Looking for Alaska travel help

cambir

I'm going to be traveling to Anchorage in a few weeks for work, and I'm planning on extending my stay. I'll have 3-4 days available. I'm not sure if I'll have a car. Never been to Alaska.

What should I do/see?
Where should I go?
Where should I eat?

I might have a day fishing trip lined up with someone in my company, and I'd like to see Denali (I know it's not that close).

Any suggestions or help appreciated!

skipf

While in Anchorage eat at Club Paris on 4th street. It's definantly not cheap, I once spent $800 plus for dinner for 6 there, but it has the best fillet I have ever eaten. You will need a car if you want to see the good sites in the area. Take the road out along Turnagain Arm to Girdwood. If you time it right for the incoming tide, you might get to see a boar tide which is a three foot wall of water running up the arm. Lots of mountain goats on the hills above the road too. The Girdwood Inn has great food. Try the salmon balls. King salmon rolled into a ball, coated with shredded coconut and deep fried. It sounds wierd but tastes great. You can also go out the Parks Hwy towards Wasilla and Denali Park (say hey to Sarah in Wasilla). There is great fishing in Little Willow Creek which the road crosses about 10 miles out of Wasilla, just past Willow Creek. Deception Creek is also good. If you have four wheel drive in the car, you can go over Hatcher Pass Rd to Palmer. The road is on the right just past Little Willow Creek. The views from the pass are great. Lots of mines in the hills around that area. Moose Creek near Palmer may be your best bet for fishing as none of the salmon runs will have started until June and the larger rivers will be heavy with snow melt. There are a couple of creeks in Anchorage that hold trout too. Anchorage is mostly tourist shops, but there is some neat stuff in them. If you're there on a Thursday, they might have golden gloves boxing at the convention center. Those were always a good time. No trip to Anchorage would be complete without a visit to Chilcoot Charlie's bar. Their motto is "We cheat the other guy and pass the you". Check out the placques on the walls commemorating large bar tabs paid by miners and pipeline workers in town for a holiday. The burgers are really good there too. Hope you have a good trip, I'm sure you will enjoy the area.

nwohlford

If you don't go towards Denali, I would suggest going to Seward and spending a night there. The trip to Seward is very scenic along Turnagain Arm with great little short hikes (see this video http://videos.alaska.org/services/player/bcpid1242998673001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAA1n-ag5E~,xQY5BFXPJbs8P1ifN-9uF8mrBuYP_Ijo&bctid=1256996479001).

In Seward, there are great boat tours of the Kenai Fjords National Park. The main ones are http://www.kenaifjords.com/ and http://www.majormarine.com/.

cambir

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like some insider/local knowledge? I'll check these out and see how many of them I can do. Keep the ideas coming!

cambir

Anything else I should do in the Anchorage area? I should be heading to Seward for a Saturday fishing trip, then back to Anchorage through Wednesday.

Any locals up there?

WastelandWand'r

Cambir,
Shoot me an email and i can give you my cell number.
Grew up in Anchorage, and visit regularly so I can help you out when you let me know your interests.
Hate to tell you to go somewhere if it doesn't float the boat.
Nathan

vcwatkins

- Misty Fjords floatplane with Misty Fjords Air in Ketchikan
- Whale watching in Juneau (unbelievable!)
- Tracy Arm Fjord

We did a Seattle round trip cruise on Celebrity Infinity and had week on land. I'm not a cruise guy at all, but this ship and itinerary were perfect and a very good value for a family of five. Nature lectures on board were excellent. Regret not going up to Denali (would have been a big time eater for us) and not fishing. We'll be going back. Next time it'll likely be just adults and we'll stay in the Denali interior fancy-pants lodge and fishing lodges.

You can see some pics here: https://picasaweb.google.com/102294406501037766679/Alaska# You'll need to fly through them as there's way too many. I never weeded out.

You're gonna have serious fun!

Craig

txcoastal1

I personally would just enjoy the Kenai/Seward area...Alaska is way to big, 3 years ago when my father was on his last bout with cancer and we did a 2 week bucket list trip to Alaska. We actually made the run from Anchrage to Kenai area for 2 day salmon/halibut trip, back through Anchorage to Denali, and then a run all the way to Prudhoe Bay.

The Kenai/Seward area is packed full of beauty and the run from Seward to Denali is over 7hrs but can be done....have fun