Alaska Trip

[I decided to split this into multiple blogs to avoid overwhelming the reader with one long one. Let me know if you like or dislike this format.]

August 15, 2009

We flew to Anchorage, AK from San Francisco (SFO) via Alaska airlines. The flight was at 7:50pm and we left the home around 5:20pm. The traffic on 101-N was stalled due to some accident and we were worried whether we will be able to make it. Fortunately, the accident was only couple of miles ahead of us and we reached Anza parking at 6pm. We boarded the shuttle and within few minutes we were at the terminal. We were asked to board early due to anticipated delay (30 mins) due to strong head wind. The flight took off few minutes early and it landed Anchorage around 11:40pm. On the flight, I was able to catchup with couple of blogs that I planned to write a week ago. We picked the car (HHR) from the rental center and reached hotel around 12:30 in the morning.

August 16, 2009

Please see Talkeetna Blog.

August 17, 2009

Please see Anchorage Blog.

August 18, 2009

Please see Seward Blog.

August 19, 2009

Please see Anchorage Blog.

August 20, 2009

We landed in SFO at 8am, picked up our bags and took the shuttle to Anza parking. We picked our car and reached home around 9:30am. We all were tired due to short sleep on the flight, but we had a nice time in this trip. It's always great to be back home though.

Click on the links for trip planner and album.

Tips:

• I contemplated a lot on whether to take Cruise or Flight to Alaska. There are pros and cons with both. Cruise trips are pretty longer (minimum: 7 days). Also, I thought that to get a hang of cruise I can go on a shorter (3 day) trip. During the trip I realized whether we will be able to cover lot of inland places/activities if we have taken the cruise. Check that out before planning to take cruise. Cruise should be relaxing and fun too. No doubts. But if you have only few days then flight is also good.
• Anza parking - I am impressed with the customer service and the price at Anza long term parking. Shuttles are frequent and they pick and drop you off near the car; no need to carry heavy luggages around. If you plan to park there, check out for coupon at their website.
• Alaska airlines doesn't charge if you check in your car seat or stroller. If you are planning to take car seat, you can check in. So, you have one less carry on to worry about.
• Cops (traffic patrol) are strict and more vigilant in Alaska. They hide on the ramps on most of the highways. You might wonder "why the hell did I drive fast?" even after noticing this on Day 1. Well, driving is one of my passion ;-).
• "Great Alaskan TourSaver Coupon" is your money saver for this trip. This coupon book offers around 130 "Buy one, Get one FREE" coupons. My colleague recommended this and I highly recommend if you are planning to take flight seeing, day cruises, etc. It saved us around $600 during this trip. The cost of this book is $100, but you can get the used one in eBay or craigslist. If so, please make sure that the coupon for the trip you are planning to go are not used. If you want to use the coupon, I would recommend to book the trip in advance. There are some restrictions, but I didn't see that as a drawback.
• If you are like us, who cook and pack food during the trip, then Safeway is your friend. Safeway chain is known as "Carrs." I believe Safeway bought this chain.
• If you are keen to see Northern lights (Aurora Borealis), then you need to visit Alaska in Winter. Alternative would be to watch the slideshow in Discovery Theater or search for "northern lights aurora borealis" at Google images.
• I would recommend taking Motor Coach during onward and Train (Coastal Classic) on your return journey to/from Seward to Anchorage. Reasons: Train journey takes 4.5 hours whereas bus journey takes less than 3 hours, so you don't need to get up early in the morning. It gives a flavor of both train and bus journey. If you travel in a group, then you could replace bus journey with your vehicle, which should take you approximately 2 hours (non stop). One group can take onward journey in train and other can take the return journey.
• Starting 2009, car rentals are offered in Denali National Park where you can drive around on your own. I learned on 3rd day about this. Otherwise, I would have checked that out.
• Though we didn't encounter any mosquitoes during this trip, I read it some where to be prepared. It's better safe than sorry.
• August month is prone to rain or showers. We were fortunate during this trip, but something to keep in mind.

Seward, AK

August 18, 2009

Today we got up early in the morning (around 5am). The plan was to take motor coach (bus) to Seward, take a day cruise (Renown tours) and return back by train. I dropped Vidhya and Kirti at the Egan center in downtown Anchorage and I parked the car near the train station. Train station was not far, so I walked back (around 10 mins) to Egan center. We were 20+ mins early. We boarded the coach and started sharp at 7am to Seward. Driver was quite informative and he kept all of us engaged throughout the journey. We took a short break on the way and reached Seward around 10 in the morning. We collected the cruise and lunch tickets and went to national park visitor center to get more information.

At 11:30am we boarded the cruise. But, we had to wait for a while due to train delay. We, except Vidhya, had our lunch and the sea was rough. The ride was bumpy and felt the gravitational push from the stomach. I told Vidhya not to eat and sat on back of the boat outside to overcome the nausea. It felt quite good, but when I went in to take care of Kirti after she threw up the chain reaction began :-(. Vidhya heeded my advice and escaped :-). Kirti fell asleep and I was awake till we saw the Holgate glacier. The glacier view was fabolous; we also watched the ice blocks broke from glacier and fell into ocean. After that I too fell asleep for sometime. During the cruise trip we spotted couple of humpback whales and other sealife. By the time boat reached the dock, Kirti and myself were fully recovered. Btw, Kirti testified as a Junior Ranger for finding all the hidden animals in the workbook. She also got a batch and a certificate.

We boarded the train to Anchorage at 6pm. Train took us through the Alaskan wilderness. It was a feast to our eyes. We had our dinner in the train itself. Though it took approximately 4.5 hours to reach Anchorage, the trip was well worth the time. We spotted moose, bald eagles, hanging glaciers, streams, waterfalls et al. We reached Anchorage around 10:30am and went to hotel.

Anchorage, AK

August 17, 2009

First, we went to Discovery Theater in downtown and watched "Aurora," the slideshow about northern lights. We took some snaps in the park nearby and headed to Alaska Zoo. Kirti loved the Zoo; I think 3+ is the right age for Zoo or Zoo-like places. We had our lunch there and went to Sled dog show. The show was good, but the dogs didn't look healthy though. Except for that botheration, we liked the show. We also had a chance to hold the puppies on hand. Kirti was initially scared, but later she enjoyed patting the puppy.

We decided to drive south on the Seward highway to Alaska Wildlife Conservation center (AWCC). It was one of the best scenic drives I ever did. The views were gorgeous. We took few breaks to take some pictures. Kirti had a nice nap till we reached the AWCC. We saw Plains bisons, Moose, Elk, Brown bear, Black bear, Wood bisons, etc there. We had an opportunity to feed the elves and saw (brown) bears playing with each other. We all enjoyed the AWCC visit. Then we went to Alyeska Resort and took the tram to reach the top. It was drizzling at that time and the views were OK. We spent 30 mins there and headed back. We had our dinner at Girdwood and headed back to hotel. The view of sunset on our way back was really nice. On the way, cop stopped me for speeding. He let me go with just warning. Lucky me!

August 19, 2009

It was last day of our trip and we decided to take it easy as our flight was at 1:45am the next day. We checked out the hotel around 10:30am. We took some photos near the visitor center & train station and went to Ulu factory. Then we headed to Wild Berry Theater to see the Reindeer and a movie. We were the only ones for that show, so we had the whole theater for ourself (private viewing). After our lunch, we checked out the Chocolate factory, which housed the world's largest chocolate waterfall. Later, we went to Earthquake park and took a 30 min stroll. Then we went to H2Oasis, an indoor water park. Kirti and I had fun in the indoor park. Given the entrance fee, I wish it had more rides. Kirti was too tired and slept even before we put her on the car seat.

We took a long drive (1+ hrs) and went to Eagle River Valley, which is north of Anchorage. We took the Rodak Nature Trail. We spotted few salmons and again the view was amazing. Then we took a drive to Arctic Valley Road. This road was under military surveillance and notice read that the gate would be closed at 10pm. We hardly had 15 minutes, so we turned back after we got a glimpse of downtown Anchorage. We had our dinner at the Golf course and went to airport. I dropped Vidhya and Kirti at the terminal and returned the car. We had a smooth checkin and security process. Kirti was helpful during the security clearance and kept all of our things on the belt by herself. On seeing this the TSA officer gave her the "Junior Officer" sticker :-). It was surprising that they allowed travelers to take the cart through and beyond the security checkpoint. We killed time at airport by downloading the photos to laptop and a short walk before we boarded the flight.

Talkeetna, AK

August 16, 2009

Since I already booked Mt. McKinley flight seeing tour with glacier landing from Talkeetna for that evening, our plan was to spend the day in and around Talkeetna. On our way from Anchorage we took couple of breaks to capture the scenic view of mountains covered with fog and Mirror Lake. Next, we visited Thunderbird falls. It was approximately a mile hike from parking lot to the falls. After .75 mile we found that the trail to viewing platform was closed for construction. Bummer! However, couple of other visitors told that there is an alternate trail to the falls. The alternate path was slippery and muddy, but the falls view was good. Btw, the trail was greenish everywhere. It was quite scenic. We spent few minutes at the falls and headed back.

I thought river rafting (Talkeetna River Guides or TRG), on Talkeetna river would be fun. The rafting tour was at 2pm and when I punched the address on GPS, it showed arrival time as 2:10pm. I called TRG to check whether we can make for the 2pm trip, but they said that we got to be there by 1:45pm at least and it is pretty difficult. Though most of the vehicles were at speed limit, I decided to drive "little" fast. We didn't take any break and finally we reached TRG at 1:37pm :-). We initially thought we would skip our lunch, but we had plenty of time to have our lunch. Btw, I am not advocating to drive fast, but to leave few mins buffer for unforeseen events. River rafting was really nice and relaxing, especially after that drive. Kirti enjoyed it much more than us. She had a chance to row the raft as well. The guide was friendly and Kirti chatted a lot with her about the beavers, eagle, fish, etc. The whole activity took little more than 2 hours. We had couple more hours to explore Talkeetna and thought about horse riding. However, the minimum age was 7 years so we decided to spend some time on the river shore instead. Then, I meditated for few mins while Vidhya changed Kirti's muddy dress.

We picked up Pizza for Kirti on our way and reached Talkeetna airport around 6:30pm. There were ten of us including the pilot and the plane (little one) was full. We flew over the Denali National Park and it was absolutely scenic. We got a glimpse of Mt. McKinley and our plane landed on the glacier. That place was fantastic. We all got down to play with snow and take some pictures. All of a sudden the plane started sliding down the glacier and we all stood in a shock. The pilot acted swiftly by climbing the plane and steered it into the soft snow to stop it. Once the plane was under control, we all breathed. After few minutes we took off from the glacier and reached the airport. We had our dinner at the airport and headed back to hotel. We reached hotel around midnight.

The climate was pleasant that day and next 3 days. According to the weather forecast, it was supposed to shower all the days. We heard that rain was pouring on the previous day, but the

mother nature took care of us nicely.

How do I prepare a trip planner?

One of my friend asked how do I prepare a trip planner? That very question kindled my thought why not write a blurb about it. Though it is not rocket science, I thought of providing the steps I use to prepare a trip planner. I use Excel and then I upload it to Google docs. If you don't have Excel, use Google docs (spreadsheet) to create one. (Note: You have to spend quite sometime in identifying what places to visit from various other sites.)

Steps:

• Collect all the places in the Excel sheet. My recommendation is to use the official website, if available. In this step, you simply collect the list places and information about those. I use the following template (Click here for a sample template):
1. Name (attraction, place or event)
2. Priority - Must to see attractions have less priority
3. Cost - Adult and child. For child, I add age information as well
4. Address
5. Notes - Directions from official website, tour times, restrictions, phone number, URL, public transportation information, etc
6. Plan - My planned order of visit
• Research on worthiness from various sites and your interest. Using this information to assign priority to the attraction. You can use reviews from popular travel sites to come up with the appropriate priority. Best source is word of mouth - Talk to your friends, families and colleagues, if they have already visited these places. Sometimes photos from other sites would be deceptive, so check whether your friends have album. This would give you some idea as what shots (if any) look best, unless you are a "pro."
• Once you have prioritized the places, add these to Google or other map websites. Adjust the order so that you don't shuttle back and forth between attractions. Tour time information should also factor in to the order. I leave adequate buffer between the timed tours, because of Murphy's law. (E.g., sometimes the traffic may be heavy, you might miss to take correct exit, wrong directions from website, etc). Now a days, I take GPS with me, so that if I have extra time, then I can visit next high priority attraction(s).

Planning helps me to save time, gas and frustration during the trips. Hope you find these useful. I would love to receive your comments/suggestions.

Plans are nothing; planning is everything. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Happy Traveling.