Just got back from a much needed week off! My parents had a conference up in Alaska last weekend, so Dan and I decided to join them up there for the remainder of the week for a little vacation.

The journey to Alaska was looooooong. In total, it took us 22 hours to get there. Mostly because we had super long layovers in Minneapolis and Seattle, but we also spent a good eight hours in the plane itself. Oofta, it was a long day. We flew into Anchorage and then had about an hour drive to Girdwood where we were staying for the night. We got in at about 2 am – 5 am SD time – and were completely exhausted.

My dad called me the next morning at about 9:30 to tell us to get up so we don’t waste the whole day sleeping. I was tempted to tell him to stuff it, but glad we got up! There were a few trails around the hotel, so we went walking for a bit. It was all covered in snow and ice, but the temps were upper 20’s, so it wasn’t too bad. Plus, those views!! I could get used to those views.

After we hiked a bit, we met with Steve and Carletta Hauck at the top of the mountain for lunch. Our hotel was also a ski resort, so there was a tram to top where we could ski, eat lunch, and enjoy the views. Dan has never skied before, and I’m pretty mediocre at best, so we took one look at the mountain and said no way! It was pretty big! Carissa and her husband, Scott, also joined us for a few days, and they skied everyday, but they were the only brave ones.

After lunch, we took a trek over to the town of Whittier, which was a short half an hour away. It was a neat little town, but definitely not a lot going on over there in the winter season. It’s a tiny little town and you can only get in by boat or a one-way tunnel that’s 2.5 miles long. We obviously took the tunnel since we didn’t have a boat. It was kind of cool, but a little nerve wracking to think about all the mountain that was on top of us! Anyway, we didn’t stay in Whittier long. It’s so small that all of its residents live in one apartment complex, and everything was closed for the season, so other than checking out the views, there wasn’t a lot for us to do there. But it was still a cool little spot to see!

That night, one of the docs from the conference invited us over to their house for some Alaskan game such as mountain goat, salmon, and moose. I wasn’t so sure about the moose, but oh man was it good! He even tricked me into trying moose heart, which was surprisngly good too. But I’m not sure I would have tried it if he had told me what it was before I took a bite haha!

Day 2, we took off for Soldotna, AK, which is roughly 2 hours away from Girdwood. Lots more pretty sites to see along the way! We expected a snow storm the next day, so we unloaded our stuff at the hotel and drove another hour to Homer so we could see the spit. It was gorgeous!! This was probably my favorite part of the trip. We found the ocean, and saw lots of moose along the way.

Day three, we hung out in Soldotna again. Hiked around a campground in the morning, but it was awfully slippery! We found a nature reserve trail to walk on in the afternoon which was much better. Didn’t see any moose or bears, but saw lots of eagles!

Our fourth and final day, we went hiking again in the morning. Found these trails that were technically only for cross country skiers, but since no one was there we decided to be rebels and go for it. Of course, the snowmobiles decided to come out while we were walking to groom the course, so we had to dodge them so we wouldn’t get yelled at. AND we ran into 2 moose that were less than 30 feet away. It was super cool but also terrifying.

After our hike we made the 3 ish hour drive back to Anchorage to do some souvenir shopping and go out for supper since it was my moms bday. We had a delicious fancy supper and off to bed early to get up for our 6 am flight.

Although it went very fast, it was a fabulous week away and much needed time off. I didn’t go to the gym once or go for a run, I just hiked and took it easy. I left my work phone at home and didn’t even think about it while I was gone. It was hard to make myself not worry about it at first, but it was needed. I strongly encourage everyone to give it a try!

I’m happy to be back home with my pup and a regular routine, but excited to see what our next adventure will be!

Until next time! 🙂

Megan Reiffenberger