Anchorage and animals

[dieselmama]

Hi! So excited to get down to the last bits of planning now that our excursions have been chosen for our adventure next August... except for our 2 1/2 days in Anchorage between the end of our cruise tour (cruising north and doing Denali for a few days, then Anchorage, then cruising back down!).

 

SO.... our special needs son is CRAZY about animals, and has a goal to go to as many zoo's and conservation centers as he can, and we try to oblige. Here is what we thought we MIGHT be able to do... tell me if I am nuts!

 

One of the two full days we thought we could do the 26 glacier cruise, it sounds like that has the potential to see lots of animals, and not overly exert his energy. The other full day we were thinking we could do the zoo first thing and then head down to the conservation center, since it is open later in the day than the zoo. Is it nuts to think we could fit both of those into one day? How long a drive is it, and are there tours that take you there (other than the portage cruise tour... that would take most of a day to do and we would have to skip the zoo, unless we could find a way to cram that into the half day when we arrive in Anchorage from Talkeetna).

 

Thoughts and suggestions would be great! And if you have any other ideas, that would also be welcome... this is a trip of a lifetime... celebrating his 21st birthday a little early, and our 35th anniversary a little late. :)

[AKStafford]

Can I ask: Why the cruisetour? You could rent a car and see all the same stuff on your own. If you pass a moose along the road, your bus on the cruisetour may (most likely won't) not able to stop. If you are in a rental car, you can stop and look all you like. Chances are your cruisetour has you on the Tundra Wilderness Tour at Denali, which is more expensive than the shuttles and only goes to mile 53. Past there is some prime wildlife viewing that you'll miss.

So, back to your question: The zoo is in South Anchorage. The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center is about an hour drive from there. Keep your eyes peeled for Dall Sheep as you go.

More wildlife: The Musk Ox farm in Palmer. The reindeer farm in the Butte. The Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla usually has sled dogs. Of course, you'll miss all of that on the cruisetour. Another reason why I suggest doing this independently.

The 26 Glacier Cruise kinda zooms from glacier to glacier. The Major Marine cruises focuses on just a couple of glacier. Maybe even better is to look into Lazy Otter out of Whittier. Smaller boat. Of course, if you are looking for wildlife, maybe do a Kenai Fjords wildlife cruise out of Seward.

[dieselmama]

Can I ask: Why the cruisetour? You could rent a car and see all the same stuff on your own. If you pass a moose along the road, your bus on the cruisetour may (most likely won't) not able to stop. If you are in a rental car, you can stop and look all you like. Chances are your cruisetour has you on the Tundra Wilderness Tour at Denali, which is more expensive than the shuttles and only goes to mile 53. Past there is some prime wildlife viewing that you'll miss.

So, back to your question: The zoo is in South Anchorage. The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center is about an hour drive from there. Keep your eyes peeled for Dall Sheep as you go.

More wildlife: The Musk Ox farm in Palmer. The reindeer farm in the Butte. The Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla usually has sled dogs. Of course, you'll miss all of that on the cruisetour. Another reason why I suggest doing this independently.

The 26 Glacier Cruise kinda zooms from glacier to glacier. The Major Marine cruises focuses on just a couple of glacier. Maybe even better is to look into Lazy Otter out of Whittier. Smaller boat. Of course, if you are looking for wildlife, maybe do a Kenai Fjords wildlife cruise out of Seward.

 

 

Thanks for asking... :) and forgive the long reply. It is kind of important, to me anyway so you might understand. The reason we are doing the cruise tour is honestly because we parents need a relaxing vacation! Our son is... complicated. He is our youngest, and during his nearly 20 years at this time he has had 54 surgeries, many life threatening, and most of those were in his first 10 years of life. He is a miracle many times over. His health issues have been, until VERY recently, very time consuming, and even more so when we travel. While we love him dearly and don't regret a single moment with him, we also don't ever get a break. Respite is not a possibility at this point in time, we don't have anyone who knows his care, or understands his issues the way we do. The best, most relaxing vacations we have ever had were the 2 DCL cruises we took in '07 and '08, where we were ... honestly, pampered a bit, and didnt have to drive anywhere, could choose the excursions we wanted from the cruise line, easy peasy and they made sure we were back at the ship on time. Might cost a little more that way, but not having to deal with the nitty gritty, for us, made those cruises SO much nicer in many ways than most of the other vacations we have taken over the years.

 

Fast forward to Alaska. We have hoped and dreamed of going to Alaska for much of our married life. Planned on it for our 25th.. didnt happen, because our son was in the middle of some serious medical crisis at the time. Now that he is more stable, still has serious diagnosis, we can and do manage his care ourselves without nursing assistance. This trip will, we hope, be fun AND relaxing for us all! We have lots of animal excursions planned at our various stops along the way, the zoo is one of his dreams as his make a wish trip at age 5 included a trip to the San Diego zoo and we have made a point of going to as many zoo's around the country as possible when we travel and collecting a t-shirt and a sew on patch from them (and maybe a Christmas ornament too?). I think we have hit at least 30 different zoo's so far. The time in Anchorage is the ONLY time we will be planning and escorting ourselves places, the rest will be either on the land portion or on the cruise itself... We always drive on our other vacations (including driving from Idaho to NY many years for his special needs camp) because we have a fair amount of medical "stuff" we have to take with us, including his entire nutrition. He eats NOTHING by mouth, is entirely tube fed, and until recently was also getting part of his nutrition via a permanently placed IV. He is on oxygen at night and sometimes during the day at higher elevations, is on a non-invasive ventilator at night, and uses an electric scooter at times to conserve his energy. And he is on the high functioning end of the autistic spectrum, with developmental delays.

 

Anyway... back to your suggestions. Thank you so much! I will go take a look and see what I can come up with. I think we can fit in the zoo (a HAVE to!) on the day we arrive in Anchorage from Talkeetna since the zoo doesnt close till 9 pm in the summer, which leaves me thursday and friday to plan what else we are going to do. He REALLY has his mind set on the Conservation Center, but maybe if I can come up with other ideas that will give him wildlife to see while we are in the Anchorage area those 2 full days before we set sail on Saturday he will be a happy camper. The description of the 26 glacier tour sounded like it had a lot of potential for animals when I went to their website, especially the bird rookery, but maybe they are exaggerating or I don't remember what they said as well as I thought I did. I like having options, and since we did book all of our preferred shore excursions for both legs of the cruise at least that part is done.

 

Again, thank you for your help, I truly appreciate it! And don't mind the long explanation for why we are doing the cruise tour... tired parent syndrome. we just got back from a week in Colorado..... including an ER trip for the man child. He is fine, but sure does like to cause havoc from time to time!

[donaldsc]

Check out the Anchorage Zoo Discovery Tours options - http://alaskazoo.org/tours. My granddaughter and I did the Zookeeper for a Day half day tour which was excellent but these also sound good. Also check out these options - https://reservations.alaskazoo.org/Info.aspx?EventID=1.

 

The Wildlife CVonservation Center also offers tours - https://www.alaskawildlife.org/tours-programs/

 

DON

Edited November 6, 2016 by donaldsc

[dieselmama]

Thank you! I had looked at the link they had for encounters and it looked like they only did that september through may, I will have to contact them and see if they are willing to do any of the other tours (specifically the $300 one with the director) in August. Cheaper than any of the excursions we are booking and it would be totally up my son's alley.

[Budget Queen]

Are you going to have a car? Overall, the 26 glacier cruise with Philips, does NOT see a "lot" of wildlife. the route to include all those glaciers is actually fairly fast paced. (not sure what you are considering a lot?) "more" wildlife, could be seen- with mostly sea otters, if you get to Surprise glacier, with Major Marine. For the most wildlife, and trips loaded with varied wildlife, those are out of Seward, to Kenai Fjords. IF you are cruising in/out out of Seward- I certainly would suggest you include it.

 

I would also hope you have 2 nights at Denali? It would be worth the effort- for wildlife- to get into Denali both days. Hopefully, you have included with your cruise tour, the Tundra Wildness tour? I would also add the Tolklat Shuttle bus. This area is a wildlife jackpot- with a good pair of binoculars being necessary.

[dieselmama]

Are you going to have a car? Overall, the 26 glacier cruise with Philips, does NOT see a "lot" of wildlife. the route to include all those glaciers is actually fairly fast paced. (not sure what you are considering a lot?) "more" wildlife, could be seen- with mostly sea otters, if you get to Surprise glacier, with Major Marine. For the most wildlife, and trips loaded with varied wildlife, those are out of Seward, to Kenai Fjords. IF you are cruising in/out out of Seward- I certainly would suggest you include it.

 

I would also hope you have 2 nights at Denali? It would be worth the effort- for wildlife- to get into Denali both days. Hopefully, you have included with your cruise tour, the Tundra Wildness tour? I would also add the Tolklat Shuttle bus. This area is a wildlife jackpot- with a good pair of binoculars being necessary.

 

We do not have a car planned, if we NEED to we can, but are kind of hoping to avoid it if possible, mainly because most of our trips we do the driving and for this one we are wanting to be a little spoiled (if you read what I wrote above you will see why).

 

We have 2 nights at Princess Denali and 2 at Talkeetna. Then the 3 in Anchorage before we go south again. We DO have the TWT scheduled.. yeah! Still trying to figure out what to do in Talkeetna... our son was looking at ideas there and was thinking it might be fun to actually try the horse back riding and/or the UTV adventure (for him that is a big deal, he has never wanted to try horses EVER before... planning on practicing with some hippo therapy at home this spring to prepare).

 

I usually do try to be a little more frugal on our trips and adventures, this is the one trip where we decided to be a bit more extravagant and choose tours rather than do it all ourselves. If we someday come back we will likely do more of our own planning, we might even drive up from Idaho!

 

Thanks for your input!

[AKStafford]

We do not have a car planned,

Without a rental car, how are you planning on getting to the zoo and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center?

[dieselmama]

The zoo has a shuttle during the summer that comes and picks up on a regular basis just 2 blocks from our hotel OR... a taxi. :)

 

We are looking into options for the Conservation center, one that looks appealing is one of the 907 tours https://www.907toursalaska.com so far from what I am reading on trip advisor their customers seem very happy.

 

If we DO decide on a different option where we need to a rent a car, we certainly can and will do so... we are exploring ALL options and will weigh out the pro's and cons of them all based on our shore excursions at the various ports as well as what we want to accomplish for our son and for ourselves. A balance for everyone in vacation planning is a must! :)

[donaldsc]

Not sure if you are going to get to Seward but the Alaska Sealife Center also offers good tours - we have done the puffin and octopus tours.

 

http://www.alaskasealife.org/tours_encounters

 

DON

[dieselmama]

Oooh... that does look interesting! Seward would require a rental car for sure. I will add it to our think about it list. And it might be something we put off for if/when we come back on another adventure, driving ourselves next time so we can take our time exploring. Someday we had also thought about going to Kodiak... the dreams are large, the time, not quite as large, at least not yet!