We left Seward and returned north on the Seward highway. Two hours later we arrived at Girdwood, a small ski town tucked into the mountains about 40 miles southeast of Anchorage. On the way there we stopped for a short hike, during which this bald eagle kept an intent eye on us.

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After a few days in Talkeetna and Mt McKinley area we drove back through Anchorage and south along the Seward Highway.The drive south of Anchorage was incredible. The Seward Highway hugs the coast of the Turnagain Arm, a large inland body of water.

Being February the town of Seward was fairly quiet, but I’d rather be visiting a place in the off season with a few closed shops than a town teeming with tourists. With the glacier fields south of town Seward is a stopping point for many Alaskan cruise ships as well. Located on the eastern coast of the Kenai Peninsula it was considerably colder, but not by the temperature, instead by the fierce winds which were constant from the ocean.

The desolate drive to Seward from Anchorage took about three and a half hours. The mostly two lane road is dotted with cabins, houses large and small, and small towns with restaurants and convenience stores along the main road.

We didn’t have a place reserved to stay for the night, but the Edgewater Hotel was inexpensive this time of year, and became our home for the next three nights. The girl working the desk that night recommended walking over to the Seward VFW Hall on 5th Avenue for their monthly taco dinner. Advice heeded, we paid $5 at the door, walked up to a large room on the second floor and enjoyed music and an all you can eat taco bar with beer. We received a warm welcome from the people gathered there that night, and they gave us some good ideas of things to do in the small town.

Seward coastline

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In the afternoon we visited the Talkeetna Airport in search of a flightseeing flight to Mount McKinley. We found the office of Talkeeta Air Taxi, which is located in a unique hexagonal building at the airport. They do aerial tours of the area, glacier landings, (and picnics), and drop people off on the higher levels of Mount McKinley for climbing expeditions.

The weather was overcast, but the ceiling was high enough to allow a flight to Mt. McKinley, about 40 miles away. Although we couldn’t see or fly around the summit, we decided to fly anyway, not wanting to risk the next day being worse.

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Talkeetna is  very small village, but very popular, especially in the summer. Talkeenta is an Indian word meaning “where the rivers join”, and is located at the confluence of the Talkeetna and Susitna Rivers, making it a popular summer fishing destination. For you fans of Cuba Gooding Jr., the movie “Snow Dogs” was set in Talkeetna, which features the excruciating hijinks of a Miami dentist relocate to Alaska.

I didn’t have anywhere lined up to stay, but being the off season I didn’t anticipate a problem to find a place to rest my head. As we descended a hill into the city about a mile outside of town we saw the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge. It was a large hotel overlooking Mount McKinley, with a stately woodsy lodge feel.

I was still eager to see the northern lights, but unfortunately the solar report at spaceweather.com, which predicts potential for aurora activity said that the next few days would not be very active. That night we found a place to park by the small Talkeetna airport, and sat there in the car for a few hours listening to Art Bell hoping to see the lights but alas the lights did not come out for a performance.

Sleeping in after a long night of doing nothing, we had breakfast in town, and went for a hike along the tracks of the Alaskan Railroad. We expected frigid temperatures during the day, but it wasn’t any colder than a cold winter week in Denver. We walked along the railroad tracks about four miles, and turned around when we met a man on a snowmobile warning us of a concerned mother moose up ahead protecting her young. We talked to the man for a bit, who was going to his cabin a few miles down the tracks. His snowmobile was loaded up with a propane tank and some groceries from town. It was interesting to meet someone who lived in a place with access only from snowmobile, and was that self sufficient.

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With minimal hours of daylight, frigid temperatures, and mountains of snow, most people don’t consider traveling to Alaska in the winter. We chose to visit Alaska for a week in February, knowing the benefits of the off season would provide us with open roads not trampled by RVs, and inexpensive lodging with few other tourists. I was concerned the hours would be short on daylight, but the sun was up by 9am or so, and went down around 6pm, which was more than enough time to enjoy the day. Late months of the year are different as near the solstice the state only sees a few hours of light per day, however that changes rapidly as spring approaches.

A secondary reason for traveling to Alaska was to witness the Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights, visible in the winter months in high artic and lower austral regions. I’ve always wanted to see the giant curtains of lights dancing and floating in the night sky, and figured February was as good a time as any.

I had researched maps and originally planned a long road trip around the major cities in the state. I envisioned a circular tour from Anchorage to Fairbanks, then south to Valdez and Cordoba, and on to the Kenai Peninsula traveling to Homer and Seward. After explaining this to my coworker Travis, who was raised in the state, he quickly informed me this was far too much driving and way too ambitious to accomplish in one week. I revised my scheduled to include Anchorage, a drive north to Talkeetna, then south to the Kenai Peninsula for a few days. This fit more with my travel philosophy of choosing one place to visit and grow some roots, rather than rushing from place to place.

The next morning we ate breakfast along 5th Avenue, and I sampled reindeer meat for the first time. 5th Avenue is the final stop of the Iditarod Race, and they were setting up the street for the coming events in March. After breakfast we visited Earthquake Park near the Cook Inlet and Int’l Airport. This area near the sound has some large parks and trails, and inside the park trails there are plaques and markers commemorating the 1964 earthquake. The sky in Anchorage is constantly checkered with small aircraft, and it was fun watching them come in for landings at the small Lake Hood Airport, near Earthquake Park.

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