Alaska Family Vacation

We’re home after a whirlwind trip of a lifetime to Alaska! Going into such a big bucket list trip had me slightly worried our expectations would be a little too high and we’d walk away from our time in Alaska a little disappointed. How could it possibly live up to what we pictured — a gorgeous expanse of wilderness teeming with some of the most incredible wildlife in the world?

Alaska ended up far surpassing everything I could’ve imagined for an immersive, outdoorsy and unbelievably picturesque vacation.

Ryan and I have been dying to visit Alaska for years, as we’ve never seen whales in the wild (an intense desire I’ve had since I was a little girl) and Alaska has always intrigued us, thanks to its promise of stunning, lush, largely undeveloped wilderness, exciting animals and adventure. Couple our interest in Alaska with our boys’ love of animals and fishing and we figured the year we are celebrating our 15^th wedding anniversary, my 40^th birthday and our oldest son’s 10^th birthday would be the perfect year to make it happen.

Alaska Family Vacation

Getting to Alaska

We awoke a little after 3 a.m. the morning our Alaska vacation was set to begin. The boys flew out of bed and spirits were so, so high as we boarded our first flight to Dallas, Texas.

We booked early morning travel to maximize our time in Alaska and had no idea what travel headaches awaited us at this point. I have zero desire to rehash the multiple flight cancellations and delays that caused us to miss two days of our bucket list trip to Alaska but suffice it to say, we did absolutely everything we could to make it out to Alaska but found ourselves simply stuck.

We ended up splitting our family of five into groups of two and three to eventually make it to Alaska, as last-minute tickets to Alaska from Dallas for a family of five are next to impossible to secure.

(Rhett was my travel buddy!)

Things to note:

Summer is a very popular time to visit Alaska and flights are often packed with people making their way to Alaska for various cruises. With large amounts of displaced people scrambling to grab seats to Anchorage, Seattle, Portland — basically anywhere that would get you to Alaska — it was more challenging to make alternate travel plans than we could’ve imagined. This feels important to share in case any of you happen to have an Alaskan cruise on your radar because we met multiple people who were missing their cruise and hoping to find ways to board their ships at alternate locations. Moral of the story: Build in a buffer day or two before your cruise departs! Also, carry on if you can! We could’ve hopped planes more easily had we not had checked luggage that was essentially trapped on a delayed and then canceled flight. Lesson learned!

On the very bright side, I can say that despite lost time and non-refundable lodging and experiences in Alaska, the four days we actually got to spend in Alaska were well worth the almost two days it took us to get there. Ryan and the boys wholeheartedly agree so I promise I’m not delusional over here. We just wished we had more time but feel very, very grateful for four unforgettable days in such a magical place.

Why We Chose to Visit the Parts of Alaska We Did for Our Alaska Vacation

Alaska is HUGE. When I saw a map of Alaska placed within the contiguous United States, my perspective shifted a bit when it came to planning our trip. (It’s 2.5x the size of Texas!) Ryan and I initially felt a self-imposed pressure to see ALL of Alaska during our trip but quickly realized that would be impossible and exhausting for our family unit. Our boys would hate a trip that included hours in the car and while a cruise sounded like the easier route, we didn’t want to do an Alaskan cruise as our first cruise with our kids for a myriad of reasons. (Maybe in the future though! I think we’d love it.)

Once Ryan and I sat down and started to plan out our trip, we quickly realized a trip to Alaska that kept us close to the water would check most of our boxes; those boxes mainly being our desire to see ocean wildlife (whales!) and to fish with our boys who adore fishing. It pained us a little not to make it to Denali but, again, we tried to let this go because Denali is not a small adventure. One day, one day.

Biggest regret:

In the end we were incredibly happy with the trip we planned for our family. Our biggest regret was not budgeting more time, especially after we ended up losing two of the six days we planned to spend in Alaska due to travel issues. (We could not extend our trip on the fly, as Ryan was leaving the day after we got back for a work trip to India. Ooph.) We would’ve really loved another day or two on the water and the chance to visit Homer and spend more time in Girdwood.

Okay, now to recap our trip!!! I initially planned to share our trip in one blog post with a loose itinerary of what we did each day but couldn’t help myself and had to share more details. These blog posts also serve as an online journal of sorts for our family and this is a trip I certainly never want to forget!

Alaska Day One: Seward, Alaska

I’m kicking off my Alaska trip recap on the first morning we spent in Alaska, however we did a late-night 2.5 hour drive from Anchorage to Seward the night/super early morning before this itinerary officially begins based on the only flights we could grab that were also delayed. (We arrived close to 2 a.m. at our rental home in Seward. 0/10 do not recommend. Ryan and I were awake for well over 24 hours at this point.) But we MADE IT!

Where We Stayed: Sea Treasures Inn (Home Rental)

We absolutely adored the Sea Treasures Inn rental home where we stayed in Seward and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a house with a kitchen that will fit a family in a fantastic location. Our house was located within walking distance of an awesome waterfront playground, shops, restaurants and the Sea Life Center. It was also only a little over a mile from the Seward harbor which is easily accessible via a paved waterfront trail. The home shares walls with other rooms in the back of the house which is worth mentioning but we did not hear noise from any other guests and were not bothered by this in the least.

Alaska: Day One Itinerary

Morning + Afternoon: 8-Hour Fishing + Fjording Boat Day

Our first day in Alaska ended up being one of our absolute favorite days. Ryan poured a lot of time into researching a fishing charter that would also incorporate wildlife, whale watching and ample time to see Alaska from the water. We boarded the Keep it Reel with Terry of Latitude 60 Marine at 7 a.m. and from start to finish the experience was incredible. (This was our big splurge of the trip and worth every single penny.) As we left the marina, we saw harbor seals and a pair of bald eagles. Within 30 minutes out on Resurrection Bay we were laughing at adorable puffins which were a highlight for all of us, as they were so cute and silly and swam up close to our boat. Within an hour, we were reeling in salmon – king salmon and coho salmon – and our boys were in absolute heaven.

Terry has been fishing in Alaska for 30+ years and his familiarity with the water and his expertise allowed us to see so much and catch a ton of fish!

The boys also loved learning about the gadgets Terry had on board and were fascinated by everything from his fish finder and depth meter (it didn’t take us long to be out in 1,000 feet of water!) to the communication radios Terry used to chat with other captains about the locations of whales and other wildlife.

Whale Sightings

The whale sightings we had aboard the Keep it Reel blew our minds. We saw an orca, a pod of humpback whales feeding (like something straight out of a nature documentary), and a mother and baby sei whale which were absolutely enormous and close enough we could smell the fishy spray from their blow holes.

I am kicking myself for not snapping more photos but we were all living in the moment and truly observing the wildlife rather than viewing it through our phones and cameras so I apologize for not having more photos to share. We also saw sea lions and sea otters which were shockingly large. (A sea otter can be up to 100 pounds!)

Fishing!

Fishing is something our older two boys love and it also added to the excitement of our day on the water. We caught salmon, the limit on rockfish (10 – and super fun to reel in!) and cod (we had to stop because we caught more than we could store in our home freezer).

By time our catches were filleted, we ended up with 60+ pounds of salmon, rock fish and cod to freeze and bring back with us to North Carolina.

We had most of our catch frozen (Captain Jack’s Seafood Locker in Seward will freeze your fish and store it for you until you’re ready it ship it home or check it) but we also ate a bunch of it back at our house for dinner a couple of nights. When I tell you the salmon we caught was by far the best tasting salmon I’ve ever had in my life, I mean it. The flavor was so buttery and pure without any weird fishy aftertaste.

One important thing worth noting:

We had incredible weather. This undoubtedly added to our enjoyment of this experience as we weren’t battling rain, cold and wind. I was terrified of getting sea sick and did all the things I could think of before our trip to prevent sea sickness (took less-drowsy Dramamine, used motion-sick patches behind my ears and brought along peppermint smelling sticks to help with nausea). I also kept my eyes trained on the horizon line during any rougher patches of sea. And spent as much time as possible outside of the ship cabin. I felt awful when Rhett got sea sick a few hours into our trip but thankfully he fell asleep for nearly 2 hours after he started feeling ill.

Sleeping was the best thing he could’ve done as he got some much-needed sleep after our long travel days and woke up feeling completely fine. Phew!

Early Evening: Kenai Fjords National Park Visitor Center + Sea Life Center + Ice Cream at Sweet Melissa’s

As we were making our way back to our car from the harbor, we walked past the Kenai Fjords National Park Visitor Center and I’m so glad we took the time to pop in! It was a sort stop (less than 30 minutes) but worth a visit as it allowed us to chat with knowledgeable park rangers and learn a little bit more about the area though a few small informative exhibits.

Eventually we made the short drive back to home base and prepared a fantastic dinner at the house with the salmon, rock fish and cod we caught with Terry. SO GOOD. Once we were all full, we walked to the Sea Life Center, a must-see on our list as our boys absolutely love the show Alaska Animal Rescue on Disney+ which frequently highlights animals in need of care at the Sea Life Center.

The Sea Life Center captivated all of us with its interactive exhibits, touch tanks, hilarious sea birds that dove deep down into the water, adorable harbor seals and other interesting sea creatures.

Tip: You can save a few dollars on admission if you go later in the day (or early in the morning, too, I think).

From the Sea Life Center, we walked past some cute shops and restaurants in Seward, stopping at Sweet Darlings for fudge and gelato. I ordered a combination of brown butter and stracciatella gelato and loved it.

We all crashed hard in our beds that night after a very long but incredibly memorable first day in Alaska!

Day two in Alaska coming up next!

Alaska Family Vacation Blog Posts

• Alaska Family Vacation: Day One (Fishing and fjording boat day, Kenai Fjords Visitor’s Center, Sea Life Center, exploring Seward)
• Alaska Family Vacation: Day Two (Fishing on the Kenai River, Exit Glacier hike, exploring Seward)
• Alaska Family Vacation: Day Three (Tonsina Creek hike, Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, arrival in Anchorage)
• Alaska Family Vacation: Day Four (Earthquake Park, Reindeer Farm, Eagle River Nature Center, Ship Creek, evening in Anchorage)