America's Last Frontier

PLAN NOW FOR A SUMMER TRIP TO ALASKA

BY MIMI GREENWOOD KNIGHT

From the time my kids were tiny, I had a favorite mantra, “See the world. Take me with you.” They’ve done well on the first part, spending their 20s living in Mexico, England, Spain, Thai- land, Bulgaria, and America’s West Coast. They’ve done not too shabby on the second part, too. I’ve been able to visit them and enjoy more than a curated tourist experience, to see how the locals live and truly submerge myself in the culture of each locale.

For the last five years, our daughter, Molly, has called Anchorage, Alaska home. Each summer, my husband and I make a beeline to visit Baby Girl and experience more of her majestic state. Using Anchorage as our home base, we venture out to explore more of America’s last frontier. Here are some of my favorite spots so far.

SEWARD, ALASKA’S MURAL CAPITOL

Man, how we love Seward! Home to the Alaska SeaLife Center and Kenai Fjords National Park, you can get up close and personal with tons of Alaska wildlife here. There are world-class hiking trails including Mt. Marathon Trail, Exit Glacier, Lost Lake, and Tonsina Point. Humpbacks, orcas, gray whales, harbor seals, sea lions, and puffins cavort in view of the downtown. The trip from Anchorage to Seward is beyond breathtaking, especially when viewed through the windows of an Alaska Railroad car, which meanders through the Chugach Mountains. And don’t miss the dozen murals celebrating Alaskan life scattered throughout the highly walkable downtown.

THE UNTAMED BEAUTY OF HOMER

Settled on the southern tip of the Kenai Peninsula, Homer has earned the name “Halibut Fishing Capital of the World.” This picture-postcard-perfect town is framed by the waters of Kachemak Bay and the snow-capped (even in summer) Kenai Mountains. Its natural beauty has attracted a robust artist community and “The Spit” shopping and dining area is dotted with galleries, studios, and craft shops featuring the work of local artists and handicrafts of the local native population. During wildlife cruises around Homer, we’ve encountered bald eagles, sea otters, puffins, harbor seals, and more. And whales are often spotted just off the coast. Homer offers hiking through Kachemak Bay State Park, boating through Halibut Cove, and fresh-off-the-boat seafood in every restaurant.

TALKEETNA, IN THE SHADOW OF DENALI

Every town we’ve visited in Alaska seems to compete for the world’s friendliest people, but Talkeetna takes the prize. We did a little “flightseeing” here, traveling up onto a glacier in a four-seater plane and then getting out to walk around the glacier’s surface. The views from the air defy description. The walkable little town is quaint in the best sense of the word, and Byers Lake is the perfect spot for kayaking, canoeing, or paddleboarding. Just before sunset, you can join a mass exodus of tourists and townspeople alike to the far end of town to catch the sunset and, if conditions are right, a glimpse of Mount Denali.

GIRDWOOD, MY FUNGAL PARADISE

Why do I love Girdwood? In a word, mushrooms! This is a very mushroom-centric town. After years of talking about it, I finally attended the annual Girdwood Fungus Fair and had a blast geeking out over all things fungal with my fellow mycophiles. All the words I’ve already used — breathtaking, artsy, walkable, friendly, picturesque — apply to Girdwood and then some. Plan a helicopter glacier trekking tour, take a dog sled ride across the alpine snowfield, rent a mountain bike to explore the Nordic trails, pan for gold at Crow Creek Mine, and don’t miss a trip up Alyeska Mountain on a mountain cable car where you can enjoy lunch and cocktails with a panoramic view of mountains, hanging glaciers, streams, and wildlife.

WHITTIER, THE CITY UNDER ONE ROOF

This town ranks high on my cool-o-meter for several reasons. For one, you can only get there on the hour (and back out on the half hour) via a one-way tunnel cut through a mountain. The whole town is a peninsula jutting out into Prince William Sound. It offers the world’s largest concentration of tidewater glaciers, plus wildlife such as whales, sea otters, seals, bald eagles, great gray owls, and peregrine falcons. There’s hiking on the Whittier Creek Trail and Portage Pass, charter-boat fishing in the sound which is said to be one of the richest wild marine fisheries on the planet, and backpacking in Chugach National Forest. But the most unique thing about Whittier is Begich Tower, a single apartment complex that houses everyone in town. That’s right. Every single citizen lives in that one building. And there’s even a haunted Cold War military housing facility.

So, if Alaska is on your travel bucket list, make Summer 2025 the year you check it off. You’ll love America’s Last Frontier.