村姑走天下
2011-06
Do you believe that there are more fishermen than fish in Kenai River in early June, more animal signs than animal themselves in Fairbanks, and more RV parks than motel/hotels in Alaska? Will you laugh if a pan with cooked spaghetti flying out from the refrigerator? Will you be scared if bears crossing bush and approaching your car? Do you agree you need extra hours to enjoy spectacular views when driving?...
In early June 2011, we three families with a group of 14 flied from Houston to Anchorage, rented three RVs traveling around Kenai Peninsula, northernFairbanks, and Denali National Park, for a total of 11 days.
This is our first time to visit Alaska. We have done a lot.
We took one day cruise watching spectacular glaciers, and many giant oceananimals like killer whales, humpback whales, and sea lions in Kenai Fjords National Park.
Everybody got excited when they saw moose crossing park road, and brown bears approaching our bus during the one day tour in Denali National Park.
Among the 4 glaciers we have visited the car accessible inland Matanuska Glacier was wonderful.
Kids love watching the dog sled show, petting handsome huskies, hiking along mountain trails, and collecting logs in forest for camp fires. These hands on/ feet on activities with friends kept them busy and happy.
Gold mining turns out a popular activity for both adults and kids. Everybody guaranteed to find some gold and take it home.
Three dads and two college boys went to one day king salmon fishing in Kenai River in early cold rainy morning but caught none since it is too early for the peak season. My husband said that he have seen more fishermen than fish in the Kenai river! Our better option would be fishing halibut in ocean near Homer – best place, best season, if you are not sea sick.
This is our first time to rent/drive RVs.
The first day we were a little bit nervous. We don't know how difficulty it would be to park, turn around, operate a generator, dump sewer water, etc. But our gentlemen were able to handle/drive RVs smoothly for nearly one thousand miles.
Actually, the wildest state is very RV friendly. There are probably more RV parks than hotel/motels in Alaska. Parking RV in grocery stores, gas stations and parks is not an issue.
No packing /unpacking needed. Forget bringing something is very tolerant. We parked RVs at ocean front, river front, or mountains around, all with great natural views.
Comparing to a family van, RV is a house on the wheels, it is bigger and convenient. It could be noisy too when all the pans, forks, knives sing loud together when you are driving. Comparing to a regular house, it is tiny and its convenience is depend on campground facilities. One night we found our sewer tank was full and the RV park does not have sewer hookup. At Denali national park, our RV site has no electricity/water/sewer hookup at all, shower is 30 minutes driving time away, generator is not allowed after 8pm. Upon that time, I realized that everything we take granted in our daily life is actual a blessing. Be thankful to own a roomy house along with all kinds of convenience!
Dramatic weather, pretty flowers
While Houston reached record high temperature in early dry June, it is spring time in Alaska! Flowers are so bright and vivid. We even saw some bluebonnets at many places along road side or edge of forest. Temperature ranges from 40 °F to 80 °F. It rains almost everyday but rains usually do not last long. We wear T-shirt in Anchorage but felt chilly with thick jacket when cruising.
Scenic driving, great views
Of course, the views in Alaska are gorgeous! Pacific Ocean, rivers, lakes, glaciers, ice, valleys, forests, wild animals... there are lot of waters, lot of mountains, but much less human beings and vehicles, and not that many animals – One lady said she saw more animal signs than animal themselves.
The 125 mile-long Seward highway is very scenic and eye pleasant. A must see. Most of mountains are white-headed with clouds or ice covering the top. You can see many white ice stripes stretching down the hills and merging into green trees. Even the 800-mile-long Alyeska pipelines become a special landscape and worth a stop...
Fish and water tastes good, restaurants are ok
Alaska’s salmon and halibut are fresh and tasteful. Water from well pump in Denali National Park tastes better than bottle water we bought. So we just empty bottles and fill them with the nature water for drinking and cooking. Alaska beer also made our drivers cheer-up. Its great taste must root from high quality of Alaska water.
We barbecued with camp fires and ate dinners near midnight. It is easy to lose tracking of time since the sky seems never turn to dark these days.
The Alaska Salmon and Prime Rib buffet at major marine tour was very delicious. Other restaurants we tried in Homer and Anchorage were just so-so.
Instead of shaking some weight off, everybody in my family gained a few pounds in 11 days! Hmm…
Adventure in Alaska is pricy. Isn’t it?
Yes, but not as pricy as we originally thought because we found some ways to save money. The 2-for-1 TourSaver coupon book costs $99, but it saved us couple of hundreds, and we sold it on ebay for $70 right after the trip. We booked RVs in the winter and rent it right before the peak season, that saved us about 1/3 to 1/2. Our rate is around $100 a day. Gasoline price is higher in Alaska though, nearly $4.5 per gallon, and RV runs about 10 miles a gallon. We spent about $800 gasoline per RV in 10 days, plus the average cost of $35 for RV park per night.
Although grocery and restaurant is expensive over there, we spent less in food than we budgeted – this is another advantage to have a RV. We have a kitchen on the wheels! And with a tight schedule, we don’t have many chances to dine out.
Traveling with friends
Traveling with other friendly families is nice too. We heard very few complaints from our kids and teenagers during the trip. Moms and dads worked as a team sharing responsibilities like making Air/RV/Tour reservations, planning the trip, and preparing the dinners. I felt I have less work to do than traveling with my own family alone.
First but may not be the last
Alaska adventure is memorial. It is our first but not last visit…One gentleman in our group said he wish he could come back in this August just for fishing halibut in Homer. One thing we missed and like to do during next visit is a bird’s eye view of Alaska.
If you like to experience how cold the glacier could be in summer, how a bear is approaching you, how things fly out from refrigerator,... go and try it out on your own!
