“Rena, thank you so much for helping us plan a trip of a life time and find excursions and experiences that more than met our expectations. Here are a few things we discovered and a recap of adventures that we thought we would share with you:
Anchorage: We found a restaurant called “The Bridge” 221 W Ship Creek Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501 It was SO good! It stretches across the Ship Creek and you can watch the locals fly fish for salmon. The food was excellent!
Homer: Our all day fishing day was great! Although a bit chilly, we enjoyed it thoroughly. We have one shelf of our freezer full of salmon, halibut & rock fish! Not only did Homer Ocean Charters instruct and assist us with the fishing, they scouted for whales, cleaned our fish & then orchestrated our getting the fish shipped to our home. Our guides were great!
One word of advice when planning the excursions – when we checked in at the K Bay Bear Tours that evening, they advised that we should not wear anything that we had worn on our fishing excursion when we flew out to the island. Yikes! We were able to find a laundromat in Homer and washed our coats. The bear excursion provided boots that covered our shoes, so we were good to go! It was an amazing adventure. We would highly recommend this to anyone, in spite of the cold and no bathrooms. LOL Kendal was our pilot and guide and did a terrific job.
Our bear excursion flight was canceled on Tuesday, but they worked us in on Wednesday, and we were able to enjoy that and still make it to Seward for the dog sled event.
The Lands End Hotel was the best! We had a huge eagle perched on a piece of drift wood right outside our window. Amazing!
Seward: Our Kenai Fjords full day tour was shortened to a half day due to a big storm in the Alaska Gulf. We did not feel cheated however, as we were still able to see some whales, lots of sea loins & cute little otters.
We really enjoyed the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. It was a great opportunity to see some wildlife up close. The moose seemed to be in hiding while we were out and about on the road, so we were happy to see one there. (We did get to see a Mommy moose & her calves when we were on the train).
Our drive to Talkeetna was great! We loved the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge. The view from our hotel window was stunning. We were blessed with 3 beautiful clear days while up north! We were so fortunate. The K-2 Aviation Flightseeing Tour w/Glacier Landing was breath-taking. It was a spiritual experience. You could just feel the presence of our creator. Magnificent. Again, our pilot & guide was top-notch.
We loved the quaint little town of Talkeetna. We wished we had stayed there longer. I think I would recommend fore-going the bus trip into the park. It was anti-climatic after the flightseeing tour and very long. LOL I realize the bus trip was one of our “must see” items. One disadvantage to the warm sunny day we had was that the wildlife were all taking a “siesta” in the shade somewhere. The Mountain was gorgeous from all angles, however. We were very glad that you were able to make our flight out of the park happen. That was a highlight with more opportunities to see glaciers and the mountain. Thanks!
Lastly, the Luxury Dome Rail trip from Denali to Anchorage was an excellent way to end our trip. How relaxing! Our guide, Ryan, was a comedian and as well as very informative. Lunch on the train was a special treat.
All in all, we could not have asked for better. Thank you again for all your help with planning our trip. Please give our compliments to Knightly Tours. All of our reservations were confirmed and top-notch.
We hope to connect with you again in the future. A trip down the coast of California is our next adventure on the list.”