You will trail through some of the roughest, most primitive country the world can throw at you, moving slowly enough to take in the vast panorama that is the interior of the Last Frontier. You will get a first-hand taste of a lifestyle and mindset completely different from your own. Is not that what a vacation is all about?

On the way to Seward, your first stop, you will see glaciers as you climb through the Kenai Mountains, and experience fjords like those in Norway as you steam along the Cook Inlet. Seward itself is full of things to see and do, like going to the Alaska SeaLife Center, dog sledding, or seeing a glacier up close and personal.

Seward being the southern terminus of your tour, you return to Anchorage through Kenai Fjords National Park, taking in the bounty of the flora and fauna of the Alaska rain forest. As this tour is offered during Alaska’s summer, when you get into Anchorage late (after 10 p.m.), the sun will just be setting.

From Anchorage, you enter the wilds of the Alaska interior. The next stop is Talkeetna, the gateway to Denali National Park. From Talkeetna, you will go back in time to experience the wild lifestyle of the area at the turn of the 20th century, when fur-trapping was the only reason for being in the area. After staying overnight, you travel to Denali. Optional excursions include flight-seeing, river rafting, and exploration hikes.

Following a bus tour of Denali, the train will take you to Fairbanks, the northern limit of the train tour. Where Anchorage has a cosmopolitan vibe, Fairbanks is all business. The frontier spirit permeates everything you see and do. You can experience first-hand the mystique of the Alaska bush pilot, see how the Native Alaskans lived before the coming of the white man, and cruise down the Yukon River on a sternwheeler, like gold prospectors did a century ago.

The Alaska By Rail is a fun train vacation, but it is not fun like a theme park. It is not about amusement; it is about being blown away by the majestic Great Land that is Alaska. It is about families reconnecting in a world that seeks to rip them apart. It is about regaining a simple, sane perspective on life. That is what this train vacation package is all about.