Returned from trip and THANK YOU!

Hi to all my forum friends and advisors and espically Coalminer and Glacier Lady.

We just retruned a few days ago from our wonderful trip. Before I went I could not really understand how so many people reported that they went back several years in a row...now we get it!

For those of you who have been following my posts we are the family of 4 (two adult kids) who went to celebrate my husbands 60th. We followed many of your suggesstions from itenary to resturants to driving routes and really appreciate all of your suggesstions. Our only problem...we could have used more time!

One suggesstion for those of you still in the planning stage:

Get trip insurance to cover all prepaid expenses. We used Travel Guard which had trip interuption. A very good thing since we had a weather delay on our remote bear wilderness camp and ended up staying 5 days instead of 3. This caused us to have to change and rearrange almost all of our following plans. But, thanks to the insurance we had no problem doing that. I really recommend it. Also, we found that almost always when we called our hotels and prebooked activities to tell them we needed to rearange we head ';oh yes, that%26#39;s Alaska...we are happy to change your reservation at no additional charge.'; Love that Alaskan attitude!

Our trip in brief:

Spent 1 night in Anchorage, fun meal at Glacier Brew House (skip the beer and try the home brewed root beer). Next day rented bikes in the morning and rode the Tony Knowles trail (excellent activity). Spent some time at the Saturday market( a little fun but not a highlight if you have been to other fairs).

Day 2 Drove to Homer in the afternoon- wonderful drive

Checked into Land%26#39;s End where we had a beautful 2 room water front room at a very reasonable price. great place.

Day 3:explored Homer in AM

Water taxi to state park for an outstanding hike (check out the hand tram ride over the gorge!).Packed great lunch from Two Sisters Bakery.

Day 4- Pratt Museum in AM

Flight to Hallo Bay Wilderness Camp in Afternoon.

Hallo Bay was an experience of a lifetime. 5 Days up close and personal with the bears..great hikes..beautiful peaceful remote country...wonderful experienced guide. It may be a little rough for some but just our cup of tea. We had been scheduled to stay only 2 nights but got weathered in and ended up spending 4. I will be happy to give more details if anyone is interested. We loved it.

Day 5,6.7- Hallo Bay

Day 8 flew back to Homer(missed our fishing trip here) and headed off to Seward.

Great meal at the Salmon Bake. We also loved Roys the next night even though we had heard such mixed reviews of it on this forum. Stayed at the Windsong which was nice but pretty far from town. The shuttle only ran on the hour.Turned out ok becuse they could not accomodate us for the second night so we moved into the Breeze Inn. We had a real harbor view room in the annex building and it was wonderful. Much more conveninet for early morning boat departures then the Windsong or any downtown location. Did the Northwest Fiord 9 hour tour with Miriah, Sea Life Museum, the guys did 1/2 day salmon fishing, enjoyed the town and basically fell in love with Seward. So so meal at Chinnoks. Took the train back to Anchorage (bring your own food). Wonderful ride with great guides. We sat in the dome car the entire time and did not find anyone waiting to use our seats.

Day 9- Dropped my son at the airport and headed for Talkeetna. The drive was long and it was late. We were starting to get a bit cranky for the first time...but I guess there was a greater plan becuase as we were checking in to the lodge at 1:30 AM someone came running in shouting that the Nornthen Lights were out. apparantly very unusual at this time of the year. They were very faint and one color at a time (mostly green but a turn at pink). Not bright enough to capture on our camera...but we did see it. A real treat and surprise. The lodge was great and the town wonderful. We were close enough to walk but easy to drive and use the hotel shuttle( ran every 15 min.).Explored the town, took the flight tour of Mt. Denali ( which we now know what to call that mountain.) Walked along the river. Had a great meal at the Wildflower Cafe and great lunch at the Talkeetna Road House. Took some time to sit and enjoy the mountain view and get some R%26amp;R.

Day 9- Hiked the trails of Denali State Park. We had opted not to go to Denali National park becuase we did not want to sit on the bus for that long. We considered staying over night inside the park but could not get reservations. We were not sorry with our decission to explore the State Park. Trails were great..views beautiful and lots of wildlife (brown and grizzly bears, eagles, fox, and more tons of large salomon in the river).For us it was a good decission.

Day 10- Back to Anchorage to drop my daughter off at the airport and then my husband and I headed east. We spent one night at the Sheep Mountain Lodge which we addorred ( thank you Coalminer I think that was your suggesstion). We enjoyed the views, the people and even got to hold the puppies of a team that did race the Iditarod and will again. Great place and great food.

Day 11- Spent on the Matanuska Glacier. We stopped at the ';Visitor Pull out ';and read all of the excellent information signs. We opted not to take the $ guided tour and felt totally comfortable hiking around ourselves. We payed $15 each for access at ';Glacier Park.'; There were many others doing the same thing. It was beautiful and amazing.

Day 12- Drove to Copper River and enjoyed the changing scenery. Enjoyed the peace and quiet of the Copper River Princess Lodge on a day when no cruise tour was there (planned that). By the way the internet rate for that room was a lot less then calling for a reservation. Spent the better part of the next day at the National Park Ranger Center. Guided hike, museum, movie.

Day 13- Back again to Anchorage to catch an ealry morning flight the next day. Time to hit a grocery store for souvenirs ( way less money then gift shops or the airport and the same selection).

Day 14- Sadly home....with a long list of things to do and see next time!

thanks again for all you help...you have a beautiful part of the country there...treasure it.

If anyone is still planning a trip and has specific questions about our route just give a click.

Till next time...PS we had fun trying to guess if any of the people we saw in Seward was Glacier Lady..maybe we did!

Returned from trip and THANK YOU!

That was a wonderful report. I don%26#39;t know how you were able to do all that you did. I was exhausted reading about your adventures: - ).

Glad you had a great time and didn%26#39;t let the weather get the best (or worst) of you.

By the way, I agree with the meal on the train. I think McDonald%26#39;s would have been a better option.

Returned from trip and THANK YOU!

It was great.

We carried on sandwiches from the Bakery in the small boat harbor and they were perfect. We ordered them in the morning and they were ready for us to pick up just before we boarded the train. It worked out well.

Thanks for telling me about your report - I was gone about 10 days, so I missed quite a bit on the forum! So glad to hear you had a good time . . . . and that you will be back. As you now know, that is why it%26#39;s often difficult to tell people what to do, esp. if they tell you that they have 4-5 days to explore the state - it%26#39;s simply too huge and everyone really needs more time. Heck - I am still exploring myself and have lived here most of my adult life. Glad to hear Sheep Mtn is still as great as ever - I think it%26#39;s one of the prettiest areas in the state. Thanks again! :)

Thanks Coal Miner for finding our review. I agree with you that you can%26#39;t do your state in a short time. We had two full weeks and only did a fraction of what there is to do. We are looking forward to coming back and exploring more. We know next time we want to stay inside Denali, go to Valdaz, Girdwood ( which we missed due to the delay of our trip this time) and maybe take a small boat on the inside pasage.

Our friends tell a story about Olympic National Park ( another beautiful place where we spent 8 days). They drove out there from Seattle and had only one day to explore. At the enterance gate they asked the ranger: ';If you had one day to spend at Olympic Park what would you do?'; He said, ';I%26#39;d cry.'; I guess that is how we now feel about Alaska. It is funny to read some of the posts of how much people try to squeeze into their trip. Our favorite part of our trip was that it gave us time to slow down and look. Now, we are waiting to come back and do some more.