Anchorage, AK

Behold the beauties of Alaska!!!

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So I'm from a small town in Virginia and we don't have too many other travel addicts around me (not that I know of at least haha). So it actually wasn't until college that I was exposed to what the world had to offer. Up until that point, I had never heard of anyone going to Alaska! I couldn't even tell you what was in Alaska other than freezing cold weather and lots of snow!

So it was to my pleasant surprise that I ended up rooming my freshmen year with an Alaskan native - Jillian Eppler, who easily became one of my best friends. Fun fact - she's actually my inspiration for creating my travel Instagram account! So I have to give her a HUGE shout out! Definitely go check out her Instagram!

Anyways, this dear friend of mine got married to the love of her life back in 2015 at the Alyeska Resort. I honestly don't think I'll ever go to a more beautiful wedding in my life - it was truly a fairytale wedding!! If you go to Anchorage, I highly recommend checking Alyeska out as well!

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Not only did I get to stand as a bridesmaid beside one of my favorite people, but my brother and a group of 12-15 (some were only there for the wedding) of my closest friends were all able to go too and we made the trip of a lifetime out of it!!

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We also went in June, so the weather was perfect! High 70s-low 80s! What was so crazy though was experiencing how it literally never got completely dark. Throughout the night it was still light enough outside to walk around clearly. It was insane!! Anyways, check out this incredible drone footage vid that my friend Jordy Vickrey captured of our trip!!!

It was truly the happiest week of my entire life so far. Nothing tops seeing one of your best friends getting married while exploring incredible places with so many people that you love!

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This picture was taken at the top of our incredible hike to Hatcher Pass! If you were to do ONE thing in Alaska, I highly recommend doing this hike and placing it at the TOP of your priority list! This was by far my favorite place of the entire trip - it truly looked like it was straight out of a Lord of The Rings movie!

Check out this other drone vid Jordy perfectly captured of Hatcher Pass:

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Other adventures we went on included kayaking in Eklutna Lake, a boat ride in Seward, hiking to a glacier, boating in Whittier and hiking to a waterfall there, Alaskan salmon fishing, as well as stopping by the Kenai River! Check out more of these places below!

Eklutna Lake

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I first went here at the beginning of the trip with the bridal party, and then I went back a second time with my larger friend group!

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My friends even decided to make a fun raft out of all the driftwood around the lake!📷

We had an absolute blast riding this thing!

Seward

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The boat ride was so fun and we even saw an ORCA WHALE on our trip!

Exit Glacier near Seward

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Whittier

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Alaskan Salmon Fishing

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Please note my friend Sam in the background^ hahaha.

Kenai River

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Oh, and can't forget that I saw a moose!!!

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So all that to say, this was the trip of a lifetime! Huge shout out to the Carson family for hosting all of us in their house! Mrs. Carson even cooked for us all and let us use their vehicles to transport us around for our adventures. To this day, we all still feel SO grateful for their hospitality!! If you want to see more awesome Alaskan adventures, check out the Carson siblings Instagram's below!

Michael Carson

Daniel Carson

ALSO, if you plan on making a trip to Anchorage and need a thrifty car rental there - make sure you check out Thrifty Car Rentals. They are family owned and operated for almost 40 years now and I know and trust the owner! You can use code: insgm to save 10% off your rental!!