Flights of Fancy

Due to high demand for the 16 rooms at Brooks Lodge inside Katmai National Park, they hold a random lottery for the opportunity to make reservations. So just for grins, in December 2023, I submitted entries for the four of us for the *2025* season, requesting up to three nights for any available dates during the peak times of July or early September to see the bears of "Fat Bear Week" fame. They said that having a flexible schedule would improve our chances of getting a reservation.

I'm not sure exactly how many entries were received for the 2025 lottery, but there were 3649 for the previous year's drawing, with more than 2500 parties ending up on the waitlist. When I found out in January 2024 that we lucked out and were given September 4-7, 2025, I immediately plunked down our deposit and started planning an Alaska vacation around those dates.  

So excited that after more than a year and a half we're actually starting our trip!

We took an early flight out of LAX on Alaska Airlines with a 2-hour layover in Seattle. Very cool to see glaciers out the window as we got closer to Anchorage!

Blackstone Glacier

After getting our rental car, we headed straight for the Alaska Public Lands Information Center in downtown Anchorage. By the time we finally found street parking, it was almost 4:45PM (my fault - I was totally avoiding parallel parking the SUV). There wasn't enough time before closing to zip through the security screening to get the passport stamps inside. Fortunately for me, one of the guards was super kind and brought the stamps and ink pad out to the security station instead.

Afterwards, we walked around for a bit, although the vibe was very touristy with lots of tchotchke souvenir shops. Guess that's to be expected for a cruise ship port of call.

Then we drove to the Crowne Plaza in Midtown to check in (IHG rewards points for brand loyalty!), and after dropping off our stuff, we went right back out to buy lightweight gloves for the whole family at REI. A friend highly recommended Moose's Tooth Pub & Pizzeria, so that was our destination for dinner. While J and I waited for a table, R and M went to Walmart to pick up groceries. 

Mozzarella bread sticks with house sauce (marinara + pesto),
half Mac 'n Cheese (with reindeer sausage) and half Carnivore pizza,
Sampler Flight: Arctic Apple Ale, Chugach Session cream ale, YellowEye P.A., Pribilof Pounder 

Easy to see why the place was so busy - the food was definitely worth the wait! As for the beer, the boys liked the Apple Ale the best, followed by the Pounder. Not fans of the Yellow IPA or the Session ale, though. However, according to all three of my guys, their draft root beer was "the best they've ever had!"

After dinner, we stopped by Wild Scoops for ice cream based on another friend's recommendation. The line was out the door, so we took that as a good sign. They also offered a sampler flight of kid scoops, so M and R shared that: The Captain (Cap'n Crunch base + orange zest with spiced rum caramel), Fireweed (floral with honey), Morning Milo (chocolate malt), Sitka Swirl (sweet cream + salted caramel). They both liked the Morning Milo the best.

Sampler Flight, scoop of Rhubarb Crumble, and Moose's Tooth Cream Soda Float with White Raven (cookies 'n cream)

Tomorrow we're driving up to Denali National Park. Hopefully we'll be among the lucky visitors who get a clear view of the highest peak in North America!