Day 1: Our Coffee shop hunt:

K and I landed in Anchorage, AK in an early September afternoon, rented a car and headed straight to Denali National Park, which is a 4-5 hour drive from Anchorage. Because of numerous flight delays and cancellations, we were sleep deprived and decided to grab a coffee for the long drive ahead. At this point, we were already 2 hours into our drive. When I opened the google maps to find the nearest Starbucks, well, guess what, only 100 miles away was the first coffee place. There, I realized “Welcome to Alaska!”

K was disappointed for not getting a coffee for about a half hour until we found a lone coffee shop in the middle of no-where. The drive to Denali was completely garnished with fall colors. Everyone warned us for going in September because of continuous rain but it was a total hit for us. After reaching our cabin, we fell in love with the place: it had an amazing view with some romantic elements. We took some pictures and finally crashed to get ready for the adventures ahead.

Day 2: Trip to Wonder Lake:

We woke up at 4 am to board the shuttle that drives inside the Denali Park. This shuttle takes you to Wonder Lake which lies in the dead-end. The round trip is about 12 hours, and you are allowed to get on and off the bus anytime.

The sight of Denali was mind blowing and a complete visual treat.

We also spotted a moose family roaming freely, bears binging on berries, and dall sheeps descending down the hill on the way to wonder lake. Much excitement!

Day 3: Hiking:

We started our day with heavy breakfast at Rose’s Cafe, Healy and hit the roads for hiking. If you are planning to hike inside the park, carry a bear spray and bells so the bears won’t be surprised. K bought pepper spray instead because he thought it was much cheaper, and it will not save you if a bear encounters you.

There were many breadth-taking and must-click views during our hike. The whole day ended with much satisfaction.

Day 4: More Hiking:

We hiked Mt. Healy Overlook trail. The trail was easy in the beginning and it got really strenuous towards the end. We packed our lunch to have a table for two on top of the summit overlooking fall colors, at the same time, we were scared the smell of meat will attract the bears. Overall, totally worth the adventure.

Later that day, we did Taiga Trail to look at some Alaska’s wild flowers. At the end of the day, we burnt some serious calories, experienced amazing table for two and clicked Instagram-worthy pictures.

Day 5: Meet the Sled Dogs:

Did you know Alaskan huskies burn 10,000 calories a day? Rangers and dogs worked together to demonstrate traditional Alaska’s mode of travel. We also visited the kennels and met huskies that were on vacation for summer. These huskies have a rough winter ahead.

Later that day, we started our drive to Girdwood, AK which is a 5 hour drive from Denali National Park. We clicked this picture in one of the vista points.

Day 6: Drive to Seward:

It was drizzling in the morning on our way to Girdwood Picnic Club, a cozy breakfast place in the downtown. Their hot coffee, rain drizzling with a marvelous view was much needed at that moment. After relishing our breakfast, we hit the roads towards Seward. On the way, we stopped at Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center, a place for injured or orphaned animals. We had a chance to see a Bison baby and a reindeer baby. We also had the best seafood chowder at this place. Please stop by at this place if you have time.

We got on and off of our car to capture more pictures and always get a better view than previous. The Seward highway runs through the beautiful Kenai Peninsula. Around 3 pm, we reached Kenai Fjords National Park, Exit Glacier area, and prepared ourselves for another hike.

This picture is clicked during the hike to Exit Glacier. We hiked over uneven terrain to reach close to the glacier to get the complete view. Near the glacier, I closed my eyes for a moment to feel the huge block of ice descending every second, and the moment was bliss. On our way back from hike, the very thought of fresh-caught fish and clam chowder was welcoming. We finally headed to Salmon Bake for dinner.

Day 7: Lowell Point

We started our breakfast at Le Barn Appetit, a local crepe place. The hostess was very friendly and told all her stories, and it was one of the things I brought from Alaska to share with friends and family. After our breakfast, we headed towards Tonsina trail to hike. We hiked for about 3 hours and returned quietly because we started hearing growls far away. Only if we had hiked few more minutes, that would have been a whole different story. After completing our hike, we headed towards Sledding place to check one off the bucket list. It was amazing to see a total of 24 huskies to pull us into the woods. These huskies like to run a lot: they put their heart and soul because that’s their only playtime.

In the evening, we strolled through the harbor and downtown area and it’s another visual treat by its own.

The water here was crystal clear and we can actually see the whole reflection. It was one memorable evening walk.

Day 8: Some Cruising:

We started from Seward towards Whittier for cruising to look at hidden glaciers and sea life. We spent the whole day relaxing inside the ship, stepping outside in cold only for pictures. We spotted sea lions and otters on our way.

Otters playing on the chunks of ice calved from massive glaciers.

The sight of glacier.

The crew members took some samples of ice floating on the water bodies and made margarita out of ice chunks and sold them as ‘Glacier Margarita’.

After our cruise, we drove towards Palmer, AK and stayed in an Airbnb. I returned home with a funny story experienced with their dog. Their dog is a attention-seeker. He steals everything and keep it in its kennel, so that people can go visit him. It was 3 am in the morning, when I woke up for nature call, their dog was already standing in front our bedroom door (may be he was waiting for the moment). It was pitch dark, and I can only see his shiny eyes. The very thought of something going to snatch me (I was imagining a ghost at this point) made my heart pounding so fast. Being curious, I touched it and it was their dog. The moment of relief. Then, I went to the bathroom which is across from the bedroom. When I opened my bathroom door again, he took my favorite sweater and kept walking towards his kennel. I was standing there and laughing at his cute gesture. The next day, I visited his kennel, pet him for sometime and finally took my sweater back.

Day 9: Some Adventures:

This is the day I have been waiting for from the beginning of the trip: Glacier hiking was one of my bucket list items. Before our Glacier hiking, we went for a small hike in Hatcher Pass near Palmer, where we saw abandoned Gold mine knows as Independence Mine.

The abandoned Gold mine trail.

After our Hatcher Pass hike, we drove from Palmer to reach Matanuska Glacier, a 27 mile long valley glacier. The tour guy was very helpful throughout and threw scientific facts occasionally that made the whole day interesting.

Can you imagine this pool could be 100 ft in depth? We had a perfect weather of rainbow on one side and sunshine on the other side. During our hike, we also did ice climbing. Ice climbing is way harder than it looks. I was literally trembling towards the end to reach the top.

K did twice, while I was still catching up on my breadth. Overall, we had our dose of adventure for the day. After 6 hours of hike, we left that place heavy-heartily.

Day 10: The end of trip:

We drove back to Anchorage from Palmer and reached around lunch time. We finished our lunch in the downtown area and decided to do our last hike at Anchorage Coastal Trail. As the day passed by, we were so upset to leave the place, we finally headed towards the airport to catch our flight only realizing our trip is coming to an end. While I sit and write this, the memories come rushing and I can definitely say it’s our most favorite trip of the year.

-Preethi Parasurama