The Great Dadventure: Alaska · Determined Drifter

Thursday: ATL to ANC

Distance: 4293 air miles

5/14/2026

Long travel day. Left my house at 0525 got to Historic Anchorage Hotel at 1730 local so about 16 hours and 4300 miles. Spent a little extra time at SeaTac, but Alaska Air was just fine and happy to get into town.

Most of the flight from SEA to ANC was in clouds with the sun beaming off the wing outside my window. It was blinding and I kept the shade pulled over halfway down. As we started to descend, I caught a glimpse of something different out of the corner my eye. As we passed over the mountains at the end of the flight, the view was shocking. It came out of nowhere and was absolutely gorgeous. Snow capped mountains, a mountain lake off in the distance. Really amazing.

The airport was bigger than expected and the view waiting for our uber didn’t suck either.

Finally at our hotel, we’re starving and in need of a drink. We walked over to Glacier Brewing for dinner. LeeAnn from Minnesota, who’s on a solo trip, is sitting at the bar next to us. She’s been in town since Sunday and on her way to her first cruise tomorrow. She gave us a few restaurant recommendations and said she saw some moose up on the trail we will pass in the car in a few days. Both of us are exhausted and passed out around 2100. More excitement tomorrow.

Saturday: Alaskan Railroad

Distance: 114 train miles

5/16/2026

We’re on the train to Seward, and there was no exaggeration. This is a gorgeous ride. I didn’t realize there would be a tour guide. Every few miles she points out historic points and scenery. You can hear in her voice how excited she is when she spots wildlife. There have been several callouts to wildlife along the way: sheep, a bald eagle, a moose, a black bear, and a porcupine in a tree so far.

We’re riding through the mountains we were looking at to the east and south of Anchorage. We’ve passed Spencer and Bartlett glaciers, a section of multiple tunnels, and two lakes covered in green ice.

I’ve been taking pictures but they don’t do this vista justice. The landscape is breathtaking. I am really glad we did this train ride. Absolutely stunning. It’s the first Coastal ___ of the year as yesterday’s was rerouted to Whittier.

Seward

It is so cold. The wind cuts right through me. We just walked out of the train and I’m freezing. Happily the hotel is just a few minutes walk from the station. Unfortunately, we’re hours early and are unable to check in. We grab our vests to go under the puffy coats and leave bags at the desk. The town is about a mile and a half long and we’re nearer the top. There are no Ubers here but I know there’s a taxi somewhere. It will be fine.

We stop at Ray's Waterfront. There’s a great view of the harbor, the food is fantastic, and the drinks are great. This stop is clutch and we are both feeling warmer and lively after lunch. It’s about a thirty minute walk down to the bottom of Seward where the Alaska SeaLife Center is. That’s the plan for the afternoon while we wait for a room. We walk part of the way but it’s cold and this wind is serious. We pop into a hotel and ask about a taxi. The front desk tells me there’s a free shuttle that goes up and down the town and gives me a map of the stops. A paper map. She says there will be a sign at the pickup spot and we’re back out in the cold.

The shuttle runs every 25-30 minutes apparently. There’s a mermaid festival we just passed on the main drag that also has a shuttle stop. I saw the shuttle earlier. It’s hand pained on the bus and this shuttle feels like a one day affair. We nearly miss the pickup because I can’t find the sign, and I’m now jogging trying to catch them. Dad is jogging behind me (woot!) and inside the shuttle is toasty warm. When I see the sign where they drop us off, I realize this is Seward’s actual public transit system and I love it!

We get out at the sea life center and I note the time so we can get back eventually. The center is not big. I hesitate to call it an aquarium even. Apparently they are affiliated with many aquariums throughout the country including the Georgia Aquarium, but this is in a much smaller and local scale.

There are tanks of seals - a few are harbor seals that I saw behind the hotel while we were there - puffins and other local sea birds as well as local fish.

If you’re willing to venture back into the cold, there’s a great view of Resurrection Bay. I think the look on my face tells you what’s up.

We wrap up the fishes and head back out for the shuttle. I think I timed it out, but after 10 minutes of waiting, we head into Seward Brewing for a beer and get a seat where we can see the shuttle stop. I hear the bartender tell someone that the place just opened yesterday. Weird, I’ve had it marked on my map for months. While we’re drinking several folks line up for the bus. By the time we get back out, we only have to wait a few minutes before the bus returns. It’s a warm ride back to the hotel.

This is the view from our room at 1545 this afternoon. Time is not passing for me here. The sun has been up the whole time since we arrived. I did see sunrise in Anchorage this morning - at around 0430 - but otherwise I haven’t see it not be broad daylight in days.

Below is the same view from our room at 2115. Nearly six hours later and it looks the same. I promise it is not the same picture. This is wild.

2300 the lights around the marina are finally on. It’s not dark per se, but it looks different than it did all day.

0600 Sunday morning. I woke and looked out the window and didn’t know where I was. There’s something missing. Oh it’s the mountains. They appeared a bit by the time I took this picture.

Went for pizza tonight near the hotel. Asked for a beer and the girl said she could go get it for us but they didn’t have it there. Turns out they also just opened yesterday. So apparently this town is mostly closed except for year round marina stuff until the train starts running again. And we are right on the starting point.

🐾 Wildlife Spotted Today

🦭 Harbor seals
🦔 Porcupine
🐻 Black bear
🫎 Moose (barely saw him)
🦅 Bald eagle

Sunday: Seward

Distance: 42 nautical miles

5/17/2026

Today is our fjords boat tour. We originally booked a full day tour to see the glaciers but received notice a couple days ago that it would need to be cut to the shorter one. Weather coming in making the seas a bit wild. It’s a small boat, only six passengers plus the captain.

Captain Andrew greets us and explained that the point to turn for the glaciers is where two bodies of water with different tides converge and make for chaos when you add wind and storms. So we will stay in the fjords near Seward and look for wildlife. There’s a young couple from Switzerland with us who are stoked to see sea life and birds.

A sea otter greets us early on. He could care less about the boat or humans or much of anything it seems.

Captain Andrew hears about a whale sighting on the radio and we tac back across the fjords looking for it. No luck and after a few minutes we head back towards the east side of the fjords again. Patience is a virtue here and Andrew finds a cove to pass some time. The fjords drop deep right off the walls of the mountains so he is able to drive the boat right along the walls. There is a rainbow of sea stars hanging out along the water line for the low tide. We see several orange, pink, and red variations and even a deep purple one.

We come back out of the cove to find a humpback whale and her calf surfacing nearby. We wait and watch and the little guy puts on a show for us, jumping up and out of the water over and over. It’s beautiful and amazing. There are several chuffs from mom, spraying a huge plume of water in all directions as well.

We follow them for a bit then move on to different waters. Captain starts heading south towards Fox Island. We get some history along the way and spot some military installations left from WWII. Near Fox Island the water gets wild. Even between the fjord and the island in protected waters, the chop is unbelievable. Standing outside on the back deck of the boat is a huge challenge. Glad I’ve been doing balance work all year. Feels like I’m standing on my bosu ball in a pool. If this is what protected waters look like, I’m glad we didn’t try for the glaciers. Cap tells us even the big 100+ person boats won’t go to the glaciers in this today.

We find a couple of rock islands full of birds and this loans sea lion living his best life.

We fight the chop a little farther to find the full sea lion colony. Almost two dozen of them hanging on the rocks, lounging and roaring. As we make our way back to calmer waters we find another mother and calf humpback duo. The original pair is still getting radio time behind us, so Andrew knows this is a different set. This kiddo is not so full of energy, however, and we don’t get the insurance commercial of jumps and spins. They are still majestic to watch even in the rough seas.

Andrew keeps us moving as we need to make our way back to the marina. Then we cut across the bay one last time. He says that the pregnant mountain goats will come down low to have their kids around this time. The low position keeps them safe from bears. Sure enough, we see three mountain goats climbing precarious positions on the rock face, each looking more pregnant than the last. Their far enough away I can’t see their bellies, but we all know that walk.

Back in Seward we take the shuttle downtown and stop at Waterfall Beach behind the sea life center. I found this on Google Maps. There are pictures of people in swimsuits enjoying the beach and the waterfall. What is not shown is that you walk through the industrial part of town (and that’s saying something for a working marina town) to get there. It’s a quick journey.

Afterwards get drinks at the local dive bar and food at a restaurant with “open year round” printed on the sign. then back to the hotel.

We are both beat from a great day on the water (and the cold). Off for a car adventure tomorrow!

🐾 Wildlife Spotted Today

🐋 Humpback whales
🦦 Sea otters
🦭 Harbor seals
🦁 Steller sea lions
🦅 Bald eagles
🐐 Pregnant goats
🌟 Sea stars

Monday: Seward to Girdwood

Distance: 94 driving miles

5/18/2026

Overall Monday was pretty chill. We slept in, got our rental car, and headed out after some breakfast. We only need to get to Girdwood which isn’t that far.

We were hoping to take the tram up to the top of the mountain there, but it is closed until Friday. There are a few things that we have not had the best timing for. But no worries! We are always on an adventure.

It’s cold and rainy most of the morning, but we find a few beautiful pullouts as we retrace our steps along the train tracks.

We stop in Moose Pass, mostly because what a cool name for a town! But also because there’s a store with provisions and coffee.

Nearby, we find Vagt Lake Trail. It’s a beautiful lake with a gravel beach and an easy hiking trail. Though I’m so drawn to the beach I forget about the actual trail. I also completely forget about moose or bear until we see tracks from both in the beach. We see neither animal in person, however.

We finally make it to Girdwood, find our room at the Ski Inn, and hit the grocery for hiking snacks for tomorrow. I found a trail to Byron Glacier I want to check out in the morning. Until then, since we can’t take the tram up the mountain, we should at least drink up there. So we head to the fancy ski lodge for cocktails. The hotel has fun decor and lots of restaurants and bars (though most are closed). It’s a great view and lots of snow still up this high.

Tuesday: Girdwood to Talkeetna

Distance: 196 driving miles, 2.5 hiking miles

5/19/2026

We checked out of Ski Inn early this morning to make our way over to Bryce Glacier. It’s a little back tracking but totally worth it. It’s 35° and pouring rain when we arrive. The weather says this will definitely turn to snow soon. We wait it out for a bit. When we see a group of guys hike out from the trail in the rain, I ask them how the trail is. Consensus is good, so we take off in the cold and wet.

It’s a pretty easy walk, and if the weather was better, this would be a breeze. It’s a bit of a slog in the cold and I can’t feel my thighs when we finally get up to the glacier. It’s gorgeous. And honestly I’m surprised how close we are able to get to it.

Glaciers do look better in the summer once the snow has washed away. But it’s still magnificent. Today I remember all the things: avalanches, bears, and moose. Have had my eye out the whole walk. Have seen nothing. When we turn around and head back to the car, we find moose poop! I’m excited and looking everywhere for Bullwinkle, but never find him. Still looking.

We keep going to find the end of the road or this park or we’re not sure what exactly. We are rewarded with a view of Portage Lake and its blue green water. We head back out of the park and make our way towards Talkeetna.

As we drive back across Turnagain Arm, the wind is roaring. Huge gusts have the water whitecapping all the way across. We stop at Potter Marsh Wildlife View Boardwalk. The tour guide on the train pointed out this marsh and told us that moose love a marsh to hang out in. This boardwalk is fantastic - and long! It zigs and zags for over 1500 feet of elevated footpath. Winding all over the marsh in different directions, there are info boards about some of the animals and birdsongs, as well as those permanent binoculars you find in this sort of place.

The wind is too much for the wildlife, and for us. At once point a young couple near us almost tumble as we both hang on in a wild gust across the marsh. The only animals we see are two swans and a few songbirds.

Still looking for moose. We will hopefully make our way back o we here Friday before heading to the airport.

Stopped for lunch at Southside Grill, one of those diners you hope to find on a road trip. Great coffee, food, and service. Fantastic! The rest of the drive to Talkeetna is mostly uneventful. A lot of it is divided highway at high speeds just making the miles.

In an effort to find an interesting hike, google accidentally sends me to Three Bears, a local grocery chain somewhere north of Wasilla. We check the prices here and find (as I have in a few towns) that it is less expensive than Anchorage. We also determine that the $13 gallon of milk was some sort of fancy, local brand. It’s only $8.49 here while a gallon of Kirkland milk is $4.99. Still pricy, but not wildly so. I find the price of mushrooms and apricots to be comparable to city of Atlanta. Note here that salmon costs about a third less than at home.

We’ve landed at Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, our home for the last leg of the trip. We have a room with a view of Denali, but it was conspicuously absent out our window. These clouds are bold and will hide basically everything. The mountains are beginning to reappear far in the distance.

We heard from our flight tour with Sheldon Air Service. Our flight is definitely delayed tomorrow to midday but we are expecting to go still. Fingers crossed! 🤞

PS: this is what it looked like at midnight. Note the red sunset in the right corner.

🐾 Wildlife Spotted Today

🦢 Swans

Wednesday: Denali

Distance: 102 air miles

5/20/2026

Today was our Denali flightseeing tour. Sheldon Air called yesterday to let us know that we wouldn’t be flying at 0800 as scheduled. The weather has been a little wild, and they wanted to fly it at that time to get a look before taking passengers. They bumped us to 10. No worries! We went down to the air field around that time and talked to Cami, our pilot Udo, and his dog Izzy.

There were all sorts of folks waiting to fly. An older woman was supposed to go at 9 and was getting ancy. So climbers were waiting to get dropped on the mountain to try to summit over the next couple weeks. Another group of climbers was on the mountain waiting for pickup, and Udo says it’s whiteout conditions on the mountain.

We’re fine with waiting. Today is our best weather opportunity. Tomorrow and Friday look like a lot of rain. So we got an early lunch at Burger Barn in town and then held up in the hotel room. The view out the window is still amazing and I can’t stop staring at it.

We get an update around noon that if we can wait another ninety minutes we may get to land on the glacier. Finally we get the call around 1300 to head back to the air field. Udo tells us that they were able to trade climbers out, but a glacier landing is still up in the air. Either way, we will get to see the glacier and fly through the mountains, though we won’t be able to see the summit of Denali itself. We will take whatever we get. It all sounds pretty cool.

We take off in a Cessna 185. It’s been a long time since I was in a tiny plane, and my stomach is a little jolted at first. But it’s beautiful. I’m surprised at how long it takes us to fly to the park. Udo tells us a little about the town of Talkeetna as we make our way over. Na is the indigenous word for river. Talkeetna means three rivers and he points out the three that come together from the glacier flows.

The railroad runs through Talkeetna as well, and apparently, it’s a whistle stop town. Residents here can basically hail the train and hop on. Wild.

The mountains are suddenly close at hand. They’re huge, and the walls seem to sheer off from the snow caps.

We fly up through Ruth Glacier. My face already hurts from smiling. Dad and I are both overwhelmed into silence for a bit. Udo points out glacier caves, blue rivers forming at the top, and how wide it is - three miles across in places. There are about one hundred glaciers in the park, fourth with names. Ruth is several glaciers all coming together and runs about twenty miles to the mountain.

The landing area is still four or five miles away and I see clouds in all directions. We keep making our way, and finally Udo tells us we won’t be able to land and that area is whiteout. So he spins us 360° in a wide banking turn that takes a huge portion of the width of glacier. Such wow.

There are icefalls where the glacier turns a corner or narrows and the ice churns into ice rapids. He points out medial moraines where two glaciers have joined forces and merge their debris and rocks into one line.

Next we see a hanging glacier - big and standing between two mountains just stuck there midair.

We’re probably halfway back out of Ruth glacier when Udo says, oh we should go over this ridge and checkout this other glacier next door. Tokositna is the messy little brother of Ruth. It’s filthy by comparison, with giant grey rivers melting out on the sides. But there’s still those blue streaks in the snow, another hanging glacier, and giant cracks where the glacier is crushing in on itself. Udo tells us that the glaciers in this part of Alaska crush down on themselves, whereas the ones I’ve seen in other parts of the world recede by comparison.

Pictures do none of this justice. After a while, I just quit and stared out the windows at the magnificence.

We make our way back towards the town and the air field. Udo tells me all the cracks I see in the marshland below are moose tracks. I’m hunting for a moose the whole way back but find none. Tomorrow we go find Bullwinkle.

We’re back on the ground hungry and in need of a drink. Goodbye to everyone, and one last ear scratch for Izzy. Latitude 62 is on our way out of town and a perfectly divey joint for today. After dinner we make our way back to the hotel for a last drink and dessert.

We watch a giant storm move through the mountains out the window of the hotel restaurant. It’s like watching storms over the ocean as they make their way through the peaks towards Denali.

We’re done for today. Early wake up call to try to find a moose. Hear our best chances are before 0900. Fingers crossed.

2100 daylight checkin

🐾 Wildlife Spotted Today

🏔️ Mountains
🐶 Izzy

Thursday: Talkeetna Lakes

Distance: 4.8 hiking miles

5/21/2026

Got up early this morning to head over to Talkeetna Lakes. It’s nearby, supposed to be pretty with lots of hiking and good moose potential. I will take a minute here to talk about what early is. I read that moose would be out at sunrise. I don’t know when that is because the sun never sets.

20:00

00:00

02:00

04:00

There are several lakes here. I’ve seen more lakes in the past week than maybe in my entire life.

The water is still quite frozen. It’s beautiful, but we don’t see much. No other people are out. We see no animals save a few birds. There are a lot of tracks: moose, human, dog, even a bear. But we see no one. Regardless, it’s a great morning hike. We’re most of the way to our turn around point when dad spots her.

if you are able to see her in this picture, I commend you. But I promise she is there. Her ears are up and she eyes us curiously. Shes beyond the bent branch, eating a tree farther back.

We’re both really excited and after a minute decide to let her have her breakfast. As we continue walking, dad sees a snowshoe hare bound by quickly. The rest of our walk is uneventful. It’s cold and has started to rain. So we’re happy to get back to the car.

We head back into town for breakfast. On the way out of the lakes, we pass a pond with three swans. Apparently three is the wrong number of swans. One attacks another as we drive by. Swan fight. Didn’t know I was looking for that one, but check!

Talkeetna feels smaller than it is.

— —

🐾 Wildlife Spotted Today

🫎 Moose Cow
🐇 Snowshoe Hare
🦢 Swan fight

Friday: Talkeetna to ANC

Distance: 215 driving miles; 2.3 hiking miles

5/22/2026

Udo told us the other day that spring was a week late here. I think that was correct for the whole state. As we drive south out of Talkeetna spring is just beginning to pop. Trees just have buds and the lakes are thawing. Farther south towards Anchorage we see the mountains have lost a fair amount of snow since we last saw them.

We make our way back to Girdwood as the tram starts running today. It’s totally worth going back for. The Alyeska resort is buzzing with people ready to glide up the mountain. I’m surprised by how big the tram is. I’ve only seen small ones that hold four or six people. These are meant to move lots of skiers and snowboarders and their gear up to the double diamond trails. The tram moves from 300 feet above sea level to 2300 feet in just four minutes.

I’m excited to find out our ticket gives us two round trips. We hop on immediately and start up the cables. And then we stop. Guess the tram is having first day jitters. There’s an auto stop sensor that is malfunctioning. The operator restarts the system and it takes off again with no issues, but I had a brief flashback to a wretched dream from a few nights ago. All good, we’re at the top before we know it. And it’s snowing! And there’s snow everywhere. We take some pics and enjoy the snow, but I need coffee and didn’t know we were a bit too early for the cafe at the top.

Back down we go for provisions. Our second trip up is fueled better, and it’s snowing even more. There are great views even in the snow, though it’s impossible to see the seven hanging glaciers that surround Mount Alyeska. It’s still a lot of fun reading the history of the town and pioneer climbers and skiers.

Ride the tram. Check! We’re off to hunt moose now. We saw a moose yesterday but the pictures are no bueno. The plan for today is to find a more photogenic moose with better lighting.

Caleb at the talkeetna Lodge souvenir store told me yesterday that all the moose hang out at Kincaid Park in Anchorage. I had no idea there was a moose clubhouse. I would have visited last week. Sure enough, look at the park in Google Maps and find tons of pics of moose in all seasons. Let’s do it!

We make a couple stops along the way. Beluga Point is a beautiful vista of Turnagain Arm on the drive back toward Anchorage. It’s beautiful but windy! The wind is whipping around and I’m barely able to take a picture. We stop back at the boardwalk nearby as well. Again, crazy winds and no wildlife. Even the swans have abandoned the place today.

Kincaid Park is massive. It’s the whole corner of the Anchorage peninsula south of the airport. We drive fifteen minutes through the whole thing before finding parking and a trail to hike. We take the south end of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail we started our first day here. We start today at mile ten whereas last week we saw mile marker 0.0.

Three and half hours of hiking later we have seen the disc golf course, ski trails, lots of dogs and bikers, sand dunes and the only beach that isn’t murderous quicksand in this part of AK. What we haven’t seen is a moose. Where is the clubhouse? I need directions, Google.

Well, we tried. We need to take the car back and get to the airport. I have one more park we can take a window tour of and hope for the best, but I’m out of ideas otherwise. At the end of the hike every tree I see looks like a moose. We’re driving out of the park and I’m telling dad, “my brain is just screaming ‘moose, moose, moose’ around every corner.”

AND THEN I SEE A MOOSE RIGHT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. She is eating a tree, literally, and has zero cares about any humans. I stop the car in the middle of the road, and here is your moose proof.

Amazing.

So we head into town, grab a drink at Blarney Stone Irish Pub before dropping the car off. Alaskan Car Rental has been fantastic. When we get there they tell us the airport shuttle is on its way back to get us there. Awesome, I just figured we were taking uber since they didn’t have an airport location. After a few minutes, we find out the shuttle is stuck in traffic and one of the guys will just take us in a rental. Works for us. He asks on the way if we saw a moose. We give him the condensed version of the day. He tells me there’s a moose at the airport just hanging out. I think he’s joking, maybe a statue on the road in. He points it out right before we reach departures. There is an actual moose laying in the grass just chillin by the side of the airport roadway. Chewing some grass. Being a moose. Hilarious.

We’re in the plane on our way home. It’s been a great week!

🐾 Wildlife Spotted Today

🫎 Two Moose