In 2019, my husband and I left our 1-year-old and our 3-year-old with my parents and ran away to Alaska for a much needed temporary escape. I actually spent 1st-5th grade in Alaska, so none of the locations we visited were new to me, but they were new to my husband. I absolutely love Alaska, so it was fun to see everything with adult eyes. Most of our trips are breakneck adventures, but this was much slower-paced because after the constant exhaustion of managing two under two (and one with a chronic, diagnosed health condition), we needed a vacation.

So, as usual, our itinerary and pictures are below with my overall thoughts at the end. On this trip I took much fewer pictures because I’d been to these places before and I was in maximum chill mode, but hopefully it’s helpful!

Day 1 (27 Jun): Arrive
– Fly into Vancouver at 7 p.m.
– Stay at Samesun Vancouver Hostel (Okay)
Notes: After nearly missing our cruise ship on our Italy trip in 2015, we now are sure to fly into a port a few days in advance. Yay for being older, wiser, and less stressed.

Day 2: Vancouver
– Bike around Stanley Park (Recommend)
– Visit Granville Island Public Market (I only vaguely remember this)
– Capilano Suspension Bridge (Recommend)
– Richmond Night Market
Notes: Biking around Stanley Park was lovely and we saw bald eagles, otters, and other fun wildlife. I think I liked the public market, but I can barely remember it. The Capilano Suspension Bridge was cool but also crowded so I recommend getting there early if you can. Also, I took my foodie Richmond Night Market which has all sorts of fun unusual foods, but his stomach was so sick at the time (not due to the food) he couldn’t enjoy it, and I couldn’t eat very much either, sooo you win some, you lose some.

Day 3: Vancouver
– Gastown
– Board Princess Cruise (Recommend)
Notes: So Gastown is a nice spot to walk around and see the steam clock, but we didn’t spend much time here. I took a picture of this old statue (Gassy Jack) but when I was trying to look up/remember who Gassy Jack was just now, I found out that this statue has been removed, which is kind of more interesting then the statue. Maybe they’ll replace it with something cool.

Day 4: At Sea
Notes: So what’s different about this cruise is that you stick pretty close to the Alaska/Canadian coast, so there’s usually a nice view on the port side. Other than that, my husband and I found The Princess Cruise to be nice and relaxing (just our speed this time around.)

Day 5: Ketchikan
– Fishing! (Recommend)
Notes: So this fishing excursion was awesome. We were on a small boat with our guide and one other guy. Caught some rockfish, went trawling for Salmon, and then pulled over onto this secluded spot on the shore where they cooked our fish and served us a meal. On the way back, our guide stopped to throw the fish parts out, and we got to watch bald eagles come down to swoop them up (and… kind of fight over them.) We stopped by Ketchikan’s historical Creek Street before we boarded again, and that night from the ship we also saw whales, porpoises, and sea otters in snow’s pass. I absolutely adore Alaska’s wildlife.

Day 6: Juneau
– Mt Roberts Trail (Recommend)
– Kayaking Mendenhall Glacier
Notes: I *think* we hiked up Mt Roberts Trail and then took the tram down or vice versa, and there’s definitely a lovely view at the top. I remember the kayaking to be slightly disappointing though. You see so many glaciers closer up on the cruise, the kayaking was a little underwhelming. Lots of eagles and ravens about though, and we stopped by an old saloon before getting back on the boat.

Day 7: Skagway
– Excursion: took the train to cross into Yukon territory (Recommend)
Notes: This place was GORGEOUS and I loved learning about the Alaskan gold rush history along the way.

Day 8: Glacier Bay
Notes: It’s really difficult to capture the scale and beauty of this place, and you don’t even have to get off the ship. And we got to see the glacier calve! Forget about any other glacier cruises, you’ll get your glacier fix here.

Day 9: College Fjord
Notes: I literally have no memory of this day. 😂 My husband wrote in his trip notes only “yuge glacier” so there you go, I guess.

Day 10: Drive to Denali
– Take bus to Anchorage
– Pick up rental car
– Stop by Anchorage’s Saturday Market
– Drive to Denali
– Eat dinner at Healy Thai Food (Recommend)
– Stay in Aurora Denali Lodge (solid)
Notes: I used to go to Anchorage’s Saturday market all the time as a kid, so it was a big nostalgia thing for me, and in 2019, Alaska was having a lot of issues with wildfire smoke, so I was so thrilled to be able to see Denali nearly the whole time on our drive up! Also, I’m pretty sure we ate at Healy Thai Food (it’s a food truck) every night and my foodie husband still remembers it being amazing.

Day 11: Denali
– The longest bus tour they offer
Notes: So, the bus tour is something my mom took me on multiple times as a kid so it also had that nostalgic gleam to it. But though we saw a ton of animals (moose, fox, eagle, caribou, bears… I’m sure there were more) I would definitely go with a shorter bus tour next time. It was fun to kind of pretend pan for gold in the back country of the park, but I’d still opt for a shorter bus tour.

Day 12: Denali
– Whitewater Rafting
– Hike Savage Loop Trail
– Husky Homestead (Recommend)
Notes: Whitewater rafting was fun, and savage loop trail was also a pleasant, relaxing walk. Husky Homestead was definitely the highlight though with lots of puppy snuggling and an interesting presentation from Iditarod champion, Jeff King.

Day 13: Denali
– Drive back to Anchorage
– Stayed in House of Jade B&B (Recommend)
Notes: I had “hike Mt Healy Overlook” on our initial itinerary but I can find no photograph evidence of us actually doing that, and I can’t remember doing it either. 😂

Day 14: Anchorage
– Hike Byron Glacier (Recommend)
– Visit Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
– Fly home!
Notes: We had a late flight and it was further delayed due to the smoky conditions, so we went hiking with a local friend and her daughter on Byron Glacier. It’s an easy hike and there were tons of kids running around on the glacier. We visited the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center on the way home to see the Alaska animals we missed and saw a big bull moose on the way! A great way to top off our trip.

Overall Thoughts
I remember this being a very relaxing, recharging trip with lots of natural beauty. My husband and I both enjoyed it, and while there’s a part of me that wishes we had done more stuff off the beaten track, I think it was perfect for what we needed at the time. I did think it was funny on the way home, my husband said, “we haven’t seen the sun set or rise in two weeks.” Which was totally true, and I almost hadn’t noticed—definitely a fun quirk of summer in Alaska that I loved as a kid and makes it easy to fit in lots in your long, sunny days!

The most memorable highlights for me were fishing in Ketchikan, taking the Skagway train, soaking in the sights from the cruise ship, and snuggling puppies at Husky Homestead.

Hopefully this is itinerary is helpful for anyone else planning an Alaska trip, and if you have any questions, just let me know. If you want to check out our other travel itineraries over the years, you can find them here. Thanks for reading!