Favorite Alaska experience?
 

Calling all Fodor's Alaska afficionados! We need help planning our Alaska vacation. What would you rate as your absolute favorite experience in America's northernmost state? It can be anywhere in the state, at any cost but what sight/activity/experience will you always remember as the highlight of your trip? I can't wait to hear your responses!

We went on a Princess cruise this past summer and booked all our own excursions . . . whale watching w/Capt. Larry, helicopter trip to glacier w/Coastal, and float plane w/Island Wings.

By far the most exciting, most interesting, most beautiful was the float plane. Pilot Michelle was not only entertaining but very knowledgeable. . . this was the highlight of our trip.

Hope this helps a little,
Sandy (in Denton)

I am a jaded Alaska traveler and I keep wanting more and more. :) I have to say probably the best so far- My first winter trip, last year- far surpassed all my previous "in season" trips. Hard to believe- but the scenery was more and the northern lights endless, "REAL" dog sledding (just me and the dogs), and a flight to the Gates Of the Arctic.

I'd need to subdivide them between things relevant to a travel board vs. things relevant to life in general, but that said my favorite experience (as a resident) was marrying my lovely bride, in our best friends' living room, surrounded by more friends and family, then adjourning to mounds of fresh strawberries and baskets of primroses brought up from the lower 48 by more friends, this in March when the snow on the ground outside was getting old and yukky.

As for the "other" favorite experiences, there are several that can't be ranked:

...Flying over a volcanic eruption on the Aleutians and having the pilot (a friend) do a wing-down circle right over the spout of the mountain so we could look right down on the lava burbling in the crater. Probably pretty dangerous, but we were younger...

...A fly-in camping trip to a lonely lake in the Kenai Moose Range with our 3-YO son (his first); watching the (surprise) moose wading along the banks of the lake at dusk (maybe midnight) with loons hooting and some itinerant swans silhouetted against the water...

...Having a curious Bowhead whale the size of a submarine snooping around the 14-foot Smokercraft from which we were fishing in the Bering Sea. When he (she?) got within 8 feet or so we started the motor to let him (her?) know that was close enough, pal...

...Visiting a friend's gold claim on a creek feeding into the Klondike (okay, that's not Alaska, it's the Yukon) and panning an ounce of the real stuff out one spatula-sized gob of gloop (cleanout from his sluice). Now I know what gold fever is all about...

...Standing on frozen ocean in the arctic and listening to the ice make <i>so much noise</i> as it shifts and stacks up...

...Standing in the snow (maybe -5F?) at a friend's house up a valley above Turnagain Arm watching a phenomenal display of aurora (red, curtains, flickers, all that) for what felt (and then didn't feel) like hours.

...Catching my first 50+ lb. King on light tackle. Then having to schlep it 3 miles through the woods back to the car. Oy.

We also took a cruise of the inside passage and took a few fantastic excursions. #1, Hands down was the sea plane adventure we took of the Misty Fjords in Ketchikan. Flying through the cliffs, waterfalls and mist was on thing, but when the pilot landed the plane landed in a fjord and we got out the pontoons to watch the whales swimming about, it was incredible. #2 choice was the White Pass scenic railroad trip and #3 was a wildlife cruise we took while in Juneau. Three species of wildlife sightings were guaranteed, and we saw above and beyond that, including humpback whales, sea lions, harbor seals, and orca (killer) whales.

We did two &quot;packages&quot; at Wilderness lodges -- Denali Backcountry and Kenaii Backcountry Lodges. Both were outstanding stays and worth every penny!
We also did a one night &quot;package&quot; via Boardwalk Hotel in Seldovia from Homer. They included a nature boat trip to Seldovia, an overnight in the hotel there, and then flew us back to Homer in our own plane over the glacier and successful bear-spotting. This was a real bargain trip, but wonderful!

But the very best thing we did in Alaska? It's a tie between eating fresh halibut and eating fresh salmon.

#1 The highlight of our trip was the float plane that took us around Mt Mckinney and then landed on a glacier lake before taking us back to Anchorage. #2 We flew to the Artic Circle and spent the day in Kotzebue. #3 In Whittier, took a day cruise to watch the glaciers calve. #4. Dogsledding in Seward.

OPPS, McKinley!!! Sorry

Opps, Opps, Arctic - proof before hitting enter...