Sorry fine people of Anchorage, but your city needs some love. I suppose since Anchorage is in many respects a working town and a transit point, what should we expect, but Anchorage was a disappointment. Frankly, it’s just an access point to all the other goodness Alaska offers.
We landed on the morning of Saturday, June 29th at Ted Stevens International; which was much bigger than I expected. After gathering our bags, we checked in at the Hyatt House (which could be a hotel anywhere but was otherwise just fine for our needs) and quickly departed north.
Destination Hatcher Pass and the Independence Mine State Historical Park. Since we’d already had a full travel day, we chose this location largely as a filler, but we were very impressed by it’s beautiful alpine setting and historical interest. We drove further up the mountain to Hatcher pass and got a short hike in, before heading down the other side of the pass towards the almost nonexistent village of Willow; a long drive but quite scenic along the roaring Willow Creek.
Arriving into Willow, we caught spectacular views of Denali before heading back towards Anchorage and dinner at Simon and Seafort’s Saloon & Grill, which looks over the Cook Inlet and the Knik Arm.
We started our second day early at the Alaska Rail Train Station after breakfast at the Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop (highly recommended) and headed to the Spencer Glacier Whistle Stop. The train moves at a leisurely pace with a handful of stops along the way, including the interesting town of Whittier. As the locals say, “visit Whittier, where the weather is shittier” and it proved quite accurate. Socked in most days with rain and fog, Whittier is fascinating as the entire town consist of one high rise building (containing all housing and manor of businesses) and a handful of tourist shops and restaurants.
After about four hours we arrived at the whistle stop and enjoyed a leisurely hike to see the Spencer Glacier and returned to the train around 3pm. Pro-tip; rather than take the train for the entire five hour return trip, we left at the Portage stop and boarded a much faster bus back to Anchorage, shaving about three and a half hours off the return trip.
Dinner was on the rooftop bar at the 49th State Brewing Company. The view was great; the food and beer was fine, which is more or less par for the course for dining in Anchorage. Back to the hotel around ten and off to bed, for an early start on day three. Destination Talkeetna and Denali.
