Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
South of Anchorage is the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. They help wounded, sick or orphaned wildlife from around Alaska. It was a great chance to see lots of cool wildlife super close up. We arrived just in time to participate in howling with the wolves.
Anchorage to Seward via THE TURNAGAIN ARM
The Turnagain Arm is the bay south of Anchorage between the Anchorage area and the Kenai Peninsula. The highway hugs the coastline; it’s one of the most beautiful drives in America. Its name comes from a story that Captain Cook through he’d found a passageway through but when he realized it came to an end, he had to “turn again” to get back out to sea. We took a scenic tram ride to the top of Alaska’s only ski resort, hiked along a glacier, and hiked and explored the coastal town of Seward.
Glacier Tour in Kenai Fjords National Park
The Kenai Fjords National Park is almost completely inaccessible by anything other than boat, so the best way to see it is on a glacier tour. We took Major Marine Tours out of Seward. We saw a ton of wildlife and got up close and personal with the Aialik Glacier.
Salmon Fishing on the Kenai River
One of the things I was most excited to do in Alaska was go salmon fishing. The water of the Kenai River is a really unique and incredibly beautiful teal color from the glacier silt in the water. Merritt and I randomly got paired with a group of 13 Italian tourists on a guided trip across Alaska. Out of the 15 of us, we only caught 2 salmon we could keep (and neither one was caught by me or Merritt). Our guide was a really nice guy named Ty; he felt bad for us and gave us some pity salmon to take since we didn’t catch our own.
Denali National Park
Denali National Park is truly one of the most wild and beautiful places I have ever been. It’s almost not worth taking pictures because there’s no picture that can capture what it’s really like. We chose to spend two nights in the very deep interior of the park at the Wonder Lake Campground, and I’m so glad we did. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever camped and is definitely one of the most memorable experiences I’ve ever had.
Alyson Gagne 