Don't stay in Anchorage. Get a SUV or pickup at GO NORTH located a few blocks for the INT. AIRPORT there in ANCHOR TOWN, they let you take them off the highway and see the True AK. Head south, drink beer in historical Hope AK, take the Ferry from Whittier to Valdez. Drive to McCarthy and then to Chicken and Eagle. Should be berries on the ridges to pick and throw on your oatmeal. Go to Dawson CIty Yukon for a day and then drive over to Talkeetna for a scenic flight. You can cut across on the Denali Hwy Paxston/Cantwell and come in from the north of Talkeetna. Head back south and skip Anchorage again and head to Seward. If Kenia Fjords is still running take the Fox Island day cruise that feeds you salmon and prime Rib after checking out Rugged Island and the Glaciers (great trip and value IMHO). I used to fly up but just don't have the time anymore to look through the windscreen for multiple days to reach AK. Here is one such trip I go every other year. Late Aug-sept way fewer tourists. Have fun I'm envious

http://www.supercub.org/forum/showthrea ... days-in-AK

Prosaria wrote:

alaskaoe wrote:
Or maybe the suggestion came from somebody who spent a number of years living in Fairbanks and quite enjoyed it.

Indeed, I still own a house there! I love the interior, and it should not be missed but rather than suggest the guy quadruple the length of his trip to wander around up there I mentioned flying in and spending a day in the most accessible part.

I don't think I would fair well in NYC, or even Sparks. I still get claustrophobic in Anchorage sometimes, and it has less than a tenth the population density of Sparks.

My apologies for the assumption. It sure read like you were telling this poor Cheechako that the interior could be checked off in a day because, like Gertrude Stein said, "there is no there there". Communication in person is hard enough, in print it can be darn near impossible.

Alaska is more than a place. In fact it's more than a bunch of places, it's an idea and a way of life. Some of us are quite protective about it. I know I am. When I married a woman born and raised there I thought that meant I would live there forever. Alas, I live in another kind of desert now.

You can't "do" Alaska in a week or two. If you absolutely can't take a couple of months off then you have to schedule several trips over several years or so. Given a week, I would fly into Anchorage, rent a motor home and take off for Valdez via Chugiak, Palmer, and Glenallen. This puts you on the Richardson Highway. After a day or two in Valdez (go fishing on a party boat) back track up the Richardson to Delta and on to Fairbanks. Why? Just to look at the scenery on the way and get bit by the skeeters. They only bite the visitors though. They don't like the taste of the locals. Hang around Fairbanks for a day or so for no particular reason. Did you know they tore Captain Bartletts down? Have dinner at Chena Pump House, wander around pioneer square looking at the names of dead people on the brass plaques around the square. My wife's name and lot's of her family on those. She's still kicking though. From there you take the Parks Highway down to Denali National Park. Take a bus ride into the park. You are running short of time now but maybe in September you'll see the mountain. The Great One. After a day or so, race back down to Anchorage, dump off the RV and get back on an airplane and go back to ordinary life. You'll either be changed forever and your life "outside" will be miserable or you'll hate the whole experience. "Ehhh, so what? When you've seen one mountain you've seen them all".

There's a side trip too from Paxon to Cantwell or the reverse on the Denali Highway between the Richardson and the Parks highways. Don't do that one in September. You might get snowed in and there's no rescue. People have died out there. It's called the Denali highway. Extraordinary. A lost world. Try late July and early August for that one. Take mosquito repellant. By the way, they make long sleeve T shirts impregnated with mosquito repellant now. They work.

Ok so you've only missed, the entire Kenai peninsula, Whittier's glaciers, the extraordinary rain forests of South East Alaska, the buffalo herd on the plains ofTok, and the priceless majesty of the trip up the haul road out of Fairbanks, across the mighty Yukon river, over the arctic circle, (they never did get around to painting a line across the world there) and on to Deadhorse. That side trip will show you wolves, caribou, grizzlies, eagles, the largest ravens in the world, herds of muskox right in the middle of the damn road, and rocks. Not just ordinary rocks but the largest and most wonderful rocks you've ever seen. From pump five all the way past the tree line and over Atigun pass onto the North Slope just can't be described. If you want to experience the sheer vastness of it all, take a commercial flight, (get a window seat) up to Nome, and on to Barrow, then back to Fairbanks. It's haunting. Now you've seen about a tenth maybe? Have a wonderful time.

Mister701 wrote:
Alaska is more than a place. In fact it's more than a bunch of places, it's an idea and a way of life. Some of us are quite protective about it. I know I am. When I married a woman born and raised there I thought that meant I would live there forever. Alas, I live in another kind of desert now.

You can't "do" Alaska in a week or two. If you absolutely can't take a couple of months off then you have to schedule several trips over several years or so. Given a week, I would fly into Anchorage, rent a motor home and take off for Valdez via Chugiak, Palmer, and Glenallen. This puts you on the Richardson Highway. After a day or two in Valdez (go fishing on a party boat) back track up the Richardson to Delta and on to Fairbanks. Why? Just to look at the scenery on the way and get bit by the skeeters. They only bite the visitors though. They don't like the taste of the locals. Hang around Fairbanks for a day or so for no particular reason. Did you know they tore Captain Bartletts down? Have dinner at Chena Pump House, wander around pioneer square looking at the names of dead people on the brass plaques around the square. My wife's name and lot's of her family on those. She's still kicking though. From there you take the Parks Highway down to Denali National Park. Take a bus ride into the park. You are running short of time now but maybe in September you'll see the mountain. The Great One. After a day or so, race back down to Anchorage, dump off the RV and get back on an airplane and go back to ordinary life. You'll either be changed forever and your life "outside" will be miserable or you'll hate the whole experience. "Ehhh, so what? When you've seen one mountain you've seen them all".

There's a side trip too from Paxon to Cantwell or the reverse on the Denali Highway between the Richardson and the Parks highways. Don't do that one in September. You might get snowed in and there's no rescue. People have died out there. It's called the Denali highway. Extraordinary. A lost world. Try late July and early August for that one. Take mosquito repellant. By the way, they make long sleeve T shirts impregnated with mosquito repellant now. They work.

Ok so you've only missed, the entire Kenai peninsula, Whittier's glaciers, the extraordinary rain forests of South East Alaska, the buffalo herd on the plains ofTok, and the priceless majesty of the trip up the haul road out of Fairbanks, across the mighty Yukon river, over the arctic circle, (they never did get around to painting a line across the world there) and on to Deadhorse. That side trip will show you wolves, caribou, grizzlies, eagles, the largest ravens in the world, herds of muskox right in the middle of the damn road, and rocks. Not just ordinary rocks but the largest and most wonderful rocks you've ever seen. From pump five all the way past the tree line and over Atigun pass onto the North Slope just can't be described. If you want to experience the sheer vastness of it all, take a commercial flight, (get a window seat) up to Nome, and on to Barrow, then back to Fairbanks. It's haunting. Now you've seen about a tenth maybe? Have a wonderful time.

TRUE THAT!

You'll either be changed forever and your life "outside" will be miserable or you'll hate the whole experience.

Definitely True that!

Love it and it haunts you forever or hate it and never want to see it again, Alaska is just to extreme for a middle-of-the road response. Haven't even been gone a year and Barnstormers pictures have me twitching and figuring out how to get back again.

A lot of great responses here, I think that a trip up the Richardson ending in Valdez is a great bet. Amazing scenery on that route.

Definitely spend a minimal amount of time in Anchorage!