ALASKA SUMMER ROAD TRIP

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just made it to Alaska first impression

right out of the gate is holy moly it's

bright now we're on a mission to find a

place to drop our bags apparently at

this Airport there is a place that you

can store your luggage for a small fee

that is where I am off to and then we're

gonna explore Anchorage so you don't

have to pay upfront you can pay when you

pick up your baggage but it's open until

1:00 a.m. the first stop is earthquake

Park which is located right next to the

airport the park is a monument that was

made to remember the largest quake ever

recorded in North America at a 9.2

magnitude back in 1964

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save a brain wear a bicycle helmet keep

your dog OHS on the leash after some

exploring around the area we settled for

a bite to eat in downtown Anchorage at

Glacier Brewhouse so the coolest thing

just happened this group of hikers just

came up to us and gave us this bear mace

because they're getting ready to board a

flight and obviously they can't bring it

so they saw my hiking boots attached to

my backpack and they were like do you

want this so it's super heavy-duty bear

mace so I'm all set for my hike I don't

even have to go and run one of the

errands that I was going to go and do so

score

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we just walked around town a little bit

bought some gifts at the gift shop and

now it is exactly 5:00 p.m. so we're

getting ready to go and pick up the

rental car and then right after that we

are going to laptop Mountain this has

been a great workout I saw a lot of

people running up this place

feeling the bird one thing I was not

prepared for here in Alaska was the

level of aggressiveness with the

mosquitos I went home with over 40 bites

all over my body even though I was

wearing bug repellent kind of wish I had

been rocking the mosquito net

shut stop so dizzy

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the climate self was anything but easy

we got to a part that was nothing but

large rocks and boulders that were

pretty challenging to navigate around we

had no idea what we were signing up for

and the last hour we spent actually

doing some rock climbing total hike

round-trip took us about four hours if

you plan to do this hike make sure

you're in good shape and bring lots of

water

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nearly 10:00 p.m. that let's how bright

it is can't believe no idea what we were

signing up for but we made it

persevered and this view is totally

worth it

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day two in Alaska and there has been

lots of smoke in the area because of a

wildfire that broke out an air quality

right now is just terrible it's totally

affecting visibility of the mountains I

don't even know if you can see it but

there's a really pretty mountain up

there that's covered with snow and it's

just you could barely even see it so

we'll see how this day goes regardless

of the smoke we are planning to go to

portage glacier today the hike in total

time takes about four hours two hours

each way and that will be pretty much

the highlight of today so we're gonna go

shop for some food and get some snacks

for the hike and then get going

hopefully be blown away by the winds the

funny thing about Alaska is you really

lose track of time because the Sun in

the summer is almost always up so when

we were hiking yesterday it was really

bright outside but we didn't realize

that it was already 10:00 p.m.

area we're staying in now gets about 20

hours of sunlight this Sun did end up

setting last night but it never got dark

it was the weirdest thing there was

never a point during the night last

night that it was pitch black and

actually looked like nighttime so that's

kind of cool when you're here in the

summer so you do have lots of hours of

daytime and if you can survive off of

four hours of sleep you can Jam pack so

much in one day

just finished up picking up some snacks

at Crow Creek mercantile it's pretty

much the only grocery store in town here

in Girdwood it's a tinier store it's a

small town you're kind of out in the

middle of nowhere so the prices are

gonna be a lot higher here but one thing

to keep in mind is there's no sales tax

so I think that kind of balances things

out but if you're looking to save money

and have a wider variety of options for

snacks and groceries

I would definitely shop first in

Anchorage at Walmart or something and

then drive down to Girdwood but I was

actually surprised they did have a

decent selection they do have bear mace

they do have mosquito repellent in there

some different food items

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just got to portage glacier area a

little bit lost right now because the

GPS is obviously not working because

we're out of cell service so we're gonna

have to stop at the visitor center and

kind of figure out where we're going but

we can see the glacier we just can't get

to the trailhead just yet but this this

stay here for a minute

I appreciate this view

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to get to Portage pass trailhead we had

to go through a two and a half mile one

lane tunnel which I'll go more into

detail about later in this video just

started the portage pass trail there are

so many mosquitoes and I feel so much

better about today because we have our

insect repellent I feel completely

guarded now the Whittier tunnel is only

open until 11 p.m. unfortunately I don't

think we have left ourselves enough time

to do the entire hike because it takes

about four hours minimum roundtrip but I

don't know we'll get as much as we can I

think we're gonna get relatively close

to the glacier they'll be able to

capture some beautiful shot

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the hike is about two miles in length

one-way and it begins with a fairly

strenuous climb with 750 feet in

elevation gain

once it levels off you're rewarded at

the top of the pass with an epic view

fit for your Instagram feed from the top

of the past the trail descends down the

hill and ends at Portage Lake hopeful

that we still had some time if we

hurried we ran the rest of the way in

order to make it back to the tunnel

before it closed for the night

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we made it to portage glacier it's right

behind me and you can see all these

little pieces of plasure in Portage Lake

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good morning this is day three in Alaska

we're now heading to Whittier from

Girdwood and the interesting thing about

Whittier is the only way to get there

from the north is via a tunnel that was

built in World War 2 era but the thing

about this tunnel is it's only one lane

so you have to time your arrival

perfectly because they switch directions

with traffic every 30 minutes

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right now we are essentially driving

through a mountain and it feels like it

goes on forever this thing goes for

about eight minutes

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next adventure is sea kayaking in Prince

William Sound we went with Alaska sea

kayakers for about a hundred and fifty

dollars per person for a six hour tour

Whittier is located about an hour south

of Anchorage so this is definitely

doable as a day trip if that's where

you're staying

pray for water spray uncomfortable

because the water is only a few degrees

above freezing we were provided with

spray skirts as a barrier to help us

stay warm and dry

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walking through the glacier from the

soup water in the big booth trying not

to fall

it's doable but if water gets in these

boots

it could have to be a happy day the cool

thing about this kayak tour was that we

stopped at these really interesting

coves that have the most beautiful

waterfalls and creeks to play in so this

is Prince William Sound every time yes

Billingsley shirt

the water temperature is somewhere

between a brisk 36 degrees Fahrenheit

and 40-somethings so we're doing our

best to stay stable but my kind of has a

rudder which is really cool because it

makes steering so much easier

today and there's actually not that much

fire smoke unlike you can still kind of

see it's a little hazy but it's still

beautiful

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that's all I have for the first half of

my Alaska summer video if you enjoyed it

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when new videos are posted and I will

see you in the next Alaska video it's

the first time I'm driven driven so

right now we are essentially covering

the maya32 it takes about 45 minutes to

an hour