Just this morning I thought: I want my next trip to be to Alaska! I've never been there. I was delighted to see I have much to read through here at the forums!

If you were to create your dream trip to Alaska ...
1. What time of year would you go?
2. For how long?
3. Where would you go?
4. What would you do?
5. Where would you stay?
6. etc.!

I have in my head the idea that I'd like to hit the Arctic Circle while I'm up there. I would also like to avoid mosquitos as much as possible! I may be going alone, or I may be able to find a travel partner; I don't know yet. Other than that, I don't have a lot of pre-conceptions about what I want.

I look forward to hearing your ideas!! Dream big!

If you're looking to try something really different, try this:

http://alaskadeepsix.com/

Can you believe they offer snorkeling in Alaska!

A bit too cold for me I'm afraid - still, if you're adventurous enough...

Ken

For the absolute best scenery- go in winter, March on 2 trips for me were far superior to all other in season (18). Highlights- northern lights, www.icealaska.com and plenty of winter activities.

In season- ideally 3 weeks is a good timeframe, with that - take a one way cruise, then 2 weeks touring interior Alaska, a mistake a lot of people make is not having enough time, you need it for Alaska in my opinion.

I stay in B&B's mostly which are excellent in Alaska, plus give you that edge of direct inside information. I do a lot of flying which is a must for me always in Alaska. Research fully your "Arctic Circle" priority. I would suggest if you don't want to spend more than a day, book one of the fly /shuttle tours, then you get more than a photo at the sign. If the sign isn't a must, there are some interesting fly ins, Barrow is one- spend at least an overnight in my opinion. For a beautiful day trip, take a cargo run up to Anaktuvuk Pass. I have gone on several with Warbelows out of Fairbanks. Head to your library and take out Fodor's Alaska and make a list of priority areas, look at including, Talkeetna, Denali Park, Homer, Seward etc.

Thanks to both of you! BQ, I just was doing a little research on the Arctic Circle thing - you were wise to advise it. For me, the point in going would be to see a day where the sun doesn't set. However, it seems that means I'd have to go in June or July (sun starts setting again on Aug. 2, I think), and from what I read, that's skeeter season (at least everywhere else, don't know if there are skeeters all the way up in Barrow?)! So maybe a separate trip some year in June or July, just to somewhere in the Arctic Circle (Arctic being a word I know how to spell, but I have to re-type every time!).

I see the Alaska State Fair is at the end of Aug/beginning of Sept. I love state fairs! Has anyone been? Is this one good?

Yes they have mosquitos in Barrow.

The fair is funky - typical things, but the main attractions are the mutant vegetables - giant cabbages, zuchinis the size of Chevys, things like that.

If you want to go to a bush (including "arctic") village, I'd recommend the Anchorage-Nome-Kotzebue loop (Kotzebue being above the AC.) - IMO more interesting than Barrow - native culture and the Arctic Ocean at Kotzebue, gold rush history at Nome. Look at the packages available through Alaska Airlines at www.alaskair.com.

On the skeeto topic, we'll be doing an Inside Passage cruise in mid-July. Have heard that the little critters are not too much of a concern....does that sound right? (Apologies for steering in a new direction here - thomaybe it will be of help to suspire/OP, as well.)

DH had his 15 day dream trip last year. It was a drop-camp carribou hunt. He had dreamed about it for years, but it did not pan out as he expected. Lots of negative experiences and he now feels the state has a 'racket' going.

It seems the state sold him two tags for whatever he was hunting for, at $375 a pop, but when he arrived, he was informed he could only legally use one! No refunds!! He actually didn't end up using either one.

Some other (he felt) unreasonable/costly rules and a minor/moderate plane castastrophe (which makes an amusing story, but wasn't funny at the time!)!

Belle

Oh yes, and he says the skeeters are huge...the largest he's ever seen! Had to wear a headnet the entire time...even while eating, which was a trick! Ha!

Belle

Inside passage does not have near the bug problems as interior bush. In general, nothing to worry about.

I have been to the Alaska State Fair, although Alaska is one of my favorite destinations and regular readers know I am a strong advocate of Alaska travel. I found the fair to be way lacking, my bias only and I just won't waste my time there even though I am usually visiting then. My opinion only.

On any trip anywhere, do your homework, the more you know, the better your touring choices will be.

This is a tough question. I haven't been to the State Fair yet. I love country fairs but it doesn't seem to get great reviews. I think I liked our last trip best. I chose to go for 3 weeks which gave us three weekends, mid-June to just after 4th of July. I wanted to see a quilt show (Quilting on the Kenai), do an overnight in Seldovia with family, and see the 4th of July parade. The wildflowers were at their best, everything from small alpine varieties around Independence Mine to huge, fragrant Cow Parsley. We attended a special event at the State Fairgrounds in Palmer over Father's Day weekend and the Forest Fair in Girdwood just before 4th of July. We have a short video of Denali at 1am taken from our cabin by my husband the insomniac. The salmon run is just starting. The weather was wonderful. A lot of research provided us with a great stay at Alaska Garden Gate B&B in Palmer (Karen also catered a small luncheon for me). Quick, last minute trips to Girdwood and Seward resulted in staying at B&Bs which still had a vacancy. OK if you like privacy in your room over the garage but not if you had hoped for a hearty hot breakfast with your hosts. I love farmers markets and had previously enjoyed the one in downtown Anchorage. I liked the one in Homer (great baker). With the extra time we visited places like Hope. I wish we had spent more time in Homer. I loved the Pratt Museum and the drive that overlooks the town, airport and Spit. I had to hear Hobo Jim. It was nice to have the weekends carefully planned but mid-week open to go where we wanted at the minute. I would love to go in the winter sometime.

I get clausterphobic with swarming mosquitos around my headnet and I hate sucking them in when I breathe as I go from front door to the car in June, so it's an easy choice for me: I'd go to the Arctic in August and trade a wee bit of darkness for millions fewer mosquitos. Besides, depending on where you go and when, you might see caribou starting to move south. Take the mail plane! That's an interesting way to travel. Three weeks is a decent amount of time. It's hard to do more than a couple of things in two weeks, particularly if you want to see vastly different parts of the state. I live 4 miles from the Fair. I would agree, from a visitor point of view, that it's not as super cool as it could be. It has several things (as mentioned) that are highly unusual, but you could argue that there are a thousand places like that in Alaska. If you like fairs, it's likely you'll like this one for the quirky, small-place aspects that make it unique. If you'd prefer to do something over the solstice and be up all night, a fun thing in our area is to go with Mica Guides (www.micaguides.com) on the special trip they do that night: whitewater rafting, glacier trekking, (maybe one other activity) and a bbq in the middle of the night. Fairbanks has an all-night softball tournament and Anchorage has a midnight sun run.