Talkeetna

 LODGING

We stayed at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge. We booked a mountain view room which meant amazing views of the Alaska Range including Mount Foraker, Denali, and Moose's Tooth. There's a large room in the east wing where you can either sit and enjoy the view or play board games or put together puzzles (provided) on the scattered low tables. This was our childrens' favorite part!

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ACTIVITIES

Day one we drove the short distance into Talkeetna (the lodge also has a free shuttle back and forth) to walk around town. There were some gift shops open and we did a little souvenir shopping for friends Outside. The Heritage of Alaska Gift Shop has a small, wood-carved downtown Talkeetna scene which is a fun thing to check out. We also walked to the end of the street to look at views of Denali from the currently frozen over Susitna River.

Day two we drove the opposite direction to Talkeetna Lakes Park for some cross-country skiing. There's a day use fee parking lot (the Comsat trailhead) where we started out from. There's a map of the groomed trails at the trailhead (or you can see one here), we started on the Mink trail but found our way to Talkeetna Lake where we skied on a groomed trail over the ice. There was some bonus views of Denali peeking over the trees from there too.

 FOOD

There were two places we ate at which we LOVED. First was Twister Creek for dinner, which is Denali Brewing Company's brewpub. The atmosphere was great, very "old Alaska" and the food was yummy, too. The girls and I shared a pitcher of their root beer while Andrew tried some of the beers.

We stopped at the Flying Squirrel Bakery - Cafe after skiing for some drinks and a snack. We were so excited to see that they had several pastries which were gluten and dairy free, and more importantly they tasted GREAT. They also had vegan options for those with other dietary restrictions. I had the rhubarb ade which I highly recommend and the girls had dairy-free steamers which came in mugs that made them feel very fancy. Next time we're in Talkeetna we're going back to try their pizza, they have a wood-fired pizza oven and it smelled like heaven in there.

Homer and the Seward Highway

 Labor Day weekend on the Homer Spit! Everything shuts down the Tuesday after so it was an interesting experience. The campgrounds were empty but there were still a lot of tourists walking around the shops. We were served extremely generous portions by restaurants wanting to use all the food up LOL.

The drive was absolutely beautiful, with lots of fall color already started.

Valdez in a Motorhome

Let me start by writing that Valdez isn't like some of the other tourist-y towns we've visited in Alaska. There's not much to do on foot. It's beautiful but if you need restaurants, gift shops, galleries, etc. this is not it. If you want to charter a fishing trip or a glacier cruise though, you are in luck!

We stayed at the Eagle's Nest RV park. Like most full hook-up RV campgrounds in this state, it's a large gravel parking lot. You can get a picnic table and fire ring for your site if you'd like. There's also tiny cabins for rent and a grass space for tent camping. It was pretty easy to walk into the downtown area from here and we even walked to Mineral Canyon (about 3 miles round trip).

It's a beautiful walk downtown along the marina. From there it's an easy stroll to the Dock Point trail. The trail has views of the harbor, mountains, and waterfalls. You'll also pass by a bald eagle nest. It's fairly easy with one hill that puts you a little out of breath.

The Roadside Potatohead had good food and Mr. Potatoheads to play with while we waited for it.

These pictures are from the Mineral Canyon hike. We went at the wrong time of day for good pictures but it's a lush canyon surrounded on all sides by waterfalls. Cars can get pretty far up but not only are there no turnarounds for motorhomes or vehicles with trailers, there's a bridge with a weight limit that doesn't support those large vehicles. So we walked from the RV park. We plan on going back with a smaller vehicle so we can hike all the way up, it's crazy beautiful!

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

 The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center is south of Anchorage off of the Seward Highway, near where the city of Portage used to exist. There's a one-way loop through the property that you can either drive or walk. This day was really nice and we opted to walk. The animals have their areas and it's the humans that are kind of "caged" in. It's a way to see real Alaska wildlife up close while supporting the center which:

AWCC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Alaska’s wildlife through public education. AWCC takes in injured and orphaned animals year-round and provides spacious enclosures and quality animal care. Animals that cannot be released into the wild are given a permanent home at the center. The Center maintains over 200 acres of land to provide animals with “healthy habitats”.

There's a gift shops that is open year round and a snack shack that seems to operate only in the summer.  The center itself is open year round except for a few holidays. They also have different operating hours for summer and winter (like most Alaskan attractions) so check before you go!

For more information on the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center click here.




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