Alaska Laura Alaska – More than a cruise destination On July 4th I flew to Anchorage to begin a new adventure a “land tour” with Holland America. Boy, was I ever in for a surprise and wonderful experiences! We even saw a parade; it was a small town type parade that made me remember my youth! Experience the midnight sun; it really is daylight 24 hours. Anchorage has so much to offer the visitor. The bus city tour helped us to get acquainted with where places of interest were located and learn some of the history of the city. You can also take the easy walking tour to discover Anchorage’s history and some of the attractions. The Tony Knowles Coastal Trail is a bike, ski and walking trail that runs right through the city and ends 11 miles later at Kincaid Park. Downtown Anchorage has several parks, Alaska Museum of History & Art, Log Cabin Visitors Center, historic hotels and homes. You can fish for salmon within 3 blocks of the main street. Anchorage has a beautiful Center for Performing Arts, civic & convention center. Good food and friendly people everywhere. Just out of town is the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Here you will experience Native storytellers, dancers, and craftspeople. There is a trail that leads you to the 5 village exhibits around a lake. Each village has a native Indian, who tells about their people and how they live and their history. If you are lucky you will even see and participate in the blanket toss. Another day trip is to the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood; just 40 miles away, where you can take a tram ride to the mountaintop and see the mountains and lakes surrounding this great resort. This resort is known for its hiking trails, world-class skiing & snowboarding, dog sled tours, glacier cruising and fine dining. From here another short distance is the Portage Glacier, where we took a cruise right up to the face of Portage Glacier. It even shed some of its ice mass while we were watching. It was an awesome sight and a thrilling experience. This is the most visited glacier in all of Alaska and one of the most accessible. Another must see site. On your way to the glacier you will be traveling along Turn Again Arm where the tidal extremes can be seen, up to 45 feet difference between low and high tide. From Anchorage we headed for Denali National Park and Preserve aboard our Holland America bus. Along the way we visited Talkeetna a small town where the hikers for the Mt McKinley summit sign in and are flown to the 4000 ft level before starting their climb. We also had lunch at the Talkeetna Resort, a beautiful lodge with stone fireplace, excellent service and dining. This is a place to relax and enjoy nature and unwind. From here we went to the Veterans Memorial, Denali State Park. This honors all the military servicemen and women who have been so important to the state of Alaska. Before long we were in Denali Park and excited to settle into our wonderful accommodations. A new lodge with a deck facing the river, what a treat that was. We attended the “Alaska Cabin Nite live dinner theater that night. It is a night of fun, food and frivolity. The next day we took the Natural History Tour into the park, where we saw mother and baby moose and caribou. In the afternoon I went to the Husky Homestead, the home of the Iditarod Champion Jeff King. It is also his training center. The first thing we get to do as we get off the bus in hold the 6-week-old puppies. What a thrill. This is a very interesting tour and educational. I was especially interested as we own a purebred Husky ourselves. Others in our group went River Rafting, Tundra Wildlife Tour, and Flight Seeing (Mt McKinley could be seen as they flew around her for a 70 minute flight). From Denali Park we boarded the McKinley Explorer train to Fairbanks. Fairbanks has a lot of things to do and see also. The following morning we took the paddleboat Riverboat Discover cruise. As we cruised the Chena & Tanana Rivers a bush pilot demonstrated a take off and landing in only 125 ft, we stopped at the Trailbreaker Kennel of Dave Monson and Susan Butcher (the Iditarod Champion) for a short visit. Then on to the Chena Indian Village where we got off the boat and saw many facets of Indian life, also a demonstration of dog team mushing and racing. In the afternoon we visited the Gold Dredge No. 8, the once bustling gold camp of Fairbanks. We panned for gold and got a few flakes! Our day finished with a visit to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Museum where we learned more about the Native Culture and the Northern Lights. It was off to the airport at 1030pm for a flight home. Laura Cochran (206) 283-1565 / (800) 294-8747 FAX (206) 282-6180 Hours: 9:30 am - 5:30 pm, Monday - Friday | Saturdays 11:00 am - 2:30 pm E-mail: susan@magnoliatravel.com