My mom and I are traveling around Alaska for the next couple weeks! As we are arriving, things are just opening up for the tourist season. My mom and I enjoy spending time with each other, and we are delighted at this adventure!

Follow along on my journey here, and also follow along on my mom’s blog to see her POV. It will be a treat to see the same adventures told two different ways! You can see my mom’s blog at rtwstreets.com ☺️

My mom flew into Chicago, so we could then fly together. Her first flight was very early and I found her napping at a gate. She said she laid down and no one was there, but by the time I arrived, the gate was full of people. Of course, I snapped a picture.

We began our journey in Anchorage. This is my first visit to Alaska. Mom has been to Alaska twice, but we are exploring more than her previous visits.

We are staying at an amazing hostel, Base Camp Anchorage. They have all the characteristics of a great hostel. Friendly staff, helpful workers, community kitchen, and ambient hangout areas. They also have chickens, a tepee, a wood burning sauna, and an Epsom salt float tank.

We have also met a lot of people coming in for seasonal work to work busses, boats, hostels, etc for the summer season. It is interesting to hear stories and learn other people’s experiences. It is one of the greatest joys of hostel living.

The deprivation tank is wild. While we are here, might as well try it! Essentially you lay naked in a  very salty egg-shaped pool of water for an hour and it’s meant to be relaxing and healing. It felt a bit like zero gravity. I was laying on my back and moving around a little and stretching. You can turn off the lights or change the lights. It was an interesting experience and the texture of very salty water is unique, it almost feels oily. I wore earplugs to protect the salt from coming into my ears and I had a spray bottle of water to wash my eyes when I would accidentally splash salt water into my eyes. To me, it wasn’t super relaxing, but it wasn’t stressful. It was neutral and unique. Before the deprivation tank, you have to wash your body head to toe in special soap to remove any oils to keep the tanks and water clean.

When it was Mom’s turn, they forgot to turn off the water jets on the pod, so her experience was much more strenuous and not relaxing. It is supposed to be relaxing normally.

Mom and I took the Anchorage Trolly Tour around notable parts of Anchorage and learned about the history. Anchorage has the three most diverse high schools in the country with over a hundred languages represented among the students in each school. Celebrating the diversity, in elementary school, learning another language is prioritized. In fifth grade, the students field trip to a country where they have been studying that language. So cool!

We also learned about a historic earthquake. In 1964, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake devastated parts of Alaska. We went to Earthquake Park where there used to be a bunch of houses that were lost to the earthquake. The ground had rippled and looked almost like liquid during the earthquake. Less lives were lost than would have been expected for this size of an earthquake because practically everyone was in town at church since it was Good Friday, so they weren’t home where the earthquake struck.

The trolley tour also took us to Lake Hood where we saw a bunch of the airplanes people own and fly. 1 in every 50 Alaskans have a pilots license and 1 in every 10 Alaskans fly planes.

We got a late lunch at Snow City Cafe and Mom ordered a delicious local tea blend called Samovar tea. It is very cinnamony and naturally sweet. We were told it was made and sold at the nearby Kobuk gift shop which is the oldest store in Anchorage. It was delightful and we bought some to enjoy when we are back home to enjoy and also to reminisce.

We went to the Ulu factory. Pronounced oo-loo, an ulu is a knife that makes skinning and cutting things more efficient. The store had an old one from 1000 BC on display. We found they were reasonably priced and ergonomically exciting as the cutting is done by a rocking motion with movement from the wrist. Mom and I both purchased one and the lady showed us that they had extremely reasonable seconds for sale too, which are quality products that have a slight imperfection sold at a discounted price.

We wanted to do a day hike to enjoy the nice weather day and maybe see a moose. We opted for the 10 mile coastal trail that runs from Kinkade Park to downtown Anchorage.

We have bear spray just in case.

We haven’t seen a bear yet, but we saw a far away rock that looked like a bear, and we also thought we saw a bear that ended up being part of a gate to a fenced yard.

We saw some birds, a lot of dogs and their owners, bikers, and runners. We saw one lady training for cross country skiing on the wheeled skis, a few fantastic mountain views, moose scat (moose poop), and A MOOSE!!!

When I first saw the moose, I thought it was a dead moose, and I even said to mom “dead moose.” It was pretty close to the trail and laying down, but then we saw its belly rising and falling and its ears wiggle.

We were told that moose eat a lot of food and they overheat and have to lay in the permafrost to cool down. This is what she was doing. We also learned a few moose calls on the trolley tour. Mom started making the low noise calling noise. The moose’s ears wiggle more and I panic and start saying “mom! mom! mom! mom!” in a quiet voice. As we remember another moose call that sounds exactly like my repetitive “mom” sounds, we recognize that I was accidentally imitating a baby moose call to its mom! Luckily we both stop our own intentional and accidental moose call chorus, and the moose doesn’t move any more than just its ears. We took a few pictures and continue on with our hike.

Since it’s the beginning of the nice weather, we are seeing a lot of new growth on trees. I would love to come back when everything is blooming. Alaska has a small farming season, but it grows huge produce. Alaska is famous for producing giant vegetables like 138 pound cabbage and a 2,051 pound pumpkin, since there’s so much sunlight during the growing season. Wow!

By the time we were done with the hike, we were ready to have a bite to eat for dinner at F Street Station. We had delicious halibut fish and chips, and I also had a dreamy French onion soup. The halibut was so flaky and flavorful. We had an early dinner and by the time we were leaving, the place was packed.

We ended the night with a hop in the wood burning sauna and a card game with friends.