Can anyone give me advice about best way to see alska in 3.5 weeks? we land in Anchorage and have 2 weeks with a car, then 9 days extra. Should we stay in southwest alaska the whole time - is denali national park very crowded in june - can relatively inexperienced campers do overnight hikes without getting lost? thanks!

With that much time, you really ought to plan on getting off the road system once or twice. My recommendation would be to plan on an excursion to a Native community or two, or a town where tourism isn't the main industry. How about taking the ferry from Homer to Kodiak? Interesting Native and Russian history, culture, wildlife, and in introduction to Alaska's biggest industry before oil (and after, most likely), commercial fishing.

Nome and Kotzebue are other possibilities, historic gold mining and Eskimo communities on the Bering Sea and Arctic oceans respectively. They are accessible by air from Anchorage, and one route will allow a stopover in each. If you happen to be in Kotzebue on 6/21-6/22, you'll be able to see the midnight sun, as Kotzebue is above the arctic circle.

A last possibility would be driving to Dawson City in the Yukon. (Check with the car rental place to see if this is permitted, as it's in another country and the roads are not the best.) Dawson is a stunning, eye-opening glimpse of history; the Klondike and Yukon Rivers are grand to behold, and you can see the Frozen Toe at the bar and have a flutter at the tables at Diamond Tooth Gertie's casino and saloon.

Regarding overnight camping in Denali Park, others may disagree, but I frankly wouldn't recommend it for inexperienced campers. Lots of gear required, major carnivore country, and in June bugs-o-plenty. Try car camping for a couple of nights before you trek off into the tundra to see if it's a fit.

Carmel, as John suggested, having so much spare time really affords you an opportunity to step outside of the normal "drive the loop" trip. So many possibilities!

If you honestly wanted to camp for a few nights where little experience is required, I'd recommend contacting Sherrie Miller at www.millerslandingak.com and seeing about a water taxi to a remote beach. Her rates are inexpensive, and, she can place you in an area that might not have many bears.

Carmel,
Great to hear that you are planning a trip to Alsaka. It sounds as though you have a really great boyfriend, and you should really be thankful that he cares enough about you to take you away with him.
I think that a great thing to do whislt in Alaska is to spend all of your money on your boyfriend to show your appreciation for him, and really give him a great time.
Have a great time, and take care of that boyfriend, I bet you that he ia a spunk!!

Is it possible that Mason is Carmel's boyfriend? ROFL.

Well you can tell who is doing all the work to plan this trip.... see what I have to put up with???

PS Alan if you bother to return to my message, what is ROFL - is this some secret fodors code?

Carmel, ROFL is not a Fodors code, nor is it secret. It is an acronym for Rolling On The Floor Laughing which is widely used on the internet. With the amount of time I spend online, I tend to pick up on a few of the phrases here and there.

However, I did escape the keyboard this weekend to spend 4 days on Kenai Lake camping. Had a bear walk through our camp, saw another on the hill above us, and got really sun burned! AH! ALASKA!