If there’s anything you should know before planning a trip to Alaska it’s that there is a lot of space between point A and point B. If you want the whole Alaska experience - and to explore as much as possible - you have a lot of ground to cover. By looking at some of our past blog posts about our Alaskan adventures, you’ll see that we’ve posted a few different versions of road trips that we’ve done, covering ground from Fairbanks to destinations like Anchorage, Seward, Homer, and everywhere in between. While these types of trips are incredible, and we have seen and done so many amazing things, sometimes we prefer trips that are located around a central hub. We recently got back from a trip to Girdwood, Alaska which was just such a trip. If you’re looking for a trip to Alaska that allows for a little rest in between the day-to-day adventures, then this post is for you. Day 1Girdwood, Alaska is about 45 minutes south of Anchorage. It’s sits at the bottom of a beautiful, glacier-carved valley tucked into the Chugach Mountain range. It boasts the only ski resort in the state of Alaska that is open year round for all kinds of outdoor adventures. We picked Girdwood to be our central hub for this trip because we wanted to be close to amenities while still being away from the “city” and Girdwood is such a place! On the first day, we arrived a little bit before it was time to check in at our airbnb. We explored the beautiful Alyeska Resort grounds and decided to take the tram up to the top of Mount Alyeska. This activity is a little pricey, especially when paying for a whole family, but we can’t ever say no to a bird’s eye view and up we went. The Alyeska Tram takes visitors from 306 ft in elevation to 2,334 ft in about 6 minutes. On a clear day you can beautiful views of the valley all the way to Turnagain arm as well as up to 7 hanging glaciers. Every time we’ve done this activity, there was just a little too much snow to really explore the hiking paths around the area but they are there! This last trip, the operator told us about the annual Alyeska Climbathon that takes place here. It's a competition to see who can run up the mountain the most number of times in the span of 10 hours. Participants will run up the 2.2 mile trail (gaining 2,000 ft in elevation each time) and take the tram down as many times as they can until the tram closes for the day. He assured us that it’s a pretty intense and impressive event. At the top of the tram, you can explore the lookout tower and there are two restaurants that are pretty decent! Sit by the window for a meal with a view. After our little adventure up the mountain, it was time to check into our absolutely incredible Airbnb. This 3 bedroom/3 bathroom townhouse was stunning down to the very last detail. Our kids especially appreciated the “bunk room” with two bunkbeds and books for them to sit with…but once we showed them the game room, it was “game over” ;) Complete with foosball, arcade games, darts, and more, it was the first room they went to every morning and the last room they were in every night. But it was fun for adults too! With a little corner dedicated to working out, a big TV and a little bar, this room is sure to provide entertainment for everyone. We hung out here for the rest of the night gearing up for the next day's itinerary. If you decide you want to stay here, mention to the host, Jodie, that Ashlee from Our Big Backyard sent you to get a discount on your stay. DAY 2We had family visiting with us this trip and on day 2, I planned a little outing with just myself and my aunts that were up for an adventure. We left Jon with the kids (who ended up going back into Anchorage for some shopping and Chuck E Cheese ;) and we headed to Whittier. Whittier was about a 30 minute drive from our Airbnb but the major thing to take into account when visiting is the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel schedule. This tunnel to get into Whittier is the longest highway tunnel in North America. It’s 2.5 miles one way and also shares with the train so it is imperative that they keep to a strict schedule to keep traffic flowing. The best advice when going through the tunnel is to check the schedule on their website but usually traffic going into Whittier sits in the holding lot until the bottom of the hour when the tunnel opens for 15 minutes. Then traffic leaving Whittier does the same thing on the other side at the top of the hour. The tunnel was built in WWII for the literal supply train for the troops stationed there. It was the first time the town had been connected to the rest of Alaska by road but it wasn’t converted for cars until the year 2000. Whittier is a random town and at first glance it doesn’t really seem like they have much going on but the tunnel isn’t the only thing that makes Whittier interesting. Whittier was actually voted one of the weirdest places in the world because most of the population lives in the same building. The Begich Towers is an apartment complex where almost every one of the year round residents live. There’s a rumor that some of the residents have listed the apartment on Airbnb…but that’s an adventure for another time :) The floor level of the building is open to the public and has a hall dedicated to the history of the town, which is pretty fascinating! There is also a grocery store and a post office as well as a tunnel that connects to the school on the other side of the parking lot for those bitter cold winters. After exploring a bit, we grabbed some lunch at the Swiftwater Cafe. All of “downtown” is right along the harbor and is a good place to grab food or souvenirs but who doesn’t love those Alaskan harbor views?? Whittier may seem random and *gasp* boring (I didn’t say it but I’ve gotten a few instagram comments *smh*) but there are some pretty epic adventures to be had here. After a quick lunch, we met up with our tour of choice for this trip which was with Glacier Jet Ski Adventures! Honestly, this was such an incredible trip! We went out into the Prince William Sound and Blackstsone Bay and got up close and personal with some wildlife, waterfalls, and glaciers all on our own personal jet ski. Whittier is known for a lot of things and unpredictable weather is one of those things. Our jet skis had heated handle bars, if that tells you anything - but we really lucked out with incredible weather and had the best time! We got back from our tour just in time to catch the tunnel out of Whittier and met up with the fam back at the Airbnb for dinner. Day 3On the third day, we took it easy and did a little more exploring around Girdwood. We all drove a short ways to Crow Creek Gold Mine and did a little gold panning. Crow Creek is still a fully operational gold mine and the historical mining camp was such a fun place to explore. We roamed around the property and some of the old buildings. We had a quick lesson on gold panning, some practice with some pay dirt, and then we went on a short walk to the creek to put our skills to the test. It was a fun little adventure for the whole family. After the Gold Mine, some of our group set out to explore some of the trails around Girdwood. Winners Creek is a locals favorite and the Historic Iditarod Trail is a fun one as well. Both are easy “hikes” suitable for all ages. Day 4On our last day in Girdwood, we had booked a little excursion with the Alaska Railroad. The Glacier Discovery Train picked us up right there in Girdwood and took us along the most scenic section of the renowned railroad. First we actually went back into Whittier - which was a whole different experience by train - and then we came back out and went into the backcountry to see the magnificent Spencer and Grandview Glaciers. These are places in Alaska that are only accessible by the train and the whole ride was just gorgeous. For those feeling a little more adventurous, you can actually book a kayak or pack raft trip where the train takes passengers to Spencer Glacier where they’ll disembark and do a little paddling until the train comes back to pick them up. It honestly looked so much fun! But our relaxing little train ride was a good experience too! We saw so much wildlife - including bears, moose, and bald eagles - beautiful waterfalls and glaciers and they even stopped at the more scenic parts and opened the doors so we could take in the view. It really was a great little trip. One tip if you don't want to ride back into Whittier a second time on the way back is to book the shuttle transfer which will take you back to Girdwood or Anchorage from the Portage stop. BonusYou may notice that I haven’t said anything about restaurants. There aren’t a ton of food options in Girdwood and our Airbnb was actually closer to the highway than going into town so we had loaded up on groceries in Anchorage before our trip. However, we did grab some lunch at Subway before getting on the train on the last day and there’s a great little bakery, called Alpine Cafe and Bakery, in that same little strip mall area. Driving to Girdwood, you drive along Turnagain Arm. We always love stopping at Beluga Point, especially at high tide and watching for Beluga Whales. Bring some binoculars and watch for smooth, round, white “waves” moving in a small pod. They can be tricky to differentiate between actual waves, so watch closely! Girdwood is a great hub for some fun Alaska adventures but if you’re looking to explore more of Alaska, you can easily spend some time here and then move on to areas like Seward or Homer. We actually ended our trip by driving back up through Anchorage and spending a few days in the Wasilla/Palmer area. Check out our post about some awesome things to do there as well! If you’re interested in a one-on-one chat to help plan a custom trip to Alaska, check out our options here! Make sure to pin so you can come back to this post! Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram for some of our day-to-day adventures and until next time, get out and explore where you live!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWe're just a military family enjoying where we live, one PCS at a time. Follow us as we explore our current home, South Carolina, and beyond. The world is our backyard. Archives
June 2024
Categories
All
|