Road Trip to Southern Alaska

We spent the first week of May on a road trip in Southern Alaska!

Our route was Fairbanks --> Talkeetna --> Seward --> Homer --> Girdwood / Alyeska. We had a really good time, but it was off season so a LOT of things were still closed for the winter. But since it wasn't tourist season yet, we got super discounted rates on hotels and attractions, and got to explore a part of the state that Matt had never seen! Also, road tripping with a baby was harder than either of us anticipated. But we're glad we went. :)

Driving past Denali National Park

Her cheeks kill me in this picture! 💕

A city we drove through.
Look at those mountains!

The trip was to celebrate our 4 year anniversary (our "golden" anniversary since it was four years on the 4th!) and to have family time before Matt left for an extended training. 

Talkeetna

We broke up the long drive south (8 hours total to the Kenai Peninsula) by staying overnight in Talkeetna, a truly Alaskan city! 

We stayed at this adorable hotel, and they upgraded us to our own cabin (for free!) when they found out we had a baby. Ha! Thanks, Lydia!

Breakfast was at a cute cafe filled with hikers and adventurers. 

Breakfast banana!

We were there less than 24 hours and saw everything in the city... some things twice. :) It was tiny and cute!

Anchorage

While driving through Anchorage we stopped at our favorite places that we miss in Fairbanks: Target, Qdoba (my Chipotle substitute), and the temple! 

These straws were only $1 and perfect for L's party.
ILY Target!

Also perfect for her party 🦄

Matt filled his water bottle at "the fountain of youth" at Turnagain Arm

Seward

Getting to Seward involved driving through some winter weather, and was one of the few parts of the trip when I drove (Matt drove 95% of the time like usual). 

The winter weather continued once we got there, but right away we started seeing wildlife: we saw bald eagles and sea otters from the hotel!

View of Seward Harbor from the hotel

Can you see the bald eagle? :)

We decided to walk to dinner and then around the town, but as we were eating it started to SNOW! In May!!

Plus everything downtown was closed, ugh! So we headed back but enjoyed getting to know the area!

So it wasn't long until we came back to the hotel and changed plans.

😴

Instead of going on a hike the next day as planned, we ended up at the Alaska Sealife Center - I loved it! I'm actually glad the weather turned because this place was SO cool and we might not have seen it otherwise. 

There were sea otters playing in the water beneath us!

I thought L would be too young to 'get' it, but she actually loved all the colors and movement! The whole experience knocked her right out. :)

And just around the corner, they had a playground with an aMAzing view!

We really liked Seward and even with the surprising weather it turned out to be one of my favorite stops of the trip! 

Harbor view from breakfast in the hotel

Homer

Can you see me waving? :)

We stayed in this cute cabin in Homer and absolutely loved the view!

Almost everything in town was closed - we could barely even find a place to eat breakfast. But we got to explore the Spit and see what the town was all about!

Kenai Lake

On one of our drives Matt had the idea to stop at a random lake in Cooper Landing to see the view. It turned out to be AMAZING! The water was bright turquoise, the weather was nice (it was a lot warmer than it looks in pictures) and these arctic swans swam right up to us! Totally incredible.

All L wanted to do was practice walking, for the first time ever, and we weren't prepared with shoes!

On our way out we stopped for gas in the middle of NOwhere and noticed there was a nice restaurant attached to the gas station (so random). They had black bean burgers with veggies and sweet potato fries! Of course we got it, and ate with a view. Alaska will never cease to amaze me!

Girdwood / Alyeska

Alyeska Resort was my favorite stop of the trip!

This is where we stayed for our actual anniversary, and they offered us champaign to celebrate. Since we don't drink, they brought us cookies and milk instead! Ha! We thought it was so funny but we loved it!

View from our room!

We finally got to go on a hike, but had to change which hike we did, because on our first choice the trail was still covered in ice and really slippery. Winter lasts forever in Alaska!!

Afterword we got Lydia a floatie and went to check out the pool. Ok, she was SO EXCITED to be swimming! We were both saying we'd never seen her so happy in her life! She was kicking her legs and giggling and squealing - she absolutely loved it!

Reaching for Mommy - I got in right after this!

After rinsing off we got room service (with Baked "Alyeska") and... more cookies and milk! Haha. 

The next day Matt found out that the resort had a yoga studio!!! They had one class while we were there, so he offered to take L so I could go to it. It was great! And LOOK at that view! 

Before we left, we picked up a poster for L's bedroom and had a nice dinner at the resort. 

Portobello burger + baby hand!

Then it was time for the long drive home. The drive took all day and we were so glad to be home at the end. But we stopped at a cute park and... Target again!

Reaching for Mommy again :)

Matt played this funny game with L during a little section that I drove (I hope the video goes through - I love her laugh!) 

We were laughing about this meme because the trip required soo much prep / planning ahead for L (she's still eating baby food so we had to pack everything she ate, plus diaper changes and entertainment for the car, etc...) and I was soo happy to be 'set free' at Target a couple times. Ha!

But even with the extra prep work for L, we had a great time and are really glad we got to explore this great state! We already have plans to visit again!