Hohnbaum Family trip to Alaska – 2007

Our 2007 Family Vacation was a 10 day trip to Alaska. All five of us took digital cameras, in addition to a 35 mm camera with a large zoom lens. A set of the pictures are here.

The trip started on Thursday, August 23 with a midday departure from Tigard, Oregon. We drove to Wesley Homes in Des Moines, Washington where we visited with Michael's Grandma, and Aunt Blythe and Uncle Ed. Uncle Ed went with us to Seatac airport where we unloaded 10 bags (plus carryons) from our truck and Uncle Ed took the truck back to Wesley Homes. We arrived in Anchorage late on Thursday and caught a shuttle to our hotel.

Friday morning we picked up a 30 foot motorhome at 11:00 from Great Alaskan Holidays, drove to the nearest Fred Meyers and bought food for the week. From there we headed East on the Glenn Highway to Glennallen and a few miles north to Dry Creek State Park for the night. When we arrived in the early evening we were the second group at the campground, although a few more rolled in later.

Saturday we headed South for Valdez with stops at the St. Elias and Wrangell National Park headquarters and Worthington Glacier. Lunch was sandwiches prepared in the RV at Squirrel Creek State Park. We spent the night at Blueberry Lake State Park about 20 miles north of Valdez. Like the previous night, the park was sparsely populated and very quiet.

Sunday we took a boat tour out of Valdez to the Columbia and Meares Glaciers. We also saw marine wildlife - Porpoises, Orcas, Otters, Sea Lions, Seals, etc. Sunday night was at an RV park in Valdez, Eagles Rest, for a chance to recharge batteries, refill our water tank, and showers. We had one of our rare restaurant meals, fish and chips from a hamburger stand adjacent to the RV park. Excellent halibut and salmon.

Monday we drove north for Fairbanks stopping at Fielding Lake State Park for a lunch break, then spending the night at Harding Lake State Park about 40 miles outside of Fairbanks. As at the previous state parks, there was only one other group at the campground when we arrived. That night was a full lunar eclipse so we set our alarms and spent from 2:30 to 4:00 a.m. watching the eclipse, northern lights, and shooting stars.

Tuesday we slept late then headed for the Museum at the University of Alaska. After spending time there and seeing a show explaining the science behind the northern lights, we restocked our food supplies at Freddy's, ate pizza (our second meal out) and started south for Denali. We spent the night at a very nice RV park,Tatlanika Trading Company, on the side of the Nenana river about 90 miles south of Fairbanks. We all enjoyed time on the gravel bar by the river. Here we had our last opportunity to recharge batteries, refill our water, and take showers. This also was my first and last time dumping the holding tanks on the RV.

Wednesday we arrived at Denali National Park. After a short stop at the Park entrance buildings, we drove 30 miles in to the Tetlanika campground. We spent our last 4 nights in Alaska there. At Denali we saw bears (black and grizzly), Caribou, Moose, Dahl Sheep, Fox, Hares (these were everywhere), and probably some other animals that I'm forgetting.

The kids set up two tents and got a chance to camp outside while at Denali. Everyone appreciated a bit more room after several days of togetherness in the RV. Our second evening brought a windy rain storm complete with thunder and lightning. The inside of the tents got a bit wet, so the kids spent the night the RV. That was our worse spot of weather on the trip.

Denali National Park does not permit private vehicles past the Teklanika Campground, and it requires a permit to even reach there. There are park buses (green school buses) that regularly drive the 85 miles from the visitor center to Wonder Lake, the furthest point in Denali accessible by road. We had reservations for seats on the bus our first morning in Denali. The bus stopped at the Teklanika Campground around 9:00 a.m. and drove to Wonder Lake with several rest stops along the way, along with a stop at a makeshift visitor center about halfway in. At Wonder Lake we had 45 minutes, then back on the bus arriving back at Teklanika around 5:30. On this drive we saw Caribou, Moose, 7 Grizzly Bears, a Black Bear, Dahl Sheep, and a Red Fox. The mountain was out, so we were able to see Mt. McKinley which is about a 1 in 3 chance occurrence.

Our second day in Denali, after a leisurely start, we packed a lunch and hiked downstream along the Teklanika River for several miles. We did not see any wildlife other than birds, hares, and squirrels, but saw many animal tracks in the mud along the river.

Our third day in Denali, Kari and the kids hiked about a mile or so upstream to the bridge that crosses the Teklanika River. Nick had been wanting to wade across the river and found a spot on this hike that worked. Michael stayed back at the campground and enjoyed a quiet opportunity to actually read one of the books he had brought.

Sunday morning we packed up and started our long day's journey home. It took a bit over an hour to drive the 30 miles to get out of Denali. Along the way we stopped several times to watch Caribou and Moose. Once we reached the main highway (Parks Highway) it was 240 miles to Anchorage. There, we checked in the RV and caught a shuttle to the airport. We had a smooth flight to Seattle, where Nathan and I took a taxi to Wesley Homes to get our truck. After loading up the gear and the rest of the family at the airport, and we drove three hours to get home arriving back in Tigard around 1:30 a.m.

We had an excellent time on our trip. This was a first for us renting an RV and were very pleased at how well it went. We highly recommend Great Alaskan Holidays for RV rentals. The RV was in great condition, and the pickup and dropoff process was very smooth. Our only problem with the RV was running out of battery our last night at Denali. We now know that we needed to run the generator for a bit if we are going to be more than three days without electricity. Other than having no heater the last night, this did not cause us any problems.