An Astounding Bucket-List Trip

A few months ago we checked off another bucket list trip - this time to Alaska. We met our Moustash Joe tour group at Omaha’s Eppley Airport on Saturday, July 19th and set off on a nine-day land tour by bus of the 49th state. We spent time in Anchorage, Valdez, Fairbanks, Denali National Park, and Talkeetna, as well as a few small towns and state parks along the way. 

Our first day of sight-seeing occurred on Monday when we took a boat out on Prince William Sound at Valdez to view the Columbia Glacier. We were able to get within four miles of this massive tidewater ice structure. There were also lots of icebergs in the water close to the glacier that brought back images of the movie Titanic! On our way to and from the glacier we were treated to a wide variety of animals who were enjoying the warm sunshiny day - porpoises, puffins, orcas, bald eagles, humpback whales, and sea lions. At one point our boat stopped and we watched a pair of humpback whales play for over half an hour. They put on quite a show for us!

Columbia Glacier

On Wednesday - which also happened to be my birthday! -  we were in Fairbanks and rode a paddle boat on the Chena River. While on the boat we had a stop to learn about the Athabaskan people who were the original inhabitants of the interior of Alaska. We also had a demonstration of the sled dogs used in the Iditarod race and  for transportation during the winter. The dogs were trained by the daughter of Susan Butcher who was a four-time winner of the Iditarod and also the first woman to win the race. It was a unique way to spend my special day!

Paddleboat on the Chena River

The next day, as we were traveling towards Denali National Park, we stopped at the Dog Gone It kennel and learned even more about the sled dogs. As we got off the bus we were handed a puppy! This is done with all visitors to the kennel to help socialize the pups. And we did not complain a bit about getting to snuggle these cute little puppies.

Dog Gone It Kennel

On Friday we toured Denali by bus and were able to see caribou, fox, moose, Dall sheep, ptarmigans, and porcupines. One caribou stepped out right in front of our bus and then walked right alongside it. The moose and the Dall sheep were further away but we were able to view them on the tv screens on the bus as the driver had a high-powered video camera that could zoom in on them. It was so interesting to see them in their natural habitat.

Caribou in Denali National Park

Our final day on Saturday was another highlight of the trip as we were treated to spectacular views of Mt. McKinley aboard our train from Denali to Talkeetna. Only 30% of visitors to Alaska are able to see an unobstructed view of the mountain due to the clouds that are usually present. We were thrilled to be able to view the mountain from several different angles during our four-hour train trip.

Mt. McKinley

All in all the trip was a success! Our only disappointment was that we did not see any bears. However, we saw every other kind of wildlife so we did not have a lot to complain about. The weather was great, the seafood was delicious, the scenery was spectacular., and we had several once-in-a-lifetime experiences. We even found a quilt shop that was open in Glitter Gulch near Denali National Park! So stayed tuned for a future blog describing the quilt I made with the fabrics I purchased there.