Alaska 2026: Denali to Seward, Not That Bad

Our day was off to an inauspicious start; AdventureMan slept poorly last night, and thus, so did I. I also had some concern because I had been without internet and had received no information about how to get into our Seward VRBO. And I wondered if having scheduled a 6 hour driving day was such a wise idea, maybe I stop half way? Once that chain of anxiety gets started, it’s hard to bring it back down.

I was up early and noticed it was a truly glorious day, even better than the day before, not a cloud in the sky. Was it possible we would see Mt. Denali in all its glory before leaving the area? And then AdventureMan woke up and was optimistic about being able to drive all the way, with a stop for lunch in Anchorage. Life started looking a lot better.


Within minutes on the road we were exhilarated. Every mountain was showing off peaks against a deep blue sky. The air was fresh, but not cold. There were few cars on the road. We got to the viewpoint for the north face of Mt. Denali and – there it was! We entered a nearly empty parking lot, but by the time we left, it was like a big party, more and more cars arriving and everyone is excited – the mountain is out! We get to see Mt. Denali!

A Swedish woman saw us doing selfies with Denali and offered to take a photo, then said, “No, that is not good with the fence behind you,” and moved us to another place.


The end of winter in any state our country with snow and ice means the inevitable road work. In Alaska, whole roads can wash out from the winter snow melts.

The second viewpoint was even more crowded – everyone celebrating this great surprising day, after weeks of rain and an extended winter, people were feeling optimistic again. You could even see Mt. Denali from Anchorage.


It was a long day. We stopped along the way at a Veterans Memorial Park to read about Alaskan veterans who had fallen in various conflicts. We stopped for gas. We stopped and took photos, anything to stretch our legs, get in a few steps and break the drive.
We had thought we would have lunch in Anchorage, but as we turned south onto Alaska 1 South, it was all industrial, with a scattering of fast-food places we didn’t want. Then we hit Turnagain Sound, and our hunger disappeared in our wonder at the snow-clad mountains, the long flat inlet and the hope of spotting whales – the scenery was spectacular.


Life is funny. We had thought this would be a hard day, a six-hour drive. We had dreaded it. To our amazement, we are loving this day, full of sunlight on snowy white mountains, a gasp as we make a turn and see another breathtaking sight.






We finally went into Girdwood, a really fun hippy-era town with a lot of highly individualistic inhabitants. AdventureMan spotted a restaurant with a great name, Base Camp, and we decided to check it out.
This is not my photo. I cribbed it from Google. It captures the amasingness of this place.

We hadn’t expected much. It was 2:00 pm and we were starving and just about any place would do. As it turned out, this place was a great find. It was like a big diner, with a wonderful menu, including a halibut main course that came with half a plateful of stir-fried vegetables. I also had a blueberry ale, and it tasted like blueberries! You can see it in the top photo, below.



We were so happy when our plates arrived – full of vegetables. And not soggy, tasteless vegetables, but vegetables that taste so good that you are happy to be eating them! The halibut tasted fresh, and was cooked exactly right.

Everything was delicious, and just what we needed to revive our spirits for the remaining hour and a half of our trip. And we received a text with our instructions for our B&B!
We drove into Seward, carefully following the instructions to our B&B, turned into a house facing a waterfront park, just steps from the historic part of downtown Seward. We held our breath as we entered – and discovered it was all that we hoped for – and more. We looked directly out on a small waterfront park, and beyond that – Seward Bay and and the sunlit snowy mountains beyond. It was stunningly beautiful. The unit was clean and had a full kitchen, heat and hot water, storage, AND fresh orange juice, a basket of blueberry scones, and another basket of fruit awaiting us.
We also learned there was a shared space above us, with a huge, fully supplied kitchen, a living room from which we could watch for whales in the bay, coffee makers and even an entire drawer full of tea bags. After this long drive, we felt we had arrived into our own personal paradise.
We napped. We needed it.
Then we walked up to the main street, passing an old train station, now a restaurant and cafe, and found a wonderful restaurant where we had two of the most delicious salads, ever. Mine was a blueberry quinoa salad, with crispy quinoa, lots of pecans, and lots of blueberries on a mixed salad/spinach base, with a balsamic vinaigrette. Light, textured and delicious – my favorite kind of dinner.
The waiter was from Puerto Rico, working in Seward for the six months of the tourist season, and having a great time. We were so impressed with all the servers we met, from all different countries and states, each excited to be working in Alaska, full of adventerous spirit.
We explored downtown Seward; it reminds me of Juneau, where I grew up, and Edmonds, WA, where I have also lived. Our B&B is just like a corner in Edmonds, right on the waterfront, where traffic is negligible by nightfall.
We were so glad to settle in and get to bed, and we slept ten hours!
Alaska 2026: The Tundra Wilderness Expedition
(Maps are courtesy of the U.S. National Park Service)

We get a great night’s sleep when we fall into bed around 6 pm local time – a combination of our bodies still being on Pensacola time and the body cost of a full day’s drive following a full day’s flight to get here. We were wide awake before 6 a.m., a really good thing because we had reservations on the Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour and needed to be at the pickup point by 7:40.

Denali Park Village is just across busy Alaska Highway 3, which is not busy on a Sunday morning so we get there, get a parking place and AdventureMan asks me if we have our paper with the confirmation. No. As we left the cabin, we were busy unplugging all the heating devices – fireplace, radiator, and the coffee maker and the microwave, washing up the breakfast dishes.
No, I had left it on the table, where I had put it, so I wouldn’t forget. We got back in the car, drove back to our cabin, I ran in and got the paper, and we were back in the same parking place in five minutes, still early so we would be on time.
The lobby was packed! There must have been two hundred people there for tour pickups. The first pickup was the Denali Raft Trip. It’s 40 degrees outside, and the rivers are formed from glacial runoff. Still, a group of hardy twenty-somethings is headed out on the waters for an Alaskan adventure, and a part of me momentarily forgot I am not a twenty-something and longed to be going on that trip.
We discovered that many of the guests to be picked up were from cruise ships – the Princess Line and the Holland America Line maintain their own hotels just up the road at a busy, very tourist-oriented center with lots of shops and fast food restaurants. A group of Windstar people arrived and were being given their instructions when our tour bus drove up, stopping in front of AdventureMan and I. We got on, and sat a few rows back from the front.
AdventureMan said “This is a Blue Bird bus!” We used to see them all over Doha, old school buses with names of American schools in cities that had long since updated their buses. It was not roomy or luxurious, but it was heated and had windows that you could pull down when we spotted bear, or moose, or other game.

Our guide, Mike, was excellent. Without sounding the least bit authoritarian, he laid down some routines which would make our next few hours together more civilized – he formed us into a working team.
“If you see something,” Mike said, “Yell ‘STOP!’ and I will stop. Don’t yell ‘BEAR!’ or anything else, just yell “STOP.” Then he explained about the clock system of pointing out a location, like twelve is the front of the bus and three is 90 degrees to the right, etc.
“And even if it turns out to be just a log in the field and you think it’s a bear, yell STOP! Don’t be embarrassed if it’s just a big rock or something, that just happens. If we all work at spotting, we’ll have a great day.”
And he was right. The people on the bus went up and down, and we spotted. It was a grand day.

I probably should tell you that it was a cloudy day, and then we had some heavy showers, and then we had an hour or so of snow. Truly! And between all that, we had some great game sighting, and heard some wonderful stories of the founding of Denali Park, and even had a Ranger get on the bus briefly and quote from a poem by a poet named Abby, a poem about the magical transformation we experience surrounded by the natural world. It was a lovely moment.


One of the funniest things that happened right off the top was one of the Windstar passengers talking about the hotel he had stayed in in Anchorage coming in a day before meeting up with his cruise.
“It looked good on paper,” he said. “It had all the bells and whistles, on paper,” he said. “But it was like a Motel 6 that was really a Motel 3.” I laughed along with everyone else, very happy that I was not the only one horrified by the hotel I had chosen in Anchorage.

Even before we entered the park, we saw a Mama Moose and her baby, and then another Moose. We stopped for photos for the first, but not the second, as it was on the railway tracks and Mike did not want to stop on the tracks, as there are trains arriving in Denali all the time.

Soon after, we saw Ptarmigan, the Alaska state bird, and little rabbits, and then, out sleeping in the tundra, a Mama Bear and her cub, maybe a year old. Mike had special equipment, a large camera connected to monitors throughout the bus, so even those not on the left side of the bus (us) could see the bear. We thought it was one big bear until the cub raised its head. Mike was also very patient every time we saw something, we could spend a lot of time until everyone was able to take photos, and the group worked together very politely.

Finally we reached a potty stop, with lots of potties, but thanks to Mike, we were the first bus to arrive, and even as we were walking to the potties, other buses, many many buses, began pulling up. We ran into some people we had met at the Mt. Denali North Overview, and had a delightful, if short, reunion before having to reboard our separate buses to continue our tours.


More bear. Dall Sheep. Ground squirrels, which Mike described as “Denali fast food for bears.”




I had no idea! Because tundra is a thin layer of soil atop permanently frozen soil, bear eat a lot of roots (we saw them digging furiously for roots) until berries and nuts begin to ripen. A bear will eat about 200,000 berries a day. But their most efficient protein is ground squirrel.


At the turn around point, a raven’s nest on the support of the bridge we had just crossed. We got out and stretched and walked at every opportunity – it is a long tour.


On the way back, more bear, and this time, they walked right up to the bus and alongside without seeming to be aware we were there.

And a fox! I didn’t think I had caught him; he moved so fast. It wasn’t until I uploaded my photos that I saw I had captured him:

I did tell you, didn’t I, that it was snowing once we got to the second set of bear, and the Dall’s sheep?


The raven’s nest on the bridge at Mile 43, where we turned around. The white stuff is snowflakes falling.

All in all, it was a lovely day, a great wilderness tour, and a lot of fun. We were bundled up, and we had heat in the bus, but we had so much fun we forgot it was drizzly for a short while, and then we also had snow. It was more than six hours before we got back to the drop-off point and back to our cabin. It was a long, exciting day.
Time for a nap. After a day so full of learning, exploration and the excitement of spotting different game, we needed quiet time just to soak it all in.
We had dinner at the Denali Park Village, and it was a combination of the divine and the ridiculous. I ordered the Halibut, and it was really good. It had a crisp, tasty coating, as cooked perfectly, and had a delicious sauce. It was served on a bed of wild rice, and had corn and peas with it – simple and simply delicious.
AdventureMan ordered a charcuterie platter, and when it came, his face couldn’t hide his dismay. He just laughed. His first charcuterie board ever was at the Lake Restaurant in Glacier National Park, where the server showed him which was elk, which was venison, and which was wild boar – all locally sourced and processed. Even the mustard was local, with local jams, fruits; it was an abundance of delicious flavors and textures – at the Lake Lodge. At Denali, he had expected something with Alaska specialties. Not at Denali Park Village.
What he was served on this night was the equivalent of Ritz Crackers and store bought cheddar cheese, something that approximated blue cheese and supermarket cold cuts. Worse, the meats were very fatty. It had some really nice grapes, lots of grapes.
We laugh at things others might not find funny. We laughed at that dismal charcuterie board. I shared my halibut with AdventureMan. The halibut was really good.
We had gotten chilled on the Wilderness Tour, and even with the fireplace and the radiator, we couldn’t seem to get warm enough. We took hot showers, piled on every blanket, and snuggled under them until we fell asleep. We slept wonderfully.
Alaska 2026: Denali, Grizzly Bear Lodge and Hunter’s Cabin

Grizzly “prints” at entrance to Lodge

Thermometer on Hunter’s Cabin Deck:

Arriving at Denali Grizzly Bear Resort, I was hoping the cabin I had reserved didn’t have an old musty smell and was clean enough. We enjoyed the check-in with two young women from Jamaica who love working in Alaska, who were very helpful. They showed us on the map where the Hunter cabin was and how to get there.

When we got there, we were thrilled. It is a sweet cabin, well thought out and well prepared for visitors. As we walked in the door, we were met with an electric fire place all turned on and heating up the cabin.


The cabin has a full kitchen, with a fridge and microwave and coffee maker, a sink and running water and even a few basic cooking supplies. a table and chairs, cupboards, a separate bed room with a separate toilet and shower area and a sweet washing area with plenty of counter space for both of us.






There is another radiator to provide heat if we need it, extra blankets, and hooks to hang our jackets and outerwear. It also has thick dark blackout curtains, a definite must in a state where it doesn’t get dark until very late and starts getting light very early.

View of Nenana River through the trees.

We took a quick trip across the street to figure out where we will meet our Wilderness Tundra Tour tomorrow morning, and picked up some Seafood Clowder at the Denali Village Lodge for our dinner.
Back in our cozy cabin, we ate dinner and got ready for bed. The three hour time difference is breaking our routines; we are exhausted and ready for bed way too early. But this is a vacation! We can sleep when we want! Routines are not dictators! So we are in our nightclothes and AdventureMan is snoozing on and off, now up and running through his bed time routines while I joyfully write up today’s adventures. I can’t wait to show you the photos!
Alaska 2026: Talkeetna and the Drive to Denali

After a couple hours, tired of sitting and driving, we decided we needed movement and took a short side trek (14 miles) to Talkeetna, a colorful little town on the Talkeetna River where trains stop, and tourists come to shop, eat, and check out the scenery. Talkeetna is known for being a staging area for people hiking Mt. Denali, and a great community. They have so many visitors that they bring in people from many countries to run the food wagons, the stores, to prepare meals, and clean and run the businesses and hotels.







At one of the crafts exhibits in Talkeetna, AdventureMan met a man who was selling truly gorgeous knives. This is a limitation to carry-ons – you can’t carry knives on board with you, even in a carry-on. This man and his son work through the winter – about nine months – making knives. In the three-month tourist season in Talkeetna, he sells out everything. He makes enough to get them through the winter, making more knives for the next year.

It was a lot of fun, good crafts vendors, good truck stop food (we had really good salmon burgers) and fun photo shoot opportunities. We got to do lots of walking, and were ready to finish our drive to Denali.





The trees lining the highway slowly gave way to impressive mountains, Chugach mountains on the right, and Denali on the left. Although we had showers early in the day, the day had brightened and the clouds had lifted. They had not lifted enough to see the tip of Denali, but the mountains showed off for us and we were suitably impressed and delighted.
Delicious salmon burgers:





Road Hazards leaving Talkeetna:


The entire day, we kept meeting interesting people from all over, coming to visit Denali. One woman we met at the North face oversight, said “this really is a special place, isn’t it?” and I agreed. There was a grandeur and a silence that reinforded the grandeur. It didn’t make you feel small; it made you feel you were experiencing something immense.
Denali is behind us, shrouded in clouds.




You’ll notice we are all dressed warmly. The temperatures are in the 40’s F. We were never cold; we were just happy it wasn’t raining. Even in the clouds and cold, the mountains were spectacular.
Alaska 2026: Fred Meyer and Leaving Anchorage
I started the day anxious – was this horrid hotel room an omen? Today we were to drive to Denali, what if something went wrong??
We packed, we joked around and we went to breakfast. The breakfast was simple, but well prepared and had choices we like. In addition, we met a man from Houston and his wife, of Indian descent, who was later joined by his daughter and her friend, and we learned they, too, were headed to Denali. We had a great conversation, chatting away, and by the end of breakfast we were feeling much more positive.
As we headed out, I saw a giant stuffed polar bear and AdventureMan wanted to take my picture with it, so we had a lot of fun. We spent a few minutes taking photos for other people who wanted the same photo with the bear.
It’s a little dark and drizzly as we start. Across the street is the Puffin In, and if anything, it looks worse than the place we stayed. On the road to leave Anchorage, AdventureMan spots this and it brightens our spirits:

We had decided we wanted to pick up a few things for the road, small things, snacks, bananas for our breakfast cereals, and water. AdventureMan said, “Hey! A Fred Meyer!” and we were elated.
Fred Meyer is a West Coast grocery/department store we love. I was able to grab a coffee – and couldn’t resist a Starbucks Alaska mug for our son. We were in and out in minutes, found everything we needed, and were back on the road. The road was straightforward, only a turn here and there, and we were on our way out of Anchorage to Denali, and the road was smooth with very low traffic.

Corn in Pensacola is under 50 cents a cob

Taos, So Beautiful, We’ll Be Back
Some places, when you arrive, you just feel at home. We felt that way arriving in Taos. Our active-aging demographic went hand in hand with the young skier/snowboarder/rafter athletic demographic, and the two seemed to co-exist well.
We met a man in town who loves petroglyphs as I do, knows the secrets of where to find them and also has a vibrant and active mind. We found great walking, and beautiful spaces. We can’t wait to go back to Taos.









































And on to Taos, New Mexico






We took this route specifically to visit Chaco Canyon. At the entrance, we saw a tire vendor, with a huge selection of tires, just out by the road. As we went on, the roads got rougher and rougher, and we decided not to risk getting stuck out in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire.







We took a turn off overlooking a huge reservoir, beautiful blue-green in a dry country. Sitting on a bench was a couple, older, about our age, just sitting quietly. We greeted them and spoke of the beauty of the site, and the woman said, “yes, we have never seen the reservoir this high, and we came just to look at it. It is a miracle.” It was a beautiful moment.



We found our hotel, The Taos Inn, easily, right in the middle of town, with its own parking! We loved our room.








Lake Powell to Farmington


So now I am flying by the seat of my pants. I got to the end of the Lake Powel notes and . . . there is nothing more. How did I stop taking notes?
I do have photos, and I can figure some of it out. The drive from Lake Powel looked very different – different weather, no storm, all sun and blue skies, and it makes the landscape appear very different, too. You see things you didn’t see, even though you are on the same road (we will go right past where we turned onto Route 160 from Cortez as we drive past to Farmington, NM.








And we arrive in Farmington at our B&B The Casa Blanca:







We loved the Casa Blanca – neat, clean, and a lovely breakfast. The manager also gave us a recommendation for lunch, The Three Rivers, which was a great place to eat in Farmington.








We called it a night early in Farmington, and got a good start early the next morning.





































