**Cross-posted on the outdoors board**

I've spent about 6 weeks in Alaska over the course of 2 previous trips both hunting and fishing, but my bride wants to visit before she starts teaching again in the fall.

Thinking 7-10 days. Fly In/Out of Anchorage.

I've never done Denali National Park so that's definitely on the list. Any other attractions the we would enjoy?

I'm sure we'll do a day of fishing in either Seward or Homer.

Is Fairbanks worth a quick visit? Should we fly out to another town in SE Alaska for a few days?

Any and all ideas welcome!

TIA

I worked on a ship in SE Alaska for 2yrs and if you are in the Juneau area I would highly recommend a glacier tour in Endicott Arm. Then grab a few beers at the Alaskan Hotel & Bar.

Unless you are just wanting to say that you have been to Fairbanks/North Pole (with it's year round Christmas appeal) I personally would avoid it. I have lived up here for the past 10 years and have only been once & that was plenty. Its virtually flat with minimal trees. Scenery isn't one if its highlights to say the least. However, Denali Natl. Park is highly recommended, especially for someone new to Alaska and wanting to see wildlife IN THE WILD. A quick detour through Talkeetna on your way up is advised. Nice little Tourist / Hippy town with an AMAZING brewery (Denali Brewing - Personal State Favorite) and decent burger joint (featured on Man vs. Food). Decent bow / grayling fishing off of the Parks Hwy as well. (Montana, Sheep, Sunshine, Little Su, Willow).
Going South is great despite the huge droves of tourists and motor coaches. Seward is a great little town. Recommend killing a few hours at the Sea Life Center (kind of expensive, however I felt it was worth it once inside). Also, the Kenai Fjords tours are pretty sweet. Granted for the same amount of money you can book a halibut/salmon trip out of Seward and usually see the same things (Whales/Birds/Sea Lions/Otters).
There is plenty to see and do in the Seward, Kenai, Homer, Soldotna area to kill multiple days. Just plan ahead a little, if your not tent camping on the side of the highway, hotels obviously fill up pretty quick depending on Salmon Runs.
Fishing this year is going to be Sh*t as they have already closed off most of the King season on the Kenai due to low numbers in years past. Doubt that will change anytime in the near future. Stick it out til the Reds and Silvers hit the rivers to battle it out. & Good Luck. Hope your vacation turns out good. If it were up to me I will go ahead and call ABC rentals. They have trucks with cab over campers that work great. Have used them in the past and they are great to work with.

It has been a while, but I spent a week there one summer, and rcduncan7694 hit on most of what I did. Catching salmon on a fishing trip out of Seward, and taking it back to my cousin's place and eating it that night was a great experience. Talkeetna had a nice feel, and this was before microbreweries.

If you're feeling adventurous, we took a charter plane tour around the circumference of Denali (plane was unpressurized, so couldn't go above 7000 feet or so). About 6-8 passengers on the plane, as I recall. The guide was very good (you wear headphones, because it's pretty noisy), and you definitely see a lot of wildlife in a short period of time (I think the flight was 90 minutes or so?). Back then (mid-90's), I think it cost about $175 a person, but I'm sure it's double that, now. I felt it was worth the money.

Great scenery, and the whole place seems like a throwback to a more rough and wild time, in a good way. Enjoy!

- The city of Anchorage has a complete web site of information:
http://www.anchorage.net/
- Some quick, facts: http://www.anchorage.net/anchorage-population-and-other-funanchorage-
facts
- More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchorage,_Alaska
- The State of Alaska Visitor's web site: http://www.travelalaska.com/
- My Favorite quote: "The great thing about Anchorage is it's so close to ALASKA!"
Things to do
- The "Log Cabin" Visitor's Information Center http://www.anchorage.net/visitanchorage-
information-centers at 4th Ave. and F St. which can provide free maps and info
is a good place to start.
- In Anchorage, we enjoy over 250 miles of trails, 223 parks and 10,900 acres of
municipal parkland. http://anchorageparkfoundation.org/ An excellent map of the
Anchorage Trails & Parks is available here: http://anchorageparkfoundation.org/
published-maps/
- Bike rental to enjoy the numerous paved trails all throughout the city. Bicycle rental is
available at 4th between C&D streets: http://www.alaska-bike-rentals.com/
- Overlook / Viewpoint at the Glen Alps Trail Head http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/aspunits/
chugach/glenalps.htm for a great view of the Anchorage bowl and the mountain ranges
if the visibility is clear enough. Access is shown on the Anchorage Trails map at the
southeast corner of town. Parking can be limited. Don't park along the road approaching
it they issue $200 fines. You can take any number of hikes from there (or other
starting spots). You can check if the lot is full on the webcam: http://dnr.alaska.gov/
parks/units/chugach/webcam.cfm Probably the most popular, but not-for-beginners
hike is to Flattop Mountain from there. http://aktrailhead.com/flattop/flattop.shtml
- The Alaska Aviation Museum at Lake Hood. http://alaskaairmuseum.org/
- The newly updated Anchorage Museum http://www.anchoragemuseum.org/
- The Native Alaskan Heritage Center. http://www.alaskanative.net/
- The Alaska Experience Theatre http://www.alaskaexperiencetheatre.com/ for an Imaxstyle
movie of the beauty of Alaska. The optional Earthquake exhibit part of it is a bit
'cheesy', but informative.
- The Anchorage City Trolley Tours http://www.alaskatrolley.com/ may be of interest to
see sights around town. Departs from the Log Cabin.
- Drive around Lake Hood Seaplane Base. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:Lake_Hood_Seaplane_Base_and_Gravel_Strip.jpg Over 300 floatplanes and land
planes (including ours) are based there.
- The Anchorage Weekend Market just northeast of the Hilton is full of vendors and
some entertainment on Saturdays and Sundays. http://www.anchoragemarkets.com/
Anch%20Market%20and%20Festival/amf2.html
- ~June 21st : Summer Solstice - the longest day of the year. Many folks go to Point
Woronzoff or Earthquake Park just north of the airport, to watch the sunset at 11:41
PM that day. It will be light all 'night' long.
- Near Point Woronzoff you can stand on a spot on the bluff and the jet airplanes taking
off or landing on Anchorage International's runway 15 / 33 will pass very close overhead.
The wake turbulence from them shakes the trees and sometimes can blow your hat off.
- There is also a Summer Solstice Festival downtown.
- The Alaska Zoo. www.alaskazoo.org hosts numerous wildlife native to Alaska.
Restaurants
There are numerous restaurants downtown. A few we like:
- Simon & Seafort's - Excellent food and view http://simonandseaforts.com/
- The Glacier Brewhouse http://www.glacierbrewhouse.com/, or right next-door:
- Orso http://www.orsoalaska.com/
- A popular place for lunch is the Snow City Caf http://www.snowcitycafe.com/
- We love "The Fancy Moose" Lounge http://www.millenniumhotels.com/usa/
millenniumanchorage/dining/fancy-moose-lounge.html at the Millenuim Hotel
http://www.millenniumhotels.com/millenniumanchorage/ to drink, eat and watch the
floatplanes fly right overhead - located on Spenard Road. I'd have to say the service is
not always that great, but the setting and view is very nice.
- Another Lounge / Restaurant with a deck on the southeast corner of Lake Hood is
"Piper's" http://www.pipersanchorage.com/
- Also on Spenard Road is Gwennie's Old Alaskan Restaurant. It has a full menu, but is
well known for their huge breakfasts. http://gwenniesrestaurant.com/
- A very popular pizza place is The Moose's Tooth: http://moosestooth.net/
- A brewery with decks and views toward Mt. Susitna is The Snow Goose
http://www.alaskabeers.com/
- Sullivan's http://sullivanssteakhouse.com/anchorage has great steaks
- Club Paris http://www.clubparisrestaurant.com/ also known for excellent steaks
- Jen's http://www.jensrestaurant.com/ quality European dining
- Humpy's http://www.humpys.com/ is popular, but a bit loud.
- Due to the diversity in Anchorage many ethnic restaurants are available, including:
Himalayan, Thai, Indian, Lebanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, as well as
of course Chinese and Mexican (Several are along Spenard Road)
- The above list is only a tiny sample of the many dining options in town.
North of Anchorage
- The Eagle River Nature Center http://www.ernc.org/ is ~ 10 miles south east of Eagle
River, thus about a :50 drive northeast of ANC.
- You could take a 1 to 2 mile hike at Thunderbird Falls, http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/
maps/thunderbirdfallsguide.pdf near Eklutna, (~ :50 northeast of ANC)
-Visiting Eklutna Lake http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/maps/eklutnalaketrailguide.pdf is
very scenic. Also ~ :50 northeast of ANC
- We recently went to the Matanuska Glacier and thoroughly enjoyed being able to
drive to it and walk out on it. http://www.matanuska-glacier.com/ 2 hours from ANC.
- For a bit more $$$ you could take a Rust's Flying Service charter for fishing or bear
viewing. www.flyrusts.com . We've done this a few times. One day of fishing $495 ea.
Flightseeing from ANC starts at $100 ea. to ~$375 ea.
- My favorite thing to do is FlightSeeing the glaciers and Mt. McKinley. Rust's does this
($375), or you could fly out of Talkeetna. I've flown this many, many times in my own
airplane, and on a nice weather day it is the most incredible, scenic flying anywhere in
the world. Rust's has a good video, try to watch it in full-screen, hi-res mode:
http://bcove.me/4e1cerr5
Some links from my web site on this:
http://www.experimentalairplane.com/alaska-photos2.html
http://www.experimentalairplane.com/alaska-journal-2010.html#glacier-flying
- My wife Linda's favorite place is Talkeetna. http://www.talkeetnachamber.org/ About a
2+15 drive north from ANC. (35 minutes in our plane) It's a quirky, artsy town (its
mayor is a cat.) It has a fancy Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge http://www.talkeetnalodge.com/
that is one of our favorites - just south of town with a deck high enough to view Mt.
McKinley on nice days. You can also take the train to Talkeetna from ANC.
- Many take the train or drive to Denali National Park. http://www.nps.gov/dena/
index.htm. Many superlatives of beauty, wilderness and wildlife could be inserted here...
A few hours north of ANC.
South of Anchorage
- I strongly recommend a drive south of town along the Turnagain Arm, a very scenic
byway with numerous viewing points. http://alaska.org/driving/turnagain-arm-drive.htm
- 30 minutes south along the Turnagain Arm is Girdwood and the Alyeska Resort
http://www.alyeskaresort.com/index.aspx where you can ride the scenic tram. The view
is tremendous. They have a tram / lunch special for $35 /ea. If you go for dinner, the
fine-dining "Seven Glaciers" restaurant at the top is very scenic, but quite expensive.
http://www.alyeskaresort.com/dining/seven-glaciers-dinner.aspx
- In Girdwood the Double Musky Inn http://www.doublemuskyinn.com/ is wellregarded
for its Cajun Cuisine.
- Also in Girdwood, The Bake Shop http://www.thebakeshop.com/ has great soups and
lunches.
- The Phillip's 26 Glacier cruise http://www.phillipscruises.com/ is an excellent, all-day
event out of Whittier. Very well worth the $169 price. You can drive there or take the
train or bus from downtown for $89 / $55 more. We've taken guests on this several
times. Try to pick a good weather day, but even if marginal weather, it's still worth it. You
can book it at their office on 4th St. or online.
- Visit Portage Glacier. At Portage, ~ 1 hour southeast of ANC. The most-visited glacier
in Alaska since it's so close to Anchorage. When we first visited Alaska the glacier was
right in front of you, now you need to take a boat ride "around the corner" to see it.
http://www.travelalaska.com/Destinations/Communities/Portage%20Glacier.aspx
http://www.portageglaciercruises.com/
- We recently discovered and really enjoyed the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
www.alaskawildlife.org near Portage. (~ 1 hour southeast). You can get right up to a
fence for each large animal species in Alaska including black and brown bears, moose,
caribou, etc. A large, nice habitat setting.
- Further south is Cooper Landing and the Kenai River for fishing. King Salmon are
usually near their peak in late June. Other salmon are available other summer months.
- Also on the Kenai Peninsula is Seward, http://www.cityofseward.us/ about a 2+30
drive. A very scenic drive and scenic town on the water. The Alaska SeaLife Center is a
first-class exhibit worth a visit. http://www.alaskasealife.org/
- Kenai Fjords is a day cruise that many folks recommend. http://www.kenaifjords.com/
- Near Seward is Exit Glacier http://www.nps.gov/kefj/planyourvisit/exit-glacierarea.
htm A 1 mile hike will take you right to its edge.
- 5 hours south is scenic Homer http://www.cityofhomer-ak.gov/ literally "The End of
the Road" in North America. You can drive to a very unique spot at the Lands End Inn at
the end of "the spit". http://www.lands-end-resort.com/. You can take halibut fishing
charters out of Seward or Homer.
Weather
- I strongly suggest bringing a day pack with a rain jacket and warmer jacket wherever
you go, even on short hikes because it can get cold, windy and rainy on very short notice.
Keep in mind that much of what Alaska has to offer is not in the city of Anchorage, but I
bet you'll find plenty to do in and near town.
As you can see from my list, two weeks will "only get you started"
If you get 'hooked' as we did, the following link will become useful:
http://www.alaskarealestate.com/
Enjoy!