Wow! The more Alaska "research" I do, the more things I want to do on our 2 week trip in July/August 2006. Family of 4, (son 14 & daughter 12), first trip to Alaska, interested in hiking, wildlife, kayaking, "soft" adventures. Any and all comments on tentative itinerary are greatly appreciated!

7/25: Arrive from TPA, overnite Anchorage
7/26: Copper Center
7/27-28: Kennicott/McCarthy
7/29-30: Valdez, Ferry to Whittier
7/31-8/2: Seward
8/3-4: Homer
8/5: Anchorage/Talkeetna
8/6-8/7: Denali/Healy
8/8: Fly home 9 p.m. (currently)

I haven't made any final decisions on which activities to do where, but thought I should go ahead and get lodging arranged.

Will 2 nights be enough in Denali? I originally had 3, but added a night to Seward instead - my husband would like to do the Caines Head Trail to see the WWII fort and we'll need another day for the Fjords tour. Ferry schedule isn't posted yet, so not sure what time we'll arrive in Seward.

Looking forward to any suggestions the "experts" have.

Thanks!

I don't think you will want to spend much time in Whittier but the drive thru the tunnel is fascinating. Plan an hour or two for the visitors center at Portage Glacier. Interesting first hand accounts of the 1964 earth quake plus nice movie. The drive to Seward isn't far. Seward to Homer is about 3-4 hours. Depending on how long the hike will take, could you drive to Homer that night? You will want to make a couple of stops along the way such as the Russian River Ferry. We got into the habit of not eating supper until after 7pm. I think the longest Kenai Fjords trip gets back around 6pm so you could have dinner in Seward and then head to Homer if you don't mind arriving late. I saw one post that said a lot of people napped in the cabin on the way back to Seward. My husband was in that category. You might not mind a long drive after a nap! On your way from Homer to Anchorage, it's about a 5 hour drive and you will want to make stops along the way. The really spectacular scenery is when the highway goes along the Turnagain Arm near Portage. There is beautiful scenery down to Homer esp as you approach Homer but not so many places where you will want to stop. If you don't have dinner in Seward, Soldotna is the last place with a lot of choices. Good place to gas up, too. When you head north from Anchorage, don't go past Wasilla on an empty stomach or low fuel tank. We always carried water and snacks with us. Darned if we didn't get to Talkeetna in the middle of the afternoon when most of the restaurants were closed. I hope you have time to fit in a visit to Independence Mine. It's a really good look at how a community was built up in the middle of the mountains and then closed when the mining ended.

Thanks for the suggestions. Our plans are to just pass through Whittier on the way to Seward. I hadn't even thought about leaving Seward late in the day. We're on vacation, so we can keep late hours! Great idea. Also, since our flight doesn't leave until 8 p.m we plan on going to Independence Mine on the way from Denali to Anchorage on our last day.

We plan to stock up on snacks and water several times on the trip - living with two teenagers here in Florida we've learned not to go anywhere with those 2 essentials!

All of these ideas/suggestions really make a difference. Thanks.

save more time for Denali !!
Weather is so unpredictable that you may risk to leave the area too quickly and disappointed !
3 nights with 2 full days is the minimum ! Denali is attracrion no.1 in Alaska for scenery and wildlife. I did the mistake to fix 2 nights only in Denali and to overnight in Talkeetna. Last august we found smoke, fog and rain on the first day and next day it was much better. Air was washed by the rain and visibility was perfect, including Mt McKinley !!! We decided to ride another shuttle bus tour into the park but then I had to face with the already fixed lodging in Girdwood for the same evening, where we arrived at 02:00 am !! after a fast drive from Denali. I wished I would have spent more nights in Denali.
Because of the weather I would not save the best for the last of your trip.
Do Denali first and stay there until you are really satisfied before moving to somewhere else. Although it is recommended by almost everybody I think you really do not need to fix the lodging for ALL nights in advance !
I suggest 3 nights in Denali area and leave the 4th night open and fix the 5th night for you next destination.
If you leave Anchorage in the morning you may stop in Talkeetna for lunch and for a flightseeing, but then you could proceede on same evening to Denali avoiding to overnight in Talkeetna !

If I'm not mistaken - the Caines Head Trail is 4.5 miles ONE WAY and can only be reached at low tides of four-foot or lower. Because of the distance, you will only be able to go one way during one low tide - you have to wait to the next low tide to return. Most people camp overnight because of this. (I'm actually planning to do this next summer sometime, never got around to it this summer.)

It is also accessible by boat, but you'd have to investigate if you could charter someone to take you there.

I'm sitting here with the Caines head State Recreation Area brochure from the Alaska Dept of Natural Resources, which is where I'm getting this info. See also:
http://www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/Hikes/Caines_head.htm

The rest of your itinerary sounds very doable and fun, I'm sure you will enjoy Alaska! For kayaking, you can go out of Valdez, Whittier, Seward, or Homer - might want to book in advance somewhere. Kennicott/McCarthy is neat, you'll enjoy that. The ferry is also neat, we took my in-laws on it this summer, they enjoyed it a lot. Oh, and take an early morning bus in Denali, you'll see more wildlife.

And, yes, I would book your lodging in advance. You don't want to spend valuable vacation time frantically trying to find a place to stay. And, yes, things can book up. We have friends visit us in Anchorage in the summer, they want to go places, I've spent a ton of time on the phone trying to book last minute lodging in Seward, Homer, Valdez. No big deal from here - if I can't find anything, they just stay in my house & go another day - but you guys won't have that option, so book in advance!

I was thinking about doing the Valdez to Whittier trip, but after spending a day researching, I found this link for 2005 summer schedules for the said such trip. I was disappointed to see that the trip is only offered a few days a week, which limited my options. www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/schedres/scheds/S05.htm.

A three night/three day trip to Hallo Bay was probably the highlight of our Alaska trip two years ago when our boy's were 13 & 11. The boys were given a 50% discount. Not cheap, but amazing adventure we'll never forget. http://www.hallobay.com/

I would not suggest driving to Homer after a full day in Seward and an after 6pm departure. Go early morning if needed.

Otherwise you have a decent plan and most important according to your priorities.