Here is my itinerary for Alaska, June 7-June 25, 2006—what do you think??

I looked at the Toursaver from this year and planned using the coupons available in 2005. There may be some changes in 2006.

Day 1—June 7th---My husband and I leave about 7:30am and fly Continental Airlines non-stop from Houston to Seattle, change planes and fly non-stop from Seattle to Fairbanks. Arrive in Fairbanks at 3:30p (6:30p to our bodies). Have our friends pick us up at the airport and spend a few days with them.

Day—2 June 8th—Fairbanks with friends

Day 3—June 9th—Fairbanks with friends

Day 4—June 10th—my parents arrive in Fairbanks (same flights used a few days earlier—3:30p). Using our friend’s car, my husband and I will pick my parents up from the airport, grab a cheap bite to eat and head to Fox Creek B&B. Go to bed early due to being worn out from a day of traveling.

Day 5—June 11th—get up early (7:00ish) and eat breakfast at the B&B. My dad and husband then go to Avis and went our SUV for the week. They then go to the friend’s house and return the friend’s car. (Meanwhile, the girls are getting ready back at the B&B). The guys return to the B&B and pick the wives up at 9:15ish. We then all go to the El Dorado Gold Mine (using 2-4-1 coupon). After the Gold Mine, we grab a quick lunch (fast food) and head to Riverboat Discovery for 2:00 sailing (2-4-1 coupon). After riverboat, eat dinner at the Turtle Club and make it back for relaxing at the Fox Creek B&B.


Day 6---June 12th---get up and eat breakfast. Stop by the Alaska Pipeline in Fox (for my dad). Head to Denali. Eat lunch fast food in Denali. Head to Nenana Gorge rafting (2-4-1 coupon) at 2:00p. Check in at Lakeview B&B and get showered. Head to dinner in Denali or maybe dinner at the local golf links.

Day 7—June 13th—Early shuttle Bus into Denali to Wonder Lake. Take lunch and/or snacks. Return to Lakeview for showers. Alaska Cabin Nite for dinner (2-4-1 coupons).
Day 8—June 14th—Eat breakfast at B&B. Drive to Talkeetna. Do McKinley Flight Summit Tour with Talkeetna Aero (2-4-1 coupon). Spend night at Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge—main lodge, not guest lodge.

Day 9—June 15th---Eat breakfast and view a few shops in Talkeetna. Head to Alyeska Hotel. Do aerial tram (2-4-1 coupon) that also includes lunch. Drive to Anchorage and return rental car. Cab to hotel. Stay in a hotel with a 2-4-1 coupon and free shuttle to train station.

Day 10—June 16th---Take train to Seward at 6:45a. Eat breakfast on train. Relax in Seward at Holiday Inn Express (2-4-1 coupon).

Day 11—June 17th—Kenai Fjords NW Tour (2-4-1 coupon). Board Radiance of the Seas at 7:00p, sail at 9:00p.

Day 12—June 18th--Hubbard Glacier, cruising??? From 2-6p

Day 13—June 19th---Skagway—trip to The Red Onion Saloon then White Pass RR at 12:45p.

Day 14---June 20th---Juneau—Coastal Helicopter with Dog Sled Tour

Day 15—June 21st—Icy Strait Point---Whale watching with F.I.S.H.E.S. (for an extra $20 p/p some fishing also).

Day 16—June 22—Ketchikan---Husband and mom fishing with Dan Leathers, Dad and I Misty Fjords Boat Plane and Lumberjack show.

Day 17—June 23—Inside Passage

Day 18—June 24th—Vancouver (8:00a). From there either fly to Seattle and fly home or take train/bus to Seattle and fly home.

Day 19—June 25th—home—sleep all day and do laundry!!!!!!!!

Day 20—June 26th return to work with great stories to tell!!!!!

What do you think? Any changes needed? Not going to have time for many other things this trip, but want to do as much as possible. We'll relax on the ship!!

Well, you have planned it out to the last detail...wow. You are doing a lot in 18 days.

What may be a problem is that, except for Fairbanks, it seems you are sightseeing and then going on to the next desination almost every day.

Alaska has distances between places.

Do you have a copy of "The Milestone"? If not, get it and look at some of the maps and record the distances.

We did Alaska by flying into Anchorage and renting a motorhome and then doing Denali, a trip to Valdez, stopping at the State fair in...ummm forgot the name of the town, then Seward, the Kenai peninsula to Homer.

Reading yours tires me out <grin>.

We did not even try the Inside Passage. That's for next summer.

The book is called the "Milepost" not Milestone

I think you are over-planning a bit. You and I would probabaly not get along on a vacation!

That said, I have to warn you about one thing on your itinerary. DO NOT go to that lumberjack show in Ketchikan. Every time a cruise ship hits town they have an "International lumberjack championship". I met someone who works in Ketchikan while I was there who told me its a farse and they laugh at the tourists who pay to see it.

Kory and Leslie,

A word of advice - do not use a 2for1 coupon for the Clarion Suites in Anchorage. We stayed there earlier this month and it was awful. We had a room with no air conditioning and the hair dryer didn't work. When I reported it to the frontdesk, they said they didn't have any other hair dryers and then gave me keys to two more rooms before I found one that worked. The staff was also very unprofessional. Try one of the other hotels that has a coupon.

On the other hand, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Seward and it was wonderful. The location is right by the train station so if you take the train from Anchorage you can easily walk to the hotel. We had a bayview room overlooking the harbor and the staff couldn't have been any more helpful.

Definitely do the summit flight out of Talkeetna. It was spectacular!

Wow, what planning. Nice to be spontaneous!! On day 5, I think you should allow another hour for the girls to get ready!! Your plan looks workable. Hopefully your friends will take you to see things around Fairbanks. Does the NW tour in Seward get back in plenty of time for getting on ship? Only reason I ask is that last Sept, our KF tour boat blew an engine and we had to curtail our tour and come straight back at half speed. Took us an extra 45 min or so and we missed some of the bird rookeries. They will take you over to ship anyway, right?
You should also allow time on day 9 in case your summit tour is cancelled on day 8. This is common and you need backup plan. For denali shuttle, have water and drinks with you too. For Seward train, have snacks and water available too. On our train, many people did not get to eat, they ran out of food and time. Glad we got muffin and coffee at our hotel.
Don't want to do Cap Larry's whalewatch in Juneau in addition to glacier tour? Hopefully, ISP will be good, but of not, you have a back up if you do in Juneau.
For rest of the trip, you will just have to play it by ear. I have no more for you!!! Enjoy.

Hi,
Your itinerary looks packed. I live in Wasilla AK and I have to tell you that your Day 9 looks especially rough. I'm assuming that when you say Alyeska Hotel you mean the one in Girdwood (Alyeska Prince). If so, your talking at minimum at 4-5 hour drive from Talkeetna to Girdood, just to ride a tram, then another 45 mile drive back to Anchorage. You will have major saddle sores. Girdwood is a cute little town, I'm acutally going there this weekend but I would suggest staying in Anchorage and checking out the downtown area instead of going on to Girdwood. Downtown Anchorage has some nice museums, shops, and restaurants. I packed an itinerary like this when my brother and sister in law visited, and we wound up accomplishing about half. Hope I helped some. If you have any questions about southcentral Alaska (Mat-Su Valley and Anchorage) I'll be happy to help.
Karen

A couple of thoughts:

Have flexibility if you really want to flight see Denali. We spent a week in August - beautiful weather everyday - until we went to Talkeetna. Too cloudy to fly I really wish we had planned another day in the area. I've had perfect views of Denali before but my sons (21 and 18) were with us on this trip and missed out.

Also, the highlight of our trip was kayaking in Prince William Sound. We took an all day trip to Blackcolm (sp?) bay. Kayaying by the glaciers around ice was an unforgettable experience.

In May, my Husband and I took a glacier cruise in Prince William Sound and loved it.

Girdwood is nice - great hotel but I would skip it in favor of a hiking. There are many fairly easy trails along the Seward highway with beautiful views - we saw several Moose on our hikes. If you do keep Girdwood on your list, then be sure to have lunch or breakfast at the BakeShop. Fantastic food and a beautiful garden.

Hatcher pass and the mine are a lovely place to stop for a picnic lunch.

Have fun.

I to find this planning a little to packed and you are way out to be looking at such firm plans. Do some more reading and cut back in my opinion.

As some points to consider- your Fairbanks options are just too touristy for an independent traveler. These both have bus after bus of visitors and only the boat tour in my opinion is the must do. The pipeline stop is a whole 15 mins., so I suggest you get out- look at the Ice Museum, Fairbanks U Large Animal Research, head to Chatanika, instead look for the Coldfoot fly/drive toursaver option. I've done this 2 years in a row, very great tour for the cost. See Pioneer Park etc.

Think carefully about Wonder Lake- bugs can be a significant problem. Always on my trips, the wildlife is scarce from Eielson to Wonder Lake- scenery is nice but with bugs just nothing I would consider.

Most likely the Northwestern Fjords trip will NOT be a toursaver option, they change every year usually. BUT it is the top tour and I would not base my trip so tightly on the toursaver. Especially the hotels. B&B's are most always better options with lower prices. Again I too suggest allowing more time for McKinley flightseeing. I had 3 flights canceled last week and never did make it.

I think you have overplanned a bit. If you have some minutes check my trip report, click on my name to find it. I would add another night in Denali, should bad weather affect your bus tour to WL on day 7, as it happened to us. Consider that you can have Mt McKinley flightseeing also from Denali with 2-4-1 toursaver coupon with Talkeetna Aero Service. After you are satisfied with Denali and flightseeing then head south. Talkeetna can also be skipped if flightseeing already made from Denali and you can drive Denali-Girdwood in one day. Believe me ! Save more time for Denali !

I disagree with the above. Talkeetna is definately worth a stop and the flight options are far more from Talkeetna. Be aware of the different flights available from summit flights, summit view, glacier landing via ski planes.

I also would not recommend Denali Park/Girdwood without allowing for a full day. The above poster was VERY lucky in his marathon trip. But Alaska is full of delays and there is plenty to see along the way.

I've been rafting on Nenana and it was great, although not thrilling if you're an experienced rafter (which I'm not). Although rapids were a little on the tame side, as I went after a long, dry summer in 04. I also highly recommend a McKinley Flight Summit Tour, but it can be a rare thing to see the summit. Still an amazing, amazing flight and well worth the money. I wouldn't go on an overcast day though - in fact they may not even fly on an overcast day. The Kenai Fjords boat trip is also worth it. I saw humpback whales, Dall porpoises, numerous bald eagles, lion seals, Dall sheep, puffins .... and the list goes on. I think your trip sounds amazing. It's a lot to do in a short space of time - Alaska is huge and a lot of driving is involved to cover all the ground you want to but it takes in a lot. Have fun!

oops BudgetQueen sorry if I was misunderstood, maybe due to some lack in this language which I only use for travelling. In my report I suggested not to overnight in Talkeetna which can at least be anyway used as lunch stop and maybe for the flightseeing. We had left Anchorage in the morning and fixed the lodging in Talkeetna and then, once there, we realized that having to stay there until the following day it was a bit more than enough. If koryandleslie has planned only two nights/one day for Denali in their total 18 days trip I strongly recommend to add a night there rather than somewhere else like Talkeetna. Of course, everything depends on our own priorities. I wish I would have spent more nights in Denali !

koryandleslie

I have re-checked the Mt McKinley flightseeing offers with the toursaver 2-4-1 by Talkeetna Aero Service:

$ 225 Mt McKinley from Denali
$ 205 Mt McKinley from Talkeetna

but be very carefull and enquiry with them before making the reservation because both tours come very close to the summit but do not OVERFLY the summit !

We had fixed the Mt McKinley $ 225 flight departing from Denali with toursaver 2-4-1 but once in Talkeetna we decided to anticipate this flightseeing from there, just to fill the time we had to spend.
As I was expecting to have $ 20 back my credit card had been already charged for $ 225) they told me that the SUMMIT flight from Takleetna was $ 225 vs the published tour $ 205 with toursaver without the summit. They managed to use the departure from Denali voucher of $ 225 with a free upgrade including summit from Talkeetna from $ 205 to $ 225 so at the end the two amounts balanced.
Despite above statement you have to consider that departing from Talkeetna is $ 20 cheaper because you have a longer distance to fly to approach the mountain, approx total 35-40 minutes of total 75 minutes, and therefore less time of sightseeing than the flight from Denali.
By the other side it is true that flightseeing offers from Talkeetna are wider and Talkeetna Aero Taxi offers a Denali tour (not exclusively Mt McKinley) with a glacier landing weather permitting !!)with toursaver coupon.

Have fun !!

The above rational is not true. You are closer to McKinley from Talkeetn than you are from the Denali Park entrance, look at a map. There are many more flight options out of Talkeetna than Denali Park, so a factor here is also supply and demand.

Talkeetna Aero is the only company with summit flights upgrading a toursaver coupon. They have been doing this for years. K2 is the other company that does summit flights. There are MANY different routes and landings to choose from. Do your homework and make the choice your priority.

the statement that $ 20 less from Talkeetna vs. from Denali is due to different distance (longer from Talkeetna) comes from Aero Service staff in Talkeetna