Adventure
Alaska – Canada
I was so looking forward to my return trip to Alaska as it had been some years, especially as my youngest daughter would come along for the ride. Salmon was the main reason I came last time when we made a film for ITV, and it would also feature heavily on this trip. I also wanted to check out the very cool food culture that has exploded since my last trip. This was a proper whistle-stop visit; my daughter could only get ten days off work. I planned to do one adventure every day and pretty much eat fabulous food for the remaining time!
Our trip started from London to Seattle, and after a couple of hours layover, we set off again to Juneau, some 3 hours away. By the time we arrive, it’s early evening, and the sun is setting over the Mendenhall glacier.
Arriving in Juneau
If you go, make sure you have your camera ready as you get spectacular views as you come into land. It’s a monster, stretching for 13 miles, and is 3,000 years old. Once we landed, our driver took us to the river that flows from the glacier to get a closer view. We were lucky enough to see sea eagles waiting for the odd salmon (it was very early in the season for king salmon). Sockeye salmon were just starting to run, and hopefully, we would catch some later in the trip.
As we drive to Juneau town, which takes about 40 minutes, our driver stops once again to chat with a single local angler who had just caught a hefty-sized fish. As we watched three sea eagles land around us, obviously waiting for the fish gutting to begin, they were genuinely stunning birds and somewhat menacing. Just up the road, we have a quick look at the salmon ladder, which keeps track of migrating fish on the way upriver to spawn.
Arriving at the hotel, we quickly checked in and pretty much went to bed straight away; it had been a very long day.
I recommend visiting Alaska in July or August. Although any time of the year is good, be sure to pack warm socks.
Month High / Low(°C)
January 0° / -6° 12 days
February 1° / -5° 10 days
March 3° / -3° 10 days
April 7° / 0° 11 days
May 11° / 4° 10 days
June 15° / 8° 8 days
July 17° / 10° 8 days
August 16° / 10° 12 days
September 13° / 7° 14 days
October 7° / 2° 14 days
November 2° / -3° 11 days
December 0° / -5° 13 days
First Stop, Coffee
I always wake early when away and (as you know by now) find a local coffee shop. There wasn’t a vast choice, but after a shower, we headed out on an overcast day. The Heritage Coffee Shop is a 5-minute walk from the hotel, which makes my daughter very happy. I love looking at old buildings; I just have to photograph them as we pass.
The town is empty as we wander about, but the coffee is spot on. I try to imagine what this place must be like in the dead of winter. Some months ago, I watched the programme Drive-In’s Diners & Dives with a rather flamboyant American chef named Guy Fieri. He had visited Juneau to make a film on a food truck called Deck Hand Dave’s Fish Tacos. The owner only opens a few months a year due to seasonal trade and weather. He worked for the local city council in the winter months. As the name suggests, his background was as a deckhand on local commercial fishing boats. Whilst on the boats, he would cook the fish they had caught for the crew, experimenting with recipes. He still uses the guys he fished with to supply his food truck/fabulous outdoor restaurant slap bang in the middle of the town.
Deck Hand Dave's Fish Tacos
It’s expanded a bit since I watched the film and served a myriad of superb fresh as-a-daisy local seafood. The menu is simple and straight to the point. Winnie chooses an Alaskan Amber Beer Battered Rockfish Taco, red cabbage slaw, and mild crema avocado sauce. I ordered three shrimp tacos with corn, coriander, spicy crema, and a side of dirty fries. They are full-sized portions, and Winnie loves her rockfish. The shrimp are plump, sweet and cooked perfectly. What a way to start our first full day in Alaska.
We set off around the town to explore. The place was starting to liven up, probably due to the five cruise ships docking. Winnie is in and out of all the naff trinket shops, and I explore the Southeast Alaska Fish Processing plant. Yep, exciting, eh! You can probably imagine what she said when I asked her to join me. One of the reasons I’m here again is to see how the salmon industry is progressing.
We walk along the quay and past the famous Tracy’s King Crab Shack, an institution in Juneau (more about this later). Like the salmon industry, the king crab business is huge here. The last time I ate fresh king crab was in Norway 12 years ago, so I had to come here even though it’s a bit touristy. We head out of town, explore the seashore, search for fish eagles, and hopefully spot a salmon or two.
Simple things done properly are a joy and cannot be beaten.
A Short Hop to Hoonah
Back at the hotel, we packed a small bag and waited for our driver to take us back to Juneau airport for a quick flight to the island of Hoonah. I had visited this island on my last trip to film the salmon run and meet the fisherman. We then took another boat trip to the salmon canning factory (see blog). The small plane is full, and Winnie gets to sit in the front next to the pilot. She looks terrified and excited all at once. It’s only a 20-minute flight; before we know it, we will land in Hoonah.
Our guide, Luke (top man), is waiting for us and after a quick greeting, he rushes us into his van, explaining that his friend had just called to say there was a bear on the estuary side and was only 300 metres from the airstrip. We pulled into his drive and walked to the bank around the side of his house, and low and behold, he was right. On the other bank, some 200 metres away, a mother and her young cub walked back to the forest in the long grass. It was so great to see, and Winnie was over the moon, especially as we’d only been here a few minutes. Luke explains that seeing bears with cubs at this time in the afternoon was pretty unusual.
We head off into Hoonah town to get some beer (of course) and pick up his girlfriend Whitney before heading into the woods to search for more bears. I have to say I felt slightly nervous heading off in an old truck with two people I had never met, with beer and guns, to find bears in the middle of the Alaska outback.
Bagging a Few Bears
I needn’t have worried. They were the perfect guides and hosts; we had such fun and laughter. We saw a few bears in their splendour and had a lovely walk. Winnie was over the moon. We checked in at the motel and had a beer and burger at the bar. On the way back to our room, the manager informed us that the forecast was for bad weather mid-morning the next day. So, the chances were that we could be stuck for a day or so if we didn’t get the early morning flight. The motel was so nice and changed the flight for us. This meant getting up at 5 am, which was no problem for me, although Winnie wasn’t too pleased.
The flight was slightly delayed, and we could see the mist rolling in from the local mountains around Hoonah Island. But we got away before the weather closed in.
Back in Juneau, we again dropped into the coffee shop and wandered down to Tracy’s crab shack for an early feast. The menu is so simple: boiled crab, crab bisque, crab cakes, fries, and no sides at all. Winnie has the bisque, and I have legs and fries. Both are nice, and we fill up!
Back at the hotel, we packed our bags and waited for our driver to take us to Juneau Airport for our flight to Anchorage, the next part of our trip.
Anchorage
The flight is on time, and it’s mid-afternoon by the time we get to Anchorage. Our driver is waiting, ready to take us up to Seward on the edge of Resurrection Bay (pronounced “sooward“); this takes us a few hours, and we doze off, still slightly jet-lagged, plus the weather is awful.
On arrival in Seward, it is getting dark, and we check into the hotel and head straight out for a bit of grub. Pretty much across the parking lot opposite is a bar called The Flamingo Lounge. We head in, and it’s rammed. With no reservation, we are really pushing our luck, especially as it is Independence Day weekend. We wait for 10 minutes, and boom, we’re in. I have a local beer. Winnie has a margarita and, of course, gets her ID checked. Our server is surprised she’s 22!
We tuck into fried, mild pickles with jalapeno aioli and sourdough with rosemary garlic butter, followed by halibut with romesco sauce, kale, onions, and tomato. The Caesar Salad is one of the best ways I’ve had it served—long wedges of lettuce, really chunky croutons (baked, not fried), lots of anchovy fillets, cheese, and punch dressing. We skip the option of dessert, just more drinks. Then, we set off to the hotel and bed!
The following morning, we have breakfast and wait for our fishing guide. He is a bit late and turns up in a huge, beaten-up pickup. Out gets a big man in waders and booms. “Hi, I’m Wes, your guide!” We get in the truck and drive down to the main harbour to pick up another guest who will be fishing with us. On the way, Wes explains that we are a bit early for King Salmon, but you never know. There are plenty of sockeye about the river. We pick up the other fisherman, Ian, from New York.
Gone Fishing
At the shop, we are all fitted with waders and fishing poles (rods), hop into the truck again, and head out to the estuary. Once there, Wes explains how we are going to fish. I’d assumed we would fish with lures, spinners or artificial flies. I was wrong, as sockeye salmon are plankton feeders, and the only way to fish for them is what they call snagging. This involves using a heavy, small, 4-pronged grappling iron to drag through the small shallow inlets. You snag the fish and walk onto the small sand banks, dragging the fish with you. For the record, I have never fished like this before, and it seems a bit alien. You’d never fish like this in the UK.
Having said that, it was highly productive, and after a brief lesson on how to cast and snag, Winnie was in with her first fish, then another, before I caught my first one. Ian also did well with the most fish caught all morning. We caught 11 fish in total, and all agreed we needed coffee and a warm-up as even in June, it was rather chilly. We drag the fish back, load up the pickup, and head back into Seaward. Once back, Wes cleans and fillets all the fish. Ian has his fish packed in ice and sent to his New York home. Sadly, as we are not home for a week or so, Wes cannot guarantee they will get to the UK. Instead, we donated the fish to the local community hub, which distributes food to disadvantaged families in the town.
A Well-Earned Lunch
We stop at a local bar-b-q shack called Firebrand BBQ on the outskirts of town for coffee and lunch, and this is right up my street. I order a smoked pork rib plate with smoked potato salad, chopped salad, jalapenos, beans and Texas toast. Winnie tucks into a brisket burrito.
After lunch, we head down to the harbour side to see if we can see a king salmon. A few of the locals are trying at a small stream, and Wes is not happy for some reason. I think he thinks it’s too early to fish for them, but we do see a couple leap up the river to spawn in a vast lake on the other side of the road.
He drops us back at the hotel, and we say our goodbyes. Then, we wander around the local shops and have a drink and biscuits—or, as they say here, ‘cookies’. After an afternoon nap, Winnie and I set off to a small restaurant just up the road from the Flamingo Lounge for a snack of King Crab Curry and fries, then off to bed; what a lovely day!
Whale Watching
We have to be up really early the next day as we are booked on a day cruise out to see the whales, and we have to walk the two miles into town. Not only that, it’s too early to have breakfast at the hotel. Winnie is very quiet, which means she’s tired and hungry. Once we are on our way to the harbour, the beautiful weather cheers Winnie up. This is made even better when we stumble across a breakfast food truck called The Porthole Boom. I ordered a breakfast burrito, and Winnie had a filled breakfast croissant. It was just what we both needed and then she was happy. We checked into the harbour office and realised the boat was stuffed with tourists, which was not what I had expected. I suppose we are also tourists, and they probably thought the same of us.
Once we were on our way, it was really lovely. The scenery was stunning, and the weather could not have been better, with bright blue skies and no wind. The mountains still had snow on them way into June.
We are treated to sea lions, numerous birds, and dolphins, and we have a brief sighting of Minke and Humpback whales, all fascinating and spectacular. On the way back, we sail to the base of one of Kenai Fjords’ most famous glaciers, Holgate. The captain then fishes out large chunks of broken ice from the glacier, and the crew make margaritas with it, and we all have one. That drink could have been made with ice some 10,000 years old; how cool is that!
We landed back in Seward Harbour at about 2:30-ish and walked back to the hotel, chatting about what a lovely day we had had.
The Only Way to Travel
But we couldn’t dawdle; we had to shower and pack our bags as we had a train to catch at 5 pm. A taxi took us and our bags back to the harbour in Seward, right next to the train station. We were getting the Alaska Railroad back to Alyeska, a ski hotel (in season) about an hour from Anchorage. Not only that, but we had booked the glass-top carriage plus dinner in the dining car. After boarding, we are shown to our seats, and a beer is offered and duly accepted. It is very friendly and bustling. We spend the next 3 hours chugging through some of the most spectacular Alaskan scenery in full sunshine. As we eat dinner, we chat to a lovely older couple who are on vacation.
Back upstairs, I can’t sit still and film and photograph every minute of the journey from the open-topped viewing coach; I’m like a big kid with a large train set.
The scenery is breathtaking, and before we know it, we are getting off the train at a remote post, not even a station. We are with another couple and their daughter, and we both nervously joke about nobody turning up to take us to the hotel. But in the end, a shuttle bus from the hotel rolls into view. The 5-star luxury hotel is very impressive, and Winnie and I check in, shower and flop into bed.
I’m up at six and wander down to the coffee shop for my fix, plus a giant peanut cookie. I make a few notes and have a quick read, then nip to the room where Winnie is just getting up. After a splendid but costly breakfast, we take the shuttle bus to our next exciting adventure.
Glacier by Helicopter
Our final day is to fly by helicopter (Alpine Air Alaska) onto another glacier to pick up the dog sledge. We arrive, are given a safety briefing, change into warm and dry gear, and wait outside in the warm sunshine. In the distance, a whirring noise gets louder and louder, and the helicopter flies into view. It lands right in front of us, albeit 50 yards away. People get off, and me Winnie and another couple get on. I sit in the front due to weight distribution, apparently. Our pilot is a good-looking, cool guy with tattoos, a baseball cap, and his sleeves rolled up; he is great fun. He tells us the route up to the glacier, and off we go.
We chat about England and motorbikes. He is besotted with the Isle of Man TT. Once over the ridge into the glacier bowl, he starts to show off and does a flyby of the husky sledge. He’s cool, very cool.
We land on beautiful, clean snow (in June) and meet our guides and dog handlers; they are all super cool. Immediately, the girls take us to see the husky puppies; Winnie is overwhelmed and can’t put them down. We are given a talk about these amazing animals, their owners, and the glacier. A team of new dogs are selected, and we are taken on a sledge around the glacier bowl; it’s a pure and utter joy. We swap over halfway and then arrive back at the base camp. We say our goodbyes, and Winnie has one last hug. Then, over the ridge comes the helicopter.
Have you ever driven a car off a cliff?
We load up and take off, and as you can see (see clips), we make our way around the bowl, then back over the two ridges, down the valley, and back to the heliport. As we climb to the second reach, our pilot looks at me and says, “Have you ever driven a car off a cliff?” “Erm, no,” I said. He smiles and says, “This is what it’s like” At that moment, he flies over the ridge and then drops immediately, falling like a stone. My heart feels like it’s burrowing a hole out of my back, and I can’t breathe for a second or two. Winnie and I nervously laugh as we level out and continue down the lush valley bathed in summer sun.
We follow the winding river and road banking from side to side, getting steadily steeper as the river twists and turns. The pilot then says, “Just like being in Vietnam,” a throwback to films such as Platoon and Apocalypse, where Huey pilots were famed for their flying skills. We get the transfer back to the hotel, and Winnie has a massage. I write a few notes and doze off.
A final snack before leaving Alaska
On our last night of this foodie tour, we decided to have a sushi dinner in the hotel’s Sakura restaurant. It was terrific, and the sushi was prepared right in front of us. I had the grilled eel nigiri, and Winnie had the salmon & avocado rolls with warm sake and cold beers. All were very good and impeccably fresh.
My last meal on this fabulous trip was in Anchorage airport and consisted of a wild salmon sandwich, but it was served like a burger with hot sauce and fries, and cooked to perfection. Now, it’s not often that you see that in an airport.
Inspired Recipes
Some recipes inspired by my all-too-brief trip around Alaska
Wild Alaska Halibut Wrapped in Prosciutto with Pistachio Pesto
Wild Alaska Halibut Wrapped in Prosciutto with Pistachio Pesto offers a delightful and flavourful way to enjoy the delicate taste of halibut.
View RecipeBarbecued Wild Alaska King Crab Legs with Saffron Aioli
This tantalizing dish featuring succulent crab legs coated in barbecue sauce and grilled to perfection, served with a creamy saffron aioli. Perfect for impressing guests on special occasions.
View RecipeCajun Wild Alaska Salmon with Cucumber and Chilli Dip
With picy Cajun-seasoned wild Alaska salmon, grilled to perfection, and served with a zesty cucumber and chili dip for a delightful blend of flavors.
View RecipeArriving in Juneau
If you go, make sure you have your camera ready as you get spectacular views as you come into land. It’s a monster, stretching for 13 miles, and is 3,000 years old. Once we landed, our driver took us to the river that flows from the glacier to get a closer view. We were lucky enough to see sea eagles waiting for the odd salmon (it was very early in the season for king salmon). Sockeye salmon were just starting to run, and hopefully, we would catch some later in the trip.
As we drive to Juneau town, which takes about 40 minutes, our driver stops once again to chat with a single local angler who had just caught a hefty-sized fish. As we watched three sea eagles land around us, obviously waiting for the fish gutting to begin, they were genuinely stunning birds and somewhat menacing. Just up the road, we have a quick look at the salmon ladder, which keeps track of migrating fish on the way upriver to spawn.
Arriving at the hotel, we quickly checked in and pretty much went to bed straight away; it had been a very long day.
