Girdwood was (is) really beautiful and quaint. The "town" was about the size of Boston Public Garden and it sits at the edge of Chugach National Forest. There are a few restaurants, coffee shops (mainly, you only need to know about The Grind) and touristy souvenir and ski shops (and most importantly a 24 hour walk in orthopedic clinic) We had a great dinner on our first night at Jack Sprats, which is near the Alyeska Day Lodge. I definitely advise anyone who wants to eat there to call ahead and make a reservation, we got lucky that a party of 2 didn't show up and they let us steal their table but we watched many other parties get turned away at the door. Its a very casual place, but small so it fills up quickly. Also, if you go, get the yam fries - actually, get two orders of yam fries.
The Alyeska Resort is beautiful, probably one of the nicest places I have ever stayed. All of the staff were friendly and welcoming, and everything was impeccably clean. Our view was perfect - our room looked directly out to the mountain, the sky tram, chair lift and half pipe. During our two night stay we ate at three of the restaurants in the resort. We had breakfast at the Pond View Cafe - it was very nice, quiet and had a pretty standard breakfast menu. Service was friendly, and the prices were relatively reasonable considering its inside a resort. That same day we had lunch on top of Mt. Alyeska at the fancy four-diamond rated Seven Glaciers. It was really nice, the service was excellent and knowledgeable and everything you would expect - but the food was only ok, nothing that really blew me away or that I would return for. My risotto was perfectly cooked, but the portions were small and the prices essentially prohibited ordering of multiple small plates. Also Tre ordered the portobello burger, and in the description there was no mention of cheese, but when it came out it was covered in melted cheese. Finally, on our last day there we had lunch at the Aurora Bar where we had a "make your own pizza". Again, the service was excellent, but while the food definitely served its purpose and we ate well, it was only mediocre. (which is what you expect when eating vegan at a regular spot)
Anyways, back to what we did. On our first day there after breakfast we left Tre's mom Judy to people watch a bit while we went for a ride into town. We found "Crow Creek Road" with signs that warned that it was not maintained in the winter and that travel was highly discouraged. There was also a sign that said there was a gold mine 3 miles down the road, so obviously we had to go. The road really wasn't that bad, and people live along it so obviously it is cleared sufficiently for them to get in and out. Many houses/cars/trucks were left buried in snow, presumably to be resurrected come springtime. We got out at the end and walked around a bit before heading back.
After our lunch at Seven Glaciers we walked out to the round house atop Mt. Alyeska and took in the view. We are not skiiers or snowboarders, but apparently Mt. Alyeska is one of the most difficult mountains in North America, and I believe I heard them say that it has the on of the longest double black diamond runs which is along the mountains North face. There were over 70 trails and even more if you include the ones that people heli-ski to.
We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the room and watching the night-skiers out the window. Tre and I had to be in bed early in order to get up early for our snow mobile tour out to Spencer Glacier which I'll write about in the next post. (let me just tease it by saying it is now 3 days later and I can still barely move -- everything hurts.)
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| The Alyeska Resort |
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| This is the sky tram that runs from the resort (which you can see at the bottom left if you squint) to the top of Mt. Alyeska |
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| Loading bay for the tram at the top of the mountain |
So beautiful! We are jealous
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