bailey3909

9 days in Alaska. Need tips for each days travels. Where to eat? What to stop to see?. Day 1 - Anchorage to Healy. Day 2 - Denali Natl Park *. Day 3 - Healy to Wasilla. Day 4 - Wasilla to Valdez. Day 5 - Valdez to Whittier by ferry, then to Seward. Day 6 - Seward - Kenai Fjords Tour. Day 7 - Seward to Kenai. Day 8 - Kenai to Homer. Day 9 - Kenai to Anchorage.
* Plan to drive as far as possible. What about the buses to the interior?

BigRuss

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With this itinerary, you won't have much time to stop and see. Consider scaling back - you're trying to cover 2.5 weeks' worth of territory in less than 10 days.

dfrostnh

If I recall correctly, Seward to Kenai is about 2 hours. Although I liked the display at the Kenai visitors center, on limited time I would just keep going to Homer to spend the night and make sure to have enough time to visit the Pratt Museum. Kenai is pretty suburban and I thought Homer was a more interesting town to visit. Homer to Anchorage is a long drive - about 5 hours without stopping. But, since you didn't drive the Seward Hwy yet (took the ferry to Whittier) you will want to make stops.

Get the Milepost. On long stretches such as Anchorage to Healy, you won't find many places to stop once you get north of Wasilla. Drive is not as scenic as going south from Anchorage. Stop in Kenai/Soldotna for lunch before going to Homer.

Gardyloo

You don't need to stop in Kenai between Seward and Homer, in either direction, and I assume Day 9 was Homer to Anchorage? Easily doable. I would take the extra day, based in Homer, to cross over Kachemak Bay to Seldovia, a scenic and very interesting little town. Between Seward and Homer, pull over to see the interesting and pretty little Russian church in Ninilchik.

You say "after Labor Day" but does that mean early September? Or late November? Makes a giant difference. Things will still be going strong in most areas until around 9/10 - 9/15, so if that's the time frame, make sure you have accommodations booked, and especially the ferry from Valdez to Whittier. Also be sure your rental car company allows the ferry; I seem to recall some aren't keen on it.

sdpryde

You'd never be able to accomplish your itinerary via bus; as if/when they exist they move too slow.

Following that you can't accomplish what you are doing by bus, you will need a car; but I agree with BigRuss in that you are trying to see too much in too little time. You need to drop Valdez or Homer; otherwise you'll just be driving from Point A to Point B (sort of like flying to Orlando, driving to the DisneyWorld parking lot, but not going in).

bailey3909

Thanks for comments. We are arriving 9/2 and leaving 9/10. We do have a rental car. The bus I was referring to was the ones in Denali that you can get on one and get off and later get on another one to allow for hiking, photos, etc. We are concerned about the weather but wanted to miss the heavier tourist times and hopefully see some fall colors. We are concerned about having warm clothes with limited space on flight. We are concerned about whether our 18-270 lens was adequate for wildlife photos.

Gardyloo

We are concerned about whether our 18-270 lens was adequate for wildlife photos.

Ought to be, plus if your camera is reasonably new, you'll have enough pixels to allow some cropping and zooming during processing. In the event of crummy weather (always a chance) be sure you're shooting at a high enough ISO to permit the camera to stop some motion, and to allow for more than the minimum depth of field.

reg2014ak

I think you could go directly to Valdez faster than going all the way down to Wasilla and around. Though it is a pretty drive between Wasilla and Valdez. But I agree this is a lot of driving without much time to stop anywhere. Will you be flying out of Anchorage right after driving up from Kenai?

I'd suggest skipping the stops in Wasilla (which really isn't much to see) and Kenai and taking 2 nights in the other places. Take some time to explore the Exit Glacier area near Seward or go out on a fishing trip out of Homer.

A little time in Anchorage to see the Native Heritage Center and the Anchorage Museum and have a good meal would be worth your time too.

sdpryde

buses to the interior...

OK, I understand. You are referring to the shuttle bus system of Denali Nat'l Park.

I'd recommend a minimum of 2 days of shuttling. Book the tix to Wonder Lake. If the weather is not cooperating (i.e. you're not going to see Denali), get of the shuttles at Eielson and head back to the park entrance from there. Use the 1st day of shuttling to get an understanding of places where you may want to get off & walk/hike in day 2.

For more info. see: http://www.nps.gov/dena/planyourvisit/shuttles.htm

Good luck & enjoy AK.

bailey3909

Thanks for everyone's comments. We're looking forward to our trip.