Foggy Independence Mine

We walked the hillside trail which goes up and over the mine. I'm sure the longer views are amazing when the fog isn't as thick as pea soup haha.

April Bowl Hike At Hatcher Pass

The view from the parking lot

Walking up the trail 

View of Summit Lake from the trail 

Views in the April Bowl of the two lakes

 The trail continues but we didn't go onto the narrow and steep portion of the trail that leads to Hatch Mountain. We did walk a little farther which are the above views.

Seward Beachcombing

Just a quick post. We had a whole day planned in Seward but due to a medical emergency (mine, boo, and I'm slowly getting better) we just ended up on the beach. You can tell by the smile that the girls didn't mind. :)

Girdwood and The Hotel Alyeska

LODGING: The Alyeska Resort in Girdwood

WHERE WE ATE:

The Bore Tide Deli after a short tram ride up the mountain. We purchased a package that came with free tram tickets, otherwise you can purchase tickets that give you credit for a meal at the top. Check the ticket booth for details. The deli serves pretty much what you'd expect - soups, salads, sandwiches.

The Aurora Bar and Grill. Also a restaurant associated with the resort, we've had mixed experiences at here. The first time was so-so, the second time we only went because we couldn't get a reservation at Jack Sprat and we were hungry. It was great. Good food, good service. We left really happy.

WHAT WE DID: We tried to go cross-country skiing on the Winner Creek Trail. This trail is not only in an avalanche zone, it's NOT for beginners. Ha ha! For the time being we'll stick with the Moose Meadows.

Albert Loop Trail

 Another beautiful day on one of our favorite close-to-home hikes. We are so lucky.

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.