***This post contains a lot of photos!***

Over memorial day weekend we decided to take a little family trip. We packed our bags and headed to Fairbanks, AK. It was a beautiful flight and quicker than what we are used to (only 2 1/2 hours). We left Friday evening and BB stayed up both flights until past midnight that night. This was despite playing really hard that day.

Saturday we headed to the visitors center to check out what there is to do. We collected brochures and then went for a nice walk along the river right outside the doors. D left the decisions up to me for what we did that day. Staying true to myself I just haphazardly chose but it ended up being a really fun day. We headed to Pioneer Park where there was a steam engine, two different play grounds, and if we stayed long enough an air museum and a train museum (we didn’t stay that long). BB fell in love with the trains! She kept saying, “choo, choo!”. She also had a good time playing at the park and getting some energy out. After that we went to North Pole, AK and checked out the gift shop and saw some reindeer. We headed back to go to their famers market which I was really looking forward to. We wandered there and got lunch, Pizza and popsicles! There were so many cool booths that I could have easily spent our savings on things we didn’t really need.  We then went to check out the migratory bird sanctuary. BB wasn’t really having that adventure and was getting frustrated at the bugs that were flying around her. With that we decided to head to the store get some snacks and then give BB some time to just be free. We stayed in the rest of the night and got BB to bed early, but not without a Taco Bell run for dinner!

Sunday we packed the car and headed to Denali National Park. It’s about 2-3 hours away from Fairbanks, but D and I really enjoyed the drive. BB is a great traveler and did really good on our drive. While there we took a hike, visited the Visitors center, saw sled dogs (BB fired up all the sled dogs), saw bears, and saw moose. We had reindeer and elk pizza for dinner and set off for home. Denali is truly magnificent. You can only drive so far into the park but I am sure both D and I continuously said WOW as we drove through. I am always amazed at just how beautiful this state is.

Monday morning we left early and flew home. We flew in a Bombardier from Fairbanks to Anchorage and can honestly say that it was an experience in and of itself. This smaller propeller plane was different from typical commercial flights and we unfortunately were right under the wings and on the wrong side that we didn’t get to see Denali from the air. but that just means we will have to go back right?

D and I decided that Fairbanks was very similar to Flagstaff. There were aspen trees everywhere and I couldn’t help but think that come fall it is even more breathtaking! The interior is so different from Southeast. We kept trying to wrap our minds around just how huge Alaska is and how different every place we have been is. We spent a couple hours for a layover in Anchorage. Additionally, the sun never really set while we were there. It was daylight 24 hours and it was a cool experience. However, our cave sleeping baby did not appreciate all the light and was thankful to return home to her blackout curtains.