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This was one of the best vacatiions I've been on. Our family and another family rented RV's and toured a small portion of your beautiful country for 2 weeks. I think this is the best way to travel. You can stop along the way for photo ops, shopping etc.
Our Denali bus tour was spectacular. We were one of the lucky ones to have a sunny day to see Denali and all the animals in your park- caribou, moose, grizzlies, wolves, ptarmigans- as well as the magnificent scenery along the way. A white water rafting river trip is a must as well. Get glacial facials along the way and at the end fall in to get the complete experience.
In Valdez we saw the calving glaciers, eagles, sea otters, harbor seals and even a swimming Sitka Deer, on our Stan Stephens cruise. The town of Valdez is facinating to see with the harbor and museums and its own small glacier. Shopping at Prospectors is a MUST!! If you are an outdoor enthusiast you will love this place!
Take a ride on the high speed ferry to Whittier, then drive to Seward to see the Sea Life Center, the scenic seaside town and the wildlife on Ressurection Bay. It's a neat bustling town with a lot to offer the visitor.
Some of our most memorable times came when we travelel to Soldotna, and Cooper Landing. The men in the group went King Salmon fishing. My son caught a 35+ lb.43" long King which we sent home and my husband caught a small one which we grilled for dinner. Nothing like fresh salmon! It is my favorite fish. The guys also tried fishing in the Russian River. What an experience they had wading out in the river fly fishing for the Sockeye salmon swimming upstream. They only caught a total of 5 since they had to quit a bit early because a grizzly bear came around the bend looking for food. We definitely got up close and personal with a grizzly. That was awesome!
Anchorage was out final destination to explore before heading home. There is so much to see and do in the area that you need a few extra days to do it all. The Snow Goose and the Glacial Brewhouse should be a definite place for you to eat. Our meals were fantastic and the Snow Goose has a rooftop deck on which you can see the whole city. My only regret is that we didn't have a car and more time to see attractions on the outskirts of the city.
We'll be back in a few years to see Anchorage by car and spend more time exploring the Kenai Peninsula. It's a magnificient state.
In August, my 16yr old daughter and I visited my 26yr old daughter who is working near Denali National Park. The 3 of us began our trek in Anchorage, staying overnight in the downtown area before heading south to Seward. Anchorage seemed "small town", which suited us just right. We didn't come to Alaska for glamour. We then headed south to Seward, an INCREDIBLE drive (the scenery is gorgeous), and spent 3 days exploring that region. After hiking the Harding Icefield trail and spotting 8 black bears, I KNEW I was in Alaska! We didn't have time to do everything on our list, but we did manage a "whale cruise" (complete with humpback whales) and a sea-kayaking trip (even tho' I thought I was too "old", it was a very easy and INCREDIBLE adventure). We also managed a trail ride with Bardy's and rode thru a part of Seward that has almost disappeared due to the 1964 earthquake - what an eerie feeling!
We then headed north to the Denali area, and gained even longer days (dark around 11:30pm, light beginning around 4:30am). Our 4 days in this area consisted mostly of hiking in Denali (don't forget your binoculars!) and a flight-seeing tour of Mt McKinley. We even managed to capture The Mountain on film, which is apparently hard to do since it is often clothed in clouds.
Even though we hit the rainy season, we just wore raingear and decided it wasn't going to stop us from enjoying our 1st adventure tour of Alaska. There were several nearly sunny days mixed in during our week there, but there were so many things to see and do the rain didn't really slow us down.
And there are so many things we DIDN'T see that I hope to be able to return to explore the other regions. It did truly feel like the "last frontier", where the people we encountered were very friendly and the vast open spaces and incredible vistas made the entire trip so memorable.
