# Coming to Alaska ~ what 'NOT TO MISS' sights to see?



## Melensdad

The lovely Mrs_B has put up with me for 25 years, and has dragged me to beaches all over the warmer areas of this world, Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf, Caribbean and European.  So now, I finally am getting my way.  We are looking at a couple week trip to Alaska sometime this summer (dates are not yet determined).

In all likelihood we will fly to Seattle and hop on a cruise ship, sail up and hit some of the various tourist ports.  But we'd also like to go into the state via rail or car.  

So I ask you folks of the great white north, what do I need to see?  What simply can't be missed?  Photos, links and stories would be appreciated.  Oh, and make them family friendly as we will probably be bringing Melen to Alaska with us, despite the fact that this is our "25th Anniversary/2nd Honeymoon" vacation.

As the state is larger than several of the midwestern states combined I'm very concerned that there is too much to see, not enough time to see it, and too much distance to cover to see anything more than a sliver of it, so all that said, I am looking for some highlights, some good places to eat (not necessarily fancy, but good traditional food), fun/nice places to stay (out of the way lodges), etc.  Clearly logistics are an issue given the size of the state!


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## DaveNay

Bug


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## DaveNay

Spray


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## Snowtrac Nome

Bob you will see rain forest's and lots of neet ground in south east and south central you will also see neet little towns all along the rail belt also i would suggest that if you were an out doors type hop a plane to nome and see some ot the arctic wilderness in the summer end of june early july is the dryest you can work the beach for gold and i could get you all inland to try for some easyer and larger gold i have a camp and access accross 10 miles of some of the moste varried arctic terrain you will  see and also some out standing fishing.


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## fogtender

Well if you give us a heads up, stop in Nenana.  If I am not in the Arctic chasing Polar bears or out in the Bering Sea running over Whales.  I can take you up on a plane flight around Mt. McKinley (too high for me to fly over it)...

At least a bunch of us can buy you a cup of coffee...


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## dep6113

If you fly into seattle and have a stay over before you catch the cruise ship you should go to the museum of flight its within 20 minutes of seatac airport and they have some nice old airplanes and exhibits.
http://www.museumofflight.org/visit
Dave


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## BigAl RIP

dep6113 said:


> If you fly into seattle and have a stay over before you catch the cruise ship you should go to the museum of flight its within 20 minutes of seatac airport and they have some nice old airplanes and exhibits.
> http://www.museumofflight.org/visit
> Dave


 

 That place is soo cool . We took the whole family and had a blast there .  

   What about doing some fishing ?? My FIL loved it . IN fact he leaves in about  month for another  cruise to Alaska . I'll ask him for his input about what was really good to see . 

  I'm not allowed to set foot in Alaska after my Palin Comment pissed her off  so I can never go .


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## moosebgy

The Inside Passage is very beautiful and the chance to see kinds of critters.  But be warned, that the weather can be a little on the wet side and foggy.  Alot of tourist type shops and things in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway.  But another thought is to fly up to Anchorage and rent a motorhome and make the circle from Anchorage to Denali Park on to Fairbanks down to Tok and back down to Anchorage.  It's a nice drive and you never know what you'll see.


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## JEV

moosebgy said:


> The Inside Passage is very beautiful and the chance to see kinds of critters.  But be warned, that the weather can be a little on the wet side and foggy.  Alot of tourist type shops and things in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway.  But another thought is to fly up to Anchorage and rent a motorhome and make the circle from Anchorage to Denali Park on to Fairbanks down to Tok and back down to Anchorage.  It's a nice drive and you never know what you'll see.


 IMO the cruise ship route is not only a bit more expensive, but it limits your access to what Alaska has to offer. We have stopped cruising for now (7 cruises), and started doing destination trips where we base from one place and work out from there. Generally we try to position ourselves in the center of the various destinations. The motorhome route is also a fantastic way to really see Alaska, and it gives you a lot of flexability. Just my 2 cents. Have a blast.


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## muleman RIP

Unless you like the cruise idea I would fly to Anchorage and rent a vehicle and drive around. The drive down along the water to Homer is great with lots of beautiful scenery. Might like to go deep sea fishing out on Cook inlet or out at the mouth of it. We had a great trip for halibut up there. The glaciers are interesting as is a trip up Mount Aleyska ski slope on the tram. A road trip north to Palmer will let you see some wildlife as well. Be aware of the moose as they own the roads!


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## Melensdad

I've never been on a cruise, nor has the lovely Mrs_B so there is some appeal to that concept.  BUT neither of us want to be confined to a ship, nor do we want to be limited to the coast.  So what we are looking for is possibly a 1 way cruise either up from Seattle or down to Seattle with a driving visit that takes us up to places like Gates of the Arctic, Denali, Fairbanks, etc.  So flying into or out of Fairbanks would be ideal, then driving around a bit and then down to the coast to pick up a cruise ship that takes us down to Seattle (or visa versa) would be sort of our ideal.  That still leaves  a lot of Alaska missed, but given the size of the state I think it would take a full month of touring to scratch the surface of what that state has to offer.


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## JimVT

I think the cruse ship still stops at skagwayAk. It only takes a few hours but the white pass tour is a good one to take. They built a narrow Gage track on the cliff because the larger was to big. I even steped between the ww2 cars on the way up.http://www.wpyr.com/index.html

If you drive or rent a motorhome this is what What I did. I drove from seattle and took the ak.hiway to whithorse then over to skagway,Ak and do the train.
Jim


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## Snowtrac Nome

I ditto what the crse ship opponents say but its the only to see the inside passage wich is a neet experiaance the motor home idea is also good lots of fishing along the way a trip to homer or seward for a deep see fishing trip nice and a trip to fairbankes up the parks highway thhrough denali park than down the richardson highway to valdez and than back to anchorage will alow you to see some of the country lynden talks about the pipe line and oil termanal there are also some awsom water falls to takke pics of on your way in to valdez.


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## fogtender

You don't want to take a Cruise ship to Alaska, nobody on them knows much about what you can see out the windows. At times they have some Park person or a local to give speeches, but that isn't much of a help most of the time.

Bring your car, ride up on the Alaska Ferry System to Seward from Vancouver, WA. You not only can have transportation, you can drive back or rent a car when you get here if you want.

They have cabins, dining area, and the best part is that most on the ship are from Alaska and can tell you a lot about what you see outside. They stop in all the same towns, buses will take you on tours of the town and have you back before the Ferry sails and it is a lot cheaper than the Cruise ships.

In Seward, you can rent a car and drive all over the highway system and have a blast, or even rent a motor home if you like. Lots of options and you would have fun. You can also take the train from Seward to Fairbanks and rent a car there and drive South. The Train goes in though Denali National Park and other areas you can't see from the road system.

But the Commercial Cruise Tours you can get, treat you like you are cattle and they run you from their boats, to their hotels, gift shops etc.... all the seasonal employees are from out of state and again, can't tell you much about what you see unless they have a script to read from.

Anyway, just a thought... here is their website for the Alaska Ferry System...

http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/index.shtml

Here is the website for the Alaska RR

http://www.akrr.com/

Either before you get here or after, get a copy of the Alaska Milepost, it tells you about everything that is on the road system and is pretty much the tourist bible for Alaska and those driving up the Alaska Highway though Canada.

Website for the Milepost...

http://milepost.com/


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## Cowboy

fogtender said:


> You don't want to take a Cruise ship to Alaska, nobody on them knows much about what you can see out the windows. At times they have some Park person or a local to give speeches, but that isn't much of a help most of the time.
> 
> Bring your car, ride up on the Alaska Ferry System to Seward from Vancouver, WA. You not only can have transportation, you can drive back or rent a car when you get here if you want.
> 
> They have cabins, dining area, and the best part is that most on the ship are from Alaska and can tell you a lot about what you see outside. They stop in all the same towns, buses will take you on tours of the town and have you back before the Ferry sails and it is a lot cheaper than the Cruise ships.
> 
> In Seward, you can rent a car and drive all over the highway system and have a blast, or even rent a motor home if you like. Lots of options and you would have fun. You can also take the train from Seward to Fairbanks and rent a car there and drive South. The Train goes in though Denali National Park and other areas you can't see from the road system.
> 
> But the Commercial Cruise Tours you can get, treat you like you are cattle and they run you from their boats, to their hotels, gift shops etc.... all the seasonal employees are from out of state and again, can't tell you much about what you see unless they have a script to read from.
> 
> Anyway, just a thought... here is their website for the Alaska Ferry System...
> 
> http://www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/index.shtml
> 
> Here is the website for the Alaska RR
> 
> http://www.akrr.com/
> 
> Either before you get here or after, get a copy of the Alaska Milepost, it tells you about everything that is on the road system and is pretty much the tourist bible for Alaska and those driving up the Alaska Highway though Canada.
> 
> Website for the Milepost...
> 
> http://milepost.com/


 

With all due respect . How many cruises have you been on & Which cruiselines ? for you to make that statement . I Know you live in Alaska as well as My brother does & My wifes been there several times & works for one of the top cruise lines . Just curious if your giving others opinions Or stating facts as you know them from personal experiences . Just curious because My wife says what B_Skurka is interested in doing can be done if you go through the right channels . 


If you need pictures from my wifes last cruise to alaska as well as info on the land excursions just ask . Also yes when the season between around may & september the ships do stop in Skagway . I,m just trying to make sure you know what your options are . Bob


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## fogtender

Cowboy said:


> With all due respect . How many cruises have you been on & Which cruise lines ? for you to make that statement . I Know you live in Alaska as well as My brother does & My wifes been there several times & works for one of the top cruise lines . Just curious if your giving others opinions Or stating facts as you know them from personal experiences . Just curious because My wife says what B_Skurka is interested in doing can be done if you go through the right channels .
> 
> 
> If you need pictures from my wifes last cruise to Alaska as well as info on the land excursions just ask . Also yes when the season between around may & September the ships do stop in Skagway . I,m just trying to make sure you know what your options are . Bob


 
I assume if you have lived in KS for your entire life, you would know alot about what and where to go...

I grew up in Alaska, was lucky enough to get Stationed back here in the Coast Guard, have spent many years all over Southeast Alaska both in the Coast Guard and as Chief Engineer on other ships. 

My last duty station when I was in the Coast Guard was at the Marine Safety Office in Valdez, I use to inspect Tanker and Cruiser ships when they came into Valdez.  I learned to fly while in Valdez, and have flown myself all over the State and can tell you more about Alaska than most people you will ever meet here.

I live just North of Denali National Park, I see the people being shuffled from the Cruise ships in Seward (my son was a conductor for the AK RR a few years ago) to the Railroad, each company has their own rail cars so they don't get to see the locals or other ship line passengers for that matter.

When they get to Anchorage either by the train or the Cruise lines own Buses, they run them to their hotels. From there, they take them to the Denali Park by their bus or their personal rail cars, put them in their Hotels in the "Glitter Gulch" and the list keeps going on and on.

IN Denali Park, a friend of mine takes care of the waste water treatment plant at one of the Hotels, it runs all year even when the place is closed. He is only one of about four Employees that is from Alaska, during the summer when they go full tilt, they have about two hundred employees and about 90% of them are college kids coming to Alaska for the first time to work, and have no idea of what to tell people except what they were taught in their orientation class.

My daughter lived in Sitka and worked with TSA at the airport, but the cruise ships would come into town and dump off 5,000 people in a short timespan, which overwhelms the town for about five hours, then loads them back on the ship and heads for the next Alaskan town.

Nope, if you want a great trip and have every whim catered to, then by all means take the Cruise lines for a trip to Alaska, you won't have a clue to what they are telling you as fact or fiction, and as long as it is entertaining, that is all that matters!

I am sure you wife does a great job with the Cruise industry, and they have many travelers that have a great time.  The OP asked for suggestions on what to do and see and I gave my opinion.  If he wishes to take a Cruise up the inside passage, I am sure he will enjoy the trip.


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## Snowtrac Nome

cruse ships are for people who want to see ak and they do a good job of keeping you occupied. to experiance alaska you have to get out n your own do a little planning and expext a few headaches like flat tires.get in to comunitys and see what the people do a well planned trip may take a year to plan out and 2 weeks just isn't enough to see this state if your an out doors person but in my opinion 2 days is to mmch time for anchorage i live in the bush for a reason. if your older a 20 mile trip over the tundra to do a little panning or wild life veiwing  if you are up to it it will give you memory's you wont forget. Also if you have the out door chanel the gpaa has some prospecting shows on that cover my area you can see from them how remote 20 miles out of town can be some folks may not be up to that.


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## Cowboy

fogtender said:


> I assume if you have lived in KS for your entire life, you would know alot about what and where to go...
> 
> I grew up in Alaska, was lucky enough to get Stationed back here in the Coast Guard, have spent many years all over Southeast Alaska both in the Coast Guard and as Chief Engineer on other ships.
> 
> My last duty station when I was in the Coast Guard was at the Marine Safety Office in Valdez, I use to inspect Tanker and Cruiser ships when they came into Valdez. I learned to fly while in Valdez, and have flown myself all over the State and can tell you more about Alaska than most people you will ever meet here.
> 
> I live just North of Denali National Park, I see the people being shuffled from the Cruise ships in Seward (my son was a conductor for the AK RR a few years ago) to the Railroad, each company has their own rail cars so they don't get to see the locals or other ship line passengers for that matter.
> 
> When they get to Anchorage either by the train or the Cruise lines own Buses, they run them to their hotels. From there, they take them to the Denali Park by their bus or their personal rail cars, put them in their Hotels in the "Glitter Gulch" and the list keeps going on and on.
> 
> IN Denali Park, a friend of mine takes care of the waste water treatment plant at one of the Hotels, it runs all year even when the place is closed. He is only one of about four Employees that is from Alaska, during the summer when they go full tilt, they have about two hundred employees and about 90% of them are college kids coming to Alaska for the first time to work, and have no idea of what to tell people except what they were taught in their orientation class.
> 
> My daughter lived in Sitka and worked with TSA at the airport, but the cruise ships would come into town and dump off 5,000 people in a short timespan, which overwhelms the town for about five hours, then loads them back on the ship and heads for the next Alaskan town.
> 
> Nope, if you want a great trip and have every whim catered to, then by all means take the Cruise lines for a trip to Alaska, you won't have a clue to what they are telling you as fact or fiction, and as long as it is entertaining, that is all that matters!
> 
> I am sure you wife does a great job with the Cruise industry, and they have many travelers that have a great time. The OP asked for suggestions on what to do and see and I gave my opinion. If he wishes to take a Cruise up the inside passage, I am sure he will enjoy the trip.


 

Sure didn,t mean any offence Or act like I know more then you or anyone else that has lived there most their live . I was just giving my opinion from my wifes experiences most of them being positive as far as the cruises she,s been on & deals with . 

  Like You said different people go at things different ways , I respect anything anyone wants to do . Any time I see the cruise topic mentioned I have my wife look at the post because She knows & I dont . My Brother lives in Skagway & they perty much depend on the cruise lines & tourism to make their living to carry them through the winter months . I guess once again I was sticking my nose where it didn,t belong . 

  I was just trying to comment on the little bit I do know & give more options . I,ll try to make sure it doesn,t happen again


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## fogtender

Cowboy said:


> Sure didn,t mean any offence Or act like I know more then you or anyone else that has lived there most their live . I was just giving my opinion from my wifes experiences most of them being positive as far as the cruises she,s been on & deals with .
> 
> Like You said different people go at things different ways , I respect anything anyone wants to do . Any time I see the cruise topic mentioned I have my wife look at the post because She knows & I dont . My Brother lives in Skagway & they perty much depend on the cruise lines & tourism to make their living to carry them through the winter months . I guess once again I was sticking my nose where it didn,t belong .
> 
> I was just trying to comment on the little bit I do know & give more options . I,ll try to make sure it doesn,t happen again


 
No offense taken, you asked a question and I answered it.

The Cruise lines have their place. I can't tell you how many people I meet in Alaska that came back on a second trip on their own because they came here the first time on a Cruise and realized they were being led around by the nose verses what they wanted to do. 

I have also met those that really enjoyed their cruises too. 

The Cruise Industry has been on the decline a bit in Alaska because they have been caught in their own makings of a mess. They have dumped garbage overboard, pumped oily bilge water over the sides as well as a host of other things that have put them under the spotlight.

Some of the towns have "Head Taxes" for the number of people they dumped on the small towns, not only did this make the tickets cost more, but in retaliation from the Cruise lines, they skip those towns. The Alaska Ferry system hits all of them...


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## bill w

i totally agree with fogtender on this one....take the ak ferry system.they have really nice ships and you have a vehicle when you get here.definatly buy the milepost,and if you get into fbks.....call and we will show you around......quite a few good resteraunts in the outer areas .....not to bash the cruise lines at all,but i've lived here 47 years and we took a cruise on princess and was VERY disapointed..like fogtender said...if it's your one trip to alaska,don't just travel from one of their out of state owned hotels to another like cattle.the only way to really experience alaska's real beauty is to have control over what you see.let the milepost be your guide and stay away from the cookie-cutter,see what they want you to see tour people...they may be fine for an older couple that may not be able to get out and about....but i sure wouldn't do it again...looking forward to meeting you...see you  this summer.call if you need anything...i'll pm my number to you..bill w


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## Moose Guy

Hello Bob,

I've been in Alaska my whole life and still have MUCH to see so don't get too worried over what you can squeeze in during your trip. If you are planning on being in Anchorage late May, June or July, you and your family might want to see the Alaska Moose Federation's orphaned calf rescue program. These calves are a lot of fun except for the 2am, 4 am & 6 am feedings! They are all business and grow 1 1/2 % in size per day as their way of getting ready for next winter. These particular calves were the ones that Governor Palin saved this last spring by mandating the calves be rescued rather than killed by our Fish & Game.

You really can't go wrong with a trip to Alaska. Just expect to have a new definition of 'big' after your trip and also be ready for a lot of daylight so if you see someone mowing their lawn at midnight, don't be surprised!

See you up here!


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