8th Year Anniversary at Alaska!!

Time: July 3-7, 2016

Place: Alaska (Anchorage, Kenai, Denali, Fairbanks, Arctic Circle)

Company: Wife and Daughter

Highlights:

Preview: This trip was planned solely to overcome the slight repentance of our previous trip to Alaska and also to close some unfinished business! Visits to Arctic Circle, Glacier & Denali National Park were sorely missed since it was winter then, and hence Summer of 2016 was slated to check these items off our bucket list! It took about 2-3 weeks of research, planning and ticket-booking. What better way to celebrate the soon-to-be 8th year wedding anniversary other than at Arctic Circle, eh?!!

Day 0: Had planned for car parking off airport but when called up, found out that there was no self-park option available and only option was valet-park which costed about $100. So, changed plans last minute to take BART. Only risk was that return flight was scheduled to arrive at 10:45 pm and last train leaving SFO was at 11:45 pm. So, if there was a delay in that last leg of journey back home, then we would be stuck! Anyways, took the risk. Left home at noon, caught the 12:25 train, and reached SFO at 1:45 pm to take the 3:20 pm flight to Seattle. On-time. 1 hour lay-over. Next leg to Portland. Going back the way, huh! On-time. Finally, flight to Anchorage. On-time. Three flights with 2 lay-overs is way too much but it was cheaper. Reached ANC at 11 pm. Got rental car, drove to Anchorage Downtown hotel. At midnight, it was still bright! Room was super-cool and decorated royally. Paavani enjoyed it a lot, and declared it as her official Palace!

Day 1: After breakfast, we checked out from our hotel at 9 am and headed south to Portage Glacier along the road that hugged the beautiful Turnagain Arm. There was a cruise at 10:30 am which we had planned to be in. However, on the way, our little one got motion sickness and we had to stop over. We were 3 minutes late! Although it concerned us at that time (because we had a lot planned for that day), it didn’t impact us in anyway. We spent the next 1.5 hr lazily relaxing, looking at scenery which was magnificent. Snow-capped mountains, a glacial lake (Portage) and wonderful air that surrounded us. Also had a bit of snack – sorta early lunch.

Soon enough, we were on board the cruise to see the Portage Glacier. It was a short ride on the boat, and we were in front of the massive glacier. It was bluish at places (since it reflects blue color alone) and vast. We could hear the water gushing underneath the glacier although we could not see it. Finally, a dream of 2014 got fulfilled this day! When we missed to see glaciers in Alaska, we went to Glacier National Park in the hope of finding any glaciers there but it was not to be. This one seemed so easy to access and wonderful too. The cruise spent almost an hour in front of the glacier and we could take pictures in all angles until we were fulfilled.

Back from the cruise at 1 pm, we headed to Seward and Kenai National Park thereon to hike to Exit Glacier. We reached Exit Glacier at about 2:30 pm. There were multiple trails but we chose the 1-2 hr trail that took us to the edge of the Exit Glacier. We were even closer to this glacier than Portage. Here too it was bluish and we could see the water flowing underneath the glacier. The best part of this trail were the ‘Year boards’. Each board represented the year at which the glacier originally existed, and how it had receded. In the last 1 year, the glacier had receded almost a mile! We spent time until about 4 pm and headed back to Anchorage.

We encountered a road accident on the way back and were stuck for more than an hour due to a traffic jam. By the time we reached Anchorage it was almost 8 pm. Thankfully, Tontu slept all the way from Kenai to Anchorage – 3 full hours! It saved us from a few hundred “Are we there yet?”s! Went to Bombay Deluxe and ordered a take-out dinner since there was a huge queue (because it was one of the few restaurants opened on the July 4^th Independence Day). Food was ok-dokey. Had a quick dinner and headed back to airport, returned the car, checked-in with Alaska Air for our 11 pm one-hour flight to Fairbanks. It was an uneventful flight except that it was completely sunny on a midnight!  

Upon reaching Fairbanks, we took one more rental car and drove to our Travelodge hotel. We retired at 1 am in the night (for the second consecutive night!) and it was still sunny outside. We wanted to experience this Midnight Sun and done! Apparently the Fairbanks folks can experience night not until mid-August!

Ok, to recap all that we did today: Saw Portage Glacier, Exit Glacier and the Midnight Sun at Fairbanks. Drove really fast (since we had to cover too many places and we were halted by the accident and the motion sickness incidents) and was extremely lucky not to have got caught by the hiding cops!

Day 2: We got up at about 8 am, had breakfast, and left to Denali National Park. There was a forecast of rain all day and hence we had no hopes of seeing Mt McKinley. Reached DNP at about 11 am, had quick lunch, and visited the Visitor Center to check what we can do. The Visitor Center itself was awesome. Spent about half hour there.

Unfortunately the Savage Road parking lot (up to which automobile was allowed) was closed out because of a bear-human interaction, however we were allowed to drive but return back without parking there. So, we continued on our way, inside the DNP. On the way, we saw a moose and its offspring. Took enough pictures of it and continued on. We guessed where Mt McKinley was, but could not see it clearly since it was a cloudy day (Luckily it didn’t rain the entire day! Thank God!!)

We drove all the way to Savage Trail, took a U-turn, and headed back. The serenity of the place was nice and pleasant. We headed back and came back to US-3 (George Parks Highway) after a quick pit stop at Visitor Center. Parked our car at the road-side and hiked a small trail called Parks Highway Bike Trail. We especially spent a long time on the bridge that crossed the Nenana River, taking a bunch of pics. The gushing force of the glacial river (from Nenana Glacier) was a sight to see. It reminded me of the many rivers in North India where snow-melted rivers flow down from Himalayas. It brought back memories from my 2004 trip to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.

After spending about an hour on the trail, we headed back to Fairbanks. It was a nice easy drive. We returned the car back in Fairbanks airport, took a cab back to the hotel and retired to bed early to be refreshed for the long day coming up.

Day 3: Up at 5 am, we had requested a cab at 5:45 am to drop us off at Northern Alaska Tour Company by 6. Checked-in for the tour, we were given instructions and off we headed 200 miles away to the Arctic Circle. The guide seemed very youngish but she was super cool, and gave us all a very homely feeling. She had lots of short interesting stories to share and her art of narration was very nice. She also had a very good knowledge of Alaska and its history.

And so began the day – with Alaskan history, of the quest for gold a century ago, how folks started settling in Fairbanks, and on the way we saw some machinery that was used for Gold mining a century ago, now defunct. Soon we entered Dalton Highway, the 400+ miles gravelly road, and she started using the radio unit, a commonality on this highway to communicate with nearby drivers. She even mentioned how truckers communicate to one another and what fun it is to listen in at times! At milepost 1, we all took some pics and continued on. We spotted a moose and she was too fast for folks to spot it, so people asked her to go back. Thankfully there was a side road where she could head back, and most folks spotted the moose. However, there was no side road now to head back towards Arctic Circle, and hence she had to drive quite some distance to get back on.

Our next stop was in the city of Joy. She narrated the story of Joy and how she came to stay in that place, which got named after her. There were too many mosquitoes every time we got down the bus (which was very comfortable by the way) and hence we had some bug repellants as well bug zappers. So each time we got on the bus, we used to zap at the pests. It is astounding why anyone would want to stay in such a desolate and god-forsaken wilderness, where it is too cold in winters and too many mosquitoes in summer! Anyways, it was nice to see Joy’s little shop and her children’s lemonade spot for truckers.

Off we went on and stopped next at a favorable spot for Trans-Alaska pipeline. We had done this last time we were here but this was a different spot. She had more news to share on this and it was all very interesting. She even put on a video about how the pipeline came into existence and it was very good.

Our next stop was at Yukon Camp, which was just past the Yukon river – the only bridge to cross the Yukon river in US. It was a nice information that the guide shared that no one can stop on the bridge, and if they do, the loud speakers will boom to shoo them away, because the pipeline goes right underneath the bridge and anyone stopping on the bridge is deemed a terrorist! Folks picked up lunch at Yukon camp but we had brought our own. It was a very brief stop and we continued on.

Our next stop was Finger Mountain. It is a small mountain shaped like a finger and there was also a short trail that goes up another small mountain to give a 360 degree view of the Arctic wilderness. After this, very soon, at about 1:45 pm we reached the Arctic Circle. 

The guide made a grandiose enterprise out of it, she put on a red carpet and even distributed cakes. We spent the next 20-25 mins taking pictures, and just to soak it in. There were some nice information boards indicating how Sun never sets beyond this point in Summer and how Sun never rises beyond this point in Winter.

At about 2 pm, we started heading back and our first stop was to experience the Arctic Tundra. We took a short hike on a cross road and entered what seemed to be normal vegetation. However, much to our surprise, the guide started pulling the vegetation out and, lo and behold, there was ice underneath! She made us all feel it and it was incredible! The whole place where we were standing was actually ice. Upon the ice was vegetation. The vegetation insulated the ice and kept it cold during summer and opened up only during winter. Our hands were all muddy but it was totally worth it.

Our next stop was again Yukon camp but this time it was for a lot longer time. We reached about 4:30 and by the time we left, it was almost 6 pm. We first went to the Visitor Center to get some memorabilia. Then folks grabbed their dinner and ate at the same place, complete with desserts. We had our own food but we shared the table with them. Then we shopped some more at the local shop selling T-shirts, jerseys, etc. Once that was done, we walked over to the Yukon river bank and threw some stones. It was all very pleasant. Even Paavani enjoyed it a lot.

That seemed pretty much it for the trip. There was one another video regarding Alaskan Native Indian life but it didn’t seem very interested for me, so I dozed off a little. Paavani too. We again had a pit-stop at the city of Joy, and we continued on. We were slightly ahead of the schedule (planned ETA was 10:30 pm and we were almost at the destination by 10 pm) when we encountered a road block due to an accident. However, it was not long before vehicles started moving past the fallen truck. So, we did make it early. Upon reaching, we were all given Certificates for surviving the Dalton Highway and to have made it across the Arctic Circle.

After bidding adieu to all fellow passengers, we took a cab back to our hotel. Then we just relaxed and waited for the midnight again to experience the midnight Sun, since it was the brightest evening (no clouds) that we were in Alaska. More pictures and then we retired.

Day 4: The only day for which no activity was planned. So got up real easy like at about 8:30 am. Quickly went out to grab some breakfast. Then started packing and getting ready. We requested for a late check-out and checked out at 12 noon. We had our cab ready for the airport. Checked into our Delta flight back to SFO via Seattle. It was on-time. Had our lunch at airport. The flight itself was uneventful, and we all watched a movie.

At Seattle, our flight was delayed. That would mean we could not take the BART back home. Anyways. We proceeded to have a real nice dinner at Qdoba. Absolutely loved it. It was our first real meal since 3 nights ago in Anchorage at Bombay Deluxe. Tontu played at the play area in the airport. She had done this same thing back in 2014 when we were heading back from Fairbanks. Our flight got delayed by further 1 hour – thanks to a runway issue in SFO. So instead of departing at 8:30 pm, it was now departing at 11 pm.

This leg of the journey, we slept all through and it was over 1 am when we reached SFO. Took our baggage and pondered our next step. It was 2.5 hrs for next BART train to depart. Considering it was too late to go in a taxi (and perhaps not safe), we decide to spend the 2.5 hrs at the airport itself trying to sleep.

Day 5 (unplanned!): Although uncomfortable, we spent the 2.5 hrs somehow. We then made to BART, it somehow seemed painstakingly far to get to the SFO shuttle itself, and we were right on time to get on to the BART. As soon as we got in, the train doors closed and we were on our way. Reached at 5:30 am and we hauled all our luggage back to our home – another painstaking 10 minutes but thanks to Paavani who woke up and started walking (otherwise it would have been very, very difficult!). Finally, we reached home at 6 am – it was 17 hrs since we left our hotel room!

Overview: Price was cheaper ($500 per head) compared to our previous winter trip ($600 per head), surprisingly so, considering it is school break now. The Arctic Circle tour was pretty expensive (~$219 per head) but it was pretty cool and interesting. The rental cars & hotels in Alaska during summer is extremely expensive. Nothing below $100 per day. All in all, it costed over $3000 for us (a family of 3) for 3 days of active sightseeing and 2 days of travel.

The trip was very hectic, since we had to cover Anchorage and surroundings on 1^st day, Denali on 2^nd day and Arctic Circle on 3^rd day. We didn’t have much option on the 3^rd day but we had a few on 2^nd and quite a few for 1^st. So we had to pick and choose on things to do. As a result, we completely veto-ed Matanuska Glacier as well as some nice scenic spots along the road from Anchorage to Fairbanks. The railroad in Alaska also seems scenic but it would need a lot of time and money. 

We were lucky to have no rain showers on any of the days, especially because that was how it was forecasted. But still it was cloudy and hence we were unable to see Mt Mckinley – the highest mountain peak in North America.

One another thought that was haunting me was that perhaps a longer visit during March-April or September –October could have sufficed covering all parts of Alaska (that we covered as part of 2 separate trips in 2014 Feb and 2016 July) as well as a chance for Aurora Borealis. But I guess this is how it was meant to be. So be it.

We enjoyed the beauty of Alaska in all its glory – in two different climatic conditions. Each season had something great to offer that the other season cannot. Main purpose of our visit in Feb 2014 was Aurora - Check. Main purpose of our visit in 2016 was Arctic Circle - Check.

And we were back home safe from another adventurous vacation. Thank God for that. And to top it all - I may not so easily gift my wife diamonds on our wedding anniversary but I cannot say 'No' to a once-in-a-life-time "dream" visit to Arctic Circle! ;-)

Happy 8th Anniversary to us!