Alaska July 7-14, 2024

Saturday:

This year we were able to take Noelle with us. Unfortunately James wasn't able to join, as he is back in Annapolis. I joined Matt, Greta, and Noelle in Minneapolis. They drove from Minocqua, having just spent the week there for the Fourth of July. Sammy, Noelle's friend from the Academy, drove with them and flew home to Denver from the Minneapolis airport. I took a Flix bus from the Madison Dutch Mill park and ride and met them at an Embassy Suites near the Mall of America in Minneapolis. When I hoped on the bus it was filled with sketchy looking people….except for one older looking lady who happened to be assigned the seat next to me. Within 15 min of sitting next to her the conversation began. I heard all about her family, career, hobbies, and health. Ironically she reminded me so much of Grandma Carol. She had a daughter who is a PA and lives in Eau Claire. She was headed there to help her out after just having her second child. It was nice listening to her stories…it made me feel better about riding this bus alone. Once we arrived in the twin cities I had to take the local train to our hotel. That was entertaining as well! It seemed pretty obvious that the twin cities are filled with homeless. They certainly take advantage of public transportation. After a quick walk around the hotel the rest of the gang arrived. We watched a soccer game while eating hotel snacks and crashed soon thereafter.

Sunday:

This morning I ran before we hit the hotel breakfast. I splurged and ate something other than kale! Egg white omelette and oatmeal with my V8 energy drink. We took the tram over to the airport. This trip we checked bags, can you believe it? My nutribullet wasn't gonna be confiscated! Greta needed her teeth cleaning supplies for her braces that were in bottles larger than 3 ounces. And of course we all benefited from Noelle bringing her amazing gritty face wash with papaya, pinnapple, and Vit C added. We said our goodbyes to Sammy while ordering our much needed $50 airport Starbucks drinks. Our flight to Anchorage was a direct one, lasting 5 hours. I got a window seat, Greta in the middle and dad and Noelle had aisle seats. We all read books, well, except me. Does bringing a book count? Once to Anchorage we rented our baby blue Ford Bronco and headed to Seoal Casa. Lauren, Noelle's friend from the academy recommended this place. It was a Mexican Korean place that got great reviews….even from Guy Fierre on the food network. Great flavors! We then headed to the grocery store for our weeks worth of groceries and made our way to our VRBO. It was the simplest of our three places. When you have a budget to follow it can be tricky to find a decent place. We all unpacked and chilled. Noelle did Pilates while I walked around the block. Dad and Greta watched food network cooking competitions. We all worked up an appetite so we went to Wild Scoops for the most amazing Alaskan ice cream made with local ingredients. Once back to our place we watched "The Blind Side" while I did yoga then all and hit the sack.

Monday:

I opted to skip running today to do Boho beautiful yoga instead. After our breakfast in, we hoped in our cars by 8am. Matt drove us two hours north to Mantanuska glacier. Our car ride there we did trivia…dad rocks at that game! Once to our destination we met the most adorable dog…a large but skinning shaggy gray one. We put on our orange helmets and crampons and started our tour with our sweet female Polish tour guide. We were paired with a large family from New Jersey all carrying trekking poles. The girls were dressed in skirts and tennis shoes. We started our trip by crossing a long grated bridge. Once to the glacier our family was ready to go, but fortunately and unfortunately we had geology lesson 101 starting. It was very informative, if you listened and if you weren't distracted by the need to go to the bathroom, Matt Hanson. We were able to see blue ice, cracks in the glaciers going 15 feet deep, moss growing under the rock formations, and glacier mud that soon became Greta's entertainment. Noelle and Greta got to ice pick at the glacier and suck on the ice while I enjoyed filling my water bottle with fresh glacier water. I could taste the silicon! Once our trip ended our family got a pass to go ahead of the group so Matt could relieve himself. Once back to our Ford Bronco, we devoured peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We headed back to Anchorage with one stop at Bonnie Lake. Once in Anchorage we chilled for a couple hours. Matt's version of chilling is finding a gun store and beef jerkey at Costco. I went for another walk and Noelle attempted a run, that is until she noticed how stretchy our neighborhood is. This evening we decided to go "The Rustic Goat" for dinner. I enjoyed my spinach chicken salad with berries. We then hit the REI for hiking boots for Greta. We made our way back to the VRBO and crashed soon thereafter.

Tuesday:

This morning Matt decided to join me on my morning run. We did an out and back, 5 miles total. I was hoping we'd see wildlife. No such luck. Once back we packed up our things and started our drive to Homer. We stopped a couple times to get photos, around Anchor Point and a pretty turquoise lake I don't know the name of. Once to Homer we hit a grocery store and made our way to our VRBO. Holy cow was it gorgeous. Our views of the mountains and glaciers over the Pacific from our back porch were amazing! We were nestled along the mountain very secluded from neighbors. We even had our own hot tub. Matt and I decided we might as well eat out on our back porch so we went out looking for fresh salmon…no such luck. Noelle and Greta ran sprint repeats up our hill while we were out. Our dinner ended up being grilled chicken, sour dough bread drizzled in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, fresh pasta, and ceasar salad. We then all took a dip in our hot tub and hit the sack.

Wednesday:

I ran solo this morning. What a hill to finish up! We drove out to Homer spit for our Kaaking adventure. We met up with our tour guide Aaron. Wow, did he have character. He moved here from Oregon with his girlfriend who he has since split up with. He hopes to move in with friends in Oregon and plans to start up film making again, about disaster relief efforts from Hurricanes. He loves to play guitar and write music. During the winter months he works at a coffee shop so the long hours of darkness doesn't give him severe depression. I don't blame him. Our captain Kate brought us across the crystal blue Pacific waters to Halibut cove. We looked at birds on a rock and spotted a sea lion. We then made our way to Kachemak Bay to start our kayaking adventure. Matt and Greta took one tandom and Noelle and I took another. Our guide Aaron had a solo one. After our kayaking lesson we started our way to Kachemak Bay. The bay is boarded by ARB&B's. The only way in is by boat or plane. Speaking of plane, while we were over there we got to see a float plane take off. Our highlight was finding Matt's cousin, Mr. Otter. He was doing a back float while grooming the hair on his head. He didn't care one bit that we were so close to him. Because we were a fast group we were able to extend our adventure to the arch and also to pet star fish. Aaron got one to stick to his beard! Once our adventured ended captain Kate arrived to bring us back to Homer spit. Captain Kate certainly is eccentric too. She lives in a school bus with no running water or electricity. And she loves it. Once back we were famished! We took Captain Kate's recommendation and went for burgers at the Boat House. After eating heavy we all returned to our VRBO to nap. Well, except me. I went and hiked Homer Spit's black rocked beach and hit the local farmers market. Once back to our place we chilled till it was time to go get ice cream at Bubbles Ice Cream parlor. I'm not sure which made us laugh the most that night, the funny kid cartoon we were watching of fat monsters dancing or at the photo shoot we were doing…posed jumping at a mountain lookout. We certainly had the sillies that night. Once back to our place Greta did her glacier face mask and we hit the sack.

Thursday:

This morning Matt and I got up early to workout. I ran and he walked while listening to his book. Grandma Carol sent us a rainbow this morning to approve of our trip. :). Once back to our place we packed up and headed out. We stopped at Bear Mountain trail to do a 1.6 mile round trip hike. We saw spectacular views of the mountains and a turquoise lake down below. Poor Noelle had awful allergies on our hike. Thank goodness for Claritin and Flonase. Once to Girdwood we checked into our place and chilled and showered up for our dinner out. I reserved us a 5:45pm dinner at Seven Glaciers, a restaurant at the top of the Alyeska Resort. We all dressed up. Our trip up the mountain was on the tram. Quite the views once on top!! Our dinner was a five course meal. The dishes were all small, yet amazing. All but two of them had fish: scallops, squid, sea bass, king lobster. The only beef was wagyu from Japan. My highlight was my drink, blueberry ginger non-alcoholic beer flavored with lime. I thought my blueberry stone dessert would be the highlight. It was more beautiful in sight than taste. Once our bellies were full we made our way outside the restaurant for photos and then took the tram down. We browsed the gift shops at the base and made our way back to our place for a movie. Lights were out early tonight.

Friday:

This morning Matt and I drove to Alyeska Resort to do our morning workout. He proceeded to walk up and down the mountain, 4.5 miles, while listening to his book while I ran the bike path around the base. After showering up we grabbed coffee at the local coffee shop and headed to the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, the gateway to the Prince William Sound and town of Whittier. We now know why they say, "the weather is shittier in Whittier." Honestly it was cloudy, rainy, and a bit depressing. Noelle spotted two tall buildings and recalled a story that all the inhabitants of the town live in the newer of the two similar buildings. She couldn't recall how she knew this. We looked it up online, sure enough she was right. The older building was a military barracks. We didn't stay long here, just long enough to get dirty chai's, coffee, and chocolate muffins at the Lazy Otter cafe. On our way back to Girdwood we were first in line to enter the tunnel. The tunnel is completed enclosed, through the mountain. Only one lane of traffic passes on the railroad tracks. On the way over I got a bit claustrophobic. The speed limit is 25 mph and you aren't allowed to stop. I just prayed that no car broke down. Once back to Girdwood we went out shopping. We were on a hunt for hoodies. No such luck. Well….we could have purchased from the Alyeska resorts gift shop but we might have gone broke. We then grabbed snacks from the local merchant store and went for a drive. We found a Mine outpost that had a Wisconsin Dells feel. We simply drove past. Once back to our VRBO we chilled until dinner at the Girdwood Brewing Company. The food we ordered from the food trucks outside the joint was amazing! The brewing company only had beer and kombuchas, both of which paired great with our sandwiches. Afterwards we watched "Family Switch" and hit the sack.

Saturday

This morning I decided to skip my morning run. It was raining pretty hard and I didn't want to burn out before our rafting trip. Fortunately dad decided to forgo his hike up the mountain for the same reasons. Honestly I was nervous for him to do it two days in a row. We instead ate breakfast in while watching track and field and ultramarathoners documentaries on TV. I did a little yoga and doubled my morning coffee intake. Soon after the power went out, the kids were up so we decided to head out early for Coppers Landing. We first stopped at the local bakery for sugar rushes. Today I had us scheduled us a 2 hr scenic float down the turquoise Kenai River. I think everyone would have liked more rapids but our options were a bit limited given our families' short attention spans and where our final day was spent. Our tour guide Maddie was real spunkie. She called herself a seasonal worker. Her next adventure may be New Zealand?? Our tour captured sightings of salmon, bald eagles, a beaver, and many ducks and their babies. Unfortunately no bears. Our guide Maddie sensed Greta's need for action so she did find all the higher currant areas to get us wet. The trip was only classified as a 2.5 on a rapid scale. This trip will definitely be memorable, not necessarily from what we saw but rather from the history that happened while on our raft trip. Auntie Lisa texted us…"look at the news, Trump was just shot at while at a rally in Pennsylvania. He is okay, the shooter was found, shot, and killed." Our family group texts proceeded to come in and James called us to chat about it. Our guide said, "that is why I do these trips, to escape the media." So true. Once our trip ended we hit a local restaurant for lunch/dinner. We then stopped at several gift shops on the way back to Girdwood, looking for much needed sweatshirts and gifts for the Christenson's for watching Wilson. Once back to Girdwood we went for a walk in the rain to buy ice cream. We then packed up and hit the sack. Tomorrow our flight leaves at 6am.

I do think we would all agree that Alaska is definitely beautiful. However, it does have a bit of gloomy feel to it due to the weather. I think we only saw sun a few days. I think if you were to ask each one of us if we'd do it again we might say, "nah, time to try someplace new."

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