Our summer vacation last year was filled with so many amazing sites and experiences, that one blog post just wasn’t enough to cover it all. It was my first time in our most northern and largest state, and I definitely left a little piece of my heart there. Alaska was always my dad’s favorite vacation destination and now I know why. It’s absolutely gorgeous!
We did a cruise & land tour with Princess Cruise Lines that started in Fairbanks. We only had a couple of days there but took the opportunity to hire an Uber to take us to the Santa Claus House in nearby North Pole, AK. What a treat! It’s a Christmas wonderland with every ornament and decoration imaginable. And we even got to meet the big guy himself!! He was so sweet and talked with my son about Pokémon and crypto currency. That Santa…he sure is up to date on current trends!
One of my now most favorite and memorable cruise excursions took place before we left Fairbanks. Princess Cruise Lines puts together a Riverboat Discovery Cruise that is hands down the best excursion I’ve ever experienced. It starts with a paddle wheel boat ride on the Chena and Tanana rivers that is perfectly timed, choreographed, and emceed by a local newscaster. The cruise takes you by the home of an Iditarod champion where you can see the sled dogs in training, reindeer along the banks, and a salmon fishery.
You then disembark for a guided tour through a replica of an Athabascan Indian Village. Our tour guides were two young Athabascan native girls who were so wonderful. They were incredibly knowledgeable and put together an informative tour showing us what life was like for their ancestors and current families. We were given free time to roam about the village and riverbank, then it was back on the boat for our return trip that was full of surprises! I’ll leave those a secret, because I definitely don’t want to ruin the awe of the moments when you take this trip for yourselves.
We left Fairbanks the next morning on a motor coach for Denali National Park and our stays in two lodges owned by Princess. They were both wonderful!! Unfortunately, our stay and excursions in the park were altered by the forest fires in the area that happened right before our arrival. We were unable to take the included tour through the park, but we made the most of our time! On a whim, we quickly booked an airplane ride over the park that was breathtaking.
When I was a teenager, I took flying lessons in a little Cessna plane, and I never thought I’d have the opportunity to fly in one similar again. This excursion was a dream come true and tears may or may not have come to my eyes when we took off. The fires and smoke limited how close we could get to most of the park, but our pilot rerouted and showed us amazing views of glacial ice, wildlife, and mountain peaks. Simply incredible!!
Note to self, though…when booking anything that involves motion, give a heads up to your hubby who suffers from motion sickness. Don’t have him eat a lunch of greasy fish and chips right before boarding a small plane that makes lots of twists, turns, and dips. Not a great combo! Sorry, babe!!
The morning that we were set to leave the park, Denali Peak decided to show herself. Apparently, the cloud cover rarely clears enough for visitors to see the peak, so we considered ourselves very lucky! It was so majestic!! The rest of the day was spent on a motor coach to Talkeetna (make sure to check out my post all about this quaint little town) while Pickle and my cousin played with the sled dog puppies on an excursion of their own. Pickle was determined to bring one home! Then it was a long train ride to the cruise ship in Whittier filled with the most gorgeous views your mind can imagine.
Princess Cruise Lines and other cruise companies offer lots of different variations of trips to Alaska. Some include the interior land tours we were on, and some are just the traditional cruise stops along the coastline. I can’t recommend for you to include the land tour on your Alaskan vacation enough and to do it on the first leg of the trip. It’s several days of packing and repacking, traveling on motor coaches and trains, hotel lodge stays, and excursions that can be more draining for some travelers. It was so nice to have the next seven days on the cruise ship to relax and be pampered. But more on that later!
Cheers,
Lisa
*Not affiliated with Princess Cruise Lines in any way and this post was not made in exchange for any compensation, either monetary or otherwise.
**All opinions and experiences are my own.