ALASKA!!!!!

We knew ahead of time that our flight from Chicago to Anchorage may have been overbooked. I put us on a volunteer bump list when United promised a $300 voucher per person if you were bumped. The Petefish family doesn't turn down travel vouchers if we can help it. I reasoned that most folks going to Alaska go on cruises and would flip out about missing their original flights. I was right and when we got to Chicago the gate agent was waiting on us to ask us to move to a different flight. The voucher was now at $350 per person. We said we'd absolutely do it and were booked on a flight to Denver then to Anchorage and only arrived 2 hours later than planned. $700 for a two hour bump!! We also got upgraded to exit rows for those flights, an upgrade that United typically sells for a ~$125 each leg of the flight. Winning!! :)

Alaska here we come!! $700 richer!

We didn't get to sit next to each other on the flight from Chicago to Denver, but I sat next to older gentleman who worked on Navy submarines. We chatted almost the entire flight and at the end he gave me my absolute favorite compliment, "you sure are a great person to sit next to on a flight!" Thank you, kind sir. :) Flying into Denver was a first for both Jackson and me since moving in 2010. It was so weird. We felt like we were at home and I think both started for baggage claim before realizing that we were just passing through. The views landing and taking off made us miss Denver so much. Tear!

Quite the view from the plane's window

I got to sit next to the handsome gentleman with whom I share a last name on the long flight from Denver to Anchorage. 5.5 hours to be exact. We watched "Lone Survivor" on our iPads so two hours passed quickly. Then we felt a little restless. I started reading The Fault in Our Stars and forgot that there was a world around me. Holy cow that's a touching little book. Eventually we landed in Anchorage and all was well with the world. I'll even forgive the airport for having us come into the gate housing a Cinnabon. Vomit.

Just in the airport and already spotted a bear!

We got our luggage (it had arrive two hours before us and was waiting for us in a secure room. That's the way to do it, folks! No waiting at baggage claim! United just went all out this trip. Way to go, United!!) We thought we felt OK to get showered up and get dinner. We were wrong. We'd been traveling for more than 14 hours and even showers didn't wake us up. We went as zombies to a quick dinner at a restaurant that J.P. Morgan had a deal with. Jackson was able to buy a $25 certificate for $6.50 as long as we spent $37.50 at the restaurant. It was a great deal and the food was awesome. We were just too tired to really even speak to each other. After that we gave up and went back to the hotel to sleep. I think it was like 7 p.m. Alaska time but we didn't care. We were done!

I woke up at 2:45 a.m. and peaked outside. The darkness was not dark. At all. It was amazing. I cannot get over how long the sun stays up here! I quickly went back to bed until a more decent hour.

We felt much better in the morning and decided to explore downtown Anchorage a bit before heading to Denali State Park to hike.

We made it!

Alaska...#50!

Jackson had yet another coupon for a little café. He bought a $10 gift card for $2.50 as long as we spent $15 on our visit. Amazing. The food was awesome, too! I'll miss his perks working for J.P. Morgan when the transition to Great-West is complete.

We stopped at a grocery store on the way out of town and were amazed at the expense of groceries up here. We're not talking Turks and Caicos pricing, but it still was much higher than in the lower 48. There is no sales tax up here on anything, though, and we're loving it!!

The drive to Denali State Park was about three hours. We stopped along the way at some viewing areas. We also got some shots when I stood out of the sunroof and snapped photos while Jackson drove. No worries, there isn't much traffic and this seemed completely safe. ;)

Denali!!
*Trying out a lens on my new camera- THANKS, MOM!

 For my birthday, my Mom and Guy got me a "real" camera. I typically only take photos on my iPhone to avoid looking like a tourist but we feared iPhone photos wouldn't do Alaska justice. We were right. The camera they got for me takes way better photos. It even feeds to an App on my iPhone and comes into my camera roll as if they were taken on my phone. Amazing!!

Mt. McKinley aka "Denali" (white cloudy like thing is the mountain)
This is an iPhone photo for quality comparison
 

Sunroof photo. Amazing, no?!

 We got to our hiking point and chatted with some folks who had just finished. The information online said it was a 2 mile hike. Our new friend said it was 7. (WHERE DOES JACKSON FIND THESE WEBSITES THAT LIE TO ME ABOUT HIKING TRAILS' DISTANCE?!?!!?) We decided to try it anyway and we were not disappointed. The only qualm I had was being up here all alone (Seriously, there were not any other hikers in the lot when we headed up) and being attacked by a bear is a real possibility up here. I'd read online to keep talking while hiking to scare them off and to occasionally yell, "HEY!!!!!!!! BEAR!!!!!!!!" at the top of your lungs. I assume this is some kind of Alaskan joke to get tourist to do something silly, but I don't care. I did it and we didn't see a bear so I shall shout like this forever more. :)

The start of the hike

The view on our hike

Gorgeous scenery

This stream provided an awesome soundtrack

Breathtaking. 

Handsome hiker

 

Living in a screensaver



I haven't a clue what Jackson was doing...

Still a little snow left..

 

Gorgeous.

 

Storms rolled in, but the view was still OK by us



Panoramic view by the iPhone

We just loved it up there!

 We did eventually run into another set of hikers. They were locals and very friendly. They gave us tips for the rest of our trip before getting back on their way. They were camping for four days along the trail. No thank you. Something no one told me about Alaska (and I read about it a ton before coming up) was the mosquitos here are like none you've ever experienced. They are aggressive and find safety in numbers. There were at least 56,789 of them on our hike. Thankfully we had some organic oil bug repellant from our time in Montana that seemed to throw them off a bit. I'm not sure how long that will last. I hope for the entire trip or else we'll look like we've got chickenpox!

We burned just a few calories on the hike

On the drive from the hiking spot to our B&B all of the cars in front of us pulled over. We couldn't figure out why until we got closer and saw....

A MOOSE!!!!!!!! We FINALLY saw a MOOOOOOOOOOSE!!

I've never been happier!! I popped out of the sunroof and get this shot before our new friend retreated into the woods. He was HUGE!!!!

We made it to our B&B a short time later. The main house is called the "Chalet" but we are staying down the hill from it in a little cabin.

The Chalet

Isn't this little cabin adorable?! It looks like a dollhouse in this photo, admittedly.

Our little cabin in the woods

 

Told you it was ours :)

It just one room with a bathroom- indoors!- but it is plenty for us. We like the idea of being a bit secluded, but still able to pee and shower inside! :)

A little dark...an inside view

Gorgeous beams!

We really like our little cabin! It is perfect for a true Alaskan adventure. There is one more cabin next to us but other than that we're alone out here in the wild!

My handsome dinner date!

The hikers we ran into recommended eating at a brewery called "Twister Creek." We were not disappointed. I had pesto pasta with salmon in it which was quite good. Jackson had a pulled pork sandwich served with the best sweet potato fries ever. There weren't supposed to be there, he'd ordered curly fries, but it was a happy accident that I consumed. I love when that happens. Yes, they brought out his curly fries and he called them "standard." The sweets were anything but. His loss!

We meandered through town a bit before heading back to the cabin to turn in for the night. We have satellite television but opted not to watch it and instead read before bed. It was very rustic reading on our Kindles and iPhones. ;) Oh well, can't take the city out of the folks just because you took the folks out of the city!

Today we have an ATV adventure planned complete with gold panning and shooting! Woo hoo!!