ALASKA 2026

We returned the camper this morning after refilling the propane and washing it inside and out. That was really a great option for this trip! We’ll miss you Sophia 🥲

After we got back from doing that, we rallied the troops and walked over to the Anchorage Museum, designed by David Chipperfield (the extension) and built in 2009. It’s a pretty nice building and there are a lot of interactive exhibits that were a hit for our family. The building is tucked behind a nice plaza filled with birch trees. There are also, as you might expect, a lot of artifacts and art related to Alaska and its history.

We fly back tomorrow, so tonight will involve some packing and also perhaps some catching up on missing blog posts. 😂

It’s been a fun trip, but also a very long trip. Which has pros and cons. I think we’re all ready to get back home, but like Japan, we now realize how BIG Alaska is and it’s on our list for a return trip.

It’s Wednesday, uh we are driving back today to anchorage, and spending two nights in a cottage! Last night was our last night in the camper truck 💔and boy was it rough. My mom and brother slept in the bed bed, I slept on the table that turn into a one person bed, and my dad slept outside. Until he didn’t. It was pouring rain really hard and his tent leaked so he sat in the front of the car. With like no sweatshirt just a light sunshine because it was all soaking. God am I glad I didn’t sleep outside last night. 😮‍💨ANYWAYS I convinced my parents to let me sit it the camper truck portion while we drive! Not that far just around the campground BUF IT IS STILL SITTING IN THA BACK!!!! MY LIFELONG DREAM HAS COME TRUE! I’m also writing this at like 7am and SOOOO out of it cuz I slept terrible because it was hot and then cold and then rainy and I got scared the rain was coming in (spoiler it wasn’t) so I kept waking up. 

Last night we pulled into Riley Creek campground at Denali NP and took showers and washed laundry. We also figured out how to use the dump station and fill up the fresh water tank in the camper. 🚽

We found a good spot, B74, in the Bear Wolf Loop away from the main road and pretty close to the restrooms where they have flush toilets and running water! A significant upgrade from our river side spot at Base Camp Kennicott. We leveled out the camper and set up a nice, mosquito free reading tent in the back, which Jasper took over immediately.

Today we slept in and got a slow start. We hiked over to the Visitor Center and looked around for a bit – it’s a really nice building and exhibit. We watched one of the movies in the huge theater and then got in line for the shuttle to see the sled dog demonstration. This took us a couple of miles up the road to the kennel. Now we’re sitting and charging our batteries, literally and figuratively, and trying to decide if we’re going to explore more or head back to camp for some reading and relaxation. Tomorrow we have our Tundra Wilderness Tour.

We’re sitting on the train, the Coastal Classic from Seward back to Anchorage. As we sit here waiting to get moving, I’ll just take a moment to reflect on how fortunate we are to be riding in GoldStar Service, the car with the glass top and dinner included! The dinner car is below us and we’ll be eating soon after we get on our way, but the bar, on this level, is already open based on the drinks I see on the table in front of me 🥃. I’ll try to get in a quick update while we’re waiting.

We arrived in Seward on Thursday morning and instead of the mile and a half walk we thought we were going to take from the train station to the campground, we found the free shuttle and hopped right on. It dropped us off in front of the campground just a short walk from our site. That was a relief to Juniper who thought she might not make it (she totally would have made it) carrying all our gear. Unfortunately, we were greeted with a full campsite 😞, but while we waited for the people to pack up and leave, we saw a couple humpback whales in Resurrection Bay right in front of our campsite! I wasn’t able to capture a picture, but it was pretty cool.

While we were in Seward, we walked around the downtown and found a great coffee shop, Resurrect Art, that had a ton of local artwork for sale as well as some good coffee and a place to sit inside. It was located in an old United Methodist Church. We also had a delicious breakfast at the Rowdy Radish, where I had what might be the best frittata I’ve ever had. (So good we went back this morning.)

Just felt this 5.4 earthquake while resting in our tent. We’re in Seward somewhere near the red arrow.

Who knew there were three different kinds of twilight!

We were shuttled from the airport to our hotel downtown yesterday by a nice local who was pleasantly surprised to meet some tourists with plans slightly outside the “normal tourist fare.” We rode in his Toyota Highlander and told him about our plan to rent a camper and drive a loop through Wrangell-St. Elias and Denali after doing some camping in Seward and he asked if we were going to stick to the road system or go off roading. He said, in Alaska, you can pretty much just pull off the road and camp anywhere. He mentioned the Knik River about 30 minutes north of Anchorage and somewhere near Girdwood to the south.

When we arrived at the hotel around midnight, the sky was still bright and it felt like late afternoon on a slightly overcast day. Unfortunately during check-in at the front desk, we were informed that they didn’t have any available rooms with two queen beds. After some discussion, they found a vacated room next to an open room and hastily cleaned it and gave us the two rooms for the night. We got comped a nice breakfast for our troubles.

This morning we learned that we had to move into a double room since they were fully booked and could let us stay in the two rooms another night. They moved our bags and comped us dinner.

We spent the day walking part of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail (about a mile) and then looping back through the city with a stop at the Alaska Public Lands Information Center, some lunch at AK Alchemist, and coffee and a donut at Kobuk. All in all maybe 4 miles of walking. The weather has been nice – sunny and warm. The hotel is also nice, despite the room mixup. We’re staying at The Wildbirch Hotel. We leave early tomorrow, so now it’s time for some downtime at the hotel. I’ve got Ready Player One queued up on the Kindle.

Wandering around town today exploring Anchorage and getting acclimated to all this daylight!

Found where we will be boarding the Alaska Railroad tomorrow morning, just a short walk from our hotel.

The dandelions of Alaska are impressively huge everywhere we go.

We found a free exhibit at the Alaska Public Land Headquarters which had this amazing relief map that show the northernmost, westernmost, & easternmost point of the USA!

Snapshots of our very late hotel check in last night, luxury in comparison to the upcoming tent accommodations.

Airports are fun! Except for security. I think it’s my worst nightmare going by through that detector thing, not because I have anything dangerous, but because I fear the social interactions that come with getting pulled over. At the airport, we got some food and headed off! We’re on the plane now, boarding, and the plane just started moving. Update when we get to anchorage and how my music that I downloaded most of earlier today.

Update

So I did not need to download music because the plane had WiFi. Anyways, it’s the next day, 8:46 am. We got two different room with king size beds because they didn’t have a two queen room. Breakfast was AMAZING!!! We are having to move rooms, because our hotel is over booked, but for now, we are heading out to explore Anchorage!

That was an epic arrival view at 10 o’clock at night!

Remember that the desiccant packs in dehydrated food will get flagged in the X-ray machine and call for extra security at TSA! We allowed plenty of time so it didn’t cause any issues but it did take awhile to repack.

Apparently bringing a giant duffel bag full of dehydrated backpacking food calls for extra security checks. 😳 The desiccant packets were flagged green in the X-ray. Anyhow, it wasn’t a problem since we arrived with plenty of time before departure, but still a small pain to stuff everything back in the duffel. Making a mental note for future adventures.

And we’re off!

I’m being made to post this as a test

I think Jasper has been dreaming of this place since 5th grade when he worked so hard and tirelessly on his US states report on Alaska. He really went above and beyond, delving wholeheartedly into learning about all 8 national parks and so much more! He even built this amazing float that showcased the grandeur of Denali (a.k.a. Mt. McKinley). This was a tough period of time during those elementary school years coupled with a pandemic. We are so grateful his teachers understood Jasper would excel at something different than the handwritten reports everyone else was required to have. Regardless, this amazing slideshow left an impression and when we asked him where he would choose for family vacation to celebrate middle school graduation, without hesitation he responded, “ALASKA!”

That’s the name of the rental company we’re renting our camper from, but it’s also what we’re going to do in a little over 48 hours. Jasper selected Alaska as our destination this summer and we’re going to do it big. Join us for the ride!