babacyd

We are a family of six with four children 4, 7, 10 and 11. We will spend 10 days in Alaska from June 1st renting a camper upon arrival. While my husband was in AK about 15 years ago, it will be our first trip together with the kids.
We will fly into Anchorage, pick up our home on wheels and .... I need your help from here. I read several posts and trip advises, but I am unsure how to proceed with our plans to keep everyone happy.
If you have any suggestions I would appreciate it.
Thank you.

dwooddon

It's a bit difficult to respond intelligently without some idea of your interests. I'm more interested in scenery, photography, and wildlife so I would have an entirely different itinerary than if I was a fisherman or hunter or more interested in cultural activities or tours.

That said, spending 2-3 days in the Denali/Talkeetna area and the rest of the time on the Kenai Peninsula (Seward, Homer, Valdez) provides a well rounded trip. For a first trip. I'd just do Seward and Homer because Valdez is a loooong drive.

One stop that many people miss is the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center on the Seward Hwy near Girdwood. It can easily be done in a couple of hours or you could spend all day there seeing Alaskan Wildlife in a non-zoo setting. Plus, they do good work with the wild life and your admissions and other purchases support that effort.

I can pretty much guarantee your kids would love it but most adults do also. That early in the year, there will be a number of newly born animals there.

Another activity I enjoy very much is the all-day Kenai Fjords boat trips out of Seward. It gives you the chance to get (relatively) up-close-and-personal with glaciers calfing into the sea and I have never been on one of the boats that I did not see a profusion of sea life including gray and orca whales, sea lions, sea otters, bears along the shore, puffins, and a huge variety of other seabirds. I've never done one in early June so I don't know how unsettled the weather and seas would be and advise getting local advice before committing.

Have a good trip.

babacyd

dwooddon! Thank you for your advice.
We are interested in scenery, wild life and taking some beautiful photographs during the trip. The kids love animals and we adults do too. We just watched some educational videos about Alaska and my 7 year old was ready to depart right after the movie. I wonder if the long tour (13 hours) in Denali would be too strenuous on the younger ones?

saige

I have been on the bus tour in Denali and there is no way I would take children the ages of yours on the long tour. You will probably see as much of the wildlife you are looking for on a shorter tour and everyone will be much happier if you do that. We saw big horned sheep, mountain goats, bears, eagles and several other smaller mammals and birds. Mount McKinley (Denali) may or may not be visible on the day of your tour. It is often shrouded in clouds. You should plan to watch the film at the ranger station before your tour if you can, it's interesting and gives you some insights into the park. Also, plan ahead to take the kids for the ranger led dog sled demonstrations. They will love seeing the working sled dogs go through their paces.

Bill_H

Agree with dwoodon, a few days camping in Denali, maybe a night in Talkeetna, then down the Kenai to Seward and Homer and points in-between is a good split of time. Plenty to do.

The 8 hour bus trip to Eielson visitor center in Denali is plenty of bus time and hits all the high lights except Wonder Lake.

dwooddon

I know a lot of people really like the Denali area but I'm not one of them. When the mountain is out, it is gorgeous but, in a number of trips, I've only seen it clear once. I haven't taken that 13 hour tour but I have read that wildlife sightings are usually sparse and at a distance.

Some of my favorite activities in that area are from Talkeetna. It's a quirky little town that was supposedly the inspiration for Cicely, Alaska in "Northern Exposure". Much of the flight-seeing in that area is from Talkeetna Airport and there is also a jet boat excursion trip from which I have seen some wildlife.

If you do go to Talkeetna, be sure to have breakfast or lunch (or both) at the Talkeetna Roadhouse. It's one of the few remaining Alaskan Roadhouses from the gold rush days and serves huge and artery-clogging meals.

Having said all that, I have seen considerably more wildlife in the Anchorage area and the Kenai Peninsula than I have farther north. I think if it were me, I'd save the northern area for another trip and more fully explore the Kenai on this one.

If you do go north, the drive is fairly long and often not too visually stimulating. I don't know how your 4 and 7 year old might enjoy that. I'm sure there are others who will disagree with me but that's my opinion.

In both Seward and Homer, there are RV parking areas right along the water and, in early June, they should not be too crowded. In Seward, the city maintains a large camping area at very reasonable rates. In Homer, there are a number of RV parks along the Homer Spit (a narrow, 4-5 mile spit of land that juts into Kamechak Bay).

If you decide to do that, both the Homer and Seward Visitor's Bureaus have guides to their areas that I have found useful that can be ordered on-line.

The Kenai Fjords tours leave from Seward. In Homer, if you catch the schedules just right, you can travel on the Alaska Ferry to make a day trip across Kamechak Bay to the little fishing town of Seldovia which I enjoy and , since it is fairly short, your kids may as well.

Be sure and give us a trip report when you return and have a wonderful trip.

BarbaraS

I would not do an all day Fjords tour with kids that age. My kids were 5 and 12 when we took them on a halibut fishing trip in Alaska and after about an hour they were ready to get off.

There is an aquarium in Seward, Alaska Sea Life Center, that your kids would enjoy. And I second the recommendation of the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center.

Schedule plenty of down time for doing the fun things kids enjoy while camping - roasting hot dogs and marshmallows, climbing rocks, chasing the wildlife, skipping stones on a lake, falling in creeks and getting wet and dirty - priceless.

dfrostnh

Maybe decide on the Fjords tour depending on weather. We happened to choose a day in late June when the ocean was very calm. We got very close to some orcas and close enough to a humpback whale to smell whale breath. Granted, it was a long ride back after we visited the glaciers and DH chose to nap in the cabin. If the ocean is rough you should probably skip it.
Friends with young children who live in AK have raved about the wildlife center. We missed it.

The tram ride up Alyeska in Girdwood should be fun for everyone. Will probably be snow at the top. We took a nature cruise, not the ferry, to Seldovia. We didn't think the wildlife viewing was as good as out of Seward but we saw a lot more sea otters. We did a weekend package that included a flightseeing across a glacier back to Homer. You might check into short flightseeing trips.

Check the Anchorage Daily News and the Kenai local paper for activities during your visit. You may find some the are specificially geared for children. In June you have a very good chance of seeing a mama with baby moose in the Kenai area. There will be a lot of eagles in Homer.

gail

Agree with much of the above - especially one point about boredom for the kids. Obviously Alaska is huge and it often involves long drives from A to B. Please tell your 7 year old that educational videos are all cut and spliced - that s/he will not see that many animals in a short time nor will they be that close - or he will be very disappointed. Scenery only goes so far with kids.

As you continue your research try to pick out things they can do rather than just see - like the wildlife center, some shorter hikes - that type of thing. Some of the helicopter and flightseeing trips would be wonderful - but that would be very very expensive for a family of 6. The Kenai Fjords wildlife water trip might be OK. Just plan on bringing some alternate activities - toys, books, games - just as you would on any long trip anywhere. We have been travelling with our kids since they were very young (now almost-adults) and sometimes video games at a pizza place, even though where you are is far more compelling to adults, can help everyone have a better trip.

bigtyke

when we went to Alaska, we rented a camper (Great Alaskan). Near Denali, we stayed at Denali STATE Park. At the National Park, we took a short hike from the visitor center to a lake where we saw moose.

We liked visiting the Musk Ox farm north of Anchorage and the Iditerod HQ in Wasilla where the wife and kids rode a wheeled dog sled.

We really liked Fairbanks - the U of Alaska museum is superb. The discovery river boat ride and El Dorado gold mine tour were tops.

We were there the end of June and early July. The mosquitoes were terrible at the first of the trip and almost non-existent at the end.