Marshmallows Across Alaska
Alaska is wild!
Our flavor for Alaska is Arctic Aurora — mint flavored and designed to look like the northern lights.
I only had a couple of hopes for this trip:
- See the northern lights again!
- See a moose
We didn’t manage either, and this was still an 11/10.
Why? Humpback whales! Crazy snowfall! Hiking through a rainforest! Hot Chocolate! The best crazy pizza I’ve ever had.
My only regret is that we didn’t have another week here to explore more of America’s 49th state.
We started the trip with a marine tour in Seward, which was a picturesque town abutting the Kenai Fjord National Park. This time of year the park is only accessible by boat or sea plane, so to see the glacier, and on the hope we could see some wildlife, we took a cruise.
It’s worth noting that we travelled in April which many consider the single worst month to visit Alaska. In the winter everything is snow-capped, and there’s all sorts of winter activities: Skiing, snowmobiling, dog-sledding, and the aurora. In the summer, there’s incredible hiking, boating, endless days as you get closer to the arctic circles, and idyllic weather and environments.
But April can be fickle — they call it the break up season because the snow and ice are melting making for a muddy place. Lots of lodging and dining options aren’t open, and tourist activities are limited.
BUT … every Alaskan I met — and I met a bunch at our Disney Springs store! — told me it was still a great time to travel, whatever the Internet said.
And I’m so glad we went!
We took a Spring tour of Resurrection Bay with Major Marine Tours. Only 47 people were on our boat built for 150. That meant everyone could rotate seats and comfortably see all the wildlife. And while many migratory animals weren’t in the area yet, and it was too early in the spring for many baby animals, we still had a blast!
Dall’s Porpoises followed our boat for miles of the tour, and played all around the boat. We were lucky enough to boat through water calm enough for us to see the porpoises under the water, which made their surfacing more dramatic.
We also saw sea otters. Of course we have otters in Florida, which our family love! But with those we’re used to seeing they’re usually smaller and cuddly. While these sea otters were still adorable, they were 80-100 pounds and enormous enough to see easily even from a distance.
We saw eagles, all sorts of sea birds, sea lions, seals, and even some mountain goats.
But the highlight was catching a young humpback whale, twice.
When I first moved to Florida, whenever a shuttle would take off there was a special collective moment. Whatever else was going on faded away and everyone paused to focus together on this one incredible thing.
Though the whale was diving down whereas the rocket soared up, that moment of awe we shared was uniquely similar, and truly magical.
We visited a couple of shops in Seward, Sweet Darling’s and AK Starfish Co. Sweet Darling’s was especially fun because they had just placed their first order for our marshmallows! What we didn’t realize is that even though we sent that shipment a week before our flight, it was still another week out. So we beat the marshmallows there!
But we still got to meet the owners, AJ and Pam. They make their own gelato (the honeycomb flavor was amazing!), and their own chocolates — also amazing! It’s incredible they do that in this tiny town of 2000 people, but Seward is a cruise town in the summers which brings them steady tourism traffic.
They weren’t the only store stocking us in Alaska we got to visit. In Girdwood, there’s a shop that first ordered with us during Covid called Mother Hubbard’s.
First off, the owner — Jessica — has the BEST taste and that shop is packed with amazing gifts and treats. They also share a courtyard with Jack Sprat’s, which we heard from some Alaskans is one of the state’s best restaurants.
How adorable that Jack Sprat and Mother Hubbard are side by side, sharing a courtyard?!
Both were incredible and highly recommended. In fact, Girdwood was all around amazing.
We stayed at the Alyeska Resort. They’re a winter ski resort and the based for all sort of super challenging black diamond trails. Girdwood also hosts a lot of helicopter drop in ski options which seems CRAZY!
We don’t ski, which was actually good because during the break up season skiing isn’t reliable. This last winter had been especially dry, and when we arrived it was raining in the 40ºs which isn’t the best weather for snow activities.
While we don’t ski, we were really excited to take advantage of the hiking that Girdwood offered. The resort backed up to the Chugach National Forest, the world’s northernmost rainforest.
The trail was frequently covered in snow or ice, but we pushed on for a lovely hike anyways. I was hoping to see a moose on this trip and I’d read this sort of experience earlier in the morning was a best chance… but the closest we came was spotting some moose tracks. We also saw a lot of bear tracks in the snow, and some that seemed fresh. So we spent a fair bit of the hike debating whether to turn back since we were COMPLETELY alone in the wilderness.
In the end, it was the risk of a newly un-hibernated bear that had us cut our hike short. Rather it was my *tiny* slip on the ice and the subsequent bruising of much of my right side.
I’ve lived in Florida so long that I forgot just how hard ice is! Thankfully I did walk away just a little sore and bruised from what was my first slip on the ice as an adult. (Yay?)
The silver lining was that we had reservations at the spa that day, so I got to soak away my aches and pains in the saunas and hot tubs. The Alyeska Spa was the first Nordic spa in Alaska, and they had all sorts of saunas — Finnish style, rainforest style, and even Alaskan barrels. Their cafe stood out for its creamy fish soup (vastly superior to chowders and something more seafood restaurants should serve!), and for its signature hot chocolate which was actually made with frothed almond milk, white chocolate, and a hint of lavender and honey. I don’t think we’ll ever bring fish soup to Wondermade, but don’t be surprised to find a hot drink inspired by Alyeska’s signature hot chocolate.
Alyeska was really a wonderful experience, made even better by heavy snowfall on the morning of our departure.
We’d paid a lot of attention to the weather forecast for a lot of reasons, including that there is just 1 road that links Seward and Girdwood to Anchorage and the airport. A1 is technically part of the Eisenhower interstate system, but it’s an undivided 2 lane road for most of the drive. We’d heard stories about long closures from accidents during bad weather, and didn’t want to miss our flight.
Real snow hadn’t been in the forecast, and we’d planned hang all day in girdwood. But to make sure we didn’t risk missing our flight, we reluctantly left a few hours earlier than planned.
But that still gave us half a day to experience a true winter wonderland!
We could’ve stayed there all week in that kind of snowfall.
We did manage the drive back without incident, which was a relief since we saw cars that had slid off the road, and a number of first responders heading out to help with other incidents.
We even made it back with enough time for some bonus activities in Anchorage.
We had recommendations for Moose’s Tooth pizza, and I almost passed up on it because I couldn’t see how pizza would be the thing to eat that would feel “Alaskan”. But we ordered the “Amazing Apricot” and I get why this place was so highly recommended.
I don’t love weird pizzas because they’re usually more weird than good. But this was one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had - apricot sauce, blackened chicken, shallots, shredded carrot, red peppers, cream cheese, mozzarella, and provolone. Even when they brought it to our table I was second guessing our choice because it was absolutely covered in carrots. But I’ve craved it every day since we ate it, and if we travelled to Alaska again it would be one of the first stops I planned.
We ended our trip with a bonus hike through the Kincaid Park. I still was hoping for that moose sighting! No luck on that front, but we did love that last trail through the wintry woods.
We didn’t manage either of my goals - no moose, and no northern lights.
But there were so many amazing unexpected delights along the way.
At one point during our drive to Seward we saw a bright blue lake through the woods and pulled off the road to investigate. On our walk down to the lake we found a story nailed to the tree about an old Russian miner and his pet cat who both used to roam around the lake. He’d saunter into town infrequently, without speaking a word, and always pay in gold. Another miner once tried to touch the Russian and his cat attacked. The miner muttered something that sounded like “Sally”, so they named the lake “Mad Sally Lake”.
Thing is… no one I asked in Alaska had ever heard of Mad Sally. And no one could back it up online either. So, was it a true story or just someone working hard at myth making?
Wild, right?
Scarcely believable and entirely amazing. Just like Alaska.
—
If you can, take a trip to Alaska. And if you can’t, but still want a taste of it, the Arctic Aurora marshmallows are a good place to start.