Alaska With Kids: Anchorage Edition with My Teen (Part 3)

Thinking about visiting Alaska with teens? My 14-year-old son joins me for a mother-son Alaska recap — and spoiler: he caught a king salmon just 12 hours after landing and hasn't stopped talking about it since. We cover four days of adventures based entirely out of Anchorage, and I break down how we pulled off the whole trip on points without paying for flights or hotels out of pocket and highlight our favorite things to do in Anchorage and on day trips.

In this episode:

• King salmon fishing on the Knik River (yes, we both caught one)

• Biking the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail — 25 miles, multiple moose, and a very dramatic race back to the bike shop

• The Phillips Cruises 26 Glacier Cruise out of Whittier, including calving glaciers and a whole lot of sea otters

• Driving the Turnagain Arm: eagles at Bird Point and wildlife at Beluga Point

• A scenic float into the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge

• The Alaska Native Heritage Center — surprisingly not just educational

• Where to eat in Anchorage (the halibut and chips at 49th State Brewing deserve their own billing)

• How we booked this entire trip in five weeks on Alaska miles, Southwest points, and Hyatt points

Timestamps:

00:00 — Intro
01:44 — King salmon fishing near Anchorage
06:07 — Biking the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail
10:39 — Phillips 26 Glacier Cruise from Whittier
17:29 — Alaska Native Heritage Center + Eagle River Nature Center
20:16 — Kenai River float into the National Wildlife Refuge
23:00 — Where to eat in Anchorage
25:47 — Alaska with a teen wrap up
28:50 — Flights, hotel, and rental car logistics
36:21 — Wrapping up

Resources:

Alaska travel planning hub
Anchorage guide
Day trips from Anchorage
Renting a car in Alaska
Alaska packing list
Rental car savings
Alaska itinerary eBook

Award travel:

How to travel free with kids
Best credit cards for family travel
Southwest Companion Pass guide

Related episodes:

• Ep. 17 — Southwest Companion Pass basics

• Ep. 32 — Alaska by land

• Ep. 41 — Companion Pass + World of Hyatt

Activities mentioned:

Knik River fishing charter
Phillips Cruises 26 Glacier Cruise
Alaska Native Heritage Center
Kenai Rever float trip, Cooper Landing

Don't miss this inspiring, practical travel with kids podcast hosted by family travel expert Melissa Conn, founder of The Family Voyage, certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, and mom of two who proves family travel is achievable for everyone.

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Transcript

Melissa 0:02

Hey there, and welcome back to Family Travel Unpacked. I'm your host, Melissa, and in case you're new here, you can find tons of detailed destination guides, travel tips, hacks, and more on my website, thefamilyvoyage.com. And if you've been enjoying the show, be sure to hit follow wherever you're listening so you never miss an episode, and drop a five-star review to help other families find the show. Today's episode is gonna be a little different. I've got a special guest with me for part of the time, my 14-year-old son, Jacob. We just got back from a four-day mother-son trip to Alaska. It was his second time visiting the Last Frontier, and my third. And when I say that this trip delivered, I mean it. We had so much fun, and we did such a huge variety of activities. Jacob hasn't stopped talking about the trip, and honestly, I'm not sad about it. We're gonna do a little interview-style recap today. Jacob's gonna share what the trip was like from his perspective, and then after I send him on his way, I'll cover the logistics on my own- how we got there, where we stayed, and how we pulled the whole thing off without paying for flights or hotels out of pocket because yes, this trip was almost entirely on points. Let's get into it. So Jacob, welcome to the podcast. For anyone listening who doesn't know you, can you introduce yourself?

Jacob 1:10

Sure, yeah. I'm Jacob. I'm 14 years old. I'm going into my freshman year at High School, and I have traveled pretty much for my entire life.

Melissa 1:20

Awesome. And, as I mentioned before, this was your second time in Alaska. What do you remember from your first trip, and was there anything that surprised you about going back?

Jacob 1:29

I've always remembered the beautiful scenery. I really love the mountains, love the trees. I remember all the fish, definitely the bears.

Melissa 1:37

Awesome So the first activity I wanna talk about is fishing, because I know that was a huge highlight for you on this trip. So tell everybody what happened out there on the water in those first two hours.

Jacob 1:48

Okay. So my mom and I, we get on the boat. And we're fishing in this river for king salmon.

Melissa 1:56

Yes, it's the Knik River just north of Anchorage.

Jacob 1:59

And basically, fishing is a long waiting game. So we wait for an hour, and then all of a sudden, my mom's rod starts getting tugged down. And, the boat guy is like, "Everybody, everybody get out of the way. She has to get her rod out, and, get the fish on the boat." So then she absolutely fights this fish. This fish, by the way, we later learned that it's, weighs, like, 30-some pounds.

Melissa 2:22

Probably 25 or so. Yeah.

Jacob 2:23

25 or 30. And she, like, is fighting for her life here. And, she has to, reel it up, and the guy with the net has to, like, scoop it out of the water for her. And what's funny is later when she tries to hold it up for a picture, she can't hold it out in front of her because it's just so heavy.

Melissa 2:41

It was incredibly heavy. Yeah.

Jacob 2:43

And then about, what, half an hour later-

Melissa 2:45

Mm-hmm

Jacob 2:46

I also get a tug, so then the boat guy's like, "Everybody get out of the way. He's got a bite." So I basically, I also do the same thing. Well, I would say that I'm a better fisher than my mom. Don't tell her. Uh, so I... It's less of a struggle for me, mainly 'cause I know how to fish better. And I, fight with this thing, and then I get it in the net, and it pulls up onto the boat. And then I try to hold it out, and it's also, like, so heavy.

Melissa 3:13

These were some big fish, for sure. So I know obviously it was kind of physically challenging to reel them in. For families that haven't done any fishing before, do you think it's worth doing? Anything that they should know if they're thinking about bringing kids on a fishing trip like the one we did?

Jacob 3:30

I think it's great for families with an asterisk. Asterisk being- Okay If you have smaller kids that may be, they have a lot of energy- Mm-hmm I'd say maybe make sure to debrief them on how it can be dangerous because the fishing guy once said that, like, there was this little kid who yanked his rod out of the lake, and it hit somebody in the eye. Like, the hook went straight through his eye. It's disgusting. Anyway, make sure if you are bringing kids, they know how dangerous it can be, and make sure they take it seriously.

Melissa 3:59

That's great advice. Also, I would add to that asterisk that you and I caught our fish within the first, let's say, two hours of this five-hour trip. And because- That's not common at all not common at all, but because we were on this group fishing trip with three other guests, even though we were done fishing, we had hit our state-mandated maximum for the day, we were still on the boat for another three hours. Yeah. So if you have younger kids who don't have that kind of patience and maybe don't enjoy staring at the beautiful scenery for three hours- then you might wanna bring some activities for them or something that'll keep them chill because it is a pretty small boat, and you're sharing it with other people.

Jacob 4:43

Yes. And while I have to say the scenery is a big attraction, we also saw some wildlife.

Melissa 4:50

Tell us what we saw.

Jacob 4:51

So my mom, I'm gonna brag for a second, she's an amazing photographer. Thank you. We saw a bald eagle. So my mom got an in-flight shot of the bald eagle, full wing span out, and it was just amazing. It was living in a, tree with its babies in a nest. So we got to saw it, like, perched up there as we fished. It was really cool.

Melissa 5:14

Awesome. Yeah, fishing I would say was definitely a win for us. 100%. And I'm gonna add that last night for dinner we had the first portion of our 17 pounds of salmon that we carried on through the airports back with us, and, it was really tasty. Yeah.

Jacob 5:30

fair warning for fishing and taking fish home with you. What you're gonna have to do is take it to a fish processor. We paid, like, about what? $20 to get it processed? Nope, the processing was 75. 75. And then it was another $20 for them to box it up to take on the plane. So that box will keep the fish frozen for 48 hours. Mm-hmm. And so we actually had to carry on this, like, 20 pound box of fish, 'cause you lose a lot of weight when the fish gets fileted. So get ready for a big schlep, 'cause it's gonna be difficult to get it home. But worth it. Mm-hmm.

Melissa 6:07

Okay. So that was obviously a really intense morning as soon as we landed. But you and I like to pack it in, so that evening we biked the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail in downtown Anchorage, and that's around 25 miles round trip. Now, I know you love to ride your bike, but before we left, did that distance register with you, or were you not really thinking about it? I know you've done some longer bike rides, but 25 is about where you've capped out.

Jacob 6:34

I honestly didn't really think about the distance that much. The distance isn't that big of a deal. The bigger deal was the hills. All right.

Melissa 6:44

So tell us about the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail and the hills.

Jacob 6:47

So, if you're an adult, get an e-bike for this ride because some of those hills, they can just absolutely kill you. My mom got an e-bike. I got a regular bike because it's, not allowed for people younger than how old? 16 and up for e-bikes. Yep. So- Basically, once you get on the trail, you're biking along the Cook Inlet, and, you get these beautiful views of the mountains in the distance. They're actually snow-capped mountains way in the distance, which I thought were clouds first until my mom pointed them out. But the scenery's beautiful. It's not too densely wooded, but- Mm-hmm still nice and shady. Don't get too hot. But there are some hills that I had to just walk my bike up.

Melissa 7:35

Yeah, especially that one down at the end at Kincaid Park is super, super steep.

Jacob 7:39

That one That one was a big one.

Melissa 7:43

It was a butt-kicker, for sure But it was worth it, right? Yes Because what did we find in Kincaid Park?

Jacob 7:48

So, there have been bears spotted, but the main center of the wildlife attraction is the moose. Once in Kincaid Park, we went to... What? We were just walking around the park, and we saw this Young couple in this, like- little glen, like, right next to the park. And we walk over there to see what's up, and there's a mother moose with two of her babies. Mm-hmm. So we got to, like, watch them sleep, and fair warning, you should always keep your distance from moose. Most bears will run away from you, but moose will actually usually charge you because they don't want you to hurt their babies. Bears will do the same, but much less commonly.

Melissa 8:29

Yeah, there are more moose deaths in Alaska than bear deaths every year.

Jacob 8:33

So make sure to keep, what, maybe at like a 30-foot distance from a moose. Yep, 30-foot distance, and if you've got bear spray, it's a good idea to bring it just in case. Always a good idea. If you're, if you're going out into, like, even the tiny bit, wooded place, bring bear spray. Mm-hmm.

Melissa 8:51

So what did you think the first time you saw that moose? And then I know we saw another one on our ride back. What'd you think?

Jacob 8:57

The first one, honestly, I didn't get much of a view of its head 'cause it was sleeping, but it was really cool to see it. And then on the ride back, we just saw one just... It w- I think it was another mother, right? Not sure. Yeah, 'cause in the, spring, they shed their antlers, which by the way, moose have. Not horns, antlers. Mm-hmm. So, in the summer, they're just regrowing them, so we couldn't tell if the last one was a mother or a father. But it was just, grazing up on the hill. We gave it its fair distance, and we just watched. It was fun. And then after that, we had to bike back really quickly because we had a reservation at Whiskey Ramen.

Melissa 9:41

And we'll talk about that a little bit later. I'm gonna ask you about the food. But yeah, the bike shop was closing, and we had a dinner reservation, and we had just kinda lost track of time because we got so distracted- Yeah by all of these moose. So how'd that ride back go for you, Jacob?

Jacob 9:55

Okay, so bike shop closed at 8:00, and we took off from the park at like, 7:30 and we were like, "Oh my God, we gotta get back fast."

Melissa 10:07

Well, thankfully since we had those big uphills on the way out, on the way back it was pretty much all flat or downhill, and some of it was pretty steep downhill.

Jacob 10:17

Yeah, so I just absolutely biked my little heart out. I did not brake at all on those downhills, and We still got back at, like, what? 8:30-ish Yep. I got back five minutes before my mom. Yeah, you were quite a trooper. 'Cause I just biked. And then, yeah, they were really nice about it. Pablo's Bike Shop, five out of five.

Melissa 10:39

Nice plug there. Uh, so that was a really intense first day. The next day, we drove out to Whittier, which is about an hour from Anchorage. We had to give ourselves extra time because we were going through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, which is a super cool, dual-use tunnel that's only open for 30 minutes in each direction for cars, and then there's also a train that passes through a couple times a day. We went out to Whittier in order to spend the day with Phillips Cruises doing their 26 Glacier Cruise, which was a really full day. So Jacob, what did you expect going into that day cruise, and was there anything that was different or surprised you?

Jacob 11:20

I was expecting lots of otters. I think that the company should have a three otter guarantee. Okay. And once we got on the boat, we just cruised on out. In the beginning, it's just mainly beautiful scenery, glaciers everywhere, and yeah, a few otters. We saw, like, maybe, what, five otters in the beginning? Something like that. Yeah, we saw a couple straight off the bat, so the three otter guarantee was satisfied. Yes. And then- They are relatively skittish. But then, we got further out, maybe, like, what, hour, two hour in? Yeah. Then we just started seeing otters pop up everywhere. I mean, like, every five minutes you could just go out and look, and there'd be a family of otters. We actually saw a couple of them just on a tiny chunk of ice towards the end of the, trip up to the glacier- Mm-hmm again. So any other wildlife sightings that stick in your mind? Well, on the way back we saw a giant platform full of... Steller sea lions? Is that right? Yes. And those sea lions, man, they make a ruckus. They're chatty, for sure. Very chatty. And there were like, what, maybe 20 of them on the platform Yeah, it was, it was just packed, and they were fighting for space- Yeah which was kind of cool to see. I I saw, like, a couple of sea lions off the platform trying to climb back on, and they just kept getting swatted off. Swatted, yeah. Yeah. And there was this really big one, I think he was the, like, male leader. I'm sure, yeah. He just kicked one of them off, and they, they just fell into the water. He definitely showed them who was boss. Yeah.

Melissa 12:55

And any other wildlife that we saw that you were into? spotted a couple of puffins.

Jacob 12:59

Yeah. Oh, yes. So, you guys might not know this about me, but I have an addiction to puffins. I really love puffins, my favorite bird. So we actually went to this little island called Puffin Island. Mm-hmm. And it was mainly these kinda seagull type birds, they were mainly dominant there. Then you could see a few small black birds flying around, and those were the puffins. And man, I love seeing puffins. It's a treat for me, so I was really happy. it was an unexpected surprise, 'cause I didn't think we were gonna go there, but yeah.

Melissa 13:30

Yeah, and I think that the glaciers were super cool. That cruise goes all the way into College Fjord. So the big glacier at the end is called Harvard Glacier, but then there are also tons of other glaciers surrounding it, which are named after different colleges, hence it's called College Fjord. And when we were there, I thought we got to see something really cool and also hear it.

Jacob 13:50

We got to see/hear calving, which is when a part of a glacier breaks off and falls into the water, and it makes a huge boom. It was so cool.

Melissa 14:01

Yeah. Now, I'll say that we were super lucky that day. We had postcard perfect blue sky weather out there in Prince William Sound. I've done a similar cruise to a different part of Prince William Sound, further south, called Blackstone Bay, and that was in September a few years ago. And I think the weather I experienced that day was maybe a little bit more typical, because it was overcast. We even had, drizzle for a lot of the time. I won't say that that's what Prince William Sound is always like in the summer, but it's definitely not normal to have full sun and blue skies. But that is what allowed us to experience quite as much calving as we had, because the sun shining on the glacier face is what causes that melting and weakness, and eventually you get major, major calving. So you can't always expect to have that in Prince William Sound, but if you're lucky, you will. Um, and I just also wanna remind you, since you might not remember, Jacob, when we were in Alaska as a family five years ago, we did a kind of similar boat trip with Major Marine out of Seward in the Kenai Fjords National Park. I would say that the big difference between that boat trip and this one is that one is maybe a little bit more wildlife focused, and this one is a little bit more scenery focused. So if you're out there listening and you're looking, you're debating between which two to do, I would say that if you really want to see tons of wildlife, the Major Marine trip might be a better choice. But if you're looking for the balance of scenery and wildlife, then the Phillips Cruise out of Whittier is an excellent option. And also, for people who get seasick, Phillips is a much better choice. Nothing against Major Marine, but Resurrection Bay down in Seward tends to be a lot choppier, whereas the water was completely flat in Prince William Sound. I was actually really surprised that there was no roughness at all. So they have a seasickness guarantee, and I can see now why they are able to offer that, because the conditions are really flat.

Jacob 15:59

The water is so clear and flat that it looks like it's a mirror reflecting the mountains.

Melissa 16:05

Yeah, that was really cool. Actually, I have some neat pictures of that that I am looking forward to getting around to editing. Uh, now in order to get to Whittier, we drove what's called the Turnagain Arm and we also drove it later in the trip to get to the Kenai Peninsula. Do you have any favorite stops that you recommend along the Turnagain Arm?

Jacob 16:21

I really like Bird Point. So we got there, and we just see a bald eagle fly over our heads. That's one, if you're counting. Now, we walk for, like, one minute- Mm-hmm less than a minute to get to this little ramp that brings us up to the point. We see two more bald eagles fly over. That brings us up to three. Then we finally are at the top of the ramp, and we see, once again, another bald eagle fly over. So then we go to the observation deck, and we see, like, three other bald eagles fly over our heads.

Melissa 16:57

They were just everywhere, flying back and forth between Bird Point, which kind of juts out into the Turnagain Arm, which is a body of water, between there and the mountainside behind us, which must be where they have their nests, I guess. Because they just kept going back and forth, and that was really special. That was amazing. Yeah. And the nice thing about Bird Point is that it's just an easy stop along the drive. You just pay $5 for parking, and they have a little parking kiosk like so many other places in Alaska. So definitely recommend that stop Now, by day three, I could tell that you were running on empty. And honestly, I don't know if I've ever seen you quite that tired when we've been on a trip. So we pulled back, and we spent the day visiting the Alaska Native Heritage Center and the Eagle River Nature Center, which are both just a little bit north of Anchorage. Honest answer, was the Heritage Center interesting, or was it just your mom making you do something educational?

Jacob 17:53

I thought the Heritage Center was very interesting. First, when we got in there, we got to see a Native Alaskan dance and song, and then we got to walk through the museum there a little. Mm-hmm. There was this big timeline of, Alaskan history for the Natives, and we got to see cool artifacts, clothing Mm-hmm. And then, we went on a free tour. There were different dwellings behind the museum and each of them represented a different, group of native Alaskans.

Melissa 18:22

Yeah, and there were a lot of differences depending on what kind of climate they live in and what resources they had available.

Jacob 18:28

Yeah. Some of them had, uh, different entrances. Some of them had, like, different shapes. One of them had this long tunnel into the underground. It was very small, and I got to go through that, and it was really cool.

Melissa 18:43

Who else went through this tiny, super narrow tunnel? My mother Yes, I did it just to say that I'd done it. I'm proud of her. Thanks. Okay, so would you recommend that families go check out the Alaska Native Heritage Center?

Jacob 18:58

I think it's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. I would recommend it.

Melissa 19:00

Okay. Great, and, if you're planning a visit in the summer, they do have a really, really full schedule of programming available every day. You can choose to do the tour around the village in the back, like Jacob and I did. They also have basically every 30 minutes a different presentation, so there's one that's an introduction to the native communities of Alaska. There are different dance ones throughout the day, so one part of the day it might be dances of Southeast Native communities. Another time might be dances from the north or dances from, the island communities or from Central Alaska. There's another one that we saw a little bit of, which is a demonstration of games and activities that native kids might have done when they were living in their villages, and just a really cool experience and good to acknowledge the land that you're standing on and the people who have been there for more than 10,000 years. Okay, so on our last day we schlepped all the way down to Cooper Landing in the Kenai Peninsula, which is about an hour and 45 minutes from Anchorage, and we did a float trip on the Kenai River, which is the first time that either of us has really done any rafting, I think. But it was a very different pace. There was no motor. We're just drifting along the river and into the wildlife refuge. And we had a couple little rapids here and there. How did that compare to everything else we did? What did you think of that?

Jacob 20:20

I thought it was quite relaxing. I will say, make sure you bring sunscreen 'cause I got definitely sunburned on there.

Melissa 20:27

For the record, we did have sunscreen. I gave it to Jacob before the trip and asked him to put it on. I put it on. But anyway, the first, what was it? Two-thirds of the trip Mm-hmm mainly we saw some sockeye salmon actually jump out of the water, which was cool. Mm-hmm. We saw something called battle fishing. Would you like to explain that to them? Yeah, so we were in the Upper Kenai River, and we happened to be there during one of the major salmon runs, so there are tons and tons of fishermen, and we're talking about a mix of locals and tourists, people coming down from Anchorage. Kinda everybody's out there in their chest waders with their rods, in some places shoulder to shoulder basically, or with just a few feet between them, trying to catch their sockeye salmon. It's a little bit dangerous if you are not accustomed to that kind of fishing because you run the risk of people's lines getting tangled, getting a hook to the face. We're pretty novice anglers, so it's not something that I think I would feel comfortable doing, certainly not without a guide. Uh, but we saw a lot of people out there having a great time and catching a ton of fish.

Jacob 21:32

And then for the final third of our rafting trip, we went into the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

Melissa 21:40

Yeah, what did we see there? What'd you think?

Jacob 21:42

We saw couple more fishermen, but mainly more bald eagles. Like, you'd think they're common at this point. They were everywhere. We got to hear, baby bald eagles- Mm-hmm squeaking. We got to see actually a mother bald eagle carrying a fish in her talons to her babies.

Melissa 22:02

That was pretty cool. Never seen that before.

Jacob 22:03

We got to see a adolescent bald eagle, which you can tell by the fact that all of its wing feathers, well, some of them are brown, but also some of them are white 'cause they're halfway between, being full-fledged adults and being babies. It's like bald eagle puberty. Absolutely.

Melissa 22:18

I was gonna say puberty is awkward even for bald eagles. Yeah.

Jacob 22:21

Didn't see any bears sadly, but- Yeah I think we had a really good time.

Melissa 22:26

Yeah, if we had had more time, I definitely would have headed over to the Russian River hiking trail, which we've done before. Because at this time of year when the salmon are running, that's a great place to spot bears. Obviously, we did have bear spray with us just in case. but that's a great hike. It's not super challenging, and at Russian River Falls, you can see all of the salmon jumping upstream, which is really, really neat. And then, as I said, you could see some bears by the trail that are looking for fish. Just keep your distance. Be bear aware. And bring bear spray Okay, speaking of fish, let's talk food. What did you eat on this trip and what would you say was the best meal?

Jacob 23:04

That's a toughie Mm-hmm Mainly we brought our own food for lunch. Yep. We got, Instacart order to our hotel, and we just brought whatever we wanted to eat for lunch with us. But we had some really good meals. As I had mentioned before, we went to Whiskey Ramen after our first day of biking. Mm-hmm. I'd say the place is great. They have, vegan stuff, gluten-free stuff, all types of ramen, and it is, it's just so delicious. Yeah. I love that place so much. And- Yeah, definitely on the higher end in terms of the price point. And it's more meant for adults, but you obviously can bring kids there. The cocktails are super cool. Uh, they brought out this little thing. It's like a bubble gun. Like, they make a giant nitrogen bubble on top of your cocktail, and you can pop it, and it releases the nitrogen. It's so cool. Only certain cocktails, so if you want that experience, you definitely have to ask which one they're doing it on at that time, 'cause it does rotate. It's so cool, though. Like, really so cool.

Melissa 24:06

Okay, any other notable meals that you think people shouldn't miss?

Jacob 24:10

We went on our third day to, 49th State Brewing, and let me tell you, the mugs that they have there for their soda/beer, I did not get any beer, don't worry, they're so cool. They have all these different, Alaskan animals on them, and I just loved it so much. I got myself a, birch beer, which don't worry, not alcoholic, and it tasted delicious. And then also, the main attraction we got was the halibut and chips. Mm-hmm. And let me tell you, viewer/listener, that this is probably gonna be the best fish and chips that you will ever eat. These fish and chips were, like, they were buttery, smooth. They just, like, melted in your mouth but also were crunchy. Loved them so much. Definitely go to 49th State Brewing.

Melissa 25:01

It is a rad fish and chips, for sure.

Jacob 25:04

And afterwards, we went behind there to get some Wild Scoops

Melissa 25:08

Yeah, so Wild Scoops is a local ice cream chain. They have, I think, three or four locations around Anchorage, but one of them is a truck that's in the beer garden of 49th State Brewing. So it's really convenient, and it's a nice option for families, because you can sit out at the picnic tables there. If there's too much of a line at 49th State Brewing to get a table, and you definitely want a patio table either on the second or third level, but if there's too much of a wait, you can actually order a decent chunk of the menu down in the beer garden and sit at the picnic tables and then get your ice cream. It's dog friendly, so you might have some fluffy friends to play with. I think they had corn hole set up, so it's cool vibes and great food. All right, Jacob, you've been to Alaska twice now. Is it someplace you would return to a third time, or do you feel like you've seen it all and you're done?

Jacob 25:55

Such an easy question for me to answer. You can never be done with Alaska. The main thing I'd wanna do if I were to go back is to see more of their national parks. Okay. I've been to two out of the eight that exist in that state, and I wanna go see more. Top of my list is definitely Katmai, where you can see a lot of bears. Okay Uh, glaciers? Glacier Bay National Park, that's down in the Inside Passage, so you have to access that either by boat or plane. You can't drive there. Yep. Worth it. And I wanna go to Denali- Obviously to see the northern lights. So many things to go back and do. I love fishing, so, I'd wanna go back and fish more. I just, Alaska is my favorite. I love Alaska.

Melissa 26:42

I guess we picked the right trip. So if a kid your age was listening and their parents are thinking about a trip to Alaska, what do you wanna tell them? Talk to your peers.

Jacob 26:50

Well, my fellow peers I would say that, go to Alaska with an open mind. There's gonna be a lot of stuff. Prepare yourself for definitely some, rough nature walks or, biking on the trails, but you'll have a good time.

Melissa 27:05

So it's a good place to get active and get outside.

Jacob 27:07

Yes, definitely.

Melissa 27:10

All right, last question for you. What's one thing from this trip that you're still gonna be talking about when you're 30? I think I know the answer, but you say it anyway.

Jacob 27:18

So there's a little story to this one. So as you may have known, we caught king salmon, and we picked them up, what, wednesday, after getting processed?

Melissa 27:29

Yep, Wednesday evening. They were flash frozen and, ready for us to put in the walk-in freezer at our hotel.

Jacob 27:35

Yep. So I had this giant crate with me that I carried through the Alaska airport, the Vegas airport, and everybody kept asking like, "What's in the container?" And I kept bragging about my king salmon, 'cause they were huge. You shoulda seen them. So I am still bragging about them to anybody who will listen, about these giant king salmon that I have in my freezer. They're not full king salmon. Fillets. But I think that when I'm 30, I'm gonna still... Probably be telling anybody who can listen, "Hey, in Alaska, you know what I caught? I caught these giant king salmon, and then I got to ship them through the Las Vegas airport. Gotta carry them like, what, five miles with my bare hands."

Melissa 28:17

And I'll say that you were a real trooper because we ended up having to check one of our suitcases since we could only have two carry-on items, and the box of salmon was carry-on sized. And you actually were the one that carried that super heavy box of salmon and ice through the airport. You did the hard work. I was just wheeling our remaining suitcase.

Jacob 28:38

Yeah, that thing was huge. You guys shoulda seen it. I mean, if you want, I can send you guys a photo of how huge this thing was. Please, I'm still gonna be bragging about it once I'm 30. Probably like 50.

Melissa 28:50

Amazing. Well, Jacob, thank you so much for sharing your experience in Alaska. Now, for the parents that are still listening, I'm gonna get into some of the logistics about how the trip actually came together, because it was a little bit different than how I typically operate Thanks for having me, Mom, and I'll see you guys later. Now, while I usually book our trips 10 or maybe even 12 months in advance so that I can get the best deals and the best availability, this trip was booked only five weeks beforehand. And that's because my son and I had about two weeks on the calendar when neither of us had anything important or unmovable, but my daughter and my husband had to be here in Columbus for work and camp. After having a really great getaway together in Rome last summer, my son and I were brainstorming what our options were to do something fun just the two of us but nothing was really resonating until one day he walked in and saw me making some Canva graphics for my existing Alaska content that I had written after my last two trips. He said, "Mom, why don't we go back to Alaska?" My initial inclination was obviously too far, too hard, too long, too expensive. But then I realized that we were all gonna be in Scottsdale, Arizona for my daughter's birthday, which I talked about on our episode last week. From there, it's just a quick five-hour nonstop flight up to Anchorage. So once I started looking into the options, I thought, "Yeah, we can actually make this happen, and I can still get it all done on points." So while I wholeheartedly recommend that you plan a trip to Alaska well in advance to give yourself the best options, I wanted to share how we did it even pretty last minute, and we didn't have to spend a ton of money out of pocket. First up, for our flights to Anchorage, we were going nonstop from Phoenix. I booked using 17,500 Alaska miles for each of us to get on an American Airlines flight. I had those miles left over from a welcome offer on one of my Alaska Airlines credit cards, and I'll link to that down in the show notes. For our return flight, we actually managed to fly Southwest. They just started service from Anchorage to Las Vegas and Denver last month, So this is one of the first flights they've run. And honestly, Southwest was a big part of the reason that I was able to make this trip happen. As I've mentioned a lot of times before, my husband and I each have a Southwest Companion Pass. I've got all the details back in episode 17, and there's also a really in-depth article on my website that I'll link to in the show notes. Because we have a huge stash of Southwest points and my son can fly for free, plus we are gonna have to take a stop getting back to Columbus no matter what, it totally made sense to book that for our return flight. When I initially booked, my ticket was 40,000 Southwest points, which is definitely more than I would have liked it to be, but I knew that was gonna cover both of us. However, Southwest makes it really easy to reprice your flight when the rate goes down. So eventually I was able to get that down to 25,000 points, and remember, that's covering two of us. The Companion Pass allows you to switch your designated companion up to three times a year. So after the recent trip that my daughter and I made to Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Florida for Memorial Day weekend, I switched my companion to my son and added him onto this flight. I still have two more switches back, so if my daughter and I are gonna do another one-on-one trip later this year, I'll be all set. Overall, both flights were fine. Our leg getting up there on American was delayed, so unfortunately we got in around 1:00 AM, And then our flight back on Southwest wasn't delayed, but like a lot of flights leaving Anchorage, it was an overnight flight, so we didn't love that. What I did appreciate is that my Southwest credit card gives me free checked baggage. Now, we are typically a carry-on only family, and my son and I did carry-on only when we went up to Alaska, but as he mentioned, we came back with a 20-pound box of fish. Having free checked baggage on Southwest meant that we could carry on that fish. Yes, his carry-on was almost 20 pounds of salmon filets, and then we were able to check in the other suitcase and just get it when we landed in Columbus, and there was no charge for any of that. In theory, we probably could have checked in the fish, but because we had a stop in Las Vegas, we were a little bit worried about it being out of our possession and maybe getting delayed and the fish thawing out. It just wasn't worth it when we could check the suitcase for free. In terms of our hotel, we stayed at the Hyatt Place Anchorage Midtown for a total of 72,000 points for four nights. I had booked that right before hyatt's Hyatt's award chart change. Now it would be about 80,000 points, which is still not bad. If I'd wanted to pay cash for our stay in Anchorage, it would've been at least $1,000 to be anywhere else. So even though there's nothing fancy about a Hyatt Place, it totally worked for this trip, and I was glad to save the money. There is a more boutique-style Hyatt property that's in downtown Anchorage, but unfortunately with such a last-minute trip, there wasn't any points availability and that one would have been more than $2,000 for four nights out of pocket Overall I would say that the location of the hotel actually worked out pretty well for us since we were focused on day trips, not necessarily hanging out downtown. The biggest downside was that the breakfast was absolutely terrible. We ate the hotel breakfast for two mornings, barely, and then the other two mornings we ended up going out because we just couldn't find anything good to eat. Now, on the flip side, there were two really nice features of the Hyatt Place Anchorage Midtown that I think you're not gonna necessarily find at every hotel in town. One is that they were happy to loan us a canister of bear spray. They just keep a box under the check-in desk, and you can ask for it and then return it when you're done. I'm sure that they were left by past guests, but it's so nice not to have to worry about buying your own. The other nice thing is that I was able to use the walk-in freezer at the Hyatt to store our fish. We picked it up from the processor the day before our return flight, and then just an hour before we went to the airport, I swung by and grabbed it even though we had technically checked out. Now, I wouldn't normally suggest that you stay in Anchorage for the whole time on your first trip to Alaska. There's just so much awesome stuff to see and do that's further away. But I hope this episode has shown you just how much there is to do within an hour or two of Alaska's largest city. There are a bunch of great activities that we've done in and around Anchorage on previous trips, like dog sledding in Willow, trekking on Matanuska Glacier, hiking to Byron Glacier, seeing animals at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, and riding the Alyeska Tram. That doesn't even count the things that we did on this trip Also, if you're planning a trip with either really young kids or maybe grandparents and you just can't stomach the idea of moving to hotels every few nights, I truly believe that you can have a really satisfying trip to Alaska that's completely based in Anchorage. The sort of downside is that you'll definitely have to do a lot of driving, but those drives are some of the most beautiful ones I've ever done. Like, oh no, I have to drive the Turnagain Arm twice in one week. Trust me, there are worse things in life and travel. Down in the show notes, I have a really helpful Anchorage guide and another one that's focused on day trips from Anchorage, but I'll be adding more to those just as soon as I've got a spare minute to write it up. Now, speaking of driving, let's talk about the rental car. In the end, I spent just under $500 for a Nissan Sentra from Avis Alaska. Originally, after shopping around a ton, the best I could find was $720, but I kept checking and I kept trying different strategies. I've got a whole article down in the show notes with different options for how you can save on your rental car too Overall, I'd rate my third trip to Alaska as a huge success. It was awesome to spend some one-on-one time with my son and get to try new activities and have lots of fun things to report back to you. If you want a full breakdown on any of this, how we did the Alaska miles, the companion pass, the Hyatt strategy, I've got links to lots of resources down in the show notes. You'll also find a link to my Anchorage and Kenai Peninsula itinerary e-book that's over at thefamilyvoyage.com if you're starting to plan your own trip and you want that full Alaska experience. And don't forget to go back to episode 32, which has a lot of Alaska land-based planning information for you to take in. And stay tuned for next week's episode because we're gonna talk about how to earn more points without opening a ton of new credit cards. This trip came in at around 130,000 points total, which sounds like a lot, but it's actually pretty easy to rack those up if you're strategic about it. I'll walk you through exactly how we do it. Thanks for tuning in again to Family Travel Unpacked. If you've got a question or a topic you'd like me to cover, you can find me on Instagram and Facebook at The Family Voyage, or just reach out through my website. And if this episode was helpful, be sure to share it with a family that's been thinking about Alaska and leave a five-star review wherever you listen. It really helps other families find the show more than you know. Until next time, safe travels.