Very beautiful bird that was still enough for me to take a photo

Ended up at 49 Street Brewey for a beer and dinner. The first two beers, a watermelon Mexican lager and a raspberry blond were too sweet for both of us. We ended up not finishing them and instead got a nitro stout for me and an Alaska Amber Borealis for Diane. Split a burger and a seafood chowder. The chowder was good - smoked salmon and halibut.

Meandered our way back to the hotel, grabbed a drink and wound down in our room realizing we had been awake for 20 hours. Will be ready tomorrow morning, bright and early for a self tour of the city.

We are in the mushing district

And we are off! \240Long day of traveling ahead of us and a 3 hour time change. Flew through Denver and then a 5.5 hour flight in First Class to Anchorage.

Checked into our hotel room at the Hyatt boutique collection called the Wild Birch. A funky little place with a really long hallway and a very small room. But hey - just a place to rest and a comfy bed.

Changed clothes and went for a long walk - walked toward the water and saw some really cool birds in the mudpit - this seems to be the first several hundred feet of the water here.

Along the walking path

Started our walk this morning by heading to Ship Creek. Kind of a disappointment as the water was extremely slow and no salmon :(.

The White Spot Cafe for breakfast/lunch is what Diane picked for us. Both of us got to try reindeer. Diane had the reindeer chili and I had eggs with reindeer sausage. This cafe has been here since 1949 - first come first served and took about 45 minutes for our food. Only sits 49 people. Sausage tasted like any other sausage- food was a disappointment.

A little fun at the museum

We went back for a short rest and then headed out for the afternoon. Headed to Kubon tea shop and Diane got some tea to take to the room. \240Looked around for some of the murals as seen below.

Not a lot to do in this town so we went to the Anchorage museum. Nice exhibit of clothing, utensils, etc from some of the various tribes. There was also a special exhibit discussing the radiation poisoning in the caribou - came here from the Las Vegas bomb testing - many years ago and still impacting them today.

Quite a walk to find this one.

All that walking made us a little hungry so we went to Glacier Brewing and sat at the bar. Our bartender was a nice guy. We tried a sampler of their beers and then Diane had an Amber and I opted for a coffee martini. We also had yummy garlic shrimp.

Our last stop of the day was at Crush - \240a little wine and tapas bar. We had dates and I had polenta. And an Australia sampler - preparing for our next big adventure!

Stopped in the bar to finish watching the end of the Spurs game. Disappointing loss.

And off to bed we go so we can get our car and drive to Denali tomorrow.

Big smile!

Gas was 6.50 a gallon when we filled up - ouch!

Continued along to the Denali Bluffs Hotel - home for the next theee nights. We spent the evening in our room enjoying the views. Had dinner in the restaurant here - split the cornbread skillet and smoked salmon chowder for dinner.

Absolutely beautiful drive with the Alaskan mountains and the Talkeetna mountains visible most of the trip. We did a stopover in Talkneetna \240at the Mountain Pie Pizza Company for lunch and a beer.

From our balcony

Finally stopped snowing 🌨️

Came back to the room and took a break and then decided to check out the little town here. Like most small mountain towns near the entrance of parks there were tourist shops with homemade Alaskan goods and some fast food restaurants. We saw a sign for the pub and pizzeria - Lynx Creek pub and pizzeria was about the only thing open when we were hungry so another pizza it was. Also tried a spruce tip IPA and Diane had her Alaska Amber.

This ended up being the edge of the princess cruise lines hotel. Wow I felt like I was at a cruise ship port. They had many stores and five restaurants and several bars. We grabbed a beer and sat on a beautiful deck overlooking the water and the mountains. We decided to make a reservation for dinner here tomorrow.

Rushing River

Entrance to the hotel

Really coming down!

We have a Jeep tour plan for this morning, which was rain or snow- no cancellations. So we spent most of the driving in the snow. Was not really a very pleasant experience. I wish they would’ve canceled it because the views were not very good because of the snow and the low clouds covering the mountains. But we made the best of it.

All the jeeps were brightly colored

We returned to our hotel room and grabbed a cobbler for Diane‘s birthday treat, had a glass of wine and relaxed \240enjoying our view again.

Decorated trees along the roadway

Our driver

Typical mushing set-up

After the shuttle bus we took a three mile walk down to the lake and back. OTF really pays off. Saw a great beaver 🦫 dam.

Views are amazing!

Snow writing :-)

Ended our day across the street at the princess Lodge where we had a nice dinner and a bottle of wine followed by chocolate cake and port to celebrate Diane’s birthday. I had asiago crusted halibut, and Diane had the King salmon.

After being outdoors all day, we called it a night.

Never saw a real one.

The Alaskan Range is amazing. It stretches 600 miles and they are massive. Many times you can’t see the tops! \240Also learned that since most of Alaska is ony assessable by planes they frequently use the roads to land. We did see quite a few small planes though none on the road. The orange balls are to let them know the power lines are there.

Sustina Brewery in Big Lake was our half way spot and lunch. Had a Vanilla Golden Ale and Diane had an Amber with beer cheese Brussels sprouts and we split a chicken wrap.

Beer with a view

Brussels with beer cheese 😋

Took us about 6.5 hours to arrive in Seward. Was expecting rain so nice when it didn’t happen! \240Decided on Rays for dinner and got to watch a harbor seal pop gliding around. I had oysters and roasted garlic with gorganzola cheese. Yummy. Diane had overcooked Halibut. And that was it for the day!

We stayed at the Hotel Edgewater - the smallest and oddest bathroom ever but a very comfy bed! \240I really don’t get these hotels that put in seating for one person when there is plenty of room for another chair or a couch.

Holding glacier ice

In front of the Aialik glacier

Just wow!

We did see orcas, humpback whales, otters, sea lions, a bald eagle and mountain goats although at a distance they are hard to photograph.

This tour was 6 hours and 110 miles. Thankfully the boat was warm and toasty. The ride was mostly smooth but there was a bit of rough water we weren’t expecting. It rained a large part of the day so we only went outside for the wildlife sightings.

Ended up having a quick bite at Seward Brewing and that ended our day.

Not raining at the moment

Sea otters - a group like this is called a raft

And our last stop was Girdwood Brewery for food truck lunch, Mexican lager for Diane, nitro stout for Tee , some nice conversation and beautiful sunshine - first and only day we didn’t need a coat.

Pristine snow

The Alaskan Mountain Range is absolutely the most beautiful and pristine I have ever seen. It was visible on our entire trip which was hundreds of miles. The upper tips above 5,000 maintain snow all year. \240Like everything in the world these days it is expensive for anything. All our hotels were a disappointment for one reason or another. We did have a brand new car for our rental although a bit small for us. We had a lot of light rain, a little snow, a lot of wind and a lot of fresh air. Crowds were light as we were shoulder season but light was still crowded.

Enjoyed our trip but don’t think we will return to Alaska.