Where to make a break between Anchorage and NYC?
 

We plan to make a trip in USA in 2013, probably in summer, as follows:
- Charlotte, NC
- Salt Lake City
- Seattle
- Anchorage
-New York

Between all these city, we shall fly.

I do not want to have very long flights and we are looking to make a stop for 2-3 days between Anchorage and New York, to visit another city or nice town. We are looking for great architecture and landscape. We are not interested in Chicago (which we love, but already visited it).
Can you recommend where to make this stop (we prefer to have direct flights between Anchorage and this new destination, and then from there to NY).?

Minneapolis has a lot to offer, city lakes, Mississippi River, architecture. Great city.

I suppose "great architecture" is about as subjective as it gets but if you want a non-stop to a city you

haven't been to before
has a certain amount of charm despite the numerous panhandlers
has non stop service from AK and into New York


San Francisco

I second Minneapolis but not sure of direct flights from Anchorage. You might also want to consider, Toronto, Dallas/Ft. Worth and Denver.

Toronto has a lot of new building going on; construction cranes everywhere and it is still, IMO, one of the cleanest cities anywhere.

I'd be very surprised if any of the cities Frank suggests don;t have N/S service either with Air Canada (YYZ-Toronto), Delta to MSP, United to DEN, and American to DFW (not certain about the latter)

You can check it all on Kayak.com

why not use Salt Lake City as your stop? I'm pretty sure you can get direct flights on both sides of it.

Denver is another good choice, at least for landscape.

Phoenix might also work, I believe there are non-stops to Anchorage. And you get some very different landscapes. You can visit Taliesin for your architecture fix.

By the way, see if you can secure a copy from your local library of the latest AIA guide to NYC. It is expensive and too bulky to carry on a trip but you can xerox the places you want to see.

The architecture of DC is interesting. There are some grand residences in Georgetown and all the neo-classical work in DC itself.

Here is a list (pretty complete, maybe missing one or two) of the cities to which one can fly nonstop to/from Anchorage in the summer season (shorter list during the rest of the year.)

Honolulu
Vancouver
Seattle
Portland
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Phoenix
Salt Lake City
Denver
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Dallas/Ft. Worth
Chicago
Frankfurt

All of the above also have nonstop air service to greater New York (either JFK or Newark airports.)

Of the above I'd recommend Portland or San Francisco, both of which are very lovely cities with plenty to see and do within a very short distance from the city itself, and both are great destinations in the summer.

Thank you all for great advices.
I did not tell you that we already visited California , Toronto, Las Vegas, Rocky Mountains (Canadian part), Vancouver, Boston, so I am now interested to visit a new place (for us), located at 1/2 distance between Anchorage and NYC.

We shall visit Charlotte, Salt Lake City and Seattle on our way to Anchorage and from there we want to go to NYC with stop somewhere in the middle of the distance between them.

Based on your suggestions, I'll read about Minneapolis, Denver and Portland to choose one of them.

Thanks again.

I'd recommend Montreal, but it's not a direct flight. Saskatoon is supposed to be beautiful and really is halfway but you'd be flying there via Denver or Minneapolis!

San Francisco, Chicago or Phoenix...