Alaska - My Last U.S. Frontier
Notes on my recent visit
And then there were none . . . I’ve completed my goal of having visited all 50 U.S. states within my life with my recent trip to Alaska.
Alaska was amazing. Stunning really. And it exceeded my high expectations.
Here are my notes from this amazing place arranged somewhat in chronological order.
We flew from OKC to Anchorage via Seattle on Alaska Airlines. Alaska Airlines continues to impress me in all regards. It is what Southwest used to be aside from the humor they used to bring.
The flight up was easy, which is a good introduction to a thing I learned—Alaska (the state as a place to visit) is much more accessible than I expected. Alaska is easy. While it seems other worldly, you are obviously still in the U.S.—same language, money, culture, etc. This last part is interesting and distinguishes Alaska from Hawaii somewhat. Both have their foreign and out-of-this-world aspects, but Hawaii beats you over the head with it at times and has a hostility that I never felt in Alaska.
Flying up having strategically selected the right, eastern-facing side of the plane, it is stunningly beautiful from the approach (yes, a lot of this is Canada).
Nearer to the ground it appears like another planet even though I had seen a lot of this from satellite views. The mud flats are as eerie from above as they are driving beside them. These were one of the few things that were spooky and scary in AK. Bears are not on this list (see below). What is on the list in addition to mud flats are the risk of running into a moose, the glacial lakes with their depth, temperature, and lack of life within, the >800,000 acre dead forest on the Kenai Peninsula (spruce beetle infestation in the 1990s), and the few and thus unexpected hours of darkness when one is near wilderness (which is constantly).
Anchorage:
At the same time obviously a far northern town/city and just another American urban spot.
Disturbing number of homeless—maybe the most per capita I've ever seen in a major city. This is probably exacerbated by the fact that if you are homeless (by choice or by circumstance), your only chance is in the big city. I’m sure Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend plays into this some as well as a helpful culture that comes from a harsh environment. The calm temperatures of the summer along with the long daylight probably plays into the complexity of the matter (see also the alcoholism note below).
Returning at the end of the trip cast it in a much better light with fun spots to visit and eat along with a more compete-city feel. There were many examples to give a much better impression (see below). Still, it was the only place in Alaska that I had a concern about crime.
We drove south with a stop in Girdwood on our way to Homer. Thus, we rented a car—another mid-sized SUV. This time it was a Nissan Rogue. Of those I’ve rented as described in the Vermont post, this one was the cleanest dirty shirt. Still not great at all. The gear shifter is yet another counter intuitive design flaw. You flip it back to go into drive and push it forward for reverse as if that makes sense. Additionally, the car’s break hold, a feature I otherwise like, engages even in reverse. This means having to push the gas to get it to go rather than just idling providing locomotion—seems like a big safety issue. I do not recommend.
Enterprise Rent-A-Car was a winner as compared to the others I’ve used recently. I do recommend.
Our first true day was a Chugach Adventures’ Bears, Trains, & Icebergs (rafting) Tour. This was a lot of fun and recommended. The bears part was misleading but that’s okay because it was the only time we could see any as well as so many other animals. The conservation/rehabilitation park had up-close views of basically every animal Alaska has to offer. And you’d be quite lucky (or unlucky) to see almost any outside of it when it comes to the mammalian megafauna. This was not true of birds or sea life otherwise with sea otters being the most prevalent in the wild.
A short digression on bears. As I mentioned above, they really aren’t that scary a prospect. Yes, they can seriously maim or kill you. But they likely won’t even if encountered, and like I said you have to really get lucky/unlucky to find them outside of something like a visit to the remote Katmai National Park. And even there you’ll find that the brown bears aren’t that concerning generally. These include coastal brown bears in Katmai, et al. as distinguished from the other brown bear types of Kodiak—only found on Kodiak Island, which has about 12,000 human residents (but why?!?, well, according to the couple with young children who I met who live there working for the U.S. Coast Guard it’s “no big deal”)—and grizzlies, which are found further into the wilderness to the north. Yes, these coastal browns can get you, but they don’t hunt you. In fact these guys are fat and lazy preferring for food to jump in their mouths (salmon and berries). Black bears are a bit more concerning for their aggressiveness (but is that really just a mistaken impression from their likelihood of encounter). For them the advice is to fight back. Polar bears are more aggressive probably (my guess) because they are more desperate for food. Polar bears are nowhere near southern Alaska.
So when you think bears in the popular parts of Alaska, think much less The Great Outdoors and much more Hanna Barbera.
My brief day in Girdwood provided yet another piece of evidence to support what I'm now gonna consider a very good rule: ski towns have very good, competitive restaurant offerings. We stayed at the Girdwood Ski Inn, and I do recommend it. We ate at Basecamp, and there are several great looking places within walking distance.
Driving on to Homer after our rafting day, we got a real feel for what this part of Alaska offers:
Constantly stunning views
Some of the most beautiful rivers I’ve seen
So many panoramic moments
Almost impossible to grasp the enormity of Alaska's scale
I think a big part of my appreciation was how similar it seems to mid to late fall in Oklahoma—the best time to be in OK. The sun is at a low angle making for a prolonged “golden hour” effect. The air is crisp and cool.
Alaska is a mashup of otherworldly and common civilization. Branson meets Iceland or maybe the better analogue is Swizterland plus rural Scotland surrounding a New England fishing village (culture and scenery).
At the same time there is Americana tourism. While Bigfoot/Yeti kitsch was minimal, the food was surprisingly banal: Burgers, pizza, and BBQ along the roadside and in the tourist areas everywhere. There is great dining as mentioned below. Just don’t expect exotic (see below).
Thai and other massage offerings seemed out of proportion. I guess the rugged wilderness life brings muscle aches?
Everywhere without exception the people were polite, friendly, and appreciative—in sharp contrast with Vermont; perhaps this is due to the more heavily tourist-oriented economy or the natural result of people living in a relatively harsh natural environment. When the climate and nature is constantly trying to kill your tribe (humans), you tend to stick together.
We stayed at The Lighthouse, and I do recommend.
The Homer Spit is underrated. And it is only part of the appeal of Homer.
We took a scenic ferry to Seldovia for an afternoon. One of the only two times we were cold—both were out on the water. The second was the marine ferry in Seward. And in both cases we could have avoided it by staying in the interior of the boat. This is a bigger point: Part of Alaska’s accessibility is that at least in August it was not cold at all. Cool yes, but it was very pleasant. A minor but still important reason we chose not to do a cruise was that I think it would have been cold most of the time or you’d be holed up inside missing the scenery.
This ferry was also one of the only times we encountered Alaska’s dreaded flies. But they were just a minor bother. In fact I would say for the entire trip there were nearly no bugs to speak of. I was unduly worried about biting flies and mosquitoes.
Bald Eagles everywhere—a thing they've told me my entire life was a near-mythical creature (yes, I know once they were quite endangered in the lower 48). To see them like I see common hawks and turkey vultures at home seems unreal. Homer was the peak for us seeing them, but this was true throughout our journeys.
We were told explicitly that they can't get people to work. It seemed more to be a lack of workers rather than a lack of willingness to be a worker. Regardless, local labor scarcity was taking a big toll on many shops and entire areas. And this was evident enough to us as well. One employer said she was hoping for guest worker program next year, but she wasn’t too optimistic. Tell me again: Alaska went for Trump by how much? 55% hmm... and these areas specifically even higher? hmm….
Speaking of limits . . . Surprisingly limited food variety: lots of fried fish but only halibut, cod, and clams. The only other fish are salmon varieties plus some (much less than expected) crab options and only here and there. Very little exotic game—beef burgers are everywhere. Just a few bison and one elk spotted on a single menu. Bison makes sense as the plains bison is farmed in the lower 48 while Alaska's wood bison is still very endangered (my question about hunting/farming them fell on the conservation park specialist's deaf ears; guess he doesn't know about supply and demand). Overall the surprising lack of exotics was perhaps just my ignorance/mistaken expectations. Upon further research this is because it is illegal in Alaska to serve wild game in a commercial restaurant. This means when you see things like "caribou" on a menu it is reindeer—a farmed animal.
As far as food prices went, it was hard to tell how much was a tourism premium versus Alaska remoteness premium. A quick search shows food away from home to be 48% more expensive in Anchorage than Norman, OK. The overall cost of living difference is estimated at only 33% more. Our Starbucks difference was only about 5% higher comparing an exact order to home, however. And that was at a small town location well outside of Anchorage. Cocktails were very similar to what I pay at home. Entrees were maybe 15-25% higher in my rough approximation . . . take that with a grain of salt.
Homer recommendations (partial list):
The aforementioned Spit in general
Seldovia day trip
Homer restaurant/bar recommendations:
Hard to get used to the daylight hours. Weird never seeing stars. Probably could have if the skies had been clear, but still that meant staying up well past midnight. Did see great views of the moon—weird seeing it from the vantage point that comes from an extremely northern latitude (third quarter with a near vertical line down it).
After three days in Homer, we reversed course (since there is only one highway) headed to Seward. First impressions of Seward weren’t quite as good, but those quickly abated. Seward was great.
We stayed at The Pilot House, which I recommend with slight reservation. Overall, it was fine to great. Getting there is a little rough (gravel road), and it is located VERY close to the sewage facility, but we only once for a very brief time smelled anything. It is just aesthetically nonideal even though you don’t see it at all from the property. The house was very accommodating, but it needed a couple of improvements (kitchen gear, bathroom door lock, etc.—small things).
The full-day (7.5 hour) marine life tour was the highlight, but the food in Seward was a close second.
Seward recommendations (partial list):
The aforementioned marine tour
Seward restaurant/bar recommendations:
Our third major destination after Seward was Summit Lake Lodge. I recommend for sure. Our meals here included the restaurant (breakfast was included, and we had one dinner) as well as the connected pizza/ice cream roadside diner.
This last stop was maybe the most relaxing part of a very relaxing journey—unplugged from the world in the best way. Each of the three locations I’ve highlighted could have easily accommodated a week's-long stay.
I purchased whiskey from a liquor store on three occasions. A similar but less than feared premium over home prices prevailed—maybe about ~20%. I was reminded that the high rates of alcoholism—blamed partially on the long nights during the long winter—are the reason for AK's very regimented alcohol laws including prominent and repetitive sign posts.
Had a last night in Anchorage to make the flight departure easier. This allows for a couple of Anchorage recommendations.
We stayed at the La Quinta, which was nice from a location and upheld-brand perspective, but it did have a big homeless concern with street people actively crossing the parking lot constantly. We were told by several staff to take everything out of our car and make sure it was locked. So, probably recommend?
Campbell Airstrip Trails (Beware the recent bear activity; yes, a little contradictory to my remarks above, but I never said they were always harmless.)
Earthquake Park (The 1964 earthquake still leave quite a mark on this part of Alaska including Seward—truly an amazing, terrible event.)
Did not account for all the fishermen (bringing back frozen fish in boxes) making the bag drop line sooooo looooong. The line did move fast taking only about 20 minutes. Alaska Air continues to be very good.
On that note, is the bag drop process part of how air travel is broken? Must we have this bottleneck plus the other option where we have a bad incentive from free carry-ons?
Overall Alaska summary: Beautiful and awe inspiring. Much more desolate than I expected. Not always in a bad way, but from the terrifying mud flats to the mountains and valleys with mostly only passive (plant) life, it is not a dense wildlife safari. It is a vast expanse on the edge of the world. More dessert than jungle for sure. Then again, I'm from the plains/south where summer outdoors means bugs (and animals) everywhere. It is easy to do logistically and WELL WORTH it despite the expense. Then again, it probably is fairly competitive in price to places comparable in experience.
GO NORTH TO ALASKA!
