We left Oregon with a slight but concerning uptick in COVID cases. During the course of our stay in Alaska, each day would bring worse news about the surging pandemic worldwide, a pandemic that we thought we had behind us back in June when we scheduled our trip. In Alaska, each day more and more businesses required masks to enter.
During our stay, we became disconnected from the state of affairs back home in Oregon. I wondered what we would be arriving home to and if we would be in lock-down yet again. In fact, Oregon would go back under mask mandate within days of our arrival back home. I am thankful to have sneaked this vacation in between waves of COVID. My days of fogged up glasses and non-functional facial recognition on my phone seem to be back.
Alaska is the most amazing place I’ve ever been, topping even the Black Hills and the Grand Tetons in the US. I’ve never been to the Swiss Alps, so I cannot compare. A train trip through the Alps is on my bucket list.
While in Alaska, we managed to go flightseeing, walk on a glacier, hike and walk quite a lot, fish for halibut and salmon, see brown bears and orcas, ride the Alaska Railroad, visit a lot of great breweries, eat a lot of sub-par food, and take thousands of pictures as keepsakes.
I am ready to go back. Despite all that we did, there are way too many things that we left undone, a visit to Denali at the top of that list.
Post Index
Day 1: Anchorage
Random Thoughts
Alaska has no-joke mountains, more and bigger mountains than I have ever seen in my life, including the Sierra, Rockies, and Cascades. You can go from sea level to 4000 feet in 6.2 seconds. As a result, the hiking is world-class. I finally did in my current pair of Oboz shoes and a pair of Darn Tough socks.
Very few parts of the state that we visited are not down-right scenic. Even the ugly parts are beautiful.
In a season of diminished tourism, the touristy parts (mainly the cruise ship ports) of Alaska are overrun with tourists. Best to avoid these places, if you have a tourist allergy.
In my life, I have never seen so many brand new hiking boots or so much brand new outdoor clothing and gear. So many tourists, even in town, were dressed in the finest Eddie Bauer hiker-wannabe wardrobes. Out hiking, I saw way too many cans of bear spray in brand new holsters lashed to people who probably had no idea how to use it, on trails so populated that there was zero chance of a daytime bear encounter.
Alaska has some pretty good beer, even if the good breweries are very thinly spread by Oregon standards. Like many states, Alaska has some crazy alcohol rules, just different than I have encountered elsewhere. What’s up with brewpubs closing at 8pm, the three-beer (36oz) limit, and a ban on entertainment at breweries?
For a hyper-Republican state, there sure are a lot of weed dispensaries.
Yes, the summer days are long and sleep masks are awesome. Driving into the sunset with shades on at 10 pm is surreal.
For viewing wildflowers, Alaska in the summer time can hardly be beat because the flowers are just coming into their prime at a time when the rest of the country is largely bloomed out. The wildlife is pretty amazing as well. I managed to see for the first time brown bear, dall sheep, minke and humpback whales, orcas, porcupine, spruce grouse, golden-crowned sparrow, tufted puffins, glaucous-winged gulls, and black-legged kittiwakes.
Anchorage is a town best avoided. Land there and fly out of there, but get the hell away from all the tourists, paid parking, and awful tourist restaurants. Stay elsewhere. Even so, there are many places to get a decent cup of coffee or glass of beer in Anchorage.
In a similar vein, our experience is that restaurant food is pretty disappointing in Alaska. Next visit, should we stay in a location more than overnight, we will get a place with a kitchen and cook for ourselves.
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