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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Alaska Help Please
DH and I are looking at flying into Anchorage May 18th and staying till the 25th. Any advice on an itinerary? We will be renting a car and the only thing that we know for sure we want to do is Denali. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Re: Alaska Help Please
Really, Alaska is so amazing. I don't think you can go wrong no matter what you do. :-)
Unless you're dead set on driving to Denali, you might consider taking the train up. It's an 8 hour trip, but it's through beautiful scenery - then you can relax and enjoy rather than dodging moose on the highway. And you learn a lot about the land, history, etc. from the guides on the train as you go. You also will not be able to take your car into Denali - or at least not past the first few miles of the park. You'll have to buy a bus ticket, or coordinate pickup with your lodge if you stay inside the park.
The other place I would suggest you go is either Seward or Homer on the Kenai Peninsula. It's beautiful down there, and you can do some good salmon and/or halibut fishing if you're into that. For that trip, I would drive. The drive down on the Seward Highway is really pretty. You can also do the Kenai Fjords tour out of Seward; it's a catamaran tour that takes you out to several tidewater glaciers and you see a lot of wildlife (or at least we did). In Seward you can also hike on Exit Glacier.
You could spend a good day or two in and around Anchorage as well. There are several good hiking places right around the city - Glen Alps, Eklutna Lake, Thunderbird Falls.
Not sure what sort of activities and things you all are in to. This is just off the top of my head what we enjoyed. If you have specific things you are looking for, let me know and maybe I can be of more help.
Thank you so much!! This is great info! I like the idea of the train to Denali so I will for sure look into that.
In/around Anchorage - Eat at the Moose's Tooth for pizza and beer, but it does get really busy. Amazing food. Stop at one of the street vendors in the center of town and have reindeer sausage, which is also really tasty. Right in downtown, we ate at F Street Station, which was good, too. We did a walking tour of downtown, which only took an hour or two and was nice since the weather was great that day. Another day we drove along Cook Inlet and stopped at Beluga Point and Bird Point, both of which are very pretty.
If you drive to Denali, stop at the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer. It's a half hour or so detour, but it's a great tour and really interesting. We stayed in Healy instead of Denali, at Earthsong Lodge, which was a 20 minute drive outside of Denali. It was nice to be away from all the touristy stuff, but you do have to wake up extra early to make the early tour buses into Denali. It was a neat place to stay, though, and much cheaper than right in town.
I agree that you should go to Seward and/or Homer. In Homer, we stayed at Land's End. We got a room right on the end of the Spit, so no matter what direction you looked from our balcony you saw the water. It was amazing. It was even pretty cheap when we were there in August. We didn't end up having time, but we wanted to take a water taxi to Kachemak bay to go tidepooling. We did see a few things in the pools along the spit, but there is supposed to be a lot more across the bay if the tide gets really low. In Seward, we went on a fishing trip and brought back 40 pounds, mostly halibut but some cod and it is the best fish I've ever eaten. We had them flash freeze overnight and drove to Anchorage the next morning and paid to have it stored in the Anchorage airport freezer, but you can also ship it back to yourself (or someone else so it can get into a freezer quickly). We also did the short hike along Exit Glacier. They have interesting history plackards around that tell you how much the glacier has receeded in the last 15 years. We stayed at the Breeze Inn in one of the motel rooms. I would pay for the hotel style rooms (newer) if we went back. Do not eat at their restaurant. It was gross.
We also went up to Fairbanks and drove the Dalton as far as the Arctic circle, but we had more time than you. I liked Fairbanks, although it gets mixed reviews.
Do you camp? If so, I definitely recommend camping in the park at Denali (not just outside by the welcome center). It's the best way to see the park. Riding the bus all day really doesn't do it justice. The rangers provide guided informational hikes on the tundra if you want to learn a little. There are also companies that you can go with that will provide all the gear and guide services if you're uncomfortable camping by yourself.
Have you considered driving down to Seward to do a boat tour of Kenai (sp?) Nat'l Park and to hike Exit Glacier? I thought those were a lot of fun. As you can see, though, I'm a huge outdoor kind of travel person. So it depends on what you're into.
The train is good for going to Denali but you'll definitely need the car for Seward and Exit Glacier.
The Art of Living
I agree with trying to see Kenai/Homer/Seward area. I love fishing out of Seward and have done it for many years. Clam digging near homer can be a messy good time as well.
If you're adventurous, we did the white water rafting trip out of Denali and had a blast.
I'm from Anchorage, so I've never had to pack AK into a short trip. There is plenty of good food in Anchorage and some pretty well known places along the peninsula.