Alaska - Day 1 - Our Welcoming Gift

Our three-week trip to Alaska began this morning when Mark's brother drove us to the airport in Tulsa. This is the first time we've used this airport, and it had the cheapest ticket for us using our credits at United Airlines. We had an uneventful flight to Denver (just the way we like it), and then a long flight to Anchorage, Alaska. We were entertained by the beautiful views of the snow-capped mountains in British Columbia, Canada.

If flying during the day, we would recommend getting a window seat. It was like taking a flight-seeing trip as we saw these mountains from the top!

We could even make out the zig-zag roads that made their way up to the mountain tops covered with snow.

But by the time we were flying over Alaskan skies, the views were completely covered in clouds. That also made for a rough descent into the airport in Anchorage.

The city of Anchorage is in a large valley surrounded by mountains.  So as we taxied to our arrival gate, we got our first peek at the peaks of Alaska. We can tell we're going to like it here!

Our flight actually got in early. But the driver picking us up had been tracking our flight and was there when we arrived. That gives us the first opportunity to brag on the company that we chose to rent from on this trip. "Amazing Accommodations" is a small local company that owns 6 Class C motorhomes and 3 camper vans. The owner, Sabine, is from Germany. But she has lived in Alaska for years, and knows how to welcome travelers from all over the planet. For the next eight days we have rented one of her camper vans--basically a cargo van with a queen size mattress on a wooden frame in the back.

For $150, Sabine outfits it with everything two people will need to cook and live as they move about the state. We had a propane camping cook stove, ice chest, and all the pots and pans we needed to cook. We had linens and dishes and folding chairs and table. We would put them all to good use during these eight days, and we saved lots of money by cooking for ourselves in some very picturesque spots!

It's an hour's drive from the airport to her office in Wasilla, and the transportation to get there and back is included in the rental. We signed the paper work and picked up our green cargo van--named Dylan. Instead of giving them an impersonal number, she names each one of her rental vehicles. Then we went to the local Walmart for our carefully planned shopping list. We are cooking things that need little refrigeration and preparation. The Walmart in Wasilla is the largest in the state, and has the record for selling the most duct tape of any store. (We don't know why?!?) Prices seemed to be 10-20% higher than we are used to down in the lower 48 states, but we bought eight days of groceries and supplies for $139.

We are heading east out of town to the less populated side of the state. But before we left, we ate a late-night supper at Wendy's. It was 8:00 p.m. Alaska-time, and it was as bright outside as it would be at noon. But our bodies thought it was 11:00 p.m. since we started this journey on Central time. It was a little surreal to be eating a meal so late when it was so light outside! The drive east on the Glenn Highway is beautiful. We are surrounded by mountain views on all sides! We stopped often to take in the views and decide if this was the perfect spot for our first free night of camping in Alaska. Some places were too close to the road . . .

and some didn't have an awesome view. Some we had highlighted in The Milepost were already too crowded. This seems to be a good time to introduce our traveling companion for the next 21 days. The Alaska Milepost is a must for anyone traveling in this big state. Updated each year, it describes exactly what you will see next down the road.

The green mileage signs are found beside every road, and correspond with the book's description. For example, this pull-out was found at milepost A 94.8, which is also G 94.2. That's 94.8 miles east of A (Anchorage) and 94.2 miles west of G (Glennallen). Depending on the direction you are driving (east or west) you will be reading the Milepost in order, or backwards. It takes a little practice, and we were glad we purchased one before we left home so we understood the system. Sabine supplies one for each of her vehicles, but we were glad to have our copy already highlighted and circled with places we didn't want to miss.

A couple miles before we got to the spot we had highlighted, Mark saw our first moose on the side of the road. So he made a quick u-turn and we went back to get a picture.

If you look carefully, you will see that he didn't find one moose--he found three! We realized that there were two sets of little ears under the mother, when we saw that her twin calves were nursing.

What a special "welcome gift" to Alaska. 

We stopped beside the Glenn Highway for a front row seat of some of the first steps of these tiny moose babies.

Those long legs were still wobbly, as they tried to navigate the hill side.

The mother was still cleaning them up and nuzzling them as we watched!

 We took way too many pictures of our welcoming gift.

We finally headed a couple miles down the road to a spot that the Milepost described as an "Enormous paved parking area to south; scenic viewpoint over-looking Matanuska River."

It was just right for our first night of free camping in Alaska. We pulled into it at 9:54 p.m. Alaska time (that's 12:54 a.m. Central time). 

We were asleep within 30 minutes, glad to see that our queen-size mattress is surprisingly comfortable. It was still light outside. We had curtains over the front and back of the van, and dark tinted windows on the side that prevent anyone from seeing in. But it was still light inside our "bedroom." We tried wearing eye masks that first night, but we decided that wasn't comfortable for us.

Traffic on the Glenn Highway really subsides at night, but we did have one visitor to our enormous paved parking lot. At midnight a motorcycle and car pulled in for a thirty-minute rest stop--where they left their headlights shining into our van before they finally left. It's been a good first day in Alaska with a wonderful welcoming gift of that moose family, but maybe we'll find a less enormous spot to camp tomorrow!