Our FAVORITE spots in ALASKA + top tips for visiting!

In case you missed our last video, we just finished an incredible summer up in Alaska. Over the course of two and a half months, from mid-June to late August, we went from crossing the border to spending four days in Denali National Park, visiting the charming town of Talkeetna, ice climbing on the Matanuska Glacier, going for hikes near Anchorage, road tripping around the Kenai Peninsula and exploring Kenai Fjords National Park, visiting the town of Whittier, hiking and backpacking in Hatcher Pass, admiring the amazing scenery and wildlife in Valdez, and camping, hiking, and seeing mining history in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park before driving the Top of the World Highway to the Yukon. Alaska completely blew us away, and it is hands down our favorite place we have ever visited. It is impossible to put Alaska into words, but some of the best words to describe it are just vast, wild, and completely mind-blowing. It is a regular occurrence just to be driving around Alaska and just see glaciers all over the place, so many mountains. The mountains are just so big, they just make you feel so tiny. Even just going to the grocery store, as soon as you walk out, you've got mountains right there, bam. Even the most boring activities are more fun in Alaska, and we just lost count of how many times we just stood there and complete awe of the scenery surrounding us. And in this video, we're going to share some of our favorite spots, top tips, and we're going to start with a rundown of our route and some wildlife stats. This is a basic snapshot of our route with all the stops that we mentioned earlier, which ended up being around 2,400 miles total. And as for wildlife, we honestly did not see as much wildlife as we thought we would in Alaska. If we had to say one negative thing about Alaska, it would probably be that there were some animals that we saw a good amount of, but then others that we hardly saw at all, like bears. We only saw one black bear in our entire two and a half months in Alaska, and it was on a sidewalk in Whittier, so not the most, like, wild, epic spot to see a bear. And then we think we might have seen one grizzly. I'm pretty sure it was a grizzly. It was brown. I think it had a hump on it, but it was far away. I couldn't totally tell. It happened so fast, I didn't even see it. It was on our last hike at Wrangell, St. Elias, so if you didn't see that video, go check that out. We know it was a bear, so... Yeah, definitely a bear, definitely brown. I'm going to go with grizzly, because that'd be a cooler story. Yeah, we're just going to say we saw one black bear and one grizzly. And as for other wildlife, we saw 15 moose, 10 caribou, and 26 dull sheep, and those were all near Denali, which was definitely our best area for wildlife. We also saw four porcupines and one fox, and we actually didn't get the fox on a vlog, but we did get an iPhone video of it. We saw him on this slope right by the Manuska Glacier, and he was just sliding down the slope. Funniest thing. It was the cutest thing. He was, like, rolling around in the dirt. It was the cutest thing we have ever seen. And then last but not least, we also saw two mountain goats, a mommy and a baby, on the Crow Pass Trail, and it was incredible. All right, now on to our favorite spots in Alaska, which we really hated picking favorites, because we truly loved everything we did. We highly recommend it all, and we just don't really like comparing places to each other, because we try to appreciate everything for what it is. But we thought if any of y'all are going to Alaska, you may find it helpful to know just kind of what spots, like, slightly stood out over the rest, and that we'd suggest definitely prioritizing. We kept our answers separate from each other, so we could have our own opinions and also hopefully share a little bit more. Yeah, we're hoping that we don't overlap on all of them. I think there's going to be some pretty big overlap, and I personally found this to be so hard, because, yeah, I really suck at picking favorites. For some reason, this exercise, I guess, was really easy for me. I don't know. Things just really stood out to me really quickly. But like we said, you can't go wrong with any of it. No way. But the first category are top three favorite hikes. Drum roll. These are... I didn't originally put these in order. I don't think I did, but now that I'm looking at it again, yeah, I think these are in order. One, two, three. All right, so my top one is the Gold Mint Trail to the Mint Hut. That's my number one hike. I didn't have that one. You didn't? That's not even on your top? No, because I hated that trail. Yeah, yeah. I liked the end point, but I did not enjoy the trail. I got stung by wasps. Yeah, that wasn't fun for either of us, but definitely you. But the trail out there, it did suck, but it was that type two fun, where it was just so hard to get out there, and then you get this amazing reward when you get up to the top. I guess iconic maybe is the word of the hut there with the big mountains back there. I don't think iconic is the right word, but... It was epic. Yeah, epic. Yeah, and then the little... The campsite we had was just probably the best one we ever had from a tent. And then the little side hike up to the glacier-fed lakes and those mountains up there were one. No, I fully agree. The end of that hike was one of the most epic things we experienced in Alaska, and I do have that experience as an answer to a different category. So in order to not have to repeat everything he just said, I feel the exact same way. Yeah, it was one of the most breathtaking places we've ever been. It was just jagged mountains, blue lakes. It was unreal. Well, my favorite hike though, similar area, but mine was Reed Lakes and Hatcher Pass. That's your number one? Yeah. Do you have that on your list at all? That's not on my list. Oh my... Really? Yeah. What? I am shocked. That hike... Well, I didn't want to pick both from that area. Okay, true. Valid. So the way I see it is the Reed Lakes hike as a whole was more enjoyable than the hike to the Mint Hut, but the Mint Hut endpoint was just slightly more epic, but the Reed Lakes endpoint was still gorgeous. You had those blue lakes, you get to hike from the one lake to the other, there's a waterfall along the way, and just the sweeping views of the area. It was just stunning out there. I'm really struggling to describe it. I think the footage speaks for itself. It was just insanely beautiful out there. And the trail itself was not that hard to navigate, minus the boulder section was kind of hard, but- But that water in between where I almost fell in was fun. It was so beautiful too. Yeah. But that hike was incredible. That whole area was just spectacular. Hatcher Pass. Yeah. Highly recommend Hatcher Pass. Yep. All right. My number two is... So this one has like a sentimental value for me. So the Eagle and Symphony Lakes in the Chugach State Park. I'm glad you said that one because that was one of my contenders. And I was like, I hope Adam picks this one because I want to, but I don't think I'm going to. So what this stood out for me was, one, the hike was awesome the entire way. It was an enjoyable hike, but then you get to the end and you not only have two lakes that are right next to each other, but they're different colors because they are fed by different things. One's a glacier fed, the other one is a snow melt. So they're just completely different and you don't see that. I can't think of anywhere else. I'm sure there's something out there, but we've never seen it. And then you can hike up to get a better view if you want. But what puts it over the edge for me is me catching my first fish. That was the best ever. Well, catching. I hooked them. He touched it for a second. Yeah. But that, I guess the sentimental reason puts that over. So that might not be the same for everybody, but just the viewpoint at the end and the trail out there. Yeah. Spectacular. Incredible hike and the footage we got of Adam catching those fish and falling and so excited makes me almost cry, which is happiness. Just how much joy he has. It just brings me so much joy. So that was fun. Yeah. That hike was awesome. All right. My second one was the Harding Ice Field. I have that one too. Okay, good. I was like, you better have at least one of the same ones. Yeah. I mean, the Harding Ice Field just feels like another planet. Like that end point at the end, even though it was kind of rainy and a little foggy, we didn't get to see it on its clearest day. It was just ice as far as the eye can see. I think some people responded to us on Instagram saying this looks like interstellar. It just looks like another planet, but not even just the end point was great. Like the whole hike, I mean, the tree part was fine. It wasn't overly exciting, but once you get out of the trees, you have views of the glacier, you have views of the mountains around, you kind of go into this more tundra area. And then you go into this area that's just more like gray and black rocks and like loose dirt. And it felt like we were walking on a volcano or another planet. The hut thing was cool. It was just the amount of different scenery on the hike just made it super interesting. The tons of variety on that. Yeah. Walking next to the glacier most of the time. And then when you get to the top, there's the hut, which is really cool. I know you already said this, but then you see the ice field and you can just see ice as far as you can see. I mean, we couldn't see that far because of all the clouds, but it's there and it's amazing. And we love glaciers and icy things. So yeah, loved that hike. I think you're done with hikes, right? Yep, that's my three. All right. So my third hike, and I kind of went back and forth on this one, but I really loved the Crow Pass to Raven Glacier Trail. So we did that one in our Chugach State Park, Chugach Mountains video, along with the one where he caught the fish. And just the scenery on that hike, I don't know, it was like really green at first and it got really rugged and rocky. And I kind of felt like maybe we were in like Iceland or something. There were all these waterfalls. We saw the goats. Yeah. Like it just had this, you know, we went on a more cloudy foggy day, but even so it was still really beautiful and we could see most of the views still. That lake was really cool. There were still ice chunks in it. And then we hiked to the Glacier Overlook and that was just unreal. I think that was one of our first glacier experiences in Alaska, like on a hike and yeah, it was just incredible. I just really enjoyed that hike, even though the weather was really cold and windy and kind of brutal at times. Next up, our favorite town. I went through all the towns we went through and I thought about, I think I kind of categorized this one by which one would I want to live in the most maybe. So I went with Valdez. I knew you were going to pick that one. Really? Yeah, I knew you'd pick it. So the scenery just around town, number one, as soon as you get there and the drive in is unbeatable. I thought it had the best scenery because if you're there on a clear day, which we only had part of a clear day, but when it's clear, there are giant mountains in every direction. It is spectacularly beautiful, but there's a great library there. There's a nice little coffee shop that we love, good food. If you're wanting to get out on the water, there's all kinds of stuff for that. Nice little walkable area. I would have loved to spend more time there. We will. We will. All right. Well, I struggled with this one big time because I loved all of the towns we went to. I thought the Homer Spit was super cute and it was really walkable. It's a little touristy, but I just thought it had like a really cute kind of like fun vibe. Talkeetna had a lot of character. Seward had beautiful views. We didn't really spend much time in Seward, like the town itself, but the area was beautiful. And then I just thought Hope felt the most authentic. It was just really small, kind of just really historic. The community there seemed really strong. But I also went with Valdez. Did you? Yeah. I really went back and forth, but for me, like I kind of thought of it similarly to you. Not just the town itself, because Valdez maybe wasn't like the most touristy feeling one. It felt more local. I think that's why I liked it, is because it felt less touristy. But for me, it all came down to like the area as a whole. Just how beautiful it was, the things to do in the area, just kind of took it to the top. Yeah. I mean, if I had to think of any drawback, it would be, you know, where it is. It'd be really hard to get to and it's a trek out there, but if you can get out there, it's worth it. Yeah. The area was just incredible. Next, we have our favorite national park. So Alaska has eight national parks total. Only three of them are accessible by vehicle. We only went to the three accessible by vehicle just because logistically with having Kona, who's napping right behind me, and also just financially with like how much money it costs to fly out to them or take a boat out to them. It just didn't make sense for this trip. We wanted to make this a very like RV, van, like road trip focused trip and we'll come back to do the rest. Don't you worry. But I think we both agree on out of the three we went to, we went to Denali, Wrangell St. Elias, and Kenai Fjords. I think we both had the same answer for this one. Say it on three. Three, two, one. Kenai Fjords. Easy. I mean, I think the video alone just says why we loved it so much. Like the boat tour where the glaciers were calving was one of the most insane things my eyeballs have ever seen. All the seals. Yeah, all the wildlife. The whales, the cute sea otters. Yeah, just all the mountains out there. And then the Harding Ice Field was one of my favorite hikes. Going down to the bottom of the glacier. Exit Glacier was incredible. I mean, the Seward area alone is just, it's a great location for a park because Seward itself is really cool too. Yeah, easy to access the park. I mean, easy, awesome boondocking. Yeah. Right there on that river area there. Yeah. It was just definitely the best one for me. I don't think I smiled as much in Alaska as I did as when we were in that park. That was just unlike any experience I've ever had in my lifetime. Yep. Our top three experiences, and this one again, I ranked number one, two, three in order here. So my first one is the ice climbing. Okay, yeah, me too. Yeah, you too. Mine's not necessarily in order, but I did list ice climbing first. Yeah, that one was just so much fun. It was challenging, exhilarating, thrilling. Our guides were just so friendly and amazing, and they made it even, took it to the next level. And yeah, just kind of conquering your fear on that and just having so much fun, even just walking on the glacier was a ton of fun. It was just a complete cool experience, start to finish. Literally cool. Very cool. It just, it took me out of my comfort zone and I like a challenge. And even though I cried a little and it was really hard and I cursed a lot, it was, I left feeling so proud of myself and it was just so rewarding. And it's one of those uniquely Alaskan experiences that, yes, you can do it in other, a few other parts of the U.S. are known for ice climbing and you can do it around the world, but it's one of those things that, you know, really just feels like an Alaskan experience to me. So yeah, I also agree. Yeah. My second one was the major Marine boat tour. Yep, me too. I figured we'd have the same on this one. And we already kind of covered it, but that was just, it was my number one pinch me day. It was the day where I, my jaw was hitting the floor the entire day. It was just phenomenal. The crew was great. The views were great. It was, you have to do it. You have to do it. I thought it was fun too, just being on that big boat and going through that gulf there with like the rocking waves and make sure if you're going on a rough day like that, take the motion sickness pill to help you there. But I thought it was a blast. Yeah, it was, it felt like a ride. My third experience is backpacking at Kachemak Bay State. Is that yours too? I'm like nodding yes, but no, it's in my probably top four or five, but it's not what I was going to say. Like I said in the video, it just felt like an Alaskan experience, taking that water taxi across the Bay, hiking up to that lake with the glacier across it, beautiful setting, awesome campsite. And then the next day we hiked out to that tram, which was too much fun. It was just super unique. It was super unique. And I definitely agree. That was one of our top experiences, but I was going to say the backpacking trip to the mint hut because it was very memorable in many ways, uh, the mud, the water, the wasps. But as I said earlier, like that end point was just the best. And so as an experience as a whole, I will forever cherish that backpacking trip and remember it. Um, even though it didn't make my top hikes, like just the experience still made one of my best experiences. And now maybe the most fun category, the top three things we ate in Alaska. I struggled with this one. I had big time, a good time with it. It wasn't because I enjoy the food. Everything we ate was good. It was just too many choices. Alaska is not really necessarily like, unless you're eating seafood, we had been told it's not really a foodie state and everything's pretty expensive. So we didn't eat out a ton. So everything we did eat out, we made sure was going to be really good. So maybe that's why it was all just equally good that it was hard to pick what was the best. I still don't know my third. I'm just going to see how I feel soon. You want to go first? Yeah, sure. So I didn't, these aren't ranked. So, but the first one that came to mind was the spinach bread. Yeah, that was my number one. That was so good. Yeah. So garlic, cheese. Carbs. Carbs. So a crispy pillowy bread. How do you, what, what more do you want? I mean, and then throw some spinach on there, just some for some flavor. Yeah. Yeah. You can't be, we could eat like a whole tray of that. That was so good. That was so good. So good. My second one was the baked Alaska ice cream cone at Wild Scoops. That's my other one. One of my other ones. I struggled with, because we ate a Wild Scoops a couple of times in Alaska. And then we also went to Carmen's gelato on the Homer spit and that gelato was top notch. So I really struggled because I didn't want to pick two ice creams as my top foods. But I went with the baked Alaska cone at Wild Scoops because it's just very unique. They, you know, use their homemade marshmallow fluff. They swirl it on and they torch it. It's just such a unique ice cream experience and very, very delicious. And the ice cream was great too. And the cone. Yeah. The whole cup and scoop, the whole experience there is in my top five of ice cream places. The flavor was rhubarb crisp. Oh man. It had so much fruit in there. So many chunks and like little pieces and bits of the streusel bits in there. Oh, it's so good. That's one of my top flavors ever. And then the cone was really good. It was unique. It had different spices in it, so a different flavor. And then my last one then is the moose's tooth pizza. Unique flavors. They had a ton of different flavors of pizza combinations, you know, and then we got the big one. So I loved the volume of that. We didn't finish it all. We ate it more like the next day or that night. I think breakfast the next day was more moose's tooth. It was so good. It was so unique. And yeah, it's just one of those iconic Anchorage spots. So I almost picked that one. I really struggled with my third. I have a couple written down. I have an honorable mention. I might just go like solely because we ate here multiple times and it just makes me happy to think about Taco King. Oh really? I wanted to throw that in too. Is that a bad answer? I don't know. We went to this place called Taco King in Anchorage. The first time was the day we got into Anchorage. We did not film it and we were just so hungry. We decided to go eat out and a subscriber of ours who lives in Alaska mentioned Taco King is a good like cheaper place to eat. So we went and I just thought it was so good. Like maybe we were really hungry that day, but the tacos were good, the tortillas were good, the salsas were good, and then we went back again after Hatcher Pass. And yeah, it was just a solid spot. I almost said that El Gringo's place we went to in Anchorage. The burrito. We got the burrito with our friends. Oh yeah, that was good. I almost said that too. It's like a taco truck right by the famous Snow City Cafe. We went there with our friends the Mandegys who were travel bloggers that were in town on a work trip and that was really good too. So that was another one I was deciding between. My honorable mention is the burrito I had at the Potato. Yeah, I thought the burger at the Potato was really good too and the fries were good. I wrote down like all of these. I was like well this was good because of this. It was hard to pick. So it was hard to pick, but yeah like we didn't eat out every meal in Alaska. We really tried to be selective and all the spots we went to were top-notch. All right, our favorite coffee that we had in Alaska. This is an important category. Very important. Y'all know we love our coffee. We went to a handful of places, a good amount both on the vlog and off the vlog, but my favorite coffee drink and probably coffee shop was the Coffee Co. in Valdez specifically for the hipster mousse mocha. Oh that was so good. We actually had that drink twice in one day that did not make the vlog, but it was chocolate, maple spice, and pistachio. I've never had any drink like it. The pistachio took it to the next level. It was so sweet, so good. I think we even shared an Americano. We went again and we like worked and stuff, so I think we had like a non-sweet drink and they were all so good. Just a super cool local spot. I think I would pick that now thinking about it as my best coffee drink, but my favorite coffee place that we went to was Barrio in Seward. The mountains out and the water right there, you can't beat that, I think. And then it just had fun and unique drinks too. That's my spot. Yeah, no, that was a really cool spot and I don't think we've ever been to a coffee shop with as good of views as that one. Yeah, yeah. And then my honorable mention is Goldie's Coffee in Anchorage. Just cool little local spot. And then also Kalotti Brothers, which they dominate the Anchorage area with coffee, but we worked at one on the east side of town and it was just really big, awesome mountain views just right out the windows. And free coffee refills. Next up is our favorite camping spot and this is specifically camping in our van, not in our tent. And so the way I kind of prioritize this is if it has the van life trifecta. So it has epic views, it has close to amenities and easy to access, and then also has cell service. So my pick is this riverside campsite right on the Matanuska River. Oh yeah, yeah, that one's great. Yeah, over by, it's like east of Palmer and Wasilla area. You just pull up, very easy access right off the highway, but it's pretty quiet. You don't hear much traffic. You just hear the river. Yeah, you hear the river rushing and mountains across the way. It's pretty secluded, not very busy. Cell service, you can work there, hang out. I love that one. Close to town, 20 minutes to town. I don't think we filmed that one ever. We might have something on our phone we can put up right now. Okay, yeah, I think we have some phone footage, but we didn't actually show that one in a video, but it was a really good spot. I have two. I had a hard time with this one. Yeah, I kind of did two because if we're being honest, we stayed in a lot of parking lots and like just off the side of a road. It wasn't as glamorous and we'll kind of touch on that more later. But yeah, it wasn't as glamorous of camping as maybe we envisioned in Alaska most of the time, just because we need cell service. But I have two, kind of. The first one is kind of the trifecta, sort of, but maybe it doesn't have the close to a town as much. But I loved the one at Moose's... Moose's Pass? Moose Pass? Yeah, the Trail Lake Pullout. It is just this pullout off the road, but it's kind of tucked away from the road. It's this huge open area. The first night we stayed there was the 4th of July, and that was a humongous mistake. There were like a million RVs there, people playing music till 3 a.m. We were getting very annoyed, but the scenery was epic. You're right on this lake that has this like blue milky water, mountains all around. We kayaked out there one day. There also, like the seaplanes. The seaplanes would take off and land from the lake. It was just super cool, and we had cell service there, so that was a huge perk. So I'd say like overall, that was probably my favorite. Yeah, it's a top one. The second time we stayed there was better. People were not nearly as rowdy, so it got points back. But if I'm going off of just like, I don't know, maybe even just awesome views, I love the one on Exit Glacier Road. We were just right on that riverbed, mountains all around, but it did not have cell service. So that's the only reason I did not pick that. For our final category, we have the best scenic drive, and I'm fairly confident we have the same answer. I think so. So driving into Valdez, going over Thompson Pass, going through Keystone Canyon, waterfalls, giant mountains, tundra landscape. Unreal, yep. I knew we'd both pick that one. It was the best, and we drove into it the first time around 10 something p.m., around sunset. We did not plan to get there that late, but it actually turned out to be the best thing ever. Because it was a clear day, which was kind of rare, and we had that sunset lighting. When we first like saw those insane, just sharp peaks over near Thompson Pass, I gasped. It was just the most incredible thing. You could see the Worthington Glacier, which was so beautiful, and the sunset light, and then yeah, driving through Keystone Canyon. It was just, it's an unreal drive. And even the whole drive from Anchorage to Valdez is just stunning. So the whole drive itself, but specifically that portion. And for the next section of this video, we're going to share some of our top tips for Alaska. And over our time in Alaska, we've just been taking copious notes in our phone, kind of just brain dumping anything we could think of that might be helpful for those visiting Alaska. And when we get back to Texas later this year, we're going to work on a bunch of really detailed guides and itineraries, including all of that info, but we just cannot get that done until probably December or January. So here are some of our top tips that we felt like sharing right now, but stay tuned for those later this year. Our first tip is to download offline maps. And this is a tip that we recommend for anywhere you go, but cell service can vary a bit in Alaska. We'll cover more about cell service in a bit, but it's just always helpful to have Google Maps downloaded offline. That way you can navigate while you're driving without getting lost and then also download offline maps for all trails. That way, if you're going on a hike and you don't have service, you can still know where to go and you do not get lost. Tip number two, summer is construction season. So there's a joke we heard a lot in Alaska that there's two seasons in Alaska. There's winter and construction season. So when you're planning your route, be sure to plan in extra time because you could run into construction anywhere along that way. So it was never a big hassle for us or a big delay, but it could be there. So make sure you plan in some extra time. Tip number three, do not try to do it all. Not only is Alaska a massive state, but most of it isn't even accessible by a car. You have to take a plane or a boat, which gets expensive really, really fast. So we suggest if you're planning a trip to Alaska, just try to focus on kind of one general area and explore that area more in depth. We had two and a half months in Alaska, but between us getting COVID, which kind of knocked us out for two weeks, as well as just needing to work and edit videos, we probably only had a month of actual exploring. And we still feel like there was so much we missed. We kind of did a, what we're calling a scratch the surface tour of Alaska, where we went to as many places as we could, driving at least, but we had to kind of rush around. And so we spent a lot of time just in the car driving instead of spending more time in each place. And so there was just a lot of stuff, like little things, like hidden gems that we didn't have time for. We only really had time for the popular spots. So next time in the future, and for your trip, we suggest kind of just honing in on one general area, exploring it more in depth, and then just trying to come back to Alaska in the future to see other spots, because many people told us you cannot see Alaska in one trip. Tip number four, don't sleep on the non-national park areas. Most places, national parks get a lot of hype and a lot of love, and that's for good reason. But with that, they bring a lot of crowds, and we loved visiting all three of the national parks we visited in Alaska. But some of our favorite moments from our time in Alaska were not in national parks. So just don't forget and don't sleep on those non-national park areas. Yeah, you'll miss out on some real gems by just going to the national parks in Alaska. And to be honest, all of Alaska feels like a national park. Just make the whole state a national park. You just can't go wrong with any spot. Tip number five, the real buzz on mosquitoes. So this is more of an observation than a tip, but we had heard, you know, on our way to Alaska, the mosquitoes were going to be super annoying, a big nuisance, state bird of Alaska, all this stuff. But that really wasn't our experience at all. Yeah, we did not encounter very many mosquitoes in Alaska. We hear that they're worse more inland, kind of near Fairbanks. And we did experience them more near Tok and at Denali. But once we got south of there, like we hardly noticed any mosquitoes at all. We found them to be way worse on the drive up to Alaska through British Columbia and the Yukon. Like when we were in the Yukon, they were humongous mosquitoes. And I was like, this is not going to be, this is not going to be good if Alaska is like this. Yeah, but then we got to Alaska, we like barely even experienced them. So a lot of people have been curious, like how do our thermosel work? Because we talked about how we got a thermosel for the trip, but we can't even tell you how it worked because we hardly even used it. We used it maybe like twice. Yeah, to be honest, we didn't sit outside and just hang out a lot. You know, when we're filming, we're filming. And then when we're done, we come in the van and we're working. So we didn't really use the thermosel. Yeah, we're not just like outside sitting there where they can come attack us, maybe as much as other people are. But you know, we hiked, we were outside a lot and we barely even wore bug spray. So I don't know, we don't want people to not be prepared for the mosquitoes. Definitely bring some bug spray. You know, the thermosel probably is good to have. We also have these wristbands. But I just think they were overhyped a bit. We've been to places where they're worse, like Minnesota, the Wind River Range was worse. So I don't know, we're very thankful this was our experience and hopefully it wasn't just a one-off. But yeah, we just don't think, we just think it was, we were, we were scared and it ended up not being nearly as bad. Tip number six, nowhere to shop. Before we came to Alaska, we had heard that grocery prices were going to be a lot higher and the selection was not going to be very good. And while this was true in the smaller towns, meat and produce, a lot more expensive, not very much variety to choose from. But in the Anchorage area, we didn't really have much of an issue with it. Anchorage has a lot of really large grocery stores. They have like Fred Meyer. So they have a ton of selection there. The prices didn't seem that much higher to us. They probably were higher, but not enough that we were gasping. Unless you want like asparagus, which is like nine dollars. Yeah, those are really high everywhere. Don't get those here. But our tip would be, because you're most likely, if you're flying into Alaska, you'll fly into Anchorage. So stock up on groceries in Anchorage if you can. If you have a way to keep it cool, if you're going to be in an RV or you have some sort of cooler you can bring, you know, you can bring a cooler on the airplane. Just try to stock up on as much stuff as you can in Anchorage because you'll save money, you'll have a better selection. That way you're not having to buy a full like week's worth of groceries down in, you know, I don't know, Hope. I don't think Hope has a grocery store. But you know, the grocery store by Denali National Park was not the best. So we would suggest, you know, just stocking up in Anchorage. Also, if you are a Costco member, go to Costco in Alaska. That's a good way to stock up. Yeah, so we normally like bulk goods and van life. Do not mix it all. So we actually cancelled our Costco membership when we moved from Seattle into the van. But we are now Costco members again, baby. We rejoined Costco in Alaska because as you may remember, we have our hangar box under our bed where we can store more goodies. And before we came to Alaska, we stocked up on a bunch of stuff from Costco. Highly recommend that if you're driving up. And then we ate it all because we like to eat. So we were out of all of our tasty snacks. We wanted them again. And we figured with the price savings at Costco, we could make back the membership cost in a few visits. And I think we did three visits, and I'm pretty sure we already made it back. That's a good deal. Yeah. And if you can buy, you know, meat, they have like already cooked meals you can make. If you're staying in an Airbnb or have an RV, it would be such a good way to just save some money and cook some meals. So yeah, we're proud Costco members again. You can also get some pizza, a hot dog. Best pizza value out there. It'll be like your cheapest Alaska meal if you go to Costco. Tip number seven, be prepared for rain. It's no secret looking at our videos that we had quite a bit of rain and gloomy weather in Alaska. When we got to Alaska in mid June, it was really sunny and it was quite a bit warmer. I think we had some days that hit the eighties, which I know isn't that hot, but for Alaska that felt kind of warm. And then after like the first week of July, things just kind of took a turn and it got really rainy and gloomy and also much chillier. Most days were, I'd say fifties or sixty degrees as the high with chillier temperatures in the mornings. So we have heard that August is definitely the rainier season in Alaska. July can also be pretty rainy. I think I had heard that this July was a little rainier than normal and then the June was drier and sunnier than normal. So if you want like the best chance of the best weather, try to come to Alaska in June, but keep in mind like higher elevation stuff might still have a good amount of snow, so you might be more limited that way. But if you come during the rainier months, just have a good attitude because it's still so beautiful. Even in the rain, not every day was a complete washout. Most days were not a washout. We still had sunny days sprinkled in. It's not all a lost cause and just be flexible if you can. We rearrange stuff quite a bit to try to have better weather as many days as we could. So if you have some flexibility, just try to be flexible. There are things you can do when it's rainy. You can go check out like a cool museum or go check out a cool town. We visited Hope in the rain and it was still nice. You can go to waterfalls. You could do things that aren't as dependent on like sweeping views. So maybe go to a glacier or something that's a little bit like under the clouds that you can still see. So there are options, but yeah if you hate the rain, just maybe don't come in August for sure. But with that said, the forecast might call for rain all day and it might not rain at all. Yeah. Or it will rain all or you know be very sporadic. You can always find like, I feel like it's not always rainy everywhere. You can find somewhere to go that may not be as rainy. Yeah and so with that said, you're going to want to bring layers and you're going to want to bring some waterproof boots or some kind of shoes you know for the trail. So layers, you know it might be hot in the morning and then a rainstorm might come vice versa. So you'll be taking off putting back on layers and then also waterproof shoes. So walking around here we saw a lot of people with those extra tough boots on. So and we just couldn't figure out why is everybody wearing them, but after a few days we... We learned why everyone in Alaska wears extra tough boots. Yeah so I mean you could even just bring you know cheap rubber boots from any kind of store that'll get you by for your vacation and it would have been nice for us to have them, but we got by. But waterproof shoes in some form will be really helpful and then maybe some waterproof pants as well because walking through trails it's lots of brush and your pants are going to get wet and then walking around town raining stuff like that. So layers and waterproof stuff. Yeah you definitely want to make sure you're going to be as comfortable as possible with all the weather changes there and yeah there were some days I wore a tank top to start out and I ended up in four layers at the end of the day. But be comfortable being uncomfortable because you're going to be taking all these layers and you're gonna have to carry it on the hike. Yeah. You might just want to leave it on or... So yeah weather's a thing in Alaska. Just be open-minded. Just be, just stay positive and you will still have fun. Tip number eight, get the milepost but also use other sources. One thing you hear when planning a trip to Alaska is that you have to get the milepost, which is it calls itself the Bible of North Country Travel and it's this real thick book with basically mile by mile descriptions for a ton of different routes in Alaska. And while we did find it helpful, I don't think we found it as helpful as others may find it helpful. For us we used it more as like a pre-planning research tool. So we would just look at the route like the Alaska Highway for example and see just kind of what stops it recommended along the way. Anything we needed to know and we would use it before we actually went on the Alaska Highway. Where some people apparently, I've heard a lot of people are like, oh I have it open the whole drive and I'm reading it mile by mile as we're driving and we never once opened this thing when we were driving. Yeah I'd say it's a good, like we said, a research tool and then also a good backup. So if you're, you don't have cell service, you didn't download that google map or something and you need fuel, it's gonna have a bunch of fuel stops in here. So it is, it is a very valuable resource. But we did find like reading travel blogs and watching YouTube videos to also give us, to supplement, yeah to kind of supplement the research. We found some spots because of the mile post, we found some spots because of blogs and YouTube videos. So don't just rely on this, get it, but also use other stuff too. Tip number nine, not all camping is glamorous. When we pictured camping in Alaska, we pictured these epic nature spots, mountains all around, you know, glaciers. While some spots were like that, the reality was most of these spots are hard to get to, really far from amenities and just have no cell service. And so in other words, they do not meet the van life trifecta. At least for us. Yeah, our trifecta. We rely on having cell phone service so we can work at night and you know, a lot of the RVers and van lifers we met in Alaska are also working full-time and need service. So I think we were all in agreeance that Alaska does have a lot of free places to camp. You can basically camp at any like pullout along the highway, as long as it's not noted that you cannot camp overnight there. Yeah, as long as there's no sign. So there are a lot of options and it tends to be a little bit more flexible there than other states we've been to, but it feels like most of the time we were camping in parking lots. Whether we were on the turning in arm next to the busy road, great views but really loud, or at the Cabela's. We stayed there a few times off and on, which had like 50 RVs every single night. Maybe it wasn't as glamorous as we envisioned, so we just kind of wanted to share that. So maybe you go into it with more realistic expectations of where you'll stay. There are some beautiful nature spots that do have cell service, but for the most part we were parking a lot. Tip number 10, cell service does exist, but it may vary. When you picture Alaska, the last frontier, you might think there's going to be no cell service out there, but we have AT&T and Verizon, and for the most part in all the towns we had cell service. One of those worked, and then for most of the drives we had cell service too. I think the two drives that really stand out to me that we did not have cell service was driving through the Kenai Peninsula. You kind of didn't really have cell service until you hit a town, and then also on the Glen Allen Highway from like the Matanuska Glacier to actual Glen Allen, we didn't really have any service. And then near Denali, it was kind of spotty, but fun fact, fun for us I guess because we worked there for like three days, the Denali Visitor Center, that area of the park has amazing cell phone service, and many of y'all had suggested or asked like why don't you get Starlink, but Starlink actually does not work north of like midway through British Columbia and up, so it does not work in Alaska currently. We did look into it, but it was not going to work for us, so that's why we did not have it. Tip number 11, do not let bears scare you from visiting Alaska. To be honest, I had really bad bear anxiety leading up to Alaska, like the months leading up to getting to Alaska. I was just really scared of hiking in Alaska because anytime we're going to go hike somewhere where there are bears, especially grizzly bears, I just get really anxious, and I just, in my mind, I just feel like there's gonna be bears everywhere, like we're gonna be walking, there's gonna be just bears around every corner, just like squirrels, like when you see squirrels all over the place, I just envisioned that many bears, but the reality is we saw barely any bears. We saw two. Grand total of two. One was from the car, the other one, the potential grizzly, was on a trail, and that was pretty scary, and I was pretty nervous the rest of the time, but we never had a bad interaction with a bear, and from talking to other people, it's really really rare to have a bad interaction with a bear, so don't let the fear of a bear scare you from visiting Alaska. You may have a different experience than us. You might see a hundred bears. We'd be very jealous, but you may see none, so I just would be sad if anyone decided not to go to Alaska because they were afraid of bears. I feel you. I know how that feels, but it's really, there aren't bears everywhere like you think they'll be. They kind of know to stay away from like the popular trails because they don't want to see humans just as much as you don't want to see them, so just know what to do if you see a bear. Carry bear spray. Know how to properly store food, and just make a lot of noise while hiking, and you should be okay. Although our adventures in Alaska are over, well sort of. Stay tuned for what we mean by that. We still have so many incredible adventures planned for the rest of the year, both here in Canada and some brand new spots in the lower 48. But if you have any questions about visiting Alaska, let us know in the comments. We're happy to help answer anything we can, and then stay tuned for later this year, or maybe early next year, when we crank out a bunch of guides, itineraries, and other helpful info about Alaska. Well now, what was your favorite thing we did in Alaska? Was it the boat ride? Was it the tram? Was it swimming in all the glacier lakes? Did you like cuddling in our tent? Did you like hiking? Do you want to go for a hike? You love hiking?