This blog post should probably be written by our good friend Mark McDermott, since he made this itinerary for us, but I will document it for posterity’s sake. In August we spent nine days in Alaska. All of the following locations are less than two hours from Anchorage, other than Seward.
We started our trip with a hike on Blueberry Hill near Flattop Mountain just outside of town and on the edge of the Chugach State Park.
We ended our trip with a stroll through Earthquake Park, near the airport.
Just 30 minutes south is Bird Point and the Turnagain Arm.
Palmer is 1 hour away and has some cool barns.
One of our best days was at the Independence mine which is near Palmer and 1:15 from Anchorage.
In that same direction 2 hours from Anchorage is the Matanuska Glacier, where you can walk up to and even into the glacier.
Whittier is an hour and a half from Anchorage and the departure point for boats into Prince William Sound. We did an all day cruise and saw a humpback whale, bears, an eagle, sea otters, sea lions, fish, of course, and Puffins.
Finally, you can take the scenic drive to Seward which is 2.5 hours from Anchorage and take another boat cruise, see a glacier, visit the aquarium, and stroll through the interesting town.
We were rained out much of our trip and did not see Denali at all…next time.
To see more of (and buy) our photos, please go to www.pamphotography.com
pamphotography 
Considering the weather that week you guys did really well making lemonade. I’m impressed! Mary’s B&W of Turnagain Arm from a 5 minute stop is spectacular. And thanks for the shout out.