Land Tour With Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
Karen and Linda has the opportunity of traveling to Alaska on a very unusual and special 7 night land tour! We started at Fairbanks airport, which is itself is like a museum, so much to see and get the adrenaline started for this exciting adventure. We were met by the RCCL business development managers and the Alaska Tourist board who swept us away to all that Fairbanks has to offered including Salmon Bake; we went to play with the Huskey Puppies at the Husky Homestead with Jeff King the winner of the Iditarod as the guest speaker; panning for gold and the Amazing Alyeska Pipeline.
The Alaska pipeline is an amazing structure that carries oil from wells in the very far north of Alaska down to the ice-free port in Valdez, Alaska, where tankers pick up and transport the oil. The pipeline is 800 miles long and four feet in diameter. Linda enjoyed learning about the struggle to build the 800 mile pipeline and the difficulty to get it done.
The next day we drove through Denali National Park which is the number one tourist attraction in America. Located in Alaska’s Interior is home to North America’s highest mountain, Denali, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet above sea level. Summer temperatures are ideal, averaging around 66 during the day, perfect for getting out and enjoying the Great Outdoors, breathtaking scenery and wildlife viewing
Our journey continued via bus for the 3 hour trip to stay at the Talkeetna Lodge which is known for the unforgettable views of Denali and steps away from adventure.
This was a fabulous Lodge and experience. Set on a ridge just above the town of Talkeetna, the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge offers majestic views of the tallest peak in North America. It’s the best of Alaska, outside and in.
Inside, there’s a crackling fire in a giant river rock fireplace, and a carefully-curated selection of Native art in the boutique. Award-winning cuisine, the best wine selection in the area, friendly service—and a great night’s sleep!
Our next adventure was on the Alaska Railroad Wilderness Explorer! Follow the experience building the railroad. The train traveled to Seward where we visited many historic and interesting parks, saw animals at the Alaska Sealife Center and had great food along the way.
One of the highlights was seeing the huskies that are used for dog sleds. They were adorable and it was so interesting to see.
Our final leg of the trip took us by bus to Anchorage. We stopped along the way to Alyeska Resort, a dream of ours to go to visit. As a snow skier for many years we always wanted to ski here but never had the opportunity. It was glorious to visit but ….no snow for skiing.
Flying isn’t the only way to get an aerial view. The Alyeska Tramway swoops over treetops, taking passengers 2,000 feet up Mount Alyeska. Seven named glaciers, kettle ponds and sparkling Turnagain Arm are all visible from the tram. We went all the way to the top, what a view.
Interesting story: Our friend Debbie is a Marine Biologist in Anchorage, she lives in Homer AK. We kept trying to meet up but were unable, as our bus was traveling from Seward to Anchorage she calls us and waves as her car passed our bus. Small World!
Our two nights in Anchorage was filled with more history and site seeing including an amazing Alaska Sea Life Center, the Tram that took us around town and the Planetarium Anchorage. There is so much to do in this vast state, we only touched on some of it. This is our 3rd time to Alaska, and we expect to go back many more times.
