We woke up today excited to be heading to Denali. As we left North Pole, AK, the weather turned gloomy. The closer we got to Denali, the more clouds there were that were hiding all the sites we came so far to see. A drizzle that started as we headed out of the North Pole/Fairbanks area followed us the entire day.
Seeing Denali, or any of the mountains in this area, was to be a highlight of our adventure. Since the clouds had a different plan, the highlight of our day was a stop in Healy for gas and lunch.
49th State Brewing has locations in Denali and Anchorage. It’s the only brewpub in Denali and we were looking forward to giving it a try.
The entrance to the property is grand – in a brewpub/Denali kind of way. There’s lots of outdoor seating and space for events. There is also a replica of the bus from Into the Wild that you can get really close to and see all the details.
Once inside the building, our jaws dropped. The place is HUGE. They have also been able to keep a rustic Alaskan charm, but present it in a contemporary, modern way. It’s open, light, and airy but comfortable at the same time.
Beer flights are common in breweries and brewpubs. A twist on that at 49th State Brewing is their soda flight which Braxton ordered. He was able to try 49th State Brewing Cola, Root beer, Blueberry Cream Soda, and the Spruce Tip Soda that he first tasted when we were at Big Delta Brewing Co. in Delta Junction. His favorite was the Spruce Tip Soda.
It’s made with hand-harvested Alaskan Sitka Spruce tips.
For food, Mike ordered the Crabby Grilled Cheese with Clam Chowder. It was a massive amount of food and he enjoyed every bite of it. Braxton had the Yak Burger, one of the specialties here. Braxton said it was one of the tastiest burgers he has ever had. I had the Halibut Caesar Salad and it hit the spot. The Halibut was cooked perfectly. It was delicious. Honestly though, there were so many delicious sounding dishes on the menu, it took us some serious thinking to narrow it down to only one thing each.
With our full bellies, we headed to the Denali Visitor Center. It was still drizzling but at least it wasn’t pouring. We still hadn’t seen Denali yet due to the cloud cover and we had hoped the Visitor Center would fill in some of the blanks for us. I think we over estimated what the Denali Visitor Center would be like, or maybe it was just to busy to be as impressive as we anticipated. Adjacent to the visitor center is a gift shop and restaurant, a train depot, and a couple other buildings not too far away. We were able to get a few stamps for Braxton’s National Parks Passport and saw a good film on Park Rangers and Dog Sled teams, so we did consider the stop a success.
Although we didn’t have a reservation, we were lucky to get a spot at the Cantwell RV Park. The Cantwell RV Park is a Veteran owned RV Park. Joe and Tammy, the owners, are from Alaska. They are welcoming, friendly, and excited to share their location with folks. In the evenings, Joe will often play his guitar and entertain park guests.
As the day comes to an end, it’s still raining. Maybe the clouds will clear and we’ll be able to see some great sites on our way to Talkeetna tomorrow.