help planning trip please (Anchorage, Kenai: to rent, hotel, buy)

[okieplumber]

My wife and I are heading up on may 26 for 8 days. I have one day of business in anchorage trying to find things to do on the cheap and some low cost places to stay. all we really need are clean sheets and hot water
not wanting to spend all our time in anchorage or have every day planned

Being as that seems to be the start of tourist season would it be unreasonable to think we can find lodging with out reservations if we drove up to denali
being as I have never camped where I'm on the menu not real excited about pitching a tent anywhere as our long guns are staying home...

thanks for the help guys

[AADAD]

Rent an RV much cheaper more mobile and you can cook!

[RayinAK]

Agree with AADAD. The money you will use for lodging and eating at restaurants you can use to rent a RV. Then you can take showers and such at the places where you park the RV for the night, and a quick shower in the RV if that's what you want. You can stop by Fred Mayer, Sam's Club, Walmart, Safeway, etc. and buy some groceries and other foods to prepare in the RV.

[AADAD]

Originally Posted by RayinAK

Agree with AADAD. The money you will use for lodging and eating at restaurants you can use to rent a RV. Then you can take showers and such at the places where you park the RV for the night, and a quick shower in the RV if that's what you want. You can stop by Fred Mayer, Sam's Club, Walmart, Safeway, etc. and buy some groceries and other foods to prepare in the RV.

And it's fun. By the way Ray stellar pics of the flowers you posted.

[tigre79]

I wouldn't discount tent camping (I camped for 12 nights in a row on my own last summer and wouldn't have done it any other way!), but I'd bet the RV thing would be better than B&Bs, etc. It'll be more flexible, cheaper, and probably more fun, too. If you get hungry or tired you can just stop at the next highway pullout (which occur much more frequently than any restaurants, shops, or lodging once you're out of Anchorage)

Do you have any other areas you're interested in besides Denali?

[okieplumber]

Originally Posted by tigre79

I wouldn't discount tent camping (I camped for 12 nights in a row on my own last summer and wouldn't have done it any other way!), but I'd bet the RV thing would be better than B&Bs, etc. It'll be more flexible, cheaper, and probably more fun, too. If you get hungry or tired you can just stop at the next highway pullout (which occur much more frequently than any restaurants, shops, or lodging once you're out of Anchorage)

Do you have any other areas you're interested in besides Denali?

lots would like to see homer seward valdez soldnta bethel just about evry where but we only have 7 days

[okieplumber]

ok really like the rv idea where do we get one in anchorage or is someplace better than others

[okieplumber]

just a random check prices about the same as a hotel 170-200 per day

[mongazid]

I would not try to see so much in one trip. I would pick north or south. Alaska is just to big to try to see alot of it in just a week. You can go south and see the K-pen, or north to Denali and cantwell, across the Denali highway to paxton then loop back around on the glen. Either will eat up a week easily. Try to avoid a big crash, It will be light all day and night. Its easy to just go and go and go and go and BAM. you pass out waste 2 days sleeping and can't remember what you did. lol. (been there and done that on our first trip to alaska).

[tigre79]

Originally Posted by mongazid

I would not try to see so much in one trip. I would pick north or south. Alaska is just to big to try to see alot of it in just a week. You can go south and see the K-pen, or north to Denali and cantwell, across the Denali highway to paxton then loop back around on the glen. Either will eat up a week easily.

That loop around Denali Highway and the Glen is really pretty (be careful to watch your gas tank out there, though, not much in the way of services outside of Paxson and Glennallen). Otherwise, you could probably go up to Denali for a couple of days then back down the Parks and hit Seward, but I don't know that you'll have time to see much more of the Kenai Peninsula than that unless you want to be driving the whole time.