Caribou Grill – Glennallen, Alaska
Our first full day in Alaska we went out driving through the mountains. I made mention that I wanted to go into the mountains and we entered this trip with very little plans. Especially since the Coronavirus has been affecting all daily life everywhere. But I wanted to see beautiful scenery and I wanted to go into the mountains. So, our first day, we did just that.
p.s. I love that at home we have deer crossing signs. Here they have Moose and Elk crossing signs. However, we didn’t see any moose (or elk) in the wild until the last day. more on that to come.
Supposedly you can drive to this glacier. The roads didn’t look right or looked like we were going to have to offroad. Have you ever tried offroading in a minivan? Me either. Not sure I want to either.
This was the Matanuska Glacier. The Matanuska is Alaska’s largest road-accessible glacier, and it’s just 90 minutes from Anchorage. It is 27 miles long and 4 miles wide. It is located 100 miles North-east of Anchorage on the Glenn Highway. It flows about 1 foot per day.
My parents came to Alaska a few years ago. There was a restaurant up around Glennallen that mom was telling us about. They said we should see wildlife there. My oldest was infatuated with seeing a Moose in real life… not in a zoo or wildlife conservation area, but standing alongside the road.
On the drive up the Glenn Highway, we saw some beautiful sights. I kept making us pull over to take pictures. I’m pretty sure what was a 3-hour drive took closer to 5 hours. Whoops.
It doesn’t feel like you are in the mountains. But, when they say bumps ahead, take them seriously. We hit some waves in the road at about 45 mph or something like that and it felt like we hit air. haha.
The restaurant we were headed to was closed. It was in a hotel. Mom went online and was able to act as though she was going to book a room at the hotel, but when we got there, the entrance was gated. Once we got back to where I had internet reception, I jumped on Facebook and they had a temporarily closed announcement posted.
So Tip #1: When traveling, especially during a pandemic, get on Facebook and look for were open or temporarily closed notifications!
Why do they do that? Because it is a lot easier to make a quick Facebook post then it is to change a website.
Caribou Grill
Mile 186 Glenn Hwy
Glennallen, AK 99588
In the mountains, finding a restaurant is difficult. Finding a gas station is even harder. After our original stop was closed, we backtracked about 5 miles to the Caribou Restaurant. The GPS said it was on the right side of the road… it was in fact on the left side. We were able to find it based on the red roof. The Caribou Grill serves American and Italian dishes.
Only Caribou we saw.
They were busy because as I stated, finding a restaurant is difficult. The waitress and one cook seemed to be all they had. She said it had been slow as of late. And I believe they were hiring.
Someone in my party had a Bacon Cheeseburger. I can’t remember who. I have 2 pictures, this one and mine (next picture). I remember they said this was good. But otherwise, I can’t remember who had this. haha.
Mine was the Prime Rib Sandwich. Oh. My. Goodness. it was amazing. That’s all. And those fries. I’m not a huge fry person, but they tasted like they were battered when they were cooked. Oh yum.
