With the summer travel season to Alaska winding down, it?s the perfect time to start planning your 2009 trip to Alaska. Planning early makes Alaska travel very affordable, and between the state?s 50th anniversary in 2009 and the early-booking deals, there has never been a better time to visit Alaska.

Alaska celebrates its 50th anniversary on January 3, 2009, and the birthday occasion provides a great excuse to check out the 49th state in its 50th year. Much has changed since 1959, when Alaska gained its place in the Union with the pinning of the 49th star on the national flag. (Shortly thereafter, Hawaii made it an even 50.) From the Good Friday Earthquake in 1964 through the creation of Alaska?s bountiful national and state park land and national forests, the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and the groundbreaking legislation that created Alaska?s Native regional corporations, the state has developed by leaps and bounds. Today, visitors will find ample visitor services in most areas of the state and a warm, welcoming local population that enjoys sharing the beauty of its culture, glaciers, wildlife and mountains with travelers. Many Alaska tourism suppliers are offering special deals and promotions in conjunction with the anniversary, and Alaska?s culture and history will be on display all year long through festivals, events and special exhibits in museums and cultural centers statewide. To learn more about Alaska statehood and history, visit the state?s Alaska Statehood Celebration Commission website at http://gov.state.ak.us/ASCC/.

Travelers looking for affordable options in the 49th state should consider a cruise to Alaska. By booking early, travelers can take advantage of prices as low as $599 for a seven-night Inside Passage itinerary. Multiple cruise lines serve Alaska ports of call from the southernmost port city of Ketchikan all the way up the Bering Sea coast to St. Lawrence Island. Cruises offer a great overview of the state, and when paired with optional land tours by rail and by road to Alaska?s Interior, travelers can cover a lot of territory while saving plenty of cash for optional tours throughout the state, souvenirs and keepsakes. Early fall through early winter is the best time to book for summer 2009, with the first available cruises departing from Vancouver, B.C., and Seattle, Wash., in late April and early May 2009. Prices are lowest in these early-summer months, but don?t be scared of early-summer weather. The Inside Passage region, which is essentially one giant temperate rainforest, experiences its sunniest weather in April and May. For Information on Multi day cruises visit http://www.travelalaska.com/Activities/MultiDayCriuse.aspx. For information on package tours to Alaska visit http://travelalaska.com/Packages/.

Cruisers and other ocean-bound travelers along the sprawling coast of Alaska will find no shortage of wildlife. The newly designated Alaska Coastal Wildlife Viewing Trail highlights the birds, mammals and marine life that call Alaska?s coast home, including eagles, loons, cormorants, terns, marbled murrelets, puffins and many others birds, whales and bears. The Inside Passage section of the trail, which stretches from Skagway to Ketchikan, was noted recently among Audubon magazine?s field guide to Western birding trails. Travelers can read portions of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game?s 82-page guide to the Inside Passage trail online. A trail guide to the Prince William Sound section will be released later this fall. The Alaska Marine Highway and the entire wildlife viewing trail spans Alaska's southern coast from Ketchikan to Dutch Harbor/Unalaska in three segments: the Inside Passage (Southeast), Prince William Sound (Southcentral) and Southwest (Kodiak, the Alaska Peninsula and eastern Aleutian Islands). To learn more about the wildlife viewing trails or to order a guidebook, go to http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/ or call (907) 465-4190.