Seward

 We decided to travel from Anchorage to Seward by train.  This was to give everyone a break from driving and to make sure everyone had a chance to enjoy the scenery.  Like many tourist attractions in Alaska during the summer, it is good to book this one ahead of time.  As my mom worked on our itinerary, she ended up adjusting the schedule at one point because the train was fully booked on the original day she wanted.  Anyway, I highly recommend it!  It travels slowly enough that you can get a good look at the scenery.  We were lucky to see moose and Dall sheep from the train.

Be forewarned that the Anchorage-Seward train has an early departure time, but it's still well worth it in my opinion.

One of the reasons we were going to Seward was to take a day cruise in the Kenai Fjords.  I am going to go out on a limb here and not recommend the multi-day cruises on the huge cruise ships, despite never having take one in Alaska.  Why not?  For one thing, they have every appearance of being environmentally disastrous.  Also, small towns end up being absolutely overwhelmed by the sudden influx of hundreds of people from the cruise ships.  Day cruises are a different matter, though.  If you are interested in seeing marine animals, they may be your best opportunity to do so.

The day we arrived in Seward, it was very rainy, as locals told us it had been most of the summer.  We visited the Alaska Sea Life Center, which I also recommend; it's another opportunity to see marine animals, albeit outside of their usual habitats.  The next day, miraculously, it was sunny!  Perfect weather for our cruise.

Since I get motion sickness sometimes, I'll discuss that portion of the cruise.  Most of our time on the ship, we stayed in Resurrection Bay, where the water was fairly calm.  We did venture out at one point into the ocean to see humpback whales.  I was not feeling great during that time, though I'm happy to say I avoided having to throw up in front of everyone.  I would say if you are at all prone to motion sickness, be prepared with anything that has helped you in the past.  I took a Bonine before getting on the ship and wore acupressure bands.  I also brought ginger candy.  I must have had a distinctly seasick look at one point because a kindly deckhand fetched some ginger ale for me and told me to keep focused on the horizon.  All of this helped, and eventually we returned to calmer water.  Even with the motion sickness, I would take a cruise like this again.  Just be as prepared as you can.

We saw lots of wonderful animals on the cruise:  humpback whales, orcas, sea otters, seals, puffins, and sea lions.  We also saw Holgate Glacier, which was amazing.  It's wonderful to just be around the animals and enjoy them.  I like trying to take pictures, so one lesson I'll share is that if you're interested in photographing the marine animals, invest in a camera with a decent zoom lens.  I will share some pictures to illustrate my point.

Look hard to find the fin!

More whale fins and birds circling around hoping for fish

Seabirds in the rocks

Sea lions lounging

Glacier!  No hidden animals here that I know of

A seal relaxing on the rocks

One final indistinct whale picture

Coming up on the glacier

Talkeetna

 When we first started discussing a trip to Alaska, we were considering visiting Denali National Park.  My parents had been there previously, decades ago, and hoped to see it again.  The rest of us were interested, too.  However, when my mom began researching the trip, a number of obstacles came up.  The lodging in the park itself was accessible only by private plane, and was therefore out for us (and most other people, I would imagine).  Lodging within striking distance of the park is limited, and with July being a peak month for Alaska tourism, it was sounding like visiting Denali National Park could turn into a logistical disaster.  After doing further investigating, my mom suggested visiting the town of Talkeetna, where one can sometimes view Mt. Denali (on clear days), and where there is plenty of lovely scenery and places to hike.

As a word to the wise for anyone thinking of traveling to Alaska, lodging in Talkeetna is pretty limited, too, and it seems like a lot of people use it as a stopover between Anchorage and Denali National Park.  So, if you'd like to visit there, particularly in the summer, it is worth booking ahead.  My poor mom had a terrible time booking lodging for us several months ahead of time.  The place where we ended up staying was lovely, but they ended up bending the rules for us (they normally required a three-night stay but allowed us to stay for just one night).  So, we were lucky in that way.

Unfortunately, it was quite rainy while we were in Talkeetna, so no views of Mt. Denali for us.  We visited the Talkeetna Historical Society Museum, which was housed in a cluster of small buildings.  They had some interesting exhibits, and my mom even recognized the names of some people who were mentioned in some of the informational materials.  At least in the past, they had a "moose dropping festival."  I couldn't really figure out what that was about, but they had some fabulous t-shirts on display, none of which, sadly, were for sale.

The town itself had an almost festival-like atmosphere when we visited, with outdoor booths selling a variety of crafts, in spite of the rain.  The scenery was also very beautiful even without views of Mt. Denali.  (Unfortunately, some sort of technological/personal failure seems to have resulted in my losing my pictures from around our lodge, so anyone reading will have to take my word for it!)  One thing to keep in mind about anywhere, really, but maybe Alaska in particular, is that rain can alter your plans and expectations.  Especially if you're on a tight timeframe, it may be best not to have a list of things you absolutely must see or do and just focus on enjoying what the weather allows you to do.