After years—and years— of wanting to visit Alaska, I finally got the opportunity. A few friends and I; we booked our flights, rented a car, and winged the rest. From bathing in volcanic hot springs, to wildlife, and urban exploring, we tried to cram as much adventure—and food— as we could, into our trip.
We flew from Oakland to Seattle to Fairbanks, arriving really late in the evening. With the arrangements already made to be picked up by the hotel shuttle, we were all set to begin our adventure in Alaska… After getting a good night’s sleep, of course.
We stayed at the Golden North Motel. Why? ’cause the price was right. The service was excellent, and our room was clean. However, in the early hours of the morning, with the fog and mist hanging overhead, it almost felt like something sinister might happen at any moment. Like, zombies might come out of the cuts at any moment, Alameda Undead style.
But it was all good. After some coffee and muffin tops for breakfast, we picked up the whip from the car rental place, and headed straight to the North Pole.
There’s a population of 2,232 in Santa’s city. I assume that’s 2,230 elf’s, Santa, and Mrs. Claus. We popped by their house to say wassup.
They were chillin’ inside, working, making toys and stuff. They hooked us up with some milk and cookies, and invited us to chill a while. We didn’t want to overstay our welcome, so we snapped a pic and got out of their hair.
But we couldn’t leave without jumping in to Santa’s whip and taking it out for a spin.
We looked around for a place to eat… came to a spot with a truck, reminiscent of the taco trucks back home, we found The Alaska Cheesesteak Co. truck. We went in.
I got that Rudolf special, know what I’m sayin’? it was smackin’. And the fries were crispy AF too, fried in that reindeer grease.
We had done a little research, and knew that we wanted to hit up Chena Hot Springs. It’s this little resort that is worth a trip to the area, in itself, for a soak in the natural volcanic hot spring. We arrived and checked the place out. Found some cool antler art, a fullsize airplane in the sky, and the first ever snowmobile… FIRST, EVER, SNOWMOBILE.
It was a cool 50ish degrees outside, but the water was over 100 degrees.
We dove in and chilled for a couple hours. 
Came out all rejuvenated, and feeling good. Definitely a place to revisit.
We showered, got dressed, and headed for Denali National Park. Stopping at the scenic vistas along the way.
Keeping an eye out for wildlife, we all really wanted to see a moose. ‘Cause we heard they were EVERYWHERE.
We checked out the sled-dogs that live in the park
Shannon made a bunch of new friends
While we were out, checking out the scenery, we started hearing noises. Then, all of a sudden, we heard the yell… “MOOSE”!!
We laughed, and laughed. But unfortunately, this was the only moose we saw (in the wild) giving birth to us saying the entire trip “mooses’ don’t exist”.
We reached the end of the line, on a hill overlooking the valley.
We put on our mountain-climbing gear, and began our descent to the valley floor.
Once we got down there, I placed an Ale Industries, Beast Oakland brew, in the icy mountain stream for a few minutes.
Ahhhh, so refreshing.
We kicked it for a little while, basking in the beauty of our surroundings, before making our way back up and out.
With the sun setting, on our way to Anchorage, there was this little lake, right off the side of the highway… We had to stop and check it out because the reflection of the evening sky was hitting it so perfectly.
I’m so glad we stopped.
The whole crew got out and I’m sure everyone got some great pictures.
Smashing back on the highway, we saw a fireworks stand with a bunch of crazy looking cars in the parking lot. We had to check it out.
Unfortunately, we could only buy the fireworks. We couldn’t actually set them off there. So we dipped, found a place to sleep outside of Anchorage, and called it a night.
The next morning, we went looking for a place to have breakfast. Found that Snow City Cafe. It was poppin’ but well worth the 20 minute wait.
I had the biscuits and gravy (with ground reindeer), with a side of reindeer sausage. Smackin’.
Bellies full, we set off to explore the city.
Cool Art all around town
We made it to the museum and checked it all out.
There’s a lot of cool stuff in that museum. My favorite were the native people’s coats, man. I would totally rock one of those!!
After all that learning about the history and culture of Alaska, we were a bit parched. So we yelped and found this place called Humpy’s. They had HELLLLA beers on tap. It’s a cool spot.
After a few beers, some food sounded real good, so we hit up Moose’s Tooth Pub & Pizzeria. 
Psshhhh, DUDE, I’m telling you, Alaska Knows how to do pizza. That place was SMACKIN’. We got three pizzas between the 4 of us, and killed them all. Straight up, pizza massacre. My favorite was this one—oh my god— macaroni and cheese pizza! It was so good. Wish I had some right now.
We found some lodging and called it a night. Waking up the next mornign and hitting the road towards the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.
On the way, we found a place called Beluga Point: named for the beluga whales that like to cruise the bay. Definitely had to check it out.
It was cold and windy. No sign of whales. but it was a dope sight to see. the muddy-sandy-claylike soil is a trip to walk on. It’s like solid, but soft and squishy. Like, you would not want to get stuck knee deep in it.
We made it to the wildlife center. A super cool place. check out their website Here.
We were greeted by grazing caribou
Then, all of a sudden, a wolf peeks over the hill.
But he was more interested in getting some shut-eye.
For some time, it had been a goal of mine to see a porcupine. They’re just so… interesting.
Then, this friendly female grizzly bear walked up to us.
She was very intimidating at first.
But it turned out she was super sweet. And what she really wanted was a treat from a trainer that was standing nearby.
We checked the whole place out, and it was really fun. If you’re ever in the area, definitely check out the AWCC.
On the way out, we spotted a Bald Eagle on the peak of a tree, looking all majestic and shit.
Then this crow came up, and started talking shit, throwing up gang signs.
The eagle said “cawcaw!” which means “I will eat you alive, motherfucker” in bird.
The crow split with the quickness. Talking shit the whole time as he backed away. “I’ll be back with my cousin” was the last thing I heard him say.
The eagle laughed it off.
On our way to our next destination, I saw this cove, and had to snap a few pictures.
Arriving in Whittier, we were all hungry. So we checked our options and decided on The Inn At Whittier. It’s actually, a really nice spot. Right on the water.
I got the salmon fish and chips. Smackin’.
The whole reason why we were in Whittier, was to check out the Buckner Building, an abandoned military building.
We looked both ways, hopped a fence, and went in.
Camera in hand, I set out to photograph as much as I could.
This one artist is worldwide, yo.
We explored level after level. It started getting dark and we had to split. Just in time too; a minute after the last of us got over the fence, 5-0 rolled up. Not today, coppers.
We grabbed some coffee at a little diner in town, regrouped, and found a place to stay for the night. Making plans for the town Homer, in the morning.
Exploring the beaches on the way up, we reach the begining (or end) of Highway 1)
A finger of land surrounded by water, it’s a pretty cool spot.
Found a few jellies along the beaches
We must have came during the off-seaon, because a few of the businesses on the boardwalk were closed. But that’s alright with us. Less people around means better photographs for me.
We explored the boardwalk
And under the boardwalk.
We kicked it, took a bunch of pictures, and we hit the road towards Seward
Miles down the road, we spotted a lake with turquoise colored water, and we decided to investigate.
The water was super placid, the weather was warm; it was a pretty cool little random place.
We got to Seward, and had to grub. We dined at a bar and grill type place. I had the ribs.
We had a few beers, explored the town, then booked ourselves a cabin, a few miles away.
This was my bedroom. I climbed into bed and knocked out.
The next morning, after coffee, we packed up, minds set on visiting the Sealife Center
We spent a few hours checking everything out. Then made out way to see a glacier.
We spot it from a distance.
And hike up to it
On the trail, there’s marker showing how much it has receded over the years. The shit is melting, yo.
It started getting late, so we booked a room at a place called the Alyeska Resort in a town named Girdwood. We headed that direction, and stumbled upon an open mic night in a little hole in the wall restaurant. We met a person there that ran the gondolas at the resort we were staying at, and he told us he’d hook us up with free rides.
Of course we took’em up on the offer the next morning.
We checked out the ridgeline, then I started getting hungry.
We found this place called Chair-5, and I ordered the Roasted Potato Pizza.
It was so good! 5 stars on yelp, yo.
After dinner, we booked our next place to stay and made our way there.
There was a 1% chance of seeing the Northern Lights that night, so we went out to shoot…. didn’t see anything.
Our last day in Alaska, while having coffee, Rush shows us a map of Alaska, detailing the route home.
Miles and miles of driving, back to the Fairbanks airport, we absolutely had to stop at this place in the middle of nowhere.
It was the last place in Alaska where you could smoke indoors. I took advantage of that!
We all drank our beer, slowly. I believe everyone was tired from the non-stop adventure we had just endured. Driving over 2000 miles, seeing everything, visiting everywhere, and eating everything we could, within our short time in Alaska. It was an incredible experience.
We made for the airport, and headed home, all saying “yeah man, we gotta come back”.
I’d really like to thank my travel companions. You guy’s made this trip unforgettable. I had a blast. All the photographs, laughs, and memories… Thank you guys for coming with me.
And, thank you all for reading!
Grizzly De Haro 