Hello and welcome back to Nomad Dad Life! Today we continue our adventures back in Alaska after our Maui vacation. If you haven’t read that post, please do so here. There was still a lot of snow when we got back to Alaska, and the state doesn’t really open until after Memorial Day, so we had some time to really start exploring the state. There was still plenty to do and see around Anchorage. The coastal cities such as Seward and Homer don’t have much going on until the end of May. We took a drive to Seward before Memorial Day, because it is a beautiful drive, and we knew after the holiday that Alaska would be busy.
Our first summer trip happened on Memorial Day weekend. We had plans to meet up with some family in Soldotna. However, that morning plans changed, and we weren’t able to make it down there. The kids were awake early and were ready for a road trip, so we decided to head the opposite direction of the Kenai Peninsula where Soldotna is located and head to more inland Alaska. We didn’t have a plan for the day; I was just hoping to get some fishing in. Of course, we are in Alaska so fishing is an option pretty much anywhere, but we wanted to explore a little and get out of the “Anchorage bowl” area. After getting in the car we pulled up Google Maps to see what we had for options.
Talkeetna
Talkeetna is a town about 2.5 hours away from Anchorage. It is located at the confluence of three rivers, the Susitna, Chulitna and Talkeetna. Seemed like a good place to go try to catch some fish, so we had a destination for the day! Much like our morning, though, our plans would change slightly from our original plan of fishing. The drive, like most in Alaska, doesn’t require a map. Alaska Highway 1, turn on Alaska Highway 3 and you will get there eventually! The drive ended up taking longer than we expected because of bathroom breaks and pulling over to enjoy the views.
Talkeetna is the base for expeditions to Denali. This was the first weekend they were opening things up to the tourists for the summer, but we were lucky and beat the rush by a day. We had beautiful weather and wanted to take advantage of it. Weather and conditions can change fast in Alaska. It can vary dramatically depending on what side of the mountains you are on as well, so 20 miles away can have totally different weather. It was overcast in Anchorage when we left, but we had clear skies when we got to Talkeetna.
Fae had some coworkers who recommended we do a glacier tour. By now you can guess where this is going. We were in Talkeetna, weather conditions were perfect, we weren’t sure if we would get another opportunity to do some “flightseeing” when the weather was this nice and we were not sure if we could make the trip to Talkeetna again. Talkeetna Air Taxi just happened to have 4 empty seats on the plane that was going to Ruth Glacier in Denali National Park. We found somewhere to get lunch and a playground for the kids to burn off some energy before getting on the plane. The plane had wheels and skis, so we would be landing on Ruth Glacier in addition to an aerial tour of some of Denali National Park.
Flightseeing
Ruth Glacier is about 40 miles long and close to 4,000 feet thick, and it moves about 3 feet a day. It is located in the Alaska Range of Mountains. If all the ice melted tomorrow, it would create a gorge a mile wide and nearly two miles high! We were able to get out and walk around on the glacier and the kids got to have a snowball fight. I don’t think there are too many kids that can say they had a snowball fight on a glacier a month after sitting on the beach in Hawaii!
We spent about half an hour on the glacier before it was time to get back in the plane and take off. Seeing Denali National Park from that viewpoint is something I’ll never forget in my life. It was magical, untouched, just how God intended for it to be. You really realize the vastness of the state from an aerial perspective. Most of the state is so rugged that it will never be able to be tamed.
Unexpected Journey
It was interesting seeing everything lush and green at the airport to only seeing white, gray, and glacier blue for the next hour and a half. What an interesting day–from a day that was planned to be a trip to Soldotna, then fishing somewhere, to ending up on a glacier some 250+ miles away from our original destination for the day was exciting. That kind of sums up how our journey has been for us so far, not knowing what to expect or what is coming next. We try to make the most out of whatever situation presents itself. We did spend a lot of time in Soldotna later, but we never made it back to Talkeetna. It worked out that we were where we were supposed to be on that day.
Arkyn’s favorite part was he got to wear a headset while the plane was flying and could listen to the captain talk. Arkyn tried talking back to him, but luckily for the captain it was only a one-way radio, so Arkyn couldn’t constantly bombard him with questions during the flight! Ayla didn’t like the small airplane as much as Arkyn did, but she really enjoyed playing in all the snow on the glacier.
After we got back to Talkeetna we were planning to get something to eat, but then we saw the tour buses all lined up on Main Street. The first cruise ship of the season arrived in Seward and brought the first groups of tourists to Talkeetna. Lucky for us the buses didn’t make it in time for the flightseeing tour. You could hardly drive down Main Street with all the buses and people so we decided to not do any more exploring, and we got on the road back to Anchorage.
Exploring Time
We didn’t even end up stopping to fish on the way back, but the trip was worth it. I would have plenty of time for fishing in the 8 months we were there, but not many other opportunities to see Denali from up close on a clear day and experience a lot of what the Alaska Mountain Range and Denali National Park had to offer.
That will end this post, but there will be more of what we got to experience in Alaska soon! I hope everyone had a good holiday season and that you make 2024 your best year yet! Please follow our journey on social media by clicking on of the links below!
Comments by christopherrylander
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