Eighth and final day of my 2021 Alaska trip. Weather wasn’t great today, so I visited Alaska State Museum in downtown Juneau, before checking out some sceneries on the city’s suburbs.

Seventh day of my 2021 Alaska trip and my first of two days in Juneau. Weather was fine today so I took the West Glacier Trail onto Mendenhall Glacier after exploring its famous ice cave. It ended up being such an awesome experience.

Fifth and sixth day of my 2021 Alaska trip. During these two days I visited Utqiagvik, the northern-most town of United States, where I experienced a polar day in this isolated town surrounded by tundra and arctic sea ice, before taking a connecting flight to Juneau where I would make a stopover on my way back to Washington DC.

Fourth day of my 2021 Alaska trip and last day in the Anchorage vicinity. I climbed and summited South Pioneer Peak, a magnificent YDS class 3 mountain on the southern bank of Knik River that’s an enchanting sight from much of the Mat-Su Valley. It’s a long day-hike with grueling elevation gains, but this time I was better prepared, mentally and physically, and it turned out to be a much memorable experience.

Third day of my 2021 Alaska trip. Weather forecast was occasional drizzle for the day, which wasn’t ideal for hiking. So I took the day easy, visited Anchorage Museum in its downtown, and a few parks on its coastline, before checking into a new Airbnb in its suburb.

Second day of my 2021 Alaska trip. Yesterday’s excursion to Matanuska Peak took quite a toll on me that I spent most of the day resting. But since I still wanted something done for the day, I decided to take a short hike to Marmot Mountain near Hatcher Pass towards its end.

First day of my 2021 Alaska trip, I would be climbing Matanuska Peak outside the city of Palmer, a grueling day hike that tested both my physical and mental capabilities.

I enjoyed last summer’s trip to Alaska so much that I decided to visit it again this year over Independence Day. The outbound flights followed the same routing as last year, with a different set of sceneries and stories.

Second weekend of June 2021. With summer calling, I decided to make an overnight trip to Virginia Beach for some typical summer fun. On the way there, I would be visiting historic Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America and cradle of American civilization. It turned out that Virginia Beach was sort of underwhelming, so on the second day, I visited Chrysler Museum in downtown Norfolk instead.

Third day of 2021 Memorial Day weekend. We hiked to Dragon’s Tooth, a giant near-vertical rock along Appalachian Trail that’s also part of Virginia Triple Crown.