Week 2-- Post Cruise Trip Report

[Trailblazer]

I started this report yesterday and wrote about our northbound Dawn Princess experience 8/2 -8/9. I'll try to finish by describing the 5 days we spent after the cruise driving as far as Healy and Denali Park. We were 4 couples traveling together, fairly active , all in our mid 50's.

I had reserved a van to meet us in Whittier when we disembarked. This was through an independent family owned van rental company Beauty Vans of Alaska. I found it through an add in the Milepost where the van was described as fitting 7 adults plus luggage. Since one of the couples traveling with us were flying out 2 days earlier than the rest, the van was perfect for our needs.It was a very comfortable conversion van complete with 4 captains chairs bench seat in thr rear, VCR with tapes of Alaska and every other creature comfort you can imagine. We were riding in style and it worked out pefectly for us. Mike(the owner) met us right outside the building where we claimed our luggage and after signing some papers we were off. The other couple had made arrangement to take the train into Anchorage and we would meet late in the day atthe Hawthorn Suites where we were all staying. After waiting for our turn to drive the Whittier tunnel or our journey to middle earth as someone in the back seat joked, we headed to Alyeska ski area. They had a nice deal of tram ride and lunch all for $20 and we took advantage and were not 1 bit sorry. Spectacular tram ride, views from the top were great and we all ate reindeer sausage for lunch--not bad--were very glad we took the time to do this. Arrived at The Hawthorn Suites by 3;30 and we glad to have the spacious accomodations after spending a week in the ships cabin. The Hawthorn was great--clean, reasonably priced, within walking distance to downtown visitor area and best of all was the make your own waffles for breakfast!!!! We walked to the visitor center, of course shopped, and made reservations at the Glacier Brewhouse for dinner later on. Brewhouse was crowded and noisey but the service was great and the food good.Walked back to Hawthorn and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Next morning, after the incredable waffles we were off to points north. Since the weather was great we decided to take in the Hatcher Pass Road and the historic Independence mine. Boy was that a treat. The scenery was awesome and the mining museum and restored buildings were very interesting. Even picked a cup of blueberries along one of the paths. After our time at the mine we took off for the Parks highway via the Wasilla cutoff. Joined the Parks just north of Wasilla and evidentally missed some huge delays because of construction. We enjoyed our drive north, were just gazing at scenery and then all of a sudden there was McKinley in the distance. At first I thought it was clouds, but soon realized it was indeed the mountain. Again lady luck was smiling on us. Not only could we see McKinley but we turned into Mary's McKinley just for some photos. We realized they served lunches and we had maybe the best cheeseburger I had had in a long time!!!! Worth the stop!!ot even a half mile down the road in a new and improved visitor scenic area. Again spectacular views of the mountain range and river in the foreground. After oohing and ahhing we were off to Healy and the Touch of Wilderness BnB. We stayed there 2 nights and could not have found a better place!! Tucked away in Alaskan wilderness was a clean , cozy yet spacious home away from home. Barbara, the owner was very helpful and recommended the Black Diamond golf course for dinner. Another great find--delicious halibut with blackberry sauce--to die for. It was weird watching people tee off at 9:30 at night, but this was Alaska and it was still fairly light at 11 as we ended our day in the hot tub at the BnB. Next morning off to Denali for the 8;30 shuttle to Eilson. This day started overcast and there was still quite a bit of smokey haze from the fires north of Fairbanks. The mountain was not visible, but boy did we see wildlife. Cow and Bull moose, 6 dall sheep running along a rock wall, lots of caribou, 1 male grizzly, 2 mother grizzly, one with twins the other with triplets and the real excitement came when a wolf literally walked down the road right past the bus load of silent passengers. Amazing!!! We felt like we were living out a National Geographic documentary. Eight hours on the bus wore us out so back to the Black Diamond for dinner a quick soak in the hot tub and early to bed. After another great breakfast by Barbara, we loaded the van, said goodbye to one of the couples and headed south where we were to meet Steve Voth, owner operator of Denali Sightseeing Safaris, at the"Igloo". We were scheduled for a 6 hour sightseeing tour in a monster truck. What we got was an 8 hour thrill of a lifetime that had to be the most unique-fun thing we did for the entire trip. Steve or Nick Nolte of the North as we referred to him took us over old mining roads, through rivers, up mountain sides, scoping for wildlife much of the time. The trucks were equipped with 65 inch tires and we sat in the back above most of the brush and just had a blast bouncing through this southern area of the park, that most people never see. Although we didn't see anything except a small bunch of caribou in the distance, it was an experience none of us will forget. You have got to do this if you have the time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After, we drove to Talkeetna and stayed at the Denali Overlook Inn. Another amazing place !!!!! Sitting on a bluff above Talkeetna, with a perfect view of Denali is this fairly new, modern incredible 6-7 room inn. New owners, Sandy and Clare are from Perth, Australia and could not have done more to make our last night in Alaska a memorable one. To sit in their living room ansd see the mountain off in the distance was a treat. Dinner at the Cafe Michele was interesting??? Food was great but the owner Michele a little over the top with her flamboyant artisan attitude. Everyone in Talkeetna has a story about her. After a great quiche breakfast we wished Sandy and Clare well in their new venture, drove into Talkeetna, where guess who shopped all morning, while some of us tried our luck fishing in the nearby river, We had brought our own fishing gear and really this was the first we had a good chance to use it. No luck fishing due to cloudy, murky water because of unusually high glacial melt. Left Talkeetna around 2 pm , drove to Anchorage, more shopping downtown and then found our way to the Moose Tooth Pizza and Pub. What a madhouse!!!!!!!!!! Great pizza, worth the wait but there was a few fellows at the bar who had not bathed in awhile or didn't realize that deodorant had been invented. Man!!!!

Got to the Anchorage airport by 9 for an 11:30 Met Mike from Beauty vans right at the airline terminal, turned over the keys to "Jennie"and breezed through checkin, security etc without any major holdups. Flight was on time departing and arrive back in Rochester, NY at 2pm the 14th.

It was a trip of memories. We were very glad we planned our post cruise independently. We were on our own time schedule, in our own little groupb and felt like we saw and did more than most folks. Photos are still being processed but the images in my minds eye will last forever. Everyone should experience Alaska !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ajpack]

Thanks for the great review! Next time we go to Alaska maybe we'll do the land tour on our own! You make it sound like so much fun.

 

Anne

[Trailblazer]

Anne

It was fun planning it all out and all the things I reserved had website, e-mails or 800 phone numbers, so it was fairly easy once we made the decision of what we wanted to do. Every contact got back to me right away and there no problems with any of our reservations.

I can't speak highly enough of any of the places we stayed or the things we did--They were all beyond our expectations !!!!!!!!!!!

[CRB#33]

I really enjoyed your trip report :)

 

We hope to do a land tour on our own in 2006 and I am hungry for all the trip reports I can find as detailed as yours!

 

I love to know the highways people travelled and the places they have stayed.

 

When you mentioned the construction traffic, were you talking about northbound Parks Highway traffic before Wasilla? Do you have any more info on that?

 

Thanks again! I'm looking forward to pictures if you post them :)