roundtrip. We landed at Fairbanks and were greeted by scary swarms of enormous mosquitos. It was honestly terrifying. To get around we rented a car from Turo. It was hella expensive ($280), but it was the only way to get a car as all the traditional rentals were sold out.

One thing to note about summer Alaska: the sun never goes down, which is similar to the experience we had in Iceland. Once we got our rental, we drove to the Northern Sky Lodge. Though I thought the lodge and the people running the lodge were nice, I found we drove from the Lodge to Fairbanks quite frequently, and if I were to do the trip again, I probably would have just stayed in Fairbanks.

We had our first dinner in Alaska at the Pump House. My husband and I got the same reindeer dish while Soph got Alaskan King crab. I generally enjoy going out to different restaurants, but Alaska was tough. Not only is it expensive, but it also needs a modified food scale because most of the food I had did not taste great. Below is my Alaskan food scale:

  1. Inedible
  2. Barely Edible
  3. Edible
  4. Highly Edible
  5. Good

Nothing for me in Alaska got higher than a 5 on my scale. The Pump house food got a four on my scale as highly edible.

There’s not much to do in Fairbanks, but we made the most of the little town. We enjoyed getting crepes at The Crepery (5 good). Soph and I also went shopping at Big Ray’s and we bought matching hats, and I bought a cute stuffed Polar Bear that we named baby bear.

After Fairbanks we headed to the train station and took the train to Denali. The woman recommended checking the bags for free, which we did, but if I could do it again, I would keep the bags on me. It was a four-hour train journey. We sat in adventure class, which is the cheapest fare they have. The food on the train can run out, so I suggest going to the bistro car early if you start to feel hungry.

Once we got to the train station, we were picked up by our resort shuttle. We stayed at a local resort, but I would not recommend it. We saw other properties and I would recommend Denali Dome Homes or Denali Cabins. Our cabin area had no food options, no free Wi-Fi ($35 cost for 2 days), the cabin smelled like gas, they charged $25 for the shuttle to take you 7 miles, the beds were old and creaky, and the room was quite cold.

Because we did not want to pay $50 to go to dinner with the shuttle fees, my husband and I walked two miles to the restaurant Prey (3 edible). As we were walking, we got caught in the unpredictable Denali weather where it started pouring! We ended up getting to the restaurant and walked back, but it just shows how tough Denali is without transportation.

The next day we had an ATV excursion with Black Diamond. They picked us up and drove us to the property. We then rode ATVs and had a multi course meal (4 highly edible). We were speaking to our driver about how to get in the park and we were not too keen on taking the long bus tours. This is what most people do to see wildlife, but we were not prepared to sit on a bus with a bunch of other people. Our driver suggested we call Terry at Denali Dome Home as he rents out cars under the name Keys to Denali. He ended up having a Ford Explorer for us to rent. Our Black Diamond driver was nice enough to take us to the Denali Dome Home and we ended up getting the car which completely transformed our Denali experience.

My husband and I went to 49th State Brewing for dinner. Though I enjoyed the atmosphere and I highly recommend it for having a good time and meeting people, the food was a 3 edible.

My husband and I then went on a drive through the Denali National Park where we spotted a moose eating close to the road. We then went back to the cabin to sleep. The next day the three of us went rafting for four hours. The company we went with was called adventure rafting. We put on dry suits (a heavy-duty version of a wet suit) and did more or less a lazy river version of rafting. It was pretty cold and cloudy, so the first two hours weren’t the best, but the next two hours had some really cool waves on them. I even hopped in the water for a bit, but with the dry suit on, I felt no water seep through. I really enjoyed the rafting, but if I were to do it again, I would only do the intense bit and skip the lazy river portion.

We then went to a restaurant called The Overlook (4 highly edible). We then went back to Denali State Park to do a drive to hunt for more wildlife. We saw a Porcupine which was so cute. We then got to the end of the allowable area to drive and turned around. We were satisfied seeing the porcupine and deemed it a successful trip. Then as we gave up looking for the night, we saw it: A GRIZZLY BEAR!! For people who take the 8 hour bus tour it might be common for them to see a bear, but to see the bear in the first 15 miles of the park is a lot harder to do. We got some really great video of the bear and felt really lucky to have seen it!

We went back to our last night in Denali and set off for Anchorage. We got to the train station and got into our Adventure class seats. We immediately went to the Bistro car to buy food before it ran out. We struck up conversation with one of the Train workers and he then sneakily upgraded us to the Gold Star class. We felt very fortunate because Gold Star comes with meal service (4 highly edible) and our friends on the train kept making us free drinks. The windows in Gold Star were also much nicer to view the pretty landscapes. We had a two-hour delay which made us even more grateful to have been upgraded. Once we got to Anchorage, we got our Turo car and got to the hotel.

The next day we had lunch and it was a solid 1 inedible on my scale. I never send food back, but it was truly inedible. I went to Arby’s afterwards just to eat something. We had dinner at the 49th state brewery location in Anchorage and headed off to Homer. The trip down was idyllic as we drove down the coastline. We stopped at a local bar, The Sunrise Inn, to use the bathroom buy some waters. We ended up having a great chat with the locals there.

We had three moose sightings and even saw a momma and her two babies. We got to the Kenai Peninsula Suites. It was a very pretty property with a lot of character. The next day we went to an amazing coffee shop called Captain’s Coffee. It had some amazing hot chocolate, and Soph loved her coffee. We then explored the shops at Homer where I bought cute socks for a friend. We ate fried halibut at AK’s Fish Fry (5 good). We drove to a halfway point to in between Homer and Seward and had another great moose sighting with a momma and two babies crossing in front of our car.

The next day in Seward we went on a five-hour glacier cruise. We rented $5 binoculars which was a great call to see the wildlife. On the cruise we saw wonderful wildlife including humpback whales, orcas, sea otters, sea lions, puffins, and other aquatic birds. It was definitely a highlight. I suggest preparing for the boat in advance is you get nauseous. My husband and Soph both threw up from all the waves. On the cruise the boat was lovely, the staff was super nice, it wasn’t crowded, and they did a great job of pointing out the wildlife.

We then drove back to Anchorage to have dinner at Moose’s tooth aka the place where Obama had pizza. It was an hour and a half wait, and one the biggest disappointments for food. This place came highly recommended but lived up to my Alaska food expectations. None of the pizzas had sauce on them and it tasted so off. It was a 2 barely edible for the pizza I got. We were so hungry my husband and I got a large pizza and we ended up finding a family to give half the pizza to so we didn’t waste it.

After Moose’s tooth we dropped Soph off at the airport and spent a night at the residence inn in Anchorage. It was a lovely property with lovely staff and the nicest place we stayed on the trip. My husband and I then went to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. The property was nice (nothing mind blowing), but I wouldn’t call it a must see or anything. If you really want to see bears up close it’s a great place for that. It also had surprisingly good food. I got a bison bratwurst, and my husband got a reindeer hot dog (5 good). We then drove back to Anchorage and had an early dinner at Outback Steakhouse and then I went to a gift shop to buy some small things for some friends. We then gave our Turo car back and flew back to Atlanta.

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