Adventure Racers and podcast hosts Andrea Anderson and Chip Dodd join Jennie to share about their Alaska trip in 2024 including visiting Cordova
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Music credits: Largo Montebello, by Domenico Mannelli, CC.
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Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:06):
Jennie, welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast with
me, your host, Jennie ThwingFlaming, my occasional co host
and full time husband, Jay and Ibring you accurate, helpful and
entertaining information aboutAlaska, travel and life in
Alaska, before we start theepisode, we would like to thank
(00:27):
our Patreon members for makingthis podcast possible. You can
join them at the link in theshow notes. We are so grateful
for your support of independentpodcasts. Enjoy the show.
Are you interested in havingsome big adventures in Alaska,
or do you want to get way offthe beaten track to Cordova?
(00:51):
Well, I haven't even been toCordova, but that's what we're
going to talk about today withAndrea and chip. My guests today
are Andrea Anderson and ChipDodd Andrea and Chip are
adventure racers. We'll talkabout what that is in a minute,
and they are here to share theirstory of their trip to Alaska in
(01:15):
july 2024and they did a variety of things
on their trip besides just theadventure race, including going
to Cordova and they live inVirginia. Andrea and chip,
welcome to Alaska, uncovered.
Thank you for being here. Thanksfor having us. Thanks for having
(01:36):
us. Yeah. So for everybodylistening, Andrea and Chip also
have a podcast that is aboutadventure racing, and I'll put
the link to it in the shownotes, but I would love it if,
before we talk about your Alaskatrip, if you could Just briefly
explain to everyone whatadventure racing is.
(02:02):
Sure? Well, adventure racing isa multi disciplinary sport. It
usually involves mountainbiking, some sort of paddling
and trekking or trail runningand map and compass navigation.
So there's no GPS. There's noconnection to the outside world.
(02:24):
There is usually a tracker tomake sure that you're safe, and
the race organizers can findyou, and your fans can follow
along on the tracking website.
But the range of lengths ofraces can start at, you know,
three hours, which would be anentry level family race to multi
day races. So the race we wentto Alaska for was a five day
(02:45):
race. So, yeah, we love to do itawesome. So I know that you did
this trip, like when you got intouch with me about a year ago,
over a year ago, um, you werelooking to plan the other parts
of your trip around theadventure race and your trip to
(03:06):
Cordova, but, um, I would love,uh, Chip, could you share just a
little bit about why you tookthis trip to Alaska at this
particular time there was therace, but I know that wasn't the
only reason. Yeah, sure. Well, alot of it was probably the race,
but I guess, you know, Andreahas some heritage in Alaska, so
(03:28):
it's kind of on her bucket listto go, to go there. So that was
kind of on the radar. But whenit comes to adventure racing,
you know, sometimes there's thesame race every single year at
the same country, or whatever.
So you go do it, and then you'rekind of done, and you don't have
to go back to that, because I'vealready been to Croatia. I've
already been to Ecuador orwhatever. Yeah, in this
(03:48):
situation, there was a race inAlaska, way back, I can't
remember, like 2012 or 2016 orsomething, before Andrew and I
really got into the big races.
And it was a one and done. And,you know, it was on YouTube, and
a whole bunch of our friends haddone it, and it was amazing. And
so our friend Jeff leninger, whoowns warrior adventure racing,
he basically rekindled it andput it on the radar. And that's
(04:12):
when I was like, Okay, we thishas got to be the time. Like, if
Jeff's doing the race there,we're familiar with his company,
his team, his style. And so thatwas this, this was going to be
our year to go up there. Andlike you said, we didn't just go
for the race. I mean, the racewas five days, which usually
means seven or eight days,because you got a couple days
getting ready for the race, andthen there's an award ceremony.
(04:33):
But, you know, we decided, hey,let's, let's take a lot of time.
So we went up there and got anRV, and kind of just wandered
around and some of yourguidance. And then, you know,
I'm more of a wing IT guy, whichis get there and you go to a
local diner and talk to peopleand see what we should do, and,
Andrea, yeah, and then research,and, you know, all of that. So
(04:54):
it we did a little bit of both.
Well, that's a really goodbalance, then between the two.
You So Andrea, before we getinto kind of like the basics of
your itinerary, tell, telleverybody a little bit about
Cordova. Why? Well, first ofall, let's talk about where
Cordova is, and then why thatwas such an important place for
(05:18):
you. And then we'll get intoyour itinerary more in general,
sure. And I should mention,there was one more reason we
were coming, and it was becausemy youngest daughter had
graduated from high school. Andit was so this was a trip for
her, yes, as well, too. So it'sso great that this one trip we
got to, you know, check off allof these boxes, but going to
(05:41):
Cordova has been on my bucketlist since I can remember.
My grandpa and my dad were bothborn in Cordova. My grandpa
lived there most of his life,and he was a fisherman. My dad
then grew up in New York, andhad been out of touch with his
dad until he was 25 years old.
Wow, I'm, I'm trying to makethis a short story, but knowing
(06:04):
these details kind of help. SoI had never been to Alaska, and
it was always kind of a mythicalplace, you know, that my grandpa
would talk about his fishingexcursions, and
I just never, I never knew thatI'd get to go. So I Cordova, was
(06:27):
amazing. We took the Alaskamarine highway, and I'd highly
suggest your episode on that. Infact, I learned so much from you
that I really appreciate thetime that we spent. You know, I
booked a half an hour with youto help us plan
(06:48):
balancing so many things. You'rebalancing my daughter's trip
along with me wanting toresearch my his family history
and then this race. So youreally helped us prioritize
things, and helped me get mymind wrapped around what we
could fit in, which we did fit awhole lot. But can you say a
(07:08):
little more about the ferry,just because that's something a
lot of people are interested inand have questions about, but
don't always realize, you know,until they kind of dive into it,
like details of the schedule andhow much time it takes. So can
you just tell everyone a littlebit about where you boarded the
ferry for Cordova and how longthe ride was? Sure, I might not
(07:32):
get the details right. That'sokay. Oh, we boarded. Yeah, we
boarded in Whittier, yep. And toget to Cordova. I want to say it
took us about eight hours. Ittook us the full day. Yep,
and you know, there's no there'sthere are no roads to Cordova,
so you either have to go thereby boat or plane. The the ferry
(07:55):
was very affordable, and we wereable to drive the RV onto the
ferry. One thing that, you know,we learned was that you can't
access your your vehicle, evenif it is an RV while you're on
the ferry, right? Fine, youknow, we, we had a lovely time
in the cabin and the diningarea. The views were wonderful,
(08:18):
and the people were amazing. Andit was so just really great to
connect with some people thatwill, you know, probably keep in
touch with and have kept intouch with. And one of them,
I told her the reasons we werethere, and she gave us her phone
number, and we later planned tomeet up, and she showed us all
(08:40):
around Cordova.
It was such a great experience.
In fact, we met the next morningat Baja taco, which I gotta say,
might be one of my favoriterestaurants of the whole trip.
Oh, and we met there, you know,she, she knew almost everybody.
It's a very, very small town.
(09:04):
Yeah. And she said, you know,why don't there's some older
fishermen in the restaurant. Andshe said, why don't you go ask
them if they knew your grandpa?
And I did, and they did. That'sso cool. It was really cool.
They knew his nickname. TheyThey just knew a lot about him,
and it just making thoseconnections was really
meaningful to me.
(09:26):
Yeah, I loved Cordova. Like Isaid, it's very small. Yeah, it
only took a day to see the town.
In fact, we probably could havegone, you know, seen it three or
four times over in one day inthe town,
but then the next day, we wentout to Sheridan glacier, which
(09:48):
the lake there. There's a shorthike to where we put in with our
pack raft, and, oh, it wasamazing, amazing paddle. We had
all.
So done the Valdez glacier KayakTour. So we had done that with
my daughter, I felt like thatwas, you know, a little bit of a
(10:11):
safer entry point to do it witha tour the first time around.
But chip and I, you know, we, weadventure all around the world,
and had our pack rafts with us.
So, you know, we had our drysuits, our pack rafts, and it
was a great Sheridan glacier wasso removed from, you know,
people, we were just, yeah, outthere in a gorgeous, Oh, that's
(10:33):
awesome. Um, one logisticalpoint I just want to bring up
for our listeners about theferry. So this eightish hour
ferry ride, and there are somevariables that can make it a
little longer or shorter,is not a ferry that goes every
(10:54):
day, and it is a short ferry forAlaska, even though it's eight
hours. So that, I'd say the bigthing, and you hit on this
already, Andrea, if you'rethinking about a ferry trip, is
just knowing that it doesn't goevery day and that it takes a
long time. But it's also awesomefor all the reasons that you
(11:17):
mentioned, a couple of littlethings on the ferry. I would
highly suggest bringingbinoculars. Oh, yeah. Views were
stunning. And for us being, youknow, in Virginia, at sea level,
with tiny mountainsbeing down there in the summer,
you know, it's kind of niceoutside, but, you know, it's
Alaska, so it's like, you'rereally almost, you know, even
(11:40):
though you're at sea level, youcan see mountains that don't
have vegetation or trees. So youget this big, high altitude,
Rocky Mountain, Alpine feel. Andthen there's like, glaciers,
like, here you are at sea levelwith binoculars, looking at
glaciers. And it just, to me, itwas like, this is just
unbelievable.
It was nice that they had foodon board. So, you know, they had
(12:01):
hot food and a soda machine. Soif you have a laptop, you can,
you know, go to the dining hall,plug in and get work done.
Internet most of the time wasfine.
But if you also just want to seethe views, you can sit up front.
It's like the space shuttle withlike, yeah, see everything. And
it was just really, really cool.
And some people like camp out onthe deck and just get some sleep
so it didn't feel crowded. Itfelt super comfortable, and we
(12:25):
just really enjoyed theexperience. Yeah, that's
awesome. I also want to justmention about the ferry. If
you're bringing a vehicle, it'sso for people listening, you
absolutely have to have areservation as early as you can,
if you're going to just walk onthe ferry, then it's, it's much
it's much less expensive, andit's also doesn't require quite
(12:49):
as much planning. But if you'rebringing a vehicle, especially
if it's an RV, you gotta, have,gotta have a reservation, sweet.
Okay, anything else either ofyou want to say about Cordova
specifically, before we go backto your kind of big picture
itinerary,I would say the I know most
(13:10):
people don't travel to Alaskawith their own inflatable raft
and dry suits, but that's true.
They do not. They do notSheridan glacier that that was
absolutely stunningly beautiful.
So even if you can find a tour,we really liked that there was a
lot of like floating icebergsthat you're kind of navigating
(13:30):
around. And many of them havethat, like they've, I guess they
call it calving. They've brokenoff just recently, and so
they're this deep blue color.
And if you get it on a sunnyday, or at least a patchy,
cloudy day where the sun'shitting it, I mean, it is like
being on another planet. Yeah,highly suggest doing a kayak
(13:51):
glacier thing. And if you can,even if it's over in Valdez or
Sheridan, is amazing, yes, yeah.
So the only other thing I'd addabout Cordova is there's a
great, small History Museum inCordova, and I thought it was
really informational. Andsurprisingly enough, I saw a
(14:11):
picture of my grandpa's boatlooked like the 1940s
but it was really neat. And Iwould also say to have realistic
expectations. This city is notreally a tourist destination,
right? It's a workingfisherman's town, yep. And so
(14:33):
there's just a couplerestaurants, just a couple of I
think maybe only one or twohotels. There was just one
campground that I was able tofind. And, you know, booked all
of that ahead of time. And Ithink if I were to go again, we
were very close to being able togo to the copper ribbon River
(14:54):
salmon jam. Oh.
I guess it the annual festivalthey have in the summer. I think
we were a week off or something.
We couldn't fit that into ourschedule, but that looked like
it would be a really fun time.
Yeah, that would be awesome.
Also for people on a budget, Ithink because Cordova,
(15:15):
everything has to get there byboat or plane, everything was
just a little more expensive,yeah, if you are taking a car or
even a backpack or whatever,just, you know, maybe provision
up a little bit Yep, in a largertown before going over there,
yeah, not to take away theirtheir tourism, but, you know, go
to the restaurants and stuff.
But just, just be aware it is alittle bit more expensive, yes,
(15:36):
yeah. And in places in Alaska,off the road system, like
Cordova in general,you know you can't when you go
to the grocery store. There mayor may not be certain things
just might not be there thatthat's pretty common in a
distance in addition to thecost. So depends on how long
it's been since the last bargeor airplane and that kind of
(15:59):
thing. So also one other thing,and maybe this is all around
Alaska, but in Cordova, weexperienced it. The one lady
that was showing us all around.
She was very proud of the bearpopulation there. And yeah,
trying to show us bears bothblack and brown. And we didn't
get to see any bears, but shedrove us all around trying
(16:20):
places where she sees them,yeah? And she she mentioned, you
know, do we, do we have a hornor something for the bears? And
we're like, oh, no, we have bearspray, because the race requires
it. So we got into town andbought bear spray, yeah? Like,
theoretically, good, responsiblecitizens. And then she said, You
really need a horn? We're like,No, we got the bear spray. We'll
be good. And she was kind of alittle bit demanding. And then
(16:41):
we actually ended up going byour actually ended up going by
our house, and she came out andgave us horns, and
she didn't want us to spray thebears. We didn't realize these
bears are, like her friends,and, you know, we're thinking
the bears are going to attackus, and she's like, you're going
to hurt my bears. So just, justif anybody goes, be aware that,
you know, a horn is the like,the least damaging way to get a
(17:03):
bear to leave you alone, butmaybe have the bear spray as a
backup plan. Yeah, the localsare sensitive to that. Yeah,
that's a good point chip,because I've never had to use
bear spray,but if you do have to use it,
you're, you're already kind ofin trouble. So, um, it's
definitely a last minutedefending yourself kind of
(17:27):
thing. Um, so other and the dealwith the horn is all about just
making noise, any any kind ofnoise when you're on the trail,
that really helps the bears keeptheir distance to begin with
before they even get close toyou. So that's a huge deal.
Cool. Thank you for sharingthat.
(17:48):
Okay, so let's go back to thebig picture of your trip. So you
were doing this trip to Cordova,you were doing the adventure
race. So tell tell everybody alittle bit about how long the
trip was total and how much ofthat time was doing the
(18:11):
different things that you did.
Okay, so our trip was basicallythree weeks, or maybe three
weeks in two days, yep,something like that. The first
week was basically with mydaughter there. The second week
was when we went to Cordova, andthen the third week was
dedicated to the race. So thatseemed like a good amount of
(18:34):
time, but there's never enoughtime. I already know
that's so true. Yeah, yeah. Youknow, it's funny because I
mentioned, you know, earlierthat I've never been to Cordova,
and you know, I lived in Alaskafor years, and I still spend
eight to 12 weeks there a year,depending on exactly what my
(18:58):
schedule is. And I have a longlist of things I would love to
do that I haven't done. SoI always tell people that when
they're planning their trip islike, focus on and we talked
about that too, you know,figuring out what you really
want, what's most important, andtry to let go of seeing it all,
because that's not a thing, evenfor lifelong Alaskans, not
(19:26):
a thing. You know, Sadie reallywanted to see Valdez. And you
know, of course, being from thelower 48 like, all we know about
Valdez is, that's where that,you know, the oil spill
happened. Yeah, so it's kind ofneat, like you actually are in
the town, but it was quite thehike. I mean, I'm glad we had
the RV, you know, but gettingfrom Anchorage all the way to
Valdez and back, it's likealmost a whole day of driving,
(19:47):
especially if stopping hike orsomething along the way. And
there's not a lot between thetwo, other than a few gas
stations and little dinky towns.
So either way it's it's like oneof those whenever we travel,
we're on the fence of.
Do you stay within a given areaand really just try to do a
whole lot of activity andminimize your driving and travel
time? Or do you, you know, doyou do a big, big thing over to
(20:10):
Valdez just to see this epiccity? I'm glad we did it the way
we did it, but, yeah, but it is,yeah, you don't it. The Alaska
is huge. It is huge. You don'twant to out of a if you're only
there for a week, you definitelydon't want to take a whole day
driving out and back, you know,like, pick a local area and stay
to it and just do a lot ofhiking and other stuff. That's
(20:31):
really good advice. And by theway, listeners, we have an
episode coming up in July aboutValdez, so you'll get to learn
more about Valdez then, okay, sothat first week, you were in the
RV with your daughter, and youwent to Valdez back and forth
(20:51):
from Anchorage. Yes, yes. Andthen, oh, go ahead Andrea. I was
just going to add that on theway. We stopped at Matanuska
glacier. Awesome both ways. Onthe way back, we did a hike
there at lion head, which was anamazing way to see the Matanuska
glacier. And then going outthere, we took the tour. So
(21:13):
awesome. Out the highlight, yes,Matanuska glacier is so fun.
Love it. Okay, so you had a weekin the RV going to Valdez and
back from Anchorage, and thenyou had a week in Cordova, which
was still with the RV. And thenyou had the race for a week.
Yes, yep, okay, and that was inAlyeska. Was the main, you know,
(21:37):
the basically the race hotel wasin Alyeska, yes, and which is in
Goodwood, for those of youlistening, which is quite close
to Anchorage. And one thing Iwanted to mention for everyone
listening is go back and listento our best hikes in the
anchorage area episode, becauseit covers basically the same
(21:59):
area of the Chugach Mountains,where Andrea and chips race was,
and it's a really beautifularea, so definitely recommend
going back and listening to thatone. So
I know you didn't know exactlywhere you were going before the
race started. That was part ofthe deal. Is there anything
(22:21):
about the race itself that youwant to share with everybody
before we move on?
Sure,that was quite an experience all
all in and of itself. But itstarted like you said. We didn't
know where we're going until weget the maps, which is given out
on the day that the race starts.
So we were bussed down toSeward, and at Seward the race
(22:46):
started with climbing up anddown Mount marathon. Oh, wow. If
you'reenthusiast, you might know about
the mount marathon race. Theycall it the toughest 5k on the
planet. Yeah, it's three, 3000feet of elevation gain. And,
you know, I think that it'spretty attainable, though. So,
(23:10):
you know, you might not want togo do the world's toughest 5k as
a race, but yeah, the Sewardwhere, you know the beginning of
the Iditarod is, or used to be,I don't know, used to be
beginning there the history,yeah, yeah. The modern race
doesn't go to Seward. But yes,there is a long history. There
is the the history of theIditarod relates to Seward.
(23:32):
Yeah, yeah. So you can go thereand do that hike on your own.
It's amazing. Make sure you takehiking poles. In fact, that's
one of my suggestions for anyonegoing to Alaska, because you're
surely going to be on a trail.
And they come in handy. Yeah,they do. Yeah. The race started
there. And I think anotherhighlight of that race,
(23:52):
as we were going north, we wentup to Cooper Landing and then
down to hope, and we took theresurrection pass to get there,
and that pass was amazing. It'sa 38 mile trail. People
backpack. You can bike it. Wehad to bike it. And I think
(24:13):
people usually take multipledays to do it. It didn't take us
more than a day, I don'tbelieve, but the trails were
really pretty accessible as faras mountain biking goes. And
there's cabins along the way,yeah. So it was just so
beautiful. And if you go thatdirection, from Cooper Landing
(24:34):
to hope, that downhill seems tolast forever and ever, which is
really fun when you put so mucheffort to climbing up. It was
really fun to go down. Yeah,yeah.
So what about you chip? Whatother things about the race? So
was, so was the whole race thenon the Kenai Peninsula.
(24:55):
Well, once, once we got to hopewe made our way over.
To the Portage Glacier Lake,okay? And then from there, we
took the portage pass trail overto Whittier. Oh, that is
awesome. Trail, interrupting fora second to say, if you're
listening and you're a hiker,you gotta do Portage pass. And
(25:16):
if you just do that section,it's like four miles with about
round trip with about 1000 feetof elevation gain. So if it's
not part of this bigger thing,totally doable day hike for
hikers, okay, go ahead, yeah,it's one of my favorite hikes in
Alaska. No question. It wasreally great. Unfortunately,
there was no view of Whittierthat day. It was really cloudy.
(25:38):
It that's an amazing, amazingarea. And like you said, it's
just two miles. And if you wantto step up your game and you
have a pack raft, you can dothat Trek and put your pack raft
in the lake there, and getslowly to the glaciers. And
there's a beautiful waterfall.
In fact, there are manywaterfalls that was just an
amazing part of the race aswell. Yep, love it. Okay, so.
(25:59):
And then after that, where wasthat the end? Or did it go over
to another area? So, after,after going over to Whittier and
back toback to the portage Lake, then
we hopped on our bikes to get toGirdwood, okay? And then at
(26:20):
alieska resort, there wassupposed to be a glacier
section, and unfortunately, itwas canceled due to weather. Got
it. We didn't get to do that,but that's on our list for next
time we go to all of our glaciergear, our crampons and our ice
axes. And you know that might bebeyond what some some folks do
(26:42):
that are your listeners, butmaybe not. We're beginners. And
you know that we were lookingforward to using all of our new
skills, you got to startsometimes. So yeah, and you know
there are lots of places,including Matanuska glacier and
root glacier in Ringel st EliasNational Park, where you can do
glacier trekking and iceclimbing and things like that
(27:07):
with a guide if you have noexperience and no gear. So yeah,
I'm glad you mentioned that.
Andrea, okay, so most of yourrace was really in the Kenai
mountains and on the KenaiPeninsula, rather than in the
Chugach Mountains, although partof it was in the Chugach
Mountains. So that's a little Imisunderstood that before, and I
(27:30):
know you didn't know where youwere going ahead of time. So
chip, not exactly sure where wewere. Yeah, no, I get it. Chip,
do you want to add anythingabout the race before we move
on. Yeah, she covered most ofit. There was quite a few white
water sections that we did that,if anybody does like white
water, it was punchy fun. Itdidn't, it didn't feel
(27:51):
dangerous. You know, therewasn't like big class three
rapids with consequences, so youcould get through it on a pack
raft or a ducky or, you know,you know, you know, something,
something that can handle lotsof splashy white water. You
know, water is cold, but, youknow, with a dry suit, or
whatever, we were fine, andso that was definitely a
highlight. Is the White Watersections. Yeah, that Portage
Lake had a glacier coming rightinto the lake. So, yeah, this is
(28:14):
one of those race I mean, orit's just a, it's a, it's a
state that, just everywhere youlook is like, wow, wow, wow. And
so, especially if the weather isgood, but yeah, it these races
are intimidating because, youknow, you just, when you sign
up, you just sign up to do therace. You have no idea where
you're going to go. And youjust, you load a bus, you have
no idea where the bus is going,and they just hand you maps. And
(28:37):
this is usually, like, 25 mapsthat are different scales, but
many of them are zoomed out.
You're desperately on this bus,just trying to figure out, like,
okay, we're, you know, how isthis gonna work? And yes, that's
part of the adventure. It'slike, it's the adventure of not
knowing you're just, you'rebasically thrown into the
wilderness. Here's your compass,you know. And have at it. And
(29:00):
so it's a ton of fun. So ifanybody wants to do do a race
like like that. I mean, startwith a smaller race. Don't do
Alaska first, because it washard. And, yeah, you did some
experience. Anybody to go fivedays you get into nutrition and
sleep strategy and chafing andblisters and all this stuff that
you don't get when you do sometype of sport that's less than
(29:21):
2448 hours, Yes, yep. But otherthan, I was just it was really
beautiful. All the people we metwere nice. You know, the whole
time, we're terrified of bears,because we keep hearing about
bears and all this. And all overYouTube there's bears, bears,
bears. During this entire visit,when we were in the wilderness,
most of the time, we are notcity people. So we find RV park,
(29:42):
and then we find a hike, we do ahike, and maybe we find a pub or
something afterward. But otherthan that, we're not going to
museums and stuff usually, yeah,and this whole time before
however long, we're there twoand a three weeks, three and a
half, whatever it was, we neversaw a bear until very end. We
got done with the race and ahandful of the.
Racers, we decided to go to azoo, and we went and saw a bear
(30:03):
in Oh,well, I'm glad that you got
that, yeah, because I was like,we can't leave Alaska without
seeing a bear, you know. But onthe hand, we saw bear droppings
all over the place, yeah, it ispuckering to be hauling butt
down a trail, you know, like,like, that resurrection trail.
Yeah, there's big piles of bearpoop in the trail. So, you know,
(30:24):
the bears are there, and theyuse your trail as their
bathroom. And, you know, we justnever saw one, so I was pretty
happy about that. Yeah, yeah, Ithat's a very relatable story.
Oh, boy. All right. Well, we'regonna take a short break, and
when we come back, we will talkmore with Andrea and Chip about
(30:48):
their trip.
Hi everyone. Here we are inApril. Those of you who are
traveling to Alaska this summer,your trip is just around the
corner. If you want to go thissummer and you haven't made your
plans yet, please let me helpyou. I would love to help you
figure it out in one of my 30minute planning consults, there
(31:12):
are only a few more days thatI'm doing it, between now and
May 6, and then I'll be stoppinguntil September. So book one of
those today, if you want to getmy help, I'd love to meet you
back to the show.
We are back with Andrea Andersonand Chip Dodd. They are
adventure racers and hosts ofthe this ability adventures
(31:36):
podcast. And they went to Alaskain July of 2024 for three weeks,
and did an adventure race, wentto Cordova, and also took an RV
over to Valdez. Sowe're going to transition now to
talking about, like, some ofyour favorites, things you would
(31:57):
do differently, that kind ofthing. So I would love to have
each of you share what's yourfavorite place you went to. And
if that feels too impossible,which it might, then maybe
instead you could tell us if youcould only go back to one place,
where would it be?
(32:22):
That is such a hard, hardquestion. I know, I know it is
chip you need to go first. I'lltry. It's hard, but I was
thinking, you know, we were on alittle bit of a tight timeframe
while we had Sadie with us,because we had to get over to
Valdez and back. Yep, I leftValdez thinking there's probably
(32:46):
50 more things I want to do inthis little town, because
probably it was a big enoughtown that it felt hustle and
bustle. There was bars andrestaurants and the fishing
community. There is like off thecharts. So every time all the
fishermen come in. They gotthese huge fish. What halibut, I
think it is. And just, you know,I wanted to just ask 1000
(33:06):
questions. I wanted to gofishing, yeah, salmon, I guess,
come up there, like we went tothe salmon kind of museum where
they not museum, but the salmonprocessing facility. So, yeah,
be there sometime when thesalmon are running and see all
the bears attacking the salmon.
Yeah. So Valdez, I felt like weneeded a few more days. It did
have two or three RV parks, soif anybody does like RVing and
(33:26):
camping, it was a great way toget over there and see it and
drive over. We were in a rush.
We're trying to get to Valdez.
So yeah, we do a hike here andthere. But I felt like,
literally, from Anchorage toValdez and back, if you had two
weeks, you could, you could dothat whole route, and the drive
over and back is unbelievably,stunningly beautiful. So you
want to leave time to pull overand look around with your
(33:48):
binoculars and talk to peoplelike we did the one hike, and
there was some dude up on thetop of the hill with a spotting
scope, and he's a hunter, andhe's not hunting, but he's a
hunter with the spotty scoop. Sohe's showing us all these
animals that we would have neverseen. Yeah, where to look and
what to look for. And so it's,you know, you want to, you want
(34:08):
to save time to really meet thepeople,
the the one that, again, from adownside standpoint, in
Anchorage, I was kind ofsurprised at the homelessness in
Alaska. I wasn't expecting next,it's cold, you know, you kind of
think of, you know, people go toFlorida, but I was, I was kind
of surprised at how many thingslike that they were. But again,
(34:32):
I'm not a big fan of city, soI'm kind of like, let's get in
and get out and go see thewilderness.
But, you know, I'm glad that youmentioned that chip, because,
you know, I'm I spend a lot oftime in Anchorage with, well,
with and without guests, andthat is something people comment
on frequently. And I think oftenpeople are surprised that
(34:55):
Anchorage is a city, you know,it's a it.
Has, it has homelessness. Ithas, you know, housing is, is
it's hard for people to gethousing and keep housing and get
health care and, like all theother all the challenges that
cities across the US faceanchorage houses as well, for
(35:17):
sure. Yeah, yep. Oh, one otherhack that we did that I was
really excited that we did foranybody that kind of does a trip
like this, where you have a lotof gear, or you have a multi
phased trip, like we had Sadiefor the one period, had to come
back and then drop off theairport, and then we go on
another adventure. We actually,the minute we got into town, we
went to a little storage unitplace and got a little tiny
(35:37):
storage unit. It was supercheap. Oh, good idea. We were
able to take all of our glaciergear and all this stuff and
store it in the storage unit.
And then we could, we could goin the RV without all this
extra, extra stuff and luggage,yeah, that kind of stuff. And
then we were able to, you know,come back and get it. And then,
of course, when we turned in theRV, like we used indie campers
for the RV, so we didn't needthe RV during the adventure
(35:57):
race. So we were able to getback to the storage unit, grab
all our stuff, put all theluggage back in, and then turn
in the RV and then now get over.
And actually, one of the guys wemet on the boat
on the going over to Cordova,one of the guys that we met, he
was like, Oh yeah, if you want,I get my pickup truck and we'll,
I'll take you over to alieskawith all your gear. Oh, that's
so fun. Yeah, super nice guy.
And yeah, actually pulled in. Hesays, I actually kind of hate
(36:21):
driving. Why don't you drivelike guy he just met, and I'm
getting into this big old Dooleytruck and with all of our gear,
and we're driving over toalieska, oh, really, the the
people in Alaska are all justsuper amazing. Yeah,
yeah. Alaskans are incredible.
Okay, so Andrea, how about you?
(36:43):
Hopefully that gave you a minuteto think. Yeah, about Yes, it
did, yes. Keep coming back toyou know, when we're adventure
racing, we're trying to go fast.
We're trying to make our timesand cut offs, and it's 24/7 so
some of the time we're racing inthe dark. Yeah. So I keep
thinking, I would love to goback do that whole race again in
slow motion, you know? Yeah.
(37:08):
Want to stop and see everythingthat we might not have seen in
the dark, and particularly theresurrection pass. I just can't
say enough about that. It wasjust just so gorgeous at the top
there, and the little cabinsthat you can reserve, I love to
reserve one of those cabins. SoI think that's the place I'd
like to go back to. Love it.
That's great. And what about foryou? Andrea, because has chip
(37:30):
kind of got into the sub bit,and his answer of like things
that you might do differentlynext time, or things that
weren't as great. How would youanswer that one? Well, I think,
like he alluded to staying inone place a little bit longer.
Yeah, would be nice. You know,we did hone it in after talking
with you quite a bit, sowe did try to stay longer than
(37:56):
we might try, but that's what Iwould probably do, stay a little
bit longer, yeah,stay longer in Alaska, or stay
longer, like in Valdez orCordova,
our resurrection, yeah, right,stay as long as you can in a lot
(38:16):
you know, you're paying themoney to get up there. Yeah, you
can. But I was really thinkingwithin our trip to spend, you
know, a little bit more time ineach place that we were at
instead, or go to fewer placesand spend more time. Yep, Yep,
cool. I think that's, that's afrequent reflection that people
(38:37):
have, including me, and Isometimes be like, Oh, yeah. Or,
you know, often I'm like, if Iwasn't working, I would have
done that differently, right?
Yeah. So either, oh, go ahead,Chip just real quick, because
we, both, Andrew and I, are ableto work remotely. We actually,
(38:58):
it seemed like in the in thecity areas, the Internet was
actually really good, and webrought a Starlink with us, but
we ended up not needing it asmuch as we were expecting. Yeah,
that was for people who areremote workers. It actually,
again, it wasn't that bad. Andshe's on Verizon, I T and T,
yeah, so I was impressed withthat. The other thing was super
surprising, which I kind of knewit was coming, but until you
(39:19):
experience it, it's, it's justweird, um, the sun doesn't set.
So you can actually plan reallybig days of stuff, because
you're not worried, like, youknow, oh my gosh, it's 630 the
sun's going down. No, it's like1130 and, you know, we almost
needed to tape a piece ofcardboard over the top of the RV
(39:39):
to stop the light from coming.
Yeah, could sleep. Yes, you canreally plan big days of lots of
activities. I mean, stuff closesand stuff, but just hiking and
pack rafting and stuff likesunset is not a not a thing you
need to worry about. Yeah, it'sfunny, because when you live in
Alaska during the summer.
(40:00):
Or it's still like that. Andthen you get to, like, mid
August, and you're like, why amI so tired? And you're usually,
you know, working in a job crazyhours. And then after that, you
go for a hike, and you're justkind of like,
and then, you know, it startsgetting dark at night, and
you're like, Oh, I'm so tired.
Yeah, love it cool. Okay, so Iwould love to know now, of
(40:25):
course, Sadie is not herebecause she's graduated and is
off living her best life, butI'd love to know like, were
there any places that she talkedabout so let's just review she
had just graduated from highschool, yes, yes. Okay, so were
there any things, and I know shewasn't with you the whole time,
(40:46):
but were there any particularthings that she really loved or
didn't love on your trip?
So she really loved the thekayaking tour in Valdez that we
did to see the Valdez glacier,she really that was her
highlight. Okay, I think she wasa little surprised that it was
(41:12):
kind of colder than she thoughtit might be. And, yeah,
you know that kind of meant thatthe cute outfits she brought she
didn't need, you know, she endedup, yeah, you know, the rain,
the rain gear, a little morethan she probably expected, yes,
but that said that was reallyminor. I think she really,
(41:35):
really was happy about the wholetrip. Love it. The one thing she
was a little bummed about shewas really, really wanted to see
the sled dogs. Oh yeah. We went,like, way out of our way to go
to the sled dog place whereyou're supposed to be able to
see the dogs. And it was closed,and there were no dogs, so that
that was a little bit of abummer. Yeah, yeah, that was the
(41:56):
Iditarod headquarters. And Ithink I didn't do enough
research on that they are theresome of the time, but not the
time that we were there. Soyeah, their hours are a little
bit limited. And then the timesthat they have dogs there are
very limited. And it's kind ofinconsistent season to season
(42:18):
like, like, whether or not theyhave a partner who's bringing
dogs or not.
That's been my experience. Andthat's listeners, that is in
Wasilla,the I did run head dog. Head
dog, I did.
Okay, all right, so as Oh, wereyou gonna say something? One
(42:42):
other highlight, I was trying tothink, and this was after Sadie
had left. But when we were inAnchorage, and we were at a
little park, I think it wasnortheast of the main city,
there's a really, really coolpaved bike trail, like, all
around the waterfront, all theway around Anchorage. And that,
for anybody that likes biking,you know, easy biking, it wasn't
mountain biking is paved. Thatwas, that was a lot of fun, just
(43:03):
to see anchorage from thatstandpoint, and the waterfront,
all the birds and the, you know,I know that was a lot of fun.
And it, again, it's kind of likethe bears. We saw very few
moose, but when we were inAnchorage, it's like the moose
are everywhere. And so, yeah,yeah. Like, a huge moose, like,
right there along, yeah, yeah.
That was kind of a highlight.
(43:24):
Just it was a nice way to see alot of the city, the beautiful
very quickly, Yes, yep. Andthat's the Tony Knowles coastal
trail that you're referring tochip. And actually, even beyond
that, Anchorage has an amazingbike trail system. Um, it's a
what? And there's places you canrent bikes. Did you bring your
(43:47):
bikes? You probably did for therace, yeah, yeah, we did, yeah.
We brought our bikes. Yep, theymost of these races, they
require a a standardized bikebox, and as they move your bikes
around during the race, theyneed to be able to put them on a
U haul. And so if everybody hasstandardized boxes, they fit
perfectly, like Legos in the Uhaul, right? And also, they
(44:10):
can't, you know, you can't tell,oh, you broke this, or you bent
that. It's like you you put yourbike in your box, as long as the
box, you know, yeah, so let'suse on the airlines to get over
here. So yep. And if you likebiking and you're not bringing a
bike to Alaska, you can rentbikes from Pablo bike rentals,
which is right downtown inAnchorage. It's really
(44:33):
convenient. And they havetandems, and they have E bikes,
and they have fat tire bikes,and they have all kinds of cool
stuff, yeah. And for Die Hardmountain bikers, we were really,
really impressed with the trailsystems, yeah, um, the dedicated
mountain bike parks. Like, youdon't think of Alaska as a
mountain biking destination, butman, everywhere it is, yeah,
when we went to the ones thatwere dedicated, it was like,
(44:54):
holy, these are really well kepttrails. And, yes, you know, very
flowy and fast, it looks like.
There's volunteers or somebodythat take a lot of time to
really make sure the trails arenice. Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
Same is true for cross countryski trails in the winter.
Great, amazing trail systems,especially especially in the
(45:15):
anchorage area. Yeah, Fairbankshas some really good ones too,
and so do other places. Butyeah, okay. As we move towards
wrapping up here Andrea andChip, I would love to hear what
your favorite meal or yourfavorite restaurant was that you
went to in Alaska.
(45:35):
So I already mentioned the Bajataco in Cordova, yes, but what's
unique about it is the kitchenis in a school bus, and the
school bus is connected to abuilding where where the tables
are. And you can, I mean, thebest thing I had there was the
huevos rancheros, and you canhave reindeer sausage or salmon
(45:58):
added to any dish at that lastmonth, and so that that's gotta
be my favorite. Love it. Okay,yep. So I don't remember the
name of it, but you'll probablyknow it off top of your head.
But there's a brewery rightthere in Anchorage. It's the
Palmer Ale House, yeah, inPalmer or Anchorage? Oh, I was
(46:21):
thinking of the Ale House.
Sorry, I'm thinking of the onethey had. They had gluten free
options on tap, which I need. Ineed gluten free. But it was
like,you know, it was just hopping,
like, it just seemed like theplace to go. That sounds like
49th state brewing, yeah. Okay,yep, yep. 49 state brewing. And
then the other thing, andAndrea, where were we when we
(46:44):
stumbled across that place withthe Irish music, the live band
that played, that's what Ithought you were gonna say, and
that was the Palmer. That wasthe Palmer Ale House, okay? And
they had live music the eveningwe were there, and I can't
remember what we ate, but Iremember it was good, and we
(47:04):
really liked the atmosphere. Andthe outdoor
stage was just the right size,you know, not too big, not too
small. And there was a lot ofpeople milling about, and there
were fire pits. And,yeah, it was a really good fun,
great time. Lots of and again,we met some really nice local
people there. And yeah, had somegreat conversation there. Love
(47:27):
it. Okay, Andrea and Chip lastquestion, what is a piece of
advice that each of you wouldhave for fellow travelers who
are planning a trip to Alaska,well, I guess I have to mention
the philosophy of our team. Ourteam is TEAM this ability, T, H,
(47:51):
I S,we. We try to focus on what we
can do and not what we can't.
And we're inspired by the peoplein our lives that have
disabilities. I have a son withDown syndrome, and Chip owns a
company that supports peoplewith disabilities, so they're
inspiring to us. But I'm sayingthat in order to give the advice
(48:16):
of you know, look at what youcan do, not what you can't and
don't be afraid to venture offthe beaten track. Don't be
afraid to push yourself, to findyour limits. You know, of
course, do it in a safe way, butjust get out there and yeah,
make it happen.
Love it. How about you tip?
Yeah, I would. I would say a fewthings, Alaska was a really good
(48:38):
place to access with an RV. Ifelt like the driving was easy
the RV, there's bunch ofdifferent RV companies, and
there's tons of parks around. SoI felt that that was a really,
you know, as opposed to gettinga rental car in a hotel and all
of that. I really enjoyed thataspect of it.
I mean, for adventure, peopledefinitely get like Gaia or some
(49:02):
other way of downloading thetrails offline, because a lot of
the when you get away from thecities, you do lose internet.
And obviously, Alaska isbeautiful, but it can also be
dangerous, and it's always goodto have offline maps so that you
can get yourself out of asituation if, whatever reason,
get lost. Yes, definitely thehiking poles, like Andrea said,
because it's the mountains werepretty steep, and there's a lot
(49:25):
of kind of scrambling and stuff.
And so that would be definitelynice to have. And and the
locals, I guess it was, itseemed like we were constantly
impressed with how friendly theywere and talkative. And, you
know, they want to knoweverything about you, just as
much as you want to know aboutthem. And so, you know, spend
time in places where you cansocialize with locals. Because
that was, I think, some of themost rewarding experiences,
(49:45):
which is having these reallylong conversations, like,
because you're on a boat foreight hours, like I talked to
that guy for what felt like sixof the eight hours. Yeah, it was
amazing. So that the people werea big highlight for me. Yeah.
Yeah, love it. Well. Thank youso much chip and Andrea for
(50:05):
joining me today. Once again,I'm going to put the link to
their podcast and their YouTubechannel in the show notes. So if
you want to learn more aboutadventure racing and hear some
fun stories, see some beautifulthings, then feel free to head
over there and Andrea and chip.
Thank you so much for being heretoday. Thank you, Jennie, you
(50:28):
were just so helpful. You reallymade our trip. What it was,
which it was amazing. So thankyou. Oh, you're You're welcome.
Thanks for having us and sorry.
One, one thing about the forpeople that are interested in
our specific story, on thepodcast, we do something called
(50:48):
the race ramble, which would bethe four teammates on a call at
the same time, just talkingabout our experience during the
race. Fun. People that wantvisually to see what the race
looked like, we go pro ourraces, or just, you know, little
clips, so that, basically on ourYouTube channel, you can see,
like Alaska day one. Actuallyit'll probably be Alaska the day
(51:10):
of the race, the prep, and thenday one, day two, day 345, and
it's just the highlights of therace put to music. Usually we
try to use local music. It justgives you a feel for what it
looks like to be in these racesand seeing all the beauty and
suffering, andwe try to do the highs and the
lows, but um, either way. Good.
Keeping it honest, you'rewelcome. You.
Jennie, welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast with
me, your host, Jennie ThwingFlaming, my occasional co host
and full time husband, Jay and Ibring you accurate, helpful and
entertaining information aboutAlaska, travel and life in
Alaska, before we start theepisode, we would like to thank
(00:27):
our Patreon members for makingthis podcast possible. You can
join them at the link in theshow notes. We are so grateful
for your support of independentpodcasts. Enjoy the show.
Are you interested in havingsome big adventures in Alaska,
or do you want to get way offthe beaten track to Cordova?
(00:51):
Well, I haven't even been toCordova, but that's what we're
going to talk about today withAndrea and chip. My guests today
are Andrea Anderson and ChipDodd Andrea and Chip are
adventure racers. We'll talkabout what that is in a minute,
and they are here to share theirstory of their trip to Alaska in
(01:15):
july 2024and they did a variety of things
on their trip besides just theadventure race, including going
to Cordova and they live inVirginia. Andrea and chip,
welcome to Alaska, uncovered.
Thank you for being here. Thanksfor having us. Thanks for having
(01:36):
us. Yeah. So for everybodylistening, Andrea and Chip also
have a podcast that is aboutadventure racing, and I'll put
the link to it in the shownotes, but I would love it if,
before we talk about your Alaskatrip, if you could Just briefly
explain to everyone whatadventure racing is.
(02:02):
Sure? Well, adventure racing isa multi disciplinary sport. It
usually involves mountainbiking, some sort of paddling
and trekking or trail runningand map and compass navigation.
So there's no GPS. There's noconnection to the outside world.
(02:24):
There is usually a tracker tomake sure that you're safe, and
the race organizers can findyou, and your fans can follow
along on the tracking website.
But the range of lengths ofraces can start at, you know,
three hours, which would be anentry level family race to multi
day races. So the race we wentto Alaska for was a five day
(02:45):
race. So, yeah, we love to do itawesome. So I know that you did
this trip, like when you got intouch with me about a year ago,
over a year ago, um, you werelooking to plan the other parts
of your trip around theadventure race and your trip to
(03:06):
Cordova, but, um, I would love,uh, Chip, could you share just a
little bit about why you tookthis trip to Alaska at this
particular time there was therace, but I know that wasn't the
only reason. Yeah, sure. Well, alot of it was probably the race,
but I guess, you know, Andreahas some heritage in Alaska, so
(03:28):
it's kind of on her bucket listto go, to go there. So that was
kind of on the radar. But whenit comes to adventure racing,
you know, sometimes there's thesame race every single year at
the same country, or whatever.
So you go do it, and then you'rekind of done, and you don't have
to go back to that, because I'vealready been to Croatia. I've
already been to Ecuador orwhatever. Yeah, in this
(03:48):
situation, there was a race inAlaska, way back, I can't
remember, like 2012 or 2016 orsomething, before Andrew and I
really got into the big races.
And it was a one and done. And,you know, it was on YouTube, and
a whole bunch of our friends haddone it, and it was amazing. And
so our friend Jeff leninger, whoowns warrior adventure racing,
he basically rekindled it andput it on the radar. And that's
(04:12):
when I was like, Okay, we thishas got to be the time. Like, if
Jeff's doing the race there,we're familiar with his company,
his team, his style. And so thatwas this, this was going to be
our year to go up there. Andlike you said, we didn't just go
for the race. I mean, the racewas five days, which usually
means seven or eight days,because you got a couple days
getting ready for the race, andthen there's an award ceremony.
(04:33):
But, you know, we decided, hey,let's, let's take a lot of time.
So we went up there and got anRV, and kind of just wandered
around and some of yourguidance. And then, you know,
I'm more of a wing IT guy, whichis get there and you go to a
local diner and talk to peopleand see what we should do, and,
Andrea, yeah, and then research,and, you know, all of that. So
(04:54):
it we did a little bit of both.
Well, that's a really goodbalance, then between the two.
You So Andrea, before we getinto kind of like the basics of
your itinerary, tell, telleverybody a little bit about
Cordova. Why? Well, first ofall, let's talk about where
Cordova is, and then why thatwas such an important place for
(05:18):
you. And then we'll get intoyour itinerary more in general,
sure. And I should mention,there was one more reason we
were coming, and it was becausemy youngest daughter had
graduated from high school. Andit was so this was a trip for
her, yes, as well, too. So it'sso great that this one trip we
got to, you know, check off allof these boxes, but going to
(05:41):
Cordova has been on my bucketlist since I can remember.
My grandpa and my dad were bothborn in Cordova. My grandpa
lived there most of his life,and he was a fisherman. My dad
then grew up in New York, andhad been out of touch with his
dad until he was 25 years old.
Wow, I'm, I'm trying to makethis a short story, but knowing
(06:04):
these details kind of help. SoI had never been to Alaska, and
it was always kind of a mythicalplace, you know, that my grandpa
would talk about his fishingexcursions, and
I just never, I never knew thatI'd get to go. So I Cordova, was
(06:27):
amazing. We took the Alaskamarine highway, and I'd highly
suggest your episode on that. Infact, I learned so much from you
that I really appreciate thetime that we spent. You know, I
booked a half an hour with youto help us plan
(06:48):
balancing so many things. You'rebalancing my daughter's trip
along with me wanting toresearch my his family history
and then this race. So youreally helped us prioritize
things, and helped me get mymind wrapped around what we
could fit in, which we did fit awhole lot. But can you say a
(07:08):
little more about the ferry,just because that's something a
lot of people are interested inand have questions about, but
don't always realize, you know,until they kind of dive into it,
like details of the schedule andhow much time it takes. So can
you just tell everyone a littlebit about where you boarded the
ferry for Cordova and how longthe ride was? Sure, I might not
(07:32):
get the details right. That'sokay. Oh, we boarded. Yeah, we
boarded in Whittier, yep. And toget to Cordova. I want to say it
took us about eight hours. Ittook us the full day. Yep,
and you know, there's no there'sthere are no roads to Cordova,
so you either have to go thereby boat or plane. The the ferry
(07:55):
was very affordable, and we wereable to drive the RV onto the
ferry. One thing that, you know,we learned was that you can't
access your your vehicle, evenif it is an RV while you're on
the ferry, right? Fine, youknow, we, we had a lovely time
in the cabin and the diningarea. The views were wonderful,
(08:18):
and the people were amazing. Andit was so just really great to
connect with some people thatwill, you know, probably keep in
touch with and have kept intouch with. And one of them,
I told her the reasons we werethere, and she gave us her phone
number, and we later planned tomeet up, and she showed us all
(08:40):
around Cordova.
It was such a great experience.
In fact, we met the next morningat Baja taco, which I gotta say,
might be one of my favoriterestaurants of the whole trip.
Oh, and we met there, you know,she, she knew almost everybody.
It's a very, very small town.
(09:04):
Yeah. And she said, you know,why don't there's some older
fishermen in the restaurant. Andshe said, why don't you go ask
them if they knew your grandpa?
And I did, and they did. That'sso cool. It was really cool.
They knew his nickname. TheyThey just knew a lot about him,
and it just making thoseconnections was really
meaningful to me.
(09:26):
Yeah, I loved Cordova. Like Isaid, it's very small. Yeah, it
only took a day to see the town.
In fact, we probably could havegone, you know, seen it three or
four times over in one day inthe town,
but then the next day, we wentout to Sheridan glacier, which
(09:48):
the lake there. There's a shorthike to where we put in with our
pack raft, and, oh, it wasamazing, amazing paddle. We had
all.
So done the Valdez glacier KayakTour. So we had done that with
my daughter, I felt like thatwas, you know, a little bit of a
(10:11):
safer entry point to do it witha tour the first time around.
But chip and I, you know, we, weadventure all around the world,
and had our pack rafts with us.
So, you know, we had our drysuits, our pack rafts, and it
was a great Sheridan glacier wasso removed from, you know,
people, we were just, yeah, outthere in a gorgeous, Oh, that's
(10:33):
awesome. Um, one logisticalpoint I just want to bring up
for our listeners about theferry. So this eightish hour
ferry ride, and there are somevariables that can make it a
little longer or shorter,is not a ferry that goes every
(10:54):
day, and it is a short ferry forAlaska, even though it's eight
hours. So that, I'd say the bigthing, and you hit on this
already, Andrea, if you'rethinking about a ferry trip, is
just knowing that it doesn't goevery day and that it takes a
long time. But it's also awesomefor all the reasons that you
(11:17):
mentioned, a couple of littlethings on the ferry. I would
highly suggest bringingbinoculars. Oh, yeah. Views were
stunning. And for us being, youknow, in Virginia, at sea level,
with tiny mountainsbeing down there in the summer,
you know, it's kind of niceoutside, but, you know, it's
Alaska, so it's like, you'rereally almost, you know, even
(11:40):
though you're at sea level, youcan see mountains that don't
have vegetation or trees. So youget this big, high altitude,
Rocky Mountain, Alpine feel. Andthen there's like, glaciers,
like, here you are at sea levelwith binoculars, looking at
glaciers. And it just, to me, itwas like, this is just
unbelievable.
It was nice that they had foodon board. So, you know, they had
(12:01):
hot food and a soda machine. Soif you have a laptop, you can,
you know, go to the dining hall,plug in and get work done.
Internet most of the time wasfine.
But if you also just want to seethe views, you can sit up front.
It's like the space shuttle withlike, yeah, see everything. And
it was just really, really cool.
And some people like camp out onthe deck and just get some sleep
so it didn't feel crowded. Itfelt super comfortable, and we
(12:25):
just really enjoyed theexperience. Yeah, that's
awesome. I also want to justmention about the ferry. If
you're bringing a vehicle, it'sso for people listening, you
absolutely have to have areservation as early as you can,
if you're going to just walk onthe ferry, then it's, it's much
it's much less expensive, andit's also doesn't require quite
(12:49):
as much planning. But if you'rebringing a vehicle, especially
if it's an RV, you gotta, have,gotta have a reservation, sweet.
Okay, anything else either ofyou want to say about Cordova
specifically, before we go backto your kind of big picture
itinerary,I would say the I know most
(13:10):
people don't travel to Alaskawith their own inflatable raft
and dry suits, but that's true.
They do not. They do notSheridan glacier that that was
absolutely stunningly beautiful.
So even if you can find a tour,we really liked that there was a
lot of like floating icebergsthat you're kind of navigating
(13:30):
around. And many of them havethat, like they've, I guess they
call it calving. They've brokenoff just recently, and so
they're this deep blue color.
And if you get it on a sunnyday, or at least a patchy,
cloudy day where the sun'shitting it, I mean, it is like
being on another planet. Yeah,highly suggest doing a kayak
(13:51):
glacier thing. And if you can,even if it's over in Valdez or
Sheridan, is amazing, yes, yeah.
So the only other thing I'd addabout Cordova is there's a
great, small History Museum inCordova, and I thought it was
really informational. Andsurprisingly enough, I saw a
(14:11):
picture of my grandpa's boatlooked like the 1940s
but it was really neat. And Iwould also say to have realistic
expectations. This city is notreally a tourist destination,
right? It's a workingfisherman's town, yep. And so
(14:33):
there's just a couplerestaurants, just a couple of I
think maybe only one or twohotels. There was just one
campground that I was able tofind. And, you know, booked all
of that ahead of time. And Ithink if I were to go again, we
were very close to being able togo to the copper ribbon River
(14:54):
salmon jam. Oh.
I guess it the annual festivalthey have in the summer. I think
we were a week off or something.
We couldn't fit that into ourschedule, but that looked like
it would be a really fun time.
Yeah, that would be awesome.
Also for people on a budget, Ithink because Cordova,
(15:15):
everything has to get there byboat or plane, everything was
just a little more expensive,yeah, if you are taking a car or
even a backpack or whatever,just, you know, maybe provision
up a little bit Yep, in a largertown before going over there,
yeah, not to take away theirtheir tourism, but, you know, go
to the restaurants and stuff.
But just, just be aware it is alittle bit more expensive, yes,
(15:36):
yeah. And in places in Alaska,off the road system, like
Cordova in general,you know you can't when you go
to the grocery store. There mayor may not be certain things
just might not be there thatthat's pretty common in a
distance in addition to thecost. So depends on how long
it's been since the last bargeor airplane and that kind of
(15:59):
thing. So also one other thing,and maybe this is all around
Alaska, but in Cordova, weexperienced it. The one lady
that was showing us all around.
She was very proud of the bearpopulation there. And yeah,
trying to show us bears bothblack and brown. And we didn't
get to see any bears, but shedrove us all around trying
(16:20):
places where she sees them,yeah? And she she mentioned, you
know, do we, do we have a hornor something for the bears? And
we're like, oh, no, we have bearspray, because the race requires
it. So we got into town andbought bear spray, yeah? Like,
theoretically, good, responsiblecitizens. And then she said, You
really need a horn? We're like,No, we got the bear spray. We'll
be good. And she was kind of alittle bit demanding. And then
(16:41):
we actually ended up going byour actually ended up going by
our house, and she came out andgave us horns, and
she didn't want us to spray thebears. We didn't realize these
bears are, like her friends,and, you know, we're thinking
the bears are going to attackus, and she's like, you're going
to hurt my bears. So just, justif anybody goes, be aware that,
you know, a horn is the like,the least damaging way to get a
(17:03):
bear to leave you alone, butmaybe have the bear spray as a
backup plan. Yeah, the localsare sensitive to that. Yeah,
that's a good point chip,because I've never had to use
bear spray,but if you do have to use it,
you're, you're already kind ofin trouble. So, um, it's
definitely a last minutedefending yourself kind of
(17:27):
thing. Um, so other and the dealwith the horn is all about just
making noise, any any kind ofnoise when you're on the trail,
that really helps the bears keeptheir distance to begin with
before they even get close toyou. So that's a huge deal.
Cool. Thank you for sharingthat.
(17:48):
Okay, so let's go back to thebig picture of your trip. So you
were doing this trip to Cordova,you were doing the adventure
race. So tell tell everybody alittle bit about how long the
trip was total and how much ofthat time was doing the
(18:11):
different things that you did.
Okay, so our trip was basicallythree weeks, or maybe three
weeks in two days, yep,something like that. The first
week was basically with mydaughter there. The second week
was when we went to Cordova, andthen the third week was
dedicated to the race. So thatseemed like a good amount of
(18:34):
time, but there's never enoughtime. I already know
that's so true. Yeah, yeah. Youknow, it's funny because I
mentioned, you know, earlierthat I've never been to Cordova,
and you know, I lived in Alaskafor years, and I still spend
eight to 12 weeks there a year,depending on exactly what my
(18:58):
schedule is. And I have a longlist of things I would love to
do that I haven't done. SoI always tell people that when
they're planning their trip islike, focus on and we talked
about that too, you know,figuring out what you really
want, what's most important, andtry to let go of seeing it all,
because that's not a thing, evenfor lifelong Alaskans, not
(19:26):
a thing. You know, Sadie reallywanted to see Valdez. And you
know, of course, being from thelower 48 like, all we know about
Valdez is, that's where that,you know, the oil spill
happened. Yeah, so it's kind ofneat, like you actually are in
the town, but it was quite thehike. I mean, I'm glad we had
the RV, you know, but gettingfrom Anchorage all the way to
Valdez and back, it's likealmost a whole day of driving,
(19:47):
especially if stopping hike orsomething along the way. And
there's not a lot between thetwo, other than a few gas
stations and little dinky towns.
So either way it's it's like oneof those whenever we travel,
we're on the fence of.
Do you stay within a given areaand really just try to do a
whole lot of activity andminimize your driving and travel
time? Or do you, you know, doyou do a big, big thing over to
(20:10):
Valdez just to see this epiccity? I'm glad we did it the way
we did it, but, yeah, but it is,yeah, you don't it. The Alaska
is huge. It is huge. You don'twant to out of a if you're only
there for a week, you definitelydon't want to take a whole day
driving out and back, you know,like, pick a local area and stay
to it and just do a lot ofhiking and other stuff. That's
(20:31):
really good advice. And by theway, listeners, we have an
episode coming up in July aboutValdez, so you'll get to learn
more about Valdez then, okay, sothat first week, you were in the
RV with your daughter, and youwent to Valdez back and forth
(20:51):
from Anchorage. Yes, yes. Andthen, oh, go ahead Andrea. I was
just going to add that on theway. We stopped at Matanuska
glacier. Awesome both ways. Onthe way back, we did a hike
there at lion head, which was anamazing way to see the Matanuska
glacier. And then going outthere, we took the tour. So
(21:13):
awesome. Out the highlight, yes,Matanuska glacier is so fun.
Love it. Okay, so you had a weekin the RV going to Valdez and
back from Anchorage, and thenyou had a week in Cordova, which
was still with the RV. And thenyou had the race for a week.
Yes, yep, okay, and that was inAlyeska. Was the main, you know,
(21:37):
the basically the race hotel wasin Alyeska, yes, and which is in
Goodwood, for those of youlistening, which is quite close
to Anchorage. And one thing Iwanted to mention for everyone
listening is go back and listento our best hikes in the
anchorage area episode, becauseit covers basically the same
(21:59):
area of the Chugach Mountains,where Andrea and chips race was,
and it's a really beautifularea, so definitely recommend
going back and listening to thatone. So
I know you didn't know exactlywhere you were going before the
race started. That was part ofthe deal. Is there anything
(22:21):
about the race itself that youwant to share with everybody
before we move on?
Sure,that was quite an experience all
all in and of itself. But itstarted like you said. We didn't
know where we're going until weget the maps, which is given out
on the day that the race starts.
So we were bussed down toSeward, and at Seward the race
(22:46):
started with climbing up anddown Mount marathon. Oh, wow. If
you'reenthusiast, you might know about
the mount marathon race. Theycall it the toughest 5k on the
planet. Yeah, it's three, 3000feet of elevation gain. And,
you know, I think that it'spretty attainable, though. So,
(23:10):
you know, you might not want togo do the world's toughest 5k as
a race, but yeah, the Sewardwhere, you know the beginning of
the Iditarod is, or used to be,I don't know, used to be
beginning there the history,yeah, yeah. The modern race
doesn't go to Seward. But yes,there is a long history. There
is the the history of theIditarod relates to Seward.
(23:32):
Yeah, yeah. So you can go thereand do that hike on your own.
It's amazing. Make sure you takehiking poles. In fact, that's
one of my suggestions for anyonegoing to Alaska, because you're
surely going to be on a trail.
And they come in handy. Yeah,they do. Yeah. The race started
there. And I think anotherhighlight of that race,
(23:52):
as we were going north, we wentup to Cooper Landing and then
down to hope, and we took theresurrection pass to get there,
and that pass was amazing. It'sa 38 mile trail. People
backpack. You can bike it. Wehad to bike it. And I think
(24:13):
people usually take multipledays to do it. It didn't take us
more than a day, I don'tbelieve, but the trails were
really pretty accessible as faras mountain biking goes. And
there's cabins along the way,yeah. So it was just so
beautiful. And if you go thatdirection, from Cooper Landing
(24:34):
to hope, that downhill seems tolast forever and ever, which is
really fun when you put so mucheffort to climbing up. It was
really fun to go down. Yeah,yeah.
So what about you chip? Whatother things about the race? So
was, so was the whole race thenon the Kenai Peninsula.
(24:55):
Well, once, once we got to hopewe made our way over.
To the Portage Glacier Lake,okay? And then from there, we
took the portage pass trail overto Whittier. Oh, that is
awesome. Trail, interrupting fora second to say, if you're
listening and you're a hiker,you gotta do Portage pass. And
(25:16):
if you just do that section,it's like four miles with about
round trip with about 1000 feetof elevation gain. So if it's
not part of this bigger thing,totally doable day hike for
hikers, okay, go ahead, yeah,it's one of my favorite hikes in
Alaska. No question. It wasreally great. Unfortunately,
there was no view of Whittierthat day. It was really cloudy.
(25:38):
It that's an amazing, amazingarea. And like you said, it's
just two miles. And if you wantto step up your game and you
have a pack raft, you can dothat Trek and put your pack raft
in the lake there, and getslowly to the glaciers. And
there's a beautiful waterfall.
In fact, there are manywaterfalls that was just an
amazing part of the race aswell. Yep, love it. Okay, so.
(25:59):
And then after that, where wasthat the end? Or did it go over
to another area? So, after,after going over to Whittier and
back toback to the portage Lake, then
we hopped on our bikes to get toGirdwood, okay? And then at
(26:20):
alieska resort, there wassupposed to be a glacier
section, and unfortunately, itwas canceled due to weather. Got
it. We didn't get to do that,but that's on our list for next
time we go to all of our glaciergear, our crampons and our ice
axes. And you know that might bebeyond what some some folks do
(26:42):
that are your listeners, butmaybe not. We're beginners. And
you know that we were lookingforward to using all of our new
skills, you got to startsometimes. So yeah, and you know
there are lots of places,including Matanuska glacier and
root glacier in Ringel st EliasNational Park, where you can do
glacier trekking and iceclimbing and things like that
(27:07):
with a guide if you have noexperience and no gear. So yeah,
I'm glad you mentioned that.
Andrea, okay, so most of yourrace was really in the Kenai
mountains and on the KenaiPeninsula, rather than in the
Chugach Mountains, although partof it was in the Chugach
Mountains. So that's a little Imisunderstood that before, and I
(27:30):
know you didn't know where youwere going ahead of time. So
chip, not exactly sure where wewere. Yeah, no, I get it. Chip,
do you want to add anythingabout the race before we move
on. Yeah, she covered most ofit. There was quite a few white
water sections that we did that,if anybody does like white
water, it was punchy fun. Itdidn't, it didn't feel
(27:51):
dangerous. You know, therewasn't like big class three
rapids with consequences, so youcould get through it on a pack
raft or a ducky or, you know,you know, you know, something,
something that can handle lotsof splashy white water. You
know, water is cold, but, youknow, with a dry suit, or
whatever, we were fine, andso that was definitely a
highlight. Is the White Watersections. Yeah, that Portage
Lake had a glacier coming rightinto the lake. So, yeah, this is
(28:14):
one of those race I mean, orit's just a, it's a, it's a
state that, just everywhere youlook is like, wow, wow, wow. And
so, especially if the weather isgood, but yeah, it these races
are intimidating because, youknow, you just, when you sign
up, you just sign up to do therace. You have no idea where
you're going to go. And youjust, you load a bus, you have
no idea where the bus is going,and they just hand you maps. And
(28:37):
this is usually, like, 25 mapsthat are different scales, but
many of them are zoomed out.
You're desperately on this bus,just trying to figure out, like,
okay, we're, you know, how isthis gonna work? And yes, that's
part of the adventure. It'slike, it's the adventure of not
knowing you're just, you'rebasically thrown into the
wilderness. Here's your compass,you know. And have at it. And
(29:00):
so it's a ton of fun. So ifanybody wants to do do a race
like like that. I mean, startwith a smaller race. Don't do
Alaska first, because it washard. And, yeah, you did some
experience. Anybody to go fivedays you get into nutrition and
sleep strategy and chafing andblisters and all this stuff that
you don't get when you do sometype of sport that's less than
(29:21):
2448 hours, Yes, yep. But otherthan, I was just it was really
beautiful. All the people we metwere nice. You know, the whole
time, we're terrified of bears,because we keep hearing about
bears and all this. And all overYouTube there's bears, bears,
bears. During this entire visit,when we were in the wilderness,
most of the time, we are notcity people. So we find RV park,
(29:42):
and then we find a hike, we do ahike, and maybe we find a pub or
something afterward. But otherthan that, we're not going to
museums and stuff usually, yeah,and this whole time before
however long, we're there twoand a three weeks, three and a
half, whatever it was, we neversaw a bear until very end. We
got done with the race and ahandful of the.
Racers, we decided to go to azoo, and we went and saw a bear
(30:03):
in Oh,well, I'm glad that you got
that, yeah, because I was like,we can't leave Alaska without
seeing a bear, you know. But onthe hand, we saw bear droppings
all over the place, yeah, it ispuckering to be hauling butt
down a trail, you know, like,like, that resurrection trail.
Yeah, there's big piles of bearpoop in the trail. So, you know,
(30:24):
the bears are there, and theyuse your trail as their
bathroom. And, you know, we justnever saw one, so I was pretty
happy about that. Yeah, yeah, Ithat's a very relatable story.
Oh, boy. All right. Well, we'regonna take a short break, and
when we come back, we will talkmore with Andrea and Chip about
(30:48):
their trip.
Hi everyone. Here we are inApril. Those of you who are
traveling to Alaska this summer,your trip is just around the
corner. If you want to go thissummer and you haven't made your
plans yet, please let me helpyou. I would love to help you
figure it out in one of my 30minute planning consults, there
(31:12):
are only a few more days thatI'm doing it, between now and
May 6, and then I'll be stoppinguntil September. So book one of
those today, if you want to getmy help, I'd love to meet you
back to the show.
We are back with Andrea Andersonand Chip Dodd. They are
adventure racers and hosts ofthe this ability adventures
(31:36):
podcast. And they went to Alaskain July of 2024 for three weeks,
and did an adventure race, wentto Cordova, and also took an RV
over to Valdez. Sowe're going to transition now to
talking about, like, some ofyour favorites, things you would
(31:57):
do differently, that kind ofthing. So I would love to have
each of you share what's yourfavorite place you went to. And
if that feels too impossible,which it might, then maybe
instead you could tell us if youcould only go back to one place,
where would it be?
(32:22):
That is such a hard, hardquestion. I know, I know it is
chip you need to go first. I'lltry. It's hard, but I was
thinking, you know, we were on alittle bit of a tight timeframe
while we had Sadie with us,because we had to get over to
Valdez and back. Yep, I leftValdez thinking there's probably
(32:46):
50 more things I want to do inthis little town, because
probably it was a big enoughtown that it felt hustle and
bustle. There was bars andrestaurants and the fishing
community. There is like off thecharts. So every time all the
fishermen come in. They gotthese huge fish. What halibut, I
think it is. And just, you know,I wanted to just ask 1000
(33:06):
questions. I wanted to gofishing, yeah, salmon, I guess,
come up there, like we went tothe salmon kind of museum where
they not museum, but the salmonprocessing facility. So, yeah,
be there sometime when thesalmon are running and see all
the bears attacking the salmon.
Yeah. So Valdez, I felt like weneeded a few more days. It did
have two or three RV parks, soif anybody does like RVing and
(33:26):
camping, it was a great way toget over there and see it and
drive over. We were in a rush.
We're trying to get to Valdez.
So yeah, we do a hike here andthere. But I felt like,
literally, from Anchorage toValdez and back, if you had two
weeks, you could, you could dothat whole route, and the drive
over and back is unbelievably,stunningly beautiful. So you
want to leave time to pull overand look around with your
(33:48):
binoculars and talk to peoplelike we did the one hike, and
there was some dude up on thetop of the hill with a spotting
scope, and he's a hunter, andhe's not hunting, but he's a
hunter with the spotty scoop. Sohe's showing us all these
animals that we would have neverseen. Yeah, where to look and
what to look for. And so it's,you know, you want to, you want
(34:08):
to save time to really meet thepeople,
the the one that, again, from adownside standpoint, in
Anchorage, I was kind ofsurprised at the homelessness in
Alaska. I wasn't expecting next,it's cold, you know, you kind of
think of, you know, people go toFlorida, but I was, I was kind
of surprised at how many thingslike that they were. But again,
(34:32):
I'm not a big fan of city, soI'm kind of like, let's get in
and get out and go see thewilderness.
But, you know, I'm glad that youmentioned that chip, because,
you know, I'm I spend a lot oftime in Anchorage with, well,
with and without guests, andthat is something people comment
on frequently. And I think oftenpeople are surprised that
(34:55):
Anchorage is a city, you know,it's a it.
Has, it has homelessness. Ithas, you know, housing is, is
it's hard for people to gethousing and keep housing and get
health care and, like all theother all the challenges that
cities across the US faceanchorage houses as well, for
(35:17):
sure. Yeah, yep. Oh, one otherhack that we did that I was
really excited that we did foranybody that kind of does a trip
like this, where you have a lotof gear, or you have a multi
phased trip, like we had Sadiefor the one period, had to come
back and then drop off theairport, and then we go on
another adventure. We actually,the minute we got into town, we
went to a little storage unitplace and got a little tiny
(35:37):
storage unit. It was supercheap. Oh, good idea. We were
able to take all of our glaciergear and all this stuff and
store it in the storage unit.
And then we could, we could goin the RV without all this
extra, extra stuff and luggage,yeah, that kind of stuff. And
then we were able to, you know,come back and get it. And then,
of course, when we turned in theRV, like we used indie campers
for the RV, so we didn't needthe RV during the adventure
(35:57):
race. So we were able to getback to the storage unit, grab
all our stuff, put all theluggage back in, and then turn
in the RV and then now get over.
And actually, one of the guys wemet on the boat
on the going over to Cordova,one of the guys that we met, he
was like, Oh yeah, if you want,I get my pickup truck and we'll,
I'll take you over to alieskawith all your gear. Oh, that's
so fun. Yeah, super nice guy.
And yeah, actually pulled in. Hesays, I actually kind of hate
(36:21):
driving. Why don't you drivelike guy he just met, and I'm
getting into this big old Dooleytruck and with all of our gear,
and we're driving over toalieska, oh, really, the the
people in Alaska are all justsuper amazing. Yeah,
yeah. Alaskans are incredible.
Okay, so Andrea, how about you?
(36:43):
Hopefully that gave you a minuteto think. Yeah, about Yes, it
did, yes. Keep coming back toyou know, when we're adventure
racing, we're trying to go fast.
We're trying to make our timesand cut offs, and it's 24/7 so
some of the time we're racing inthe dark. Yeah. So I keep
thinking, I would love to goback do that whole race again in
slow motion, you know? Yeah.
(37:08):
Want to stop and see everythingthat we might not have seen in
the dark, and particularly theresurrection pass. I just can't
say enough about that. It wasjust just so gorgeous at the top
there, and the little cabinsthat you can reserve, I love to
reserve one of those cabins. SoI think that's the place I'd
like to go back to. Love it.
That's great. And what about foryou? Andrea, because has chip
(37:30):
kind of got into the sub bit,and his answer of like things
that you might do differentlynext time, or things that
weren't as great. How would youanswer that one? Well, I think,
like he alluded to staying inone place a little bit longer.
Yeah, would be nice. You know,we did hone it in after talking
with you quite a bit, sowe did try to stay longer than
(37:56):
we might try, but that's what Iwould probably do, stay a little
bit longer, yeah,stay longer in Alaska, or stay
longer, like in Valdez orCordova,
our resurrection, yeah, right,stay as long as you can in a lot
(38:16):
you know, you're paying themoney to get up there. Yeah, you
can. But I was really thinkingwithin our trip to spend, you
know, a little bit more time ineach place that we were at
instead, or go to fewer placesand spend more time. Yep, Yep,
cool. I think that's, that's afrequent reflection that people
(38:37):
have, including me, and Isometimes be like, Oh, yeah. Or,
you know, often I'm like, if Iwasn't working, I would have
done that differently, right?
Yeah. So either, oh, go ahead,Chip just real quick, because
we, both, Andrew and I, are ableto work remotely. We actually,
(38:58):
it seemed like in the in thecity areas, the Internet was
actually really good, and webrought a Starlink with us, but
we ended up not needing it asmuch as we were expecting. Yeah,
that was for people who areremote workers. It actually,
again, it wasn't that bad. Andshe's on Verizon, I T and T,
yeah, so I was impressed withthat. The other thing was super
surprising, which I kind of knewit was coming, but until you
(39:19):
experience it, it's, it's justweird, um, the sun doesn't set.
So you can actually plan reallybig days of stuff, because
you're not worried, like, youknow, oh my gosh, it's 630 the
sun's going down. No, it's like1130 and, you know, we almost
needed to tape a piece ofcardboard over the top of the RV
(39:39):
to stop the light from coming.
Yeah, could sleep. Yes, you canreally plan big days of lots of
activities. I mean, stuff closesand stuff, but just hiking and
pack rafting and stuff likesunset is not a not a thing you
need to worry about. Yeah, it'sfunny, because when you live in
Alaska during the summer.
(40:00):
Or it's still like that. Andthen you get to, like, mid
August, and you're like, why amI so tired? And you're usually,
you know, working in a job crazyhours. And then after that, you
go for a hike, and you're justkind of like,
and then, you know, it startsgetting dark at night, and
you're like, Oh, I'm so tired.
Yeah, love it cool. Okay, so Iwould love to know now, of
(40:25):
course, Sadie is not herebecause she's graduated and is
off living her best life, butI'd love to know like, were
there any places that she talkedabout so let's just review she
had just graduated from highschool, yes, yes. Okay, so were
there any things, and I know shewasn't with you the whole time,
(40:46):
but were there any particularthings that she really loved or
didn't love on your trip?
So she really loved the thekayaking tour in Valdez that we
did to see the Valdez glacier,she really that was her
highlight. Okay, I think she wasa little surprised that it was
(41:12):
kind of colder than she thoughtit might be. And, yeah,
you know that kind of meant thatthe cute outfits she brought she
didn't need, you know, she endedup, yeah, you know, the rain,
the rain gear, a little morethan she probably expected, yes,
but that said that was reallyminor. I think she really,
(41:35):
really was happy about the wholetrip. Love it. The one thing she
was a little bummed about shewas really, really wanted to see
the sled dogs. Oh yeah. We went,like, way out of our way to go
to the sled dog place whereyou're supposed to be able to
see the dogs. And it was closed,and there were no dogs, so that
that was a little bit of abummer. Yeah, yeah, that was the
(41:56):
Iditarod headquarters. And Ithink I didn't do enough
research on that they are theresome of the time, but not the
time that we were there. Soyeah, their hours are a little
bit limited. And then the timesthat they have dogs there are
very limited. And it's kind ofinconsistent season to season
(42:18):
like, like, whether or not theyhave a partner who's bringing
dogs or not.
That's been my experience. Andthat's listeners, that is in
Wasilla,the I did run head dog. Head
dog, I did.
Okay, all right, so as Oh, wereyou gonna say something? One
(42:42):
other highlight, I was trying tothink, and this was after Sadie
had left. But when we were inAnchorage, and we were at a
little park, I think it wasnortheast of the main city,
there's a really, really coolpaved bike trail, like, all
around the waterfront, all theway around Anchorage. And that,
for anybody that likes biking,you know, easy biking, it wasn't
mountain biking is paved. Thatwas, that was a lot of fun, just
(43:03):
to see anchorage from thatstandpoint, and the waterfront,
all the birds and the, you know,I know that was a lot of fun.
And it, again, it's kind of likethe bears. We saw very few
moose, but when we were inAnchorage, it's like the moose
are everywhere. And so, yeah,yeah. Like, a huge moose, like,
right there along, yeah, yeah.
That was kind of a highlight.
(43:24):
Just it was a nice way to see alot of the city, the beautiful
very quickly, Yes, yep. Andthat's the Tony Knowles coastal
trail that you're referring tochip. And actually, even beyond
that, Anchorage has an amazingbike trail system. Um, it's a
what? And there's places you canrent bikes. Did you bring your
(43:47):
bikes? You probably did for therace, yeah, yeah, we did, yeah.
We brought our bikes. Yep, theymost of these races, they
require a a standardized bikebox, and as they move your bikes
around during the race, theyneed to be able to put them on a
U haul. And so if everybody hasstandardized boxes, they fit
perfectly, like Legos in the Uhaul, right? And also, they
(44:10):
can't, you know, you can't tell,oh, you broke this, or you bent
that. It's like you you put yourbike in your box, as long as the
box, you know, yeah, so let'suse on the airlines to get over
here. So yep. And if you likebiking and you're not bringing a
bike to Alaska, you can rentbikes from Pablo bike rentals,
which is right downtown inAnchorage. It's really
(44:33):
convenient. And they havetandems, and they have E bikes,
and they have fat tire bikes,and they have all kinds of cool
stuff, yeah. And for Die Hardmountain bikers, we were really,
really impressed with the trailsystems, yeah, um, the dedicated
mountain bike parks. Like, youdon't think of Alaska as a
mountain biking destination, butman, everywhere it is, yeah,
when we went to the ones thatwere dedicated, it was like,
(44:54):
holy, these are really well kepttrails. And, yes, you know, very
flowy and fast, it looks like.
There's volunteers or somebodythat take a lot of time to
really make sure the trails arenice. Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
Same is true for cross countryski trails in the winter.
Great, amazing trail systems,especially especially in the
(45:15):
anchorage area. Yeah, Fairbankshas some really good ones too,
and so do other places. Butyeah, okay. As we move towards
wrapping up here Andrea andChip, I would love to hear what
your favorite meal or yourfavorite restaurant was that you
went to in Alaska.
(45:35):
So I already mentioned the Bajataco in Cordova, yes, but what's
unique about it is the kitchenis in a school bus, and the
school bus is connected to abuilding where where the tables
are. And you can, I mean, thebest thing I had there was the
huevos rancheros, and you canhave reindeer sausage or salmon
(45:58):
added to any dish at that lastmonth, and so that that's gotta
be my favorite. Love it. Okay,yep. So I don't remember the
name of it, but you'll probablyknow it off top of your head.
But there's a brewery rightthere in Anchorage. It's the
Palmer Ale House, yeah, inPalmer or Anchorage? Oh, I was
(46:21):
thinking of the Ale House.
Sorry, I'm thinking of the onethey had. They had gluten free
options on tap, which I need. Ineed gluten free. But it was
like,you know, it was just hopping,
like, it just seemed like theplace to go. That sounds like
49th state brewing, yeah. Okay,yep, yep. 49 state brewing. And
then the other thing, andAndrea, where were we when we
(46:44):
stumbled across that place withthe Irish music, the live band
that played, that's what Ithought you were gonna say, and
that was the Palmer. That wasthe Palmer Ale House, okay? And
they had live music the eveningwe were there, and I can't
remember what we ate, but Iremember it was good, and we
(47:04):
really liked the atmosphere. Andthe outdoor
stage was just the right size,you know, not too big, not too
small. And there was a lot ofpeople milling about, and there
were fire pits. And,yeah, it was a really good fun,
great time. Lots of and again,we met some really nice local
people there. And yeah, had somegreat conversation there. Love
(47:27):
it. Okay, Andrea and Chip lastquestion, what is a piece of
advice that each of you wouldhave for fellow travelers who
are planning a trip to Alaska,well, I guess I have to mention
the philosophy of our team. Ourteam is TEAM this ability, T, H,
(47:51):
I S,we. We try to focus on what we
can do and not what we can't.
And we're inspired by the peoplein our lives that have
disabilities. I have a son withDown syndrome, and Chip owns a
company that supports peoplewith disabilities, so they're
inspiring to us. But I'm sayingthat in order to give the advice
(48:16):
of you know, look at what youcan do, not what you can't and
don't be afraid to venture offthe beaten track. Don't be
afraid to push yourself, to findyour limits. You know, of
course, do it in a safe way, butjust get out there and yeah,
make it happen.
Love it. How about you tip?
Yeah, I would. I would say a fewthings, Alaska was a really good
(48:38):
place to access with an RV. Ifelt like the driving was easy
the RV, there's bunch ofdifferent RV companies, and
there's tons of parks around. SoI felt that that was a really,
you know, as opposed to gettinga rental car in a hotel and all
of that. I really enjoyed thataspect of it.
I mean, for adventure, peopledefinitely get like Gaia or some
(49:02):
other way of downloading thetrails offline, because a lot of
the when you get away from thecities, you do lose internet.
And obviously, Alaska isbeautiful, but it can also be
dangerous, and it's always goodto have offline maps so that you
can get yourself out of asituation if, whatever reason,
get lost. Yes, definitely thehiking poles, like Andrea said,
because it's the mountains werepretty steep, and there's a lot
(49:25):
of kind of scrambling and stuff.
And so that would be definitelynice to have. And and the
locals, I guess it was, itseemed like we were constantly
impressed with how friendly theywere and talkative. And, you
know, they want to knoweverything about you, just as
much as you want to know aboutthem. And so, you know, spend
time in places where you cansocialize with locals. Because
that was, I think, some of themost rewarding experiences,
(49:45):
which is having these reallylong conversations, like,
because you're on a boat foreight hours, like I talked to
that guy for what felt like sixof the eight hours. Yeah, it was
amazing. So that the people werea big highlight for me. Yeah.
Yeah, love it. Well. Thank youso much chip and Andrea for
(50:05):
joining me today. Once again,I'm going to put the link to
their podcast and their YouTubechannel in the show notes. So if
you want to learn more aboutadventure racing and hear some
fun stories, see some beautifulthings, then feel free to head
over there and Andrea and chip.
Thank you so much for being heretoday. Thank you, Jennie, you
(50:28):
were just so helpful. You reallymade our trip. What it was,
which it was amazing. So thankyou. Oh, you're You're welcome.
Thanks for having us and sorry.
One, one thing about the forpeople that are interested in
our specific story, on thepodcast, we do something called
(50:48):
the race ramble, which would bethe four teammates on a call at
the same time, just talkingabout our experience during the
race. Fun. People that wantvisually to see what the race
looked like, we go pro ourraces, or just, you know, little
clips, so that, basically on ourYouTube channel, you can see,
like Alaska day one. Actuallyit'll probably be Alaska the day
(51:10):
of the race, the prep, and thenday one, day two, day 345, and
it's just the highlights of therace put to music. Usually we
try to use local music. It justgives you a feel for what it
looks like to be in these racesand seeing all the beauty and
suffering, andwe try to do the highs and the
lows, but um, either way. Good.
Keeping it honest, you'rewelcome. You.
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