Well, the tribe has spoken! We’ve posted a few pictures from our trip down to Seward on Instagram and when we asked if our followers would like a blog post on where we stayed and what we did, we got a unanimous YES! So here it is...
Jon’s dad came to visit us for about a week and wanted the ‘full Alaska experience’. We’ve learned that most ‘outsiders’ don’t really understand the full picture of Alaska and just how far away Fairbanks is from the rest of the touristy places people like to visit. We can tell people all day just how big Alaska is and how remote we are, but it’s not really fathomable until you see it in person. That being said, it’s a 9 hour drive from Fairbanks to Seward. Could we have made it all in one day? Maybe...if we weren’t bringing along the kids ;) So we split the drive up and stayed over night on our way down and back. If you decide to do the drive all at once, we certainly wouldn’t blame you! But our stops are still places worth checking out, if you have the time.
Our first stop was in McKinley Park, mile 224 on the Denali Highway, the Panorama Pizza Pub, for lunch! The location is beautiful, the pizza is delicious, but we highly recommend the ‘beer cheese and shells’ which is a twist on the classic Mac & Cheese using a creamy beer cheese. It was so good we dove into it before we remembered to take a ‘influencer’ picture ;)
Our resting place for the night was a bed & breakfast in Palmer. Fishhook Sunrise B&B is a beautiful house on a gorgeous property hosted by the most wonderful family. The rooms are spacious and modern and each room has a private bathroom. After settling in for the night, we woke up to a delicious Sunday breakfast with homemade pancakes, homemade syrup, even homemade whipped cream! And fresh raspberries picked that morning on the property with a fresh raspberry lemonade to boot. I’m not sure how many pancakes our little family put down but the girls were definitely in heaven! We loved eating breakfast with the Willardson’s and when it came time to leave, we felt like we were saying ‘see ya later’ to some old friends.
Before heading out of Palmer, we HAD to make a stop at our favorite place, the Reindeer Farm! They’ve had a few additions since we last visited, like Lucy, for example, an orphaned moose found this year that was only about 3-4 months old! The girls had the best time feeding her some fireweed in between her bottle feedings.
Hayden wasn’t quite brave enough to feed the reindeer, but surprised us all with her desire to feed Rocky, the kissing moose ;)
Of course, the big highlight for Jon and I is always hanging out with the reindeer.
Can’t forget petting a yak, feeding a baby llama, or petting bunnies and chickens! Though, if you ask Colbie, her favorite animal was Cali the cat (go figure haha)
We also grabbed some reindeer dogs, pulled pork sandwiches, and some chili and hot chocolate for lunch right there at the farm. Always a good time at the reindeer farm!!
Later in the day, we continued on the road towards our final destination. It was a very pretty drive around Turnagain Arm including views of the ocean and glaciers galore. We tried to stop in Girdwood for dinner, but not many places were open due to Covid, or the ones that were weren't super kid friendly, though it was a gorgeous little town from what we saw in our short visit! We ended up grabbing a little sandwich and pizza-by-the-slice at Coast Pizzeria and Alpine Cafe & Bakery at a stop right off Seward Highway. It was...good enough for our needs ha.
The next two nights, we actually stayed outside of Seward in Cooper Landing. We stayed at the Lodge at Grizzly Ridge, which was right on the Kenai River and it was beautiful! Our room had a full fridge and kitchenette but Jon’s dad’s room had a full kitchen. They offer a variety of sized rooms at the lodge but also have cabins you can rent, which would be fun to check out sometime!
They were large, comfortable rooms, very affordable, with insanely gorgeous surroundings.
The next day, Jon took his dad early in the morning into Seward to catch his fishing charter. By the time he came back, napped, and the rest of us got ready for the day, it was late morning when we took the 45 minute drive down to Seward. And boy, was it the prettiest 45 minutes I’ve ever experienced...
We pulled into town and grabbed some lunch at The Lone Chicharron. Thumbs up from us! We then visited theAlaska SeaLife Center. The Alaska SeaLife Center is a non-profit aquarium dedicated to marine research and education. It is the only marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation facility in Alaska.
We got to the sea lion exhibit right at feeding time, which was super cool! It’s not very often you get to see a 2000 lb sea lion up close and personal.
Due to the effects of COVID, current projections show the center will be forced to permanently close its doors at the end of this summer season, relocating all the animals and laying off all employees. Visit the link in their website to see how you can help!!
After the aquarium, we drove out to Lowell Point. It was a fun little beach where the girls found seashells and we watched people try to snag salmon from the beach. We also saw a huge sea lion in its natural habitat which was super cool! It was also a great view of the whole bay and we had fun guessing which fishing boat Grandpa was on.
We made our way back to Seward and drove around a little bit. We walked along the little boardwalk near a fishing pond. We saw salmon and sea otters and dreamt about having views like this in our backyard.
We made our way over to the port to pick up Grandpa, and while we were waiting, we watched salmon jumping like crazy while people fished from the shore. We also saw jelly fish, which I thought was pretty cool!
We really wanted to check out The Cookery for dinner! But unfortunately, they’re closed on Mondays! Which was the day we were there. We ended up loading up on some groceries and Grandpa cooked up some of the fish he caught when we got back to Cooper Landing.
The next day, we checked out and and started our drive back up north. We stopped for lunch in Anchorage but the place of note was picking up a box of malasadas from Wiki Wiki Donuts for breakfast the next day!
I have to say, none of the flavors we got were bad, but my favorite were the Key Lime and the girls...I thought they’d love the fruity strawberry and cream or even the guava, but the plain chocolate was a hit for them! Let’s just say, I’m glad we don’t live close to a wiki wiki because...they would have all my money ;)
Our stop for the night was in the sleepy little town of Talkeetna. We stayed at the ‘Talkeetna Villas’ as part of the Talkeetna Villas and Tours. While we weren’t staying for any tours, we did meet the owners, as the rooms are right on their property, and they were super friendly and very knowledgeable on the area.
The rooms were spacious, clean, modern, and very comfortable. We enjoyed having a little kitchenette and the girls really appreciated the card and board games after being in the car for a minute. Each room is also a mini art gallery featuring art, pictures, and even furniture from local artists, all for sale!
The property is 3 blocks from Main Street, where you will find all the restaurants and entertainment. Some of us grabbed dinner at the Denali Brewpub and some of us grabbed pizza from Mountain High Pizza Pie. (Can you tell how much some little girls love their pizza??) I actually got the ravioli dinner at Mountain High and it was pretty good! The next morning, we grabbed a small breakfast at Conscious Coffee and were back on the road. The real reason we stayed in Talkeetna is because we heard it's the best place to see Denali on a clear day! Only 30% of visitors get lucky to have clear enough weather to see the tallest mountain in North America so we were crossing our fingers to get a good view with Jon's dad.
Here you can see a crappy picture of a rare view of Denali reaching above the clouds ;) Haha, we were just so excited that we could see her peaks, even though it wasn't super clear. And the clouds rolled in over top of her only minutes later.
On our way back to Fairbanks, we stopped back in McKinley Park at mile 224, but this time at McKinley Creekside Cabins and Cafe. Here we picked up a little treat for some friends who were watching our dog for us, but sidenote: We have stayed here a few times and while the first stay was for the views and location, the second stay was for the breakfast!! Holy cow, so good! And the service was just amazing. If you have a chance to get an "Alaska-sized" cinnamon roll, or their specialty of rhubarb and strawberry coffee cake, DO IT! The breakfast skillets were another favorite as well. We then took a little drive into Denali National Park and Preserve. We could drive our POV as far as mile 15 and we were able to see a couple moose this time. After leaving the park, we made the 2 hour drive back to Fairbanks. It was a pretty quick trip but we had a good time exploring a little bit of Alaska. Have you been to any of these places, or. are you putting any of them on your bucket list? Anything we should check out for next time? Let us know in the comments! If you're interested in a one-on-one chat to help to plan your trip check out our options! Comments or questions? We'd love to hear them! 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! ** Update: We went to Seward again! You can get more ideas for a road trip on our blog post series starting here
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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
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