McBerkoBlog

I wrote about our RV previously  here , but in this post, I'll focus on the cost. Why? Like with my previous post about our Guatemala trip costs , I'm hoping this info can help others plan since it's hard to accurately estimate travel costs. This was our first time renting an RV and I was not sure what the final costs would be compared to the initial estimates shown on the rental sites. In the end, renting the RV was 100% the best choice for us on this trip and saved us money compared to the alternatives. The total for our RV including gas and campgrounds was just over $4,000 for 8 nights. Whew! That's more than our entire month in Guatemala, and doesn't include food, flights, and activities. Alaska, amirite?! Let's break it down: RV Rental = ~$3,250 Base fee = $2,537 This was for a 28 foot RV with two slide-outs, and the rental included unlimited mileage. We owed a deposit of $634 upfront and the rest at pickup. Options: Six camping/lawn chairs = $90. We never

It was finally time to turn in the RV. We'd showered and packed the night before, but got up early so we wouldn't have to rush through breakfast, coffee, and our final RV cleaning. We left a few items in the campground bathroom hoping to donate them to a good home, and cleared out the rest. An hour's drive and gas top-off later, we arrived back at the RV rental place exactly 1 minute before our return time. We anxiously awaited their approval (no extra charges, yay!), then hopped on their free shuttle to the airport, where Jim and Mary had an early afternoon flight.  We made it! And found a stick! We McBs had another 10+ hours before our flight home, so grabbed the Anchorage PeopleMover bus straight from the airport to downtown. We ended up with about 3 hours before the drizzle turned into rain, giving us enough time to eat a picnic lunch at the Elderberry Park playground near the water, walk through a bit of the Coastal Trail, see several monuments and city parks, wander t

The second to last day of our trip, we had a relaxed travel day back south with the goal of ending up somewhere near enough to Anchorage for us to turn in the RV on time the next morning. Jim did some fishing (no luck), we had a leisurely breakfast in our boondocked RV, and wondered when exactly a huge moose pooped so close to our RV during the night.  Fishing by our boondocked RV We didn't have a campground reserved for the night, but knowing that Anchorage campgrounds are primarily super expensive parking lots, we decided to stop 45 mins north in Wasilla. The city might be best known as the hometown of Sarah Palin, and it was covered with Palin signs. We later learned that Alaska was holding elections this Tuesday (Palin lost). In more entertaining news, Wasilla is also home to the Iditarod Headquarters and Museum. The Iditarod is a long-distance sled dog race covering over 900 miles in 8+ days. The headquarters had dog houses but no dogs visible during our visit, so we looked ar

Monday, 8/15 was our Fairbanks day, which started with a three hour tour on the Riverboat Discovery . We lucked out with another beautiful, sunny day, so we found seats on the open deck at the front of the boat. As the boat headed out, the guide talked about how important planes are for life here, and then a bush pilot demoed a water landing near the boat.  We also stopped at the riverbank where a late dog sled racing champion lived, where her family still lives and runs a kennel. They had a live conversation with the owner who showed how the dogs train in the summer.  The bulk of the tour was spent on shore at the Chena Village Living Museum, a reproduction of an Athabascan village. The tour guides explained how people lived and survived here, including how they processed salmon, made canoes, and kept warm. They also explained that the summer growing season for food is great in Alaska due to how much daylight they get. Some huge veggies up here! We had time to wander freely and visit

On Sunday, 8/14, we headed back to the Denali Visitor Center to take a ranger-led hike to Horseshoe Lake. The ranger was both informative and funny. We learned that bears love soapberries, and that those berries taste about as good as you'd think. We also learned that moose can swim, dive to eat aquatic plants, and hold their breath for a full minute. Sadly, we weren't lucky enough to see a moose in this lake. The ranger said it sometimes pops up to the surface and surprises people like an Alaskan Loch Ness monster.  We also saw the beaver dams in the lake and were surprised to see how far the beavers traveled up the steep hills around the lake for wood. It was quite the trek up for us - I wonder why the beavers go so far uphill.  Overall, this was another beautiful hike, 4 miles, much steeper in parts than any of the other trails we did here. Between the scenery and the ranger's info, it was my favorite of our Denali hikes. After a quick lunch in the RV, we headed over to

Saturday 8/13 was our full day in Denali, and we packed in as much as we could. It was a beautiful day, sunny, not too cold, and no bugs outside of the campground. We hiked three trails, visited the sled dogs, and saw some animals during the shuttle bus rides. In Denali, there's a single road through the park. Cars are prohibited most of the way but free shuttles run along the first 15 miles. The park also runs long sightseeing bus tours for a fee, but since the road was still blocked completely after mile 43 due to a landslide, we decided instead to spend the day hiking and visiting the sled dogs. We packed some water and lunch, then hopped on a shuttle to the visitor center to check out the exhibits and snag some park brochures and trail maps .  From there, we took the free shuttle bus to the Savage River Loop trailhead. The signs noted that food was prohibited on the trail (don't attract those grizzlies!), so we ate our lunches before starting. This was a beautiful trail! Th

Friday, August 12 was a travel day to get from Seward up north to Denali, >350 miles. We had breakfast in the RV as usual, then decided to make one stop before heading out - a hike to see Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park. This was the best glacier opportunity on our itinerary so we couldn't pass it up, even though it was rainy and cold. We started on the Glacier View Loop Trail then decided to continue onto the Glacier Overlook Trail. Might as well, we were already soaked! The loop was a short, easy hike, but we were scrambling over rocks and jumping streams on the overlook trail.  Signs are posted along the entire trail showing where the glacier had been in different years, making it inescapably obvious how far it's receded over time.  At one point, we came across a viewing platform that used to overlook the glacier itself and now just looked into the forest, no glacier in sight.  After the hike, everyone changed into dry clothes and we started our drive north, m