Alaska or northwestern states
May 31st, 2016, 03:56 PM
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Alaska or northwestern states
If you had 16 days of just time (already excluded travel time) would you spend it all in Alaska or stay in the northwestern states and see many different places? Going mid June to first of July. Have two teenagers.
May 31st, 2016, 09:53 PM
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I would opt for the variety of the "northwestern states" over Alaska.
While I once drove to Alaska, and really (gained understanding and awareness) of (just how vast the land really IS along much of that path)... my first reaction upon returning home was to want to buy a ream of paper (because Canada has enough trees for all of us.
SO, with teenagers, the variety is what they're all about, and you can cover SO many contrasts with a swath through the Northwest that Alaska won't likely match it merely because of your needing so much time between attractions there.
The nature and surroundings ARE beautiful IN Alaska, for sure, and the mountains there are unending.
It's just that you can optimize your time much more easily in the Pacific Northwest and the difference in that will prove especially telling when rated in the eyes of teenagers.
Were it me, I would enlist the two teens to help plan the trip to and around the northwest. In Alaska, you'd be lucky to have two alternatives in the way of roads to choose from.
And I think you'd get much more mileage from things which you and the teens have already known ABOUT, and would/might now be seeing in person for the first time during a trip around the Pacific Northwest, than you would from an Alaska trip.
While I once drove to Alaska, and really (gained understanding and awareness) of (just how vast the land really IS along much of that path)... my first reaction upon returning home was to want to buy a ream of paper (because Canada has enough trees for all of us.
SO, with teenagers, the variety is what they're all about, and you can cover SO many contrasts with a swath through the Northwest that Alaska won't likely match it merely because of your needing so much time between attractions there.
The nature and surroundings ARE beautiful IN Alaska, for sure, and the mountains there are unending.
It's just that you can optimize your time much more easily in the Pacific Northwest and the difference in that will prove especially telling when rated in the eyes of teenagers.
Were it me, I would enlist the two teens to help plan the trip to and around the northwest. In Alaska, you'd be lucky to have two alternatives in the way of roads to choose from.
And I think you'd get much more mileage from things which you and the teens have already known ABOUT, and would/might now be seeing in person for the first time during a trip around the Pacific Northwest, than you would from an Alaska trip.
May 31st, 2016, 10:06 PM
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I agree, mostly, with northwest male. But I'll say that I have two types of relatives- the kind that love being in remote places and the kind who don't consider a place worth visiting if it doesn't have shopping malls. If your teens are the first, go with Alaska. If they are the second type- especially the kind that freak out if they can't get a cell signal- stick with the cities and resorts of the nw.
Jun 1st, 2016, 07:16 AM
#4
I won;t claim to be an Alaska expert yet. Yesterday was the first time I arrived in Alaska. I saw enough of Anchorage yesterday. If you have Verizon don't expect to get coverage anywhere in Alaska.
We are headed for some wilder places today.
We've lived in Oregon for nearly 11 years. There is enough variety in Washington and Oregon to keep you all happy for your 16 days.
I'll start my Alaska trip report late today or tomorrow morning.
We are headed for some wilder places today.
We've lived in Oregon for nearly 11 years. There is enough variety in Washington and Oregon to keep you all happy for your 16 days.
I'll start my Alaska trip report late today or tomorrow morning.
Jun 2nd, 2016, 08:48 PM
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LOL - My early impressions of Anchorage were that it played a lot like Yakima (even though Anchorage is 3 times the size).
It's just that... rural Alaska beats the heck out of Wapato, Zillah, Gleed and Union Gap.
It's just that... rural Alaska beats the heck out of Wapato, Zillah, Gleed and Union Gap.
Jun 3rd, 2016, 01:11 AM
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We visited Alaska with two teenage boys for two weeks and loved it, spent a couple of days in Seattle before flying to Anchorage, hiring a car and heading out. The landscape is vast and so different....We spent a couple of days watching the wildlife at Denali, taking a boat ride to watch the glaciers calving, stayed on an island in yurts kayaking with purpoise, took a flight plane trip to spend a night with the bears,hiked a glacier....the list goes on before flying back to Seattle for city life (and the hub for our flight to the UK). The reason for the list is there was so much to do..the boys loved it (17 & 15).
Jun 3rd, 2016, 06:10 AM
#7
Hoping the OP returns for some feedback, but for what it's worth, I'd stay in the Pacific NW at that time of year. The reasons are clear enough to me - less crowded, more variety, cheaper.
Less crowded? How can that be? It's because tourist infrastructure is much more limited in Alaska than in the PNW. The hotels and restaurants are all full, tourist destinations like Denali Park and Seward are packed with tour buses and cruise passengers coming and going.
Now that's not to say the scenery isn't grand, the vistas huge, or that you can't get away from the buses, far from it. But unless you can get off the road system you're not going to have it all to yourselves.
Plus which, are we talking about this month and next, or next year? If it's 2016, getting accommodations and rental cars that won't bust the budget is going to be VERY difficult.
By contrast, the PNW has thousands of miles of open roads, scenery ranging from volcanoes to rain forests to desert to ranching country to white water to rocky beaches, green islands to vineyards to some of North America's most vibrant and beautiful cities.
Having lived in both places with a teenage son, I'd pick the northwest and save Alaska for a later time when you can plan farther ahead.
And comparisons of Anchorage to Lower 48 cities is something of a local pastime. (Think Albuquerque rather than Yakima.) I love Anchorage but am a firm believer that the old phrase is still valid - the best thing about Anchorage is that it's 20 minutes from Alaska.
Less crowded? How can that be? It's because tourist infrastructure is much more limited in Alaska than in the PNW. The hotels and restaurants are all full, tourist destinations like Denali Park and Seward are packed with tour buses and cruise passengers coming and going.
Now that's not to say the scenery isn't grand, the vistas huge, or that you can't get away from the buses, far from it. But unless you can get off the road system you're not going to have it all to yourselves.
Plus which, are we talking about this month and next, or next year? If it's 2016, getting accommodations and rental cars that won't bust the budget is going to be VERY difficult.
By contrast, the PNW has thousands of miles of open roads, scenery ranging from volcanoes to rain forests to desert to ranching country to white water to rocky beaches, green islands to vineyards to some of North America's most vibrant and beautiful cities.
Having lived in both places with a teenage son, I'd pick the northwest and save Alaska for a later time when you can plan farther ahead.
And comparisons of Anchorage to Lower 48 cities is something of a local pastime. (Think Albuquerque rather than Yakima.) I love Anchorage but am a firm believer that the old phrase is still valid - the best thing about Anchorage is that it's 20 minutes from Alaska.
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