Originally this was to be our honeymoon, but due to getting married in 2020 during COVID, we went for our 1 year anniversary. This trip became our honeymoon-a-versary.

Alaska, the 49th state, is the biggest state in the United States. It is so large that it is about 1/5th of continental U.S. With our goal of visiting all national parks, we planned this trip around 3 of the 8 national parks. Highlights of the trip include, breweries, mountains, fish, and the views. We did 5 nights of camping followed by 2 nights in an AirBnB and 1 night in a hotel. Below is our itinerary and travels.

We started planning our trip in January, leaving for Alaska the end of July. It was important to get reservations made and flights book to allow for best pick. We booked our campsites and hotels in January and February. We should have booed our rental car sooner, as we ran into a shortage issue. Flights for anchorage occur mainly as Red Eyes. We arrived in Alaska around 1 AM.

Alaska Itinerary

Day 1: Flight to Alaska

Our flight left at 5:30 PM central time and we arrived to Alaska at 1:30 their time. We got a hotel for the night that had a shuttle to the airport. It was a quick night at the hotel for a steep price but allowed us to have a bed for the night and a breakfast the next morning before heading to Denali.

Day 2: Drive to Denali to stay at Savage River

The drive from Anchorage to Denali is a 4 hour drive. Due to loosing our luggage with our camping items we had to purchase camping items at the Wal-Mart in Anchorage. We also picked up our rental car, which we got through Turo. Our experience with Turo was a positive one especially during a rental car shortage.

On our way to Denali, we stopped in Talkeetna. This was about half way to Denali, and was a little town that was super busy. It was hard to get a spot to sit down for lunch, even being there at 2 PM. We ended up eating at Talkeetna Brewing for pizza which is just outside of town. The food was great, and little to no wait.

We arrived to our campsite at Denali which was at Savage River. There are 2 campsites that are reachable by car in Denali National Park. We stayed at Savage River which is the furthest campsite in the park. To check in, we had to check in at the Bus Depot, which is right as you arrive in the park. We had flush toilets, fire ring, and picnic table. Our stay here was very nice and close to a few trails.

Day 3: Denali Bus Tour

One of the items we purchased ahead of time, was a Denali Bust Tour. I HIGHLY recommend this bus tour as it allows you to get to more of the park. The 8 hour bus tour allows you to get off and hike your own trail, then you can flag another bus down. We did not take this opportunity, but others did. The bus tour had several stops along the way that allowed you to get our take pictures and do a short hike. We saw 7 bears, many birds, and caribou. The bus picked us up right outside of our campground at Savage River.

After the bus tour, we went to the town just outside of Denali to enjoy dinner at Prospectors Pizzeria and Ale House. We were surprised by the quality of food and enjoyed the Chinook pizza that had salmon on it. Our night ended with card by the fire and the sun set close to 11 PM.

Day 4: Hikes in Denali

With our last full day in Denali National park we did several hikes and visited the dog sled learning area. We started with the Savage River Hike, which is a 2 mile hike along the River. We saw the Dal Sheep and enjoyed the views. Following the hike, we went to the sled dog area where we learned how dogs are utilized in the park and we got to pet and see the dogs there on site. Our last hike was the horseshoe lake hike which was also pretty and had you hike around a lake.

Our night ended at 49th St brewery, in Healy, where we had a pretzel and tried their local drinks and played darts. We greatly enjoyed this restaurant.

Day 5: Drive to Wrangel National Park Stay at King For a Day Campground

The drive from Denali to Wrangell is roughly a 5 hour drive. We drive on the old Denali Highway which is not paved and has little to no stops for bathrooms, food and gas. The views were stunning and we passed many people who were in the area for ATV rides and who camped along the road.

Once we arrived to Wrangell we stopped at the Visitor center near Copper Center. We enjoyed the view of the Mountain, Wrangell St Elias which is the largest volcano in North America. We then went to King For a Day campground which is located along the river. This campground is where many go to fish for Salmon. Due to the numbers of King Salmon, the season was cancelled. The campground had showers, laundry and bathrooms. The host was very kind and accommodating. This night we went on a 2 mile hike to a mud volcano near Tolsona Campground. This hike was not super enjoyable as it was soggy, buggy, and the mud volcano was a dirt pad with a bubbly water.

Day 6: Day trip to Valdez and Chitina

When arriving to the area, we were surprised to how rural this part of Alaska is. The towns are small and far and in between. With this, we went to Valdez, which is a 2 hour drive from our campground. We enjoyed spectacular views of glaciers, waterfalls, and mountains. This community is located near the water, so we enjoyed our first fish at the Halibut House (which is very reasonably priced) along with the Valdez brewing. There were several hikes in Valdez, and we enjoyed 2 while in the area.

On our way back to our campsite, we drove to Chitina which has the only drivable road into Wrangel National Park. This town was very small, and we did not drive the road as we felt it was not safe with our rental car.

Day 7: Drive to Anchorage stay at AirBnB

From Wrangell, we drove the 3 hours to Anchorage. We stopped in Palmer, AK for food. We ate at the Palmer Pub for a great burger along with stopping at Bleeding Heart Brewery. The stop was worth it for food and rest.

Once to Anchorage, we checked into our AirBnB near downtown. The AirBnB had its own parking and full kitchen that allowed us to do our laundry spread out and be out of the bugs. We had had our fill of camping and enjoyed being indoors with a bed.

We enjoyed a home cooked meal of breaded red rock fish, salad, and bread along with local drinks from Matanuska Brewery. The common grocery store is Fred Meyer in the Alaska area.

Day 8: Brewery Hopping in Anchorage

Our day began with breakfast downtown at the Snow City Cafe. This place was very busy and very good. We did have to wait to be seated, but we were able to get local coffee while we were waiting.

Today was supposed to be our flight over Anchorage, due to the weather our flight was canceled. This left us bummed but led to a day of exploring the breweries of Anchorage. Below are the breweries we went to. Our 3 favorites were King St. Brewery, Mantanuska Brewery, and Telluride Brewery.

King St – Anchorage Brewing – Midnight Sun Brewing Co. – Two Seasons Meadery

Our night ended with another home cooked meal with breaded halibut, salad, bread, and shrimp.

Day 9: Drive to Seward stay at Best Western Hotel

Our morning began with me running the Distance Classic 5k hosted by Skinny Rave. The race was well done and enjoyed. Following the race, we headed to Seward for our last night in hotel. The drive was about 2 hours and we stopped in Girdwood to try out the Girdwood Brewery and ride the tram at the Aleyxia Resort.

Arriving to Seward, we decided to give the local flight tours a call to see if they had space. We lucked out and were able to do a 30 minute scenic tour of Bear Glacier within Kenaij Fjords National Park. Looking back, we think we had the better of the tours as boat and flight tours are some of the few ways to see the Park. It was absolutely breathtaking to see the glacier from above with the icebergs.

Once we arrived to Seward, we checked into our hotel, Best Western. We had great views of the water and were within walking distance of the bustle of their downtown. Seward is a town of 3,000 people but definitely has a vibe that we greatly enjoyed. We had dinner at the Seward brewery and enjoyed a night on the town exploring the local pubs with local drink, DuckFart.

Day 9: Explore Seward

This is our last day in Alaska. Our flight did not leave till 1:30 AM which meant we still had the day to explore. We attempted to go to the local sea life center, but weren’t able to get tickets till later in the day. We then wen to Exit Glacier, which is the only way by car to get into the park. You get to walk alongside the glacier which is neat. We then began our ride back to anchorage where we spent time going to an indoor golf range, dinner, and dropping the rental car off.

Day 10: Flight back

Our flight back was somewhat unexpected and not enjoyable. We got on our flight at 1:30 AM to sit and wait for 3 hours. This then led to the flight canceling because the crew timed out. Due to this we then waited in line for 2 plus hours to get new tickets out. Since all hotels were booked we spent the night in the airport and did not arrive back home till close to 24 hours later. This adventure was something I had never experienced.