25 Apr 2015, Saturday PST (UTC/GMT -8 hour)
Fairbanks to Anchorage, Alaska
It was a very short flight from Fairbanks to Alaska. My carry on luggage was too huge for Bombardier Q400 cabin's overhead compartment so I had to stow it under the seat in front of me, making the leg room for me and the person sitting next to me smaller. Oops.
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| Bombardier Q400 at Fairbanks Airport |
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| On Board Bombardier Q400 |
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| THIS VIEW <3 |
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| Arrival at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport |
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| Plane model hanging from the ceiling |
25 Apr 2015, Saturday PST (UTC/GMT -8 hour)
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage airport itself is okay, but the view out of the windows was fantastic.
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| The view out of Anchorage airport |
We rented a Toyota Corolla Altis from Dollar Car Rental at USD 74.65 for 2 days, including insurance for third party liability. Glad that they gave us the actual car we booked, not like the huge minivan in Fairbanks. GPS rental was USD 15 per day but we got it refunded when we returned the car the next day as the GPS device was a little bit 'crazy'.
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| En route to our resort, an hour drive away from the airport |
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| Stunning view |
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| Feels like a scene in Fast and Furious |
Alyeska Resort
Address: 1000 Arlberg Ave, Girdwood, AK 99587, United States
Contact: +1 907-754-2111
Website: http://www.alyeskaresort.com/
Saving the best for the last. Here's our awesome lodging for the first night in Anchorage, last night in Alaska!
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| Snow mountain view out of our window |
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| Heated Pool at Alyeska Resort |
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| Gym at Alyeska Resort |
The friendly lady at the concierge provided us with many ideas on what we could do in Anchorage and also introduced us to a restaurant that serves really great food. As the restaurant only opens after 4.30pm on Saturday, we ate cup noodles that we bought at Fairbanks in our hotel room as we were really hungry. =p
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| On the way to our first destination in Anchorage |
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| Panorama by my iPhone 6 |
Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
Address: Seward Hwy, Girdwood, AK 99587, United States
Contact: +1 907-783-2025
Website: https://www.alaskawildlife.org/
Opening Hours for 2015 (https://www.alaskawildlife.org/hours/):
May 10 – September 17: 8:00 am to 8:00 pm (no entry after 7:30 pm)
September 18 – December 31, 2015: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm (no entry after 4:30 pm)
CLOSED: Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day
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| Map of AWCC |
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| Our rented Toyota Corolla Altis |
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| Hey Bear |
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| Wefie with LQ |
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| My Canon S100 lens won't open fully..... |
We had a fun time looking at the different animals at the conservation center. On top of that, there were plenty of great spots for photography. LQ is the professional one with a Canon DSLR. I'm too lazy to carry a bulky camera whenever I go overseas so I don't think I'll ever buy a DSLR, unless someone is willing to carry it for me. =p Anyway, Canon S100 is good enough for normal photography (but not for stargazing, northern lights =/).
Byron Glacier Trail
Address: Byron Glacier Road, Girdwood, AK
As recommended by the lady at our resort's concierge, we drove to Byron Glacier, parked our car at the public car park (free) and began the trail. She mentioned that it's an easy trail and we could see or even tough the glacier at the end of the trail.
There's only a small tiny path, enough for 1 person to walk at a time, surrounded by leafless plants. Midway through, we did not see any human being at all and were really freaked out by the fact that there could be wild bears around. Thus, we chickened out and went back to our car. It's the end of the winter, the bears must be really hungry after a long hibernation! 2 girls was just ain't safe. It would be okay for a group of 4 and above. You can read up at TripAdvisor on what you can expect at the end of the trail.
Double Musky Inn *HIGHLY RECOMMENDED*
Address: 3 Crow Creek Rd, Girdwood, AK 99587, United States
Opening Hours: Tue-Thu 5pm-10pm, Fri-Sun 4:30pm-10pm; Closed on Mon
Contact: +1 907-783-2822
Website: http://www.doublemuskyinn.com/
This restaurant was super packed with a long waiting list. They do not accept any reservation. If you wanna dine here, you got to wait. Yes, we waited. While waiting, we walked around to explore the restaurant. It was full of vintage items with many objects hanging on the ceiling or the walls. We finally grabbed a seat at the bar to have some appetizer once someone left the bar table. It was not easy to get a seat at the bar! They have free WIFI too! That really helped to provide a distraction (Whatsapp/Instagram/Facebook) to 'shorten' the waiting time.
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| Sitting at the bar |
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| Sitting at the bar while waiting |
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| Double Musky Inn Appetizers Menu |
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| Half Pound of Alaskan Red King Crab Leg with Drawn Butter |
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| OHHH THE FLESHHHH WAS SOO SWEET! |
We finally got a proper table about 2 hours after LQ put her name into the waiting list. What a long wait! As I read review on Swarm (after checking in) that all of their meals are big enough for two, we only ordered one medium-rare French Pepper Steak (USD 41) to share. And, it turned out to be the BEST steak I ever had in United States.
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| Double Musky Inn Menu Page 1 |
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| Double Musky Inn Menu Page 2 |
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| Free Bread =p |
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| French Pepper Steak - 'Best Steak in America' says Jill Cordes of the 'Food Network'. A 16-20 oz New York steak, crusted with cracked pepper and covered with a spicy burgundy sauce. (USD 41) |
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| Omg... I CAN'T |
I LOVE THE CRUST OF THE STEAK. IT WAS SO GOOD, SO SO GOOD.
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| "Desserts for you?" No, we declined as we were really too full after having both the crab leg and the steak. |
What a fantastic meal! If you ever come to Anchorage, you MUST visit this restaurant!
26 Apr 2015, Sunday PST (UTC/GMT -8 hour)
Anchorage, Alaska
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| Rise and Shine, Anchorage! |
Today's our last day of holiday in Alaska. =(
The Pond Cafe
Address: 2nd Floor of Alyeska Resort (1000 Arlberg Ave, Girdwood, AK 99587, United States)
Contact: +1 907-754-2237
Website: http://www.alyeskaresort.com/dining/hotel-pond-cafe.aspx
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| The Pond Cafe Menu Page 1 |
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| The Pond Cafe Menu Page 2 |
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| Selection of Tea |
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| Our House Smoked Salmon (USD 15) & Alaskan King Crab (USD 16) Egg Benedicts! |
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| King Crab Egg Benedict (USD 16) |
We headed to the concierge after our breakfast to find the same friendly lady who helped us yesterday, hoping to find something to do this afternoon before our flight at late night. She recommended us, again, to take the helicopter flight to the glacier. As we haven't seen any glacier yet and we were at ALASKA, it's just something we had to do, albeit EXPENSIVE as hell. OKAY, LET'S DO IT.
She kindly extended our check-out time from 12pm to 3.30pm as we were going to take the flight at 1.30pm and Alpine Air was picking us up at 1.15pm at the resort's lobby. It cost USD 385 for 60 minutes of flight + glacier landing. OUCH. But this was definitely going to be the second HIGHLIGHT of our trip! First being the encounter of Northern Lights at Fairbanks.
Alpine Air Glacier Landing
Website: http://www.alpineairalaska.com/
Contact: +1 907 783 2360
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| I volunteered to sit at the front, next to the pilot! |
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| Wefie before the flight commenced. Clockwise from my left - Pilot, Guy who joined the tour with us, LQ and me. |
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| Let's fly~ Up up here we go~ |
Above is a video of our helicopter flight gliding through the valleys!
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| Such pretty blue glacier! |
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| 4 mountain goats spotted |
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| Can you spot the wild Moose? |
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| Alright, here it is. |
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| <3 |
Above is a video of the majestic glacier taken with my iPhone! IT'S REALLY SPECTACULAR!
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| Landed! Happy us! |
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| Pilot helping LQ to take her jumpshot |
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| I ALMOST TRIPPED AND FALL INTO THE GAPS BETWEEN 2 GLACIERS. SO SCARY! |
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| =D |
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| On our way back, I took the back seat and LQ took the front! |
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| LQ with the Pilot |
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| Perfect for Skiing |
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| Good Bye Beautiful |
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| Looking at the map while our pilot pointed our flight path to us |
IT WAS AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE. WORTH EVERY $$. If money can buy you experience and you can afford it, BUY. Such awesome memory will definitely stay with me as long as I'm alive. Thank you Alpine Air Alaska for their great hospitality!! <3
We had our lunch at Aurora Bar & Grill in our resort before we set off and drive to the airport. Shall not elaborate much as the food was mehhhhh.
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| On our way to the airport |
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| Yummy yogurt at the airport |
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| Start of our 30 hours journey back to Singapore |
I just came back from my trip to New Zealand in May. Will blog about it soon! See my Instagram @lynne_chua for more #lynnetravels photos. Cheers, Lynne.
#LCinUSA posts
2016 Seattle-Arizona (Blogging soon)
- Apr 2016 Part 1 Seattle
- Apr 2016 Part 2 Arizona Road Trip
- Apr 2016 Part 3 Arizona Road Trip
- Apr 2016 Part 4 Arizona Road Trip
2015 Seattle & Alaska
- Apr 2015 Part 1 Singapore - Tokyo - Seattle
- Apr 2015 Part 2 Seattle, Washington
- Apr 2015 Part 3 Seattle, Washington
- Apr 2015 Part 4 Fairbanks, Alaska - City of Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis)
2014 Las Vegas
