Noah's Excellent Adventures: Alaska

June 16^th-23^rd, 2021

We weren’t planning on going to Alaska so soon in our quest to go to all 50 states but they had a good deal on flights. So, off we went. We spent one night at Jalaine’s aunt Wendy’s house in Girdwood. We then drove south and spent a few days in Seward where we went on a boat tour of Resurrection Bay and Holgate glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park. We drove back north with a stop to see Exit Glacier. We made our way to Talkeetna. We stayed in a fun little shed like cabin. I took a walk in the morning to a cool river. We drove toward Talkeetna we were able to see Denali. (it is usually covered by clouds) We hiked around one of the Talkeetna lakes. In Talkeetna we wandered around town checking out the shops while we waited for our zip line tour. We arrived at our tour to find out Oliver was too young to zip line which meant I needed to stay behind as well. Oliver was pretty disappointed and so was I. I had been eating very little so I could make the weight requirement. The others had a great time zip lining. We then drove North again to Denali National Park. We stayed in a hotel just past Denali. We went to Denali the next day and did a few hikes and drove out as far as they would lets us. We also visited the sled dog kennels, unfortunately there were no puppies this year. Heading north again we stayed in Fairbanks. We tried several restaurants that were either closed or had a limited menu. We ended up eating at a Moldavian restaurant, it was interesting. The next day we ate at a triple d restaurant called the Cookie Jar for breakfast then made our way to North Pole Alaska. In North Pole we saw the giant Santa and went to the Christmas store. Now heading south we stopped at Delta Junction to see the giant mosquitoes. We stayed the night at the Historic Gakona Lodge. It was a bit rustic and apparently haunted. The next day we made our way through jaw dropping scenery back to Anchorage to fly home. Jalaine has a more detailed account of the trip. It was a fun trip with cool temperatures, it was in the 100’s when we left Salt Lake. We also enjoyed the Midnight sun.