Our guides were Mike and Carlene. They are both awesome!
The Sophie Station Hotel in Fairbanks is just your basic hotel, but it was nice enough and very clean. The staff was very friendly. I had dinner in the restaurant on the night of our arrival and it was one of the best meals of the trip. The Grande Denali Lodge was somewhat rustic, but quite suited to it's location. It's built on a ledge on the side of a mountain and the view is impressive. The rooms were just average. We didn't spend much time in the room anyway. The lobby is nice. The restuarant was okay, but I thought overpriced for what we got. There are a lot of other restaurants in the canyon just below the lodge where you can have dinner when you're on your own. The Aleyaska Resort was a step up from the other accommodations. Nice rooms and grounds. Very friendly, helpful staff. Several restaurants on site. Definitely the most comfortable beds on the trip.
And speaking of rustic, there are several occasions on the trip when the only toilets availale are of the non-flushable variety.
During the afternoon on our own at Denali, we did a white water rafting trip through the river canyon. Some of the adults in our group skipped the Denali Exploration Hike earlier in the afternoon and took a tundra tour where they saw a lot of wildlife. It was long (I forget exactly but something in excess of 6 hours I think) and on a school bus, but I believe they thought it was well worth the time. One family did a covered wagon trip that had a dinner show and another family did an ATV tour. Mike and Carlene can make suggestions, as well as the front desk staff at the lodge. On the free day in Girdwood, our wonderful guides led us on an optional hike at Byron Glacier which ended at a spot where we were able to play in the snow. It was beautiful and the kids especially loved it. There is paragliding and helicopter tours near the hotel, if you aren't interested in the hike. And the spa, of course. We didn't do any pre or post days, but if you have the time and the expendable funds, I think it would be worth it to take a helicopter or plane tour. Either a flyover or one of the tours that lands on a glacier.
On the fjords cruise, the whales, porpoises, and otters came very near the ship, so it was easy to get good photos. You just have to keep snapping. Most of the pictures I took with a Canon Rebel XTi and a few were taken with a Canon Powershot SD600. The photo of Mt. McKinley was taken from a Boeing 737-400 on our flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks. The pilot announced during the flight that, since the day was unusally clear and we were ahead of schedule, he had a surprise for us. He slowed the jet and flew at a lower altitude so that we could get a good view of the mountain. He tilted the wings so we could see the base camps and the climbers footprints through the snow. It was amazing. There were maybe 30 people on the plane, so we were able to move around to get the best view. The pilot was on the PA sytem the whole time playing tour guide. I'm so glad we had this opportunity, because there was a huge forest fire in Denali that started our third day in Alaska, I believe, and it made the air a bit hazy everywhere we went. When we got to the spot where we should have been able to see Mt. McKinley, it was obscured by the haze.
We had an amazing time! Our guides and our fellow adventurers were fantastsic. It was sunny and in the upper 70's for the entire trip, which definitely made the experience more enjoyable. We felt like we were living a charmed life. Those temps are a rarity and all the Alaskans we encountered kept saying how hot it was. Temps at home were upper 90's so it felt great to me. Chances are you will encounter variables temps, so you have to bring clothes that you can layer. Bring some warm clothes, because you will probably need them at least part of the time. Unless you're charmed like us.
My one regret is that I didn't bring a stocking cap or some type of hat with ear flaps for the fjords cruise. The ship goes quite fast, so it is windy, and I wished that I had brought something to protect my ears.
