With a 6am flight we said goodbye to Seattle and made our way north to Anchorage. The flight was non eventful which was great so we could get some rest along the way. As we started to descend the clouds cleared making way for the breathtaking scenery that would be just the tip of the iceberg of what we would see during our time in Alaska. There aren't many ways you can prepare yourself for well below zero temperatures and we didn't but we soon learnt the art of layering.
We had organised a self guided tour for 10 days in Alaska which meant our itinerary, including hotel, car hire, transfers & tours, were all pre organised leaving us with the freedom of independent travel. We spent our first night in Anchorage to get ourselves set up after a long day of traveling and the following morning we picked up our hire car. We followed the Turnagain Inlet coast line, which is surrounded by ice and snow covered mountains, to a small mountainside village called Girdwood where we stayed at a fabulous 5 star resort built in the 1980s. The Alyeska Resort is just heaven and strategically placed at the base of a ski mountain with chairlift access available inside the resort.
After how much we loved snowmobiling in Lake Tahoe, we were keen to give it another go. We decided to book a standard 3 hour tour and ended up with 2 guides, who were a lovely young couple guiding for the first time on their own, using us as their guinea pigs which we were totally ok with. With the sun out, snow falling and a decent few feet of snow already on the ground, we followed the trails that took us to an open field next to a gorgeous little stream. By popular vote, we decided to cross the stream and found ourselves on trails even the guides hadn't traveled on before and uncovered abandoned cabins & vehicles. After a stop next to a larger creek for a well needed hot chocolate, we followed the forest trails to an open field next to the highway where we were able to see what the machines could really do.
Then the snow set it. It was absolutely magical. The snow got so heavy that we had a full whiteout. It became nearly impossible to see where the sky met the ground, changes in terrain or simply a few meters in front of you. What a thrill! Towards the end of our tour the whiteout claimed it's first victim and I successfully crashed the mobile when I couldn't see the small ridge I had to climb. Now these machines are approx 200kg so having it fall on you should hurt but luckily I had about 6 feet of snow below me so I simply sunk into the snow and wriggled my way out while the guide had to come over and get her back upright. Struggling to dig myself out of hole I found myself in, I had to use the side of the snowmobile to pull myself up and out. I was back on the machine for less than a minute when I stacked it again so once I climbed back out we decided to call it a day as the snow storm was only getting heavier while the visibility worse. The heat in the truck was a blessing while the guides loaded the snowmobiles onto the trailer and we then headed back into Girdwood.
We spent that evening and the following day exploring the township of Girdwood and enjoying the outdoor fire pit while the snow continued to fall. We headed back to Anchorage, dropped off our hire car before a quiet night in for our early start the next day. Before the sun came up we were dropped off at the train station checking in for our 11 hour rail journey through the remote back country of Alaska. As we boarded the Denali Star, a retro old train, we settled in for our ride to Fairbanks. The journey was long but we were kept entertained with the regular moose sightings and beautiful scenery especially when going through the mountain range near Denali National Park. The train had to stop at one stage of the journey to entice a moose to get off the tracks. It took a good few minutes to get him to move and then it was full steam ahead.
After a long day of travel we spent the night in Fairbanks before getting a transfer to the remote resort of Chena Hot Springs. Built around a permanent thermal hot spring, this unique resort has its own dog sled kennels, airstrip and ice museum complete with an ice bar. The springs are glorious, even if getting out of the water in -20 degrees is a bit painful. We ventured around the grounds and found being nestled in a valley provided a beautiful backdrop from every angle. The resort is isolated from the outside world with Fairbanks approx 1.5 hour drive away. We watched a plane take off, walked around the ice museum and checked out their gift shop. Before we knew it, it was time for dinner and a quick rest before the main reason for us being in Chena Hot Springs began.
Aurora Borealis. Bucket list. Done. We did a 5 hour late night tour to see the lights. After a 25 min bumpy drive up the mountain in a snowcat, we finally arrived to the middle of nowhere and were greeted by a giant heated teepee. As we spent most of the next 5 hours outside in -27 degrees searching for the northern lights, with a windchill of -40 degrees, that heated teepee was a god send and helped put feeling back into my fingers and toes. We were lucky to see the lights for the last 2 hours on the mountain. And it was magical. The sky wasn't as clear as it could have been but as both Caleb and myself have wanted to see them for as long as we could remember we were stoked to be able to tick another lifelong goal off the list. They called it a night around 3am so we loaded back into the snowcats and after a nice hot shower back in our room I was alseep before my head hit the pillow.After a swim in the hot springs, sadly it came time to say goodbye to the Alaskan wilderness. As we took a day long train trip up to Fairbanks, this time around we were back on a plane and headed back to Anchorage for our last night before saying goodbye to the US. We decided to splurge a little and had dinner at Benihana which was conveniently located next door to our hotel With a flick of a raw egg, flames that seemed to touch the ceiling and the mouthwatering seafood, it was the best way to close our American chapter of this epic honeymoon.
Travel tip - we loved the freedom of a self guided itinerary. Everything is organised you just have to stay on schedule! Highly recommend for somewhere like Alaska.
Travel tip - there are many once in a lifetime experiences to be had up here (snowmobiling, arctic circle flight, northern lights, wild animal safaris, dog sledding) so be prepared with a little extra spending money so you can make the most out of your trip as you most likely won't be back
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