Quote:
Originally Posted by Roadking2003
We are not interested in fishing, hunting or mountain climbing. We enjoy local food, sightseeing and shopping. Also, day cruises to see the glaciers and float plane rides over the mountains. We rent a car almost everywhere we go. We would probable be there for a 7 - 10 days.
|
With seven days and your wish list you're going to have to pick and choose very carefully; with 10, a little less difficult, but still challenging.
Just some thoughts as a former resident and as one who's traveled very extensively around the state...
Timing matters. A lot. In June the mosquitoes on the tundra or near fresh water bodies will fly off with you; by September the tundra in Denali NP will be showing fall color but the hotels and buses will still be full. Very full.
The Kenai - Anchorage - Denali - Fairbanks tourist corridor is very heavily visited. Sometimes it can feel like the wilderness is just out of reach, with a bunch of campers and pickup trucks getting in the way. Getting off the road system - on the water, in the air - is imperative. One CAN NOT fully appreciate the vastness and beauty of the place from the highway.
Denali is gorgeous but can be a major time suck for those with limited days. From Anchorage it's at least a 3-day prospect - one to get there, one to be there, one to get back. And that's for middling odds that you'll see the mountain anyway, due to the weather the mountain manufactures for itself. Seward and the Kenai Fjords are not dissimilar; a few (scenic) hours to get there, a day to be there, and some hours back. In June-August the days are long enough that you can return from Anchorage the day of your Kenai Fjords cruise, but it will be a very long day. One advantage of the Fjords is that it's still beautiful even with clouds.
On more than one occasion I've recommended people skip Denali and use those days elsewhere. I know, heresy.
There are more flightseeing options - Denali, glaciers, bears, volcanoes - out of Anchorage than anywhere else. Check out the likes of Rust's -
Alaska Flightseeing Tours & Air Taxi Services | Rust's Flying Service - for examples. Not cheap, but it's not cheap from anywhere, and it's (usually) way, way more convenient than schlepping to Homer or Talkeetna.
The best native crafts (the real deal, not something stamped out in China) are to be had at the
Alaska Native Medical Center gift shop in Anchorage. While you're there, check out the displays of native arts throughout the hospital - stunning stuff.
Wild game can't be served in restaurants. (I've had farmed kudu in SA too, also warthog.) Most of the fish except salmon - and probably all of the shellfish - will have been frozen and a lot will actually have come from Seattle.
Rent an SUV - you'll need the higher seating position to see well enough to pass on 2-lane roads. Except for vehicles from locally owned companies, rentals aren't allowed on gravel roads.
---
So what would I suggest?
How adventurous do you feel? Are you willing to go off the beaten path?
Here's a little side trip I like to recommend for people with inquisitive streaks:
You can fly round trip from Anchorage to Kotzebue or Nome for $330 - $350 in an Alaska Airlines jet; flights take around an hour - 90 min.
Kotzebue is an Inupiat Eskimo community above the arctic circle and on a branch of the Arctic Ocean. In you're there in most of June and early July, the sun won't set; it will be daylight around the clock even if it
does set for a couple of hours. You can stay at the comfortable
Nullugvik Hotel across the street from the beach, visit the Native cultural center, visit a fish camp, and just experience a part of Alaska very few summer visitors ever see.
Nome (which you can reach straight from ANC or from Kotzebue - the same plane stops there) is an historic gold mining town on the Bering Sea. (Gold is still being mined; see the TV show
Bering Sea Gold.)
What Nome has going for visitors is that there's a surprisingly extensive road system radiating from the town into the Seward Peninsula. You can rent a vehicle in Nome and take off into the tundra, along the Bering Sea coast, see wildlife (muskox, bears, moose, reindeer, caribou, lots of birds) and stunning landscapes, along with interesting artifacts left behind by a century of mining and prospecting.
Look at these sites -
Nome Scenic Drives | Driving The Nome Road System and
Wildlife Viewing on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska Department of Fish and Game to see what I'm talking about.
You could do a three- or four-day excursion to Kotzebue and Nome (24 hours in Kotz and 2-3 days in Nome) for around the price of a bear tour - less actually - and you'll have seen and experienced something very special.
Finally, re Southeast Alaska. You could take the "milk run" Alaska Airlines flight to Juneau (stops in Cordova and Yakutat) then have a google at Tenakee Springs. Tenakee is a picturesque little village that meets most people's fantasy ideas about Alaskan villages, and the ferry ride from Juneau is quite scenic. A day trip to Tenakee on the boat would definitely give you a feel for the region's environment. Then back to Juneau and off to home you go.
Like I said, just some personal thoughts.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
