We caught an early flight to Alaska from Seattle on our third day. Our shuttle left the hotel at 5 a.m. (but that was really 8 a.m. our time so we didn’t feel like it was really early). We pre-ordered food for the flight in case not much was open at the airport. Turns out that was a smart decision because there was just one coffee shop open and it was taking them a long time to just get coffee orders done, let alone food.

We lucked out to find a VRBO that let us rent a van, too. They met us right outside baggage claim and we were off to our cabin. My husband and I started pointing out things right away to our children on our drive from Anchorage to Eagle River. 

“Phones down – look for wildlife!” I would say this often on our trip. We got settled, made a quick trip to Walmart for groceries and had our first moose sighting on the drive back – he was just standing in someone’s backyard. (Check out the video!)

After a bit, we headed back to Anchorage to visit a favorite restaurant – Mooses Tooth. On our way there, we had our second moose sighting – one of my children saw a young moose running along the fence of the military base.

Mooses Tooth is a wood-fired pizzeria and pub. They brewed their own beer before it was a fad. Their Arctic Apple Ale was around back when we lived there in 2007-2010. The have quite a variety of pizzas – including ones with reindeer sausage and salmon. (Mooses Tooth: https://moosestooth.net)

We so enjoyed the views from our VRBO! We were up on a hill and could see the mountains from the yard. Along the yard, there was some tall grass and we could see where a moose had “bedded” down for a while and where it had walked when it left since the grass was still packed down. (VRBO: https://www.vrbo.com/460223)

Our first day was already memorable and we would have five more days to explore!

Next post … up north to Wasilla and Palmer!