This past summer, we made another road trip to visit the Kenai Peninsula. We made a similar trip last summer to visit Seward but this trip we were going to a place we'd never been before; Homer, Alaska. We knew we'd be going through some areas that we had explored before we definitely had some tricks up our sleeve to make this one different than any other time. For anyone not familiar with the Alaska road system, it's important to know that it's not complicated at all ;) There are really only 3 main highways in Alaska (with a few outlying main roads to get to a few remote areas). Driving from Fairbanks to Homer will first take you down the Parks Highway, or Highway 3. This highway goes past Denali National Park with some great stops and activities along the way to Anchorage. We have we few different posts about ways to experience Denali National Park (where not to stay, what to expect on a day trip) But if you're interest in just passing through you can check out our post from our adventure road trip last summer. We didn't stop at Denali this trip but it's definitely worth it to add to your itinerary to make the most of your trip. Our first stop for this trip was actually a night spent in Hatcher Pass, near Wasilla and our favorite place, Palmer. We stayed in the famous cabins located at Hatcher Pass Lodge. The area was breathtaking with the green mountain sides, waterfalls and streams, and stunning views of the glacier-carved valley. Honestly, the stay wasn't bad. The A-framed cabin we stayed in had an upstairs loft with a bed and a couch that folded out on the main floor. There was a bathroom with a camping toilet due to the fact that the cabins in this area are "dry" - meaning no running water. The main lodge does have showers and flushing toilets. We probably would've enjoyed our stay a little more had we known all of this before arriving, haha. But the views more than made up for our surprise. The next morning we started our day by exploring the Independence Mine State Historical Park. Robert Lee Hatcher discovered and staked the willow creek gold claim in 1906 and the area soon grew into a gold mining district. Today, you can tour the old gold mining town and the buildings that give a look back into history including the bunkhouse, the assay office, shops and complexes and more. The road to the site opens at 9AM but we set out on foot and got to explore the area before anyone else was really around. It was an incredible step back in time and a beautiful area to explore. Also, fun fact: visitors can rent gold panning equipment from the gift shop to try their hand at panning for gold in the historic gold stream! Caution: This may induce a bit of gold fever ;) We've got quite the collection of flakes ourselves. Another fun activity, should you find yourself here in the late summer, is blueberry picking! We were a little too early in the year but we saw the blossoms and knew in a few months, the hills would be blue with nature's candy. After spending a bit of time at the state park, we headed to Anchorage. We were meeting up with my parents who were flying in to join us on our adventure! On our way to Anchorage, we took a bit of a detour to Eklutna Lake. This lake is stunning with awesome trails and boat rentals. We roamed the beach for a bit just killing time until we needed to pick up our guests. If you have time, this is a beautiful place to explore! We met up with my parents shortly after they arrived. For the time we were spending with my parents, we had actually rented an RV from rvshare.com and the owners of the RV picked them up from the airport and shuttled them to their RV to give us the ins-and-outs of everything we'd need to know for the rest of our trip. We were very well taken care of and ready for our week of adventures but first, a good nights' rest and a little practice run with the RV before getting too far away ;) We stayed the night at the family campground at JBER - joint air force and army base. It was a fun campground and the kids loved playing at the playground while we set up camp. We enjoyed a drive around base looking for bear and moose and came across a mama moose with twins (so cute!!) The next morning we drove to our next stop in Portage Valley. We set up camp at Williwaw Campground, surrounded by stunning views of hanging glaciers and wilderness. From the campground there is a salmon viewing platform, though we were there a little early to see the run on this side of the state. There was also a well maintained boardwalk/trail to walk around. Always be wildlife aware! Moose and bear are very active in this area - as well as most areas in Alaska. The next day we drove through the the longest highway tunnel in North America-the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel-aka the Whittier tunnel. This 2.5 mile tunnel holds the only road leading into Whittier, Alaska. It is one-lane and services both cars and trains, so keeping a schedule is incredibly important. Before the 1940s, the only way to access Whittier was by sea (or an ambitious hike) but once the army took up post here during WWII, they needed a better way to get supplies, especially supplies that could be protected from Japanese submarines keeping watch on the harbor, so this tunnel was born. This isn't the first time we've driven this tunnel but it's still fun to take the opportunity to drive it, especially to check out what has been voted "weirdest place in America" on the other side; Whittier, Alaska. This trip we weren't just going to Whittier to look around. We had booked a boat tour with Phillips Cruises to check out some glaciers in the Prince William Sound. It was a beautiful tour where we saw so many hanging and tide water glaciers. We even saw glacier calving - when chunks of ice break off from the face of the glacier - which was our ultimate goal on this trip. It was such a cool thing to witness. On our way out, we thought about how fun it would've been to camp at the Whittier campground right at the edge of the bay. We stayed one more night at Williwaw Campground before heading out to Homer the next day. On the way to Homer, we stopped for lunch in Soldotna. We did a little exploring down the river walk there. Our destination for the day was Ocean Shores RV Park, with beach access and gorgeous views of Kachemak Bay. After getting set up, we drove down to check out the Homer Spit, a 4.5 mile natural spit of land extending into the bay. Here is a little touristy area in Homer, where you will find shops, restaurants, and tours along the boardwalk. Our favorite hidden gem was the swing under the boardwalk (make sure you go at low tide). While we were here, we watched fishing charters bring in their catch of the day and my parents checked in for their bear viewing tour to take place the next day. The whole goal of this entire trip was to go on a bear viewing tour out of Homer. My parents were going to go together on one day and then Jon and I were going together the next day so that my parents could watch our kids. It was a bit of a bummer that it didn't turn out that way. If there's anything you can predict in Homer, it's that the weather is unpredictable. Our plans were unfortunately affected when the weather canceled my parents bear tour the next day. The frustrating thing about it was that it was canceled very last minute so you just never know. The good thing was that we did plan a few days to explore Homer so we still had time to reschedule. We had a great time exploring Homer with my parents even though they were supposed to be on a bear tour this day. We grabbed a delicious breakfast at Wild Honey Bistro and then walked along Bishop's beach. The kids had a blast hunting for star fish and watching small places fly over head. We checked out the visitor's center and roamed the spit again. We had dinner at Fat Olives, which was just next door to our campground. Home of the 28 inch pizza, this place is worth a stop if not just to watch the employees toss 28 inch disks of dough high into the air. We got an 18-incher which fed 4 adults and 2 kids full to the brim. The next day we had scheduled the bear tour for Jon and I. My parents were able to join this tour after Jon ended up giving up his spot to stay with the kids (bless him). We were glad, though, that we had another day to spend in Homer so my parents even had the option to reschedule. I really think this is the most important thing to do when planning a trip to Homer; plan to stay enough days so you can be flexible with your plans. Any tour leaving Homer - fishing charters, boat tours, or by air - can be affected by the weather so this is definitely something to plan around as much as possible. Our tour was with Alaska Bear Adventures. They flew us to the remote Lake Clark National Park on a gorgeous flight out where we immediately saw bears clamming on the beach. We then got out of the plane to walk around and hang out with Coastal Brown Bears, which are a subspecies of the mainland "Grizzly bears" and are actually quite larger due to their marine diet. I don't think words can accurately describe our bear tour experience. We came upon a nice-sized brown bear munching on grass and he was rather curious. We slowly approached our small group as we tried to stay close together and knelt down so as not to appear as a threat. Clearly he determined we were friendly and hung out with us for a bit before sauntering past and into the trees. We made our way back to the plane on the beach before the tide came back in and flew back to Homer while watching for otters floating in the ocean below and even a beached whale carcass. It was an experience of.a lifetime and one that I won't soon forget! We had actually checked out of the campground before checking in for our tour. Once we landed, we started our way back to Anchorage stopping in Cooper Landing as a little pit stop along the way. We actually had a reservation at the Princess Lodge there in their campground but we had wished we had thought to make reservations at Russian River Campground instead. Before leaving Anchorage the few days before, we had made a stop at Bass Pro to gear up for a little fishing along the way. Jon was so excited to fish the Russian River and it was easy to see why once we pulled up to check it out. This area is a hot spot for fishing for salmon - which also makes it a hot spot for bears. Fishing the Russian River is a thrilling experience and I know, as someone who is not experienced in fishing at all haha, that I won't give it justice but I will say that it was the highlight of the trip for Jon even though he broke his line with every fish he flossed because they were so big and the river current is pretty strong. We didn't run into any bears but we talked to plenty fishermen who had! There is even a platform up the river to watch bear fish. If Jon and my dad hadn't been so absorbed in fishing, or we had planned for more time, we would've hiked the 2 mile path to the platform, but with 3 small kids and a very active bear area, I wasn't interested in taking them along this time ;) We stayed in Cooper Landing for one night. We meant to grab breakfast at Gwin's Lodge, which I think would've been phenomenal, but we got there last and just after we were sat at a table and given the breakfast menus, they changed over to lunch so we weren't given the chance to order and were given lunch menus in exchange haha. The lunch wasn't bad but the breakfast I think would've trumped it. After lunch, we drove on to Anchorage and turned in the RV. My parents stayed there in Anchorage while we started our way back to Fairbanks, stopping for the night in Talkeetna on the way. It was another epic trip exploring Alaska with new memories and stories to share. We hope you find this helpful and inspiring! As always, we’d love to answer your comments or questions! 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 this post so you can come back to it later and we'd love to have you join us on Instagram to come with us on our day-to-day adventures! Until next time, make sure to get out and enjoy where YOU live!
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