On Fri, 09 Feb 2018 15:54:23 -0500, John H.
wrote:

On Fri, 09 Feb 2018 15:30:45 -0500, wrote:


I agree that some of the excursion opportunities are pricey, but if
you're on a tight schedule, and/or not likely to get back any time
soon (if ever), the excursions offer a chance to see and do things
that you'd otherwise miss out on. We took advantage of all the
excursion opportunities when we did our Alaska cruise and never
regretted any of them - a sightseeing flight around the summit of
Denali (Mt McKinley) in a twin engine turbo prop; a helicopter flight
to the top of the Mendenhall glacier with plenty of walking around
time; a float plane flight into Misty Fjords with a landing and
dockage in the back country; and a jet boat trip up the Chilkat River
into the eagle preserve. Every one of them was memorable.

I can't even imagine Alaska on a cruise. We were there 3 weeks and we
still felt like we were rushed. We did do a lot of things you don't
get on a cruise tho, mostly on foot.

Next time we'll fly up, spend some time there, and take a ship back. The cruise we took from
Seattle, five nights, didn't really allow for much time to see anything at all.

Folks like you who like to camp rent an RV and drive around. There are
plenty of places to park but all of them may not be KOA grade. It does
eliminate the problem that hotel rooms are few and far in between
throughout most of the state. We really preferred the Kenai but there
are lots of other places we would explore if we go back. Homer is a
cool little town that is not very touristy at all. We met some fun
folks there. Check out the Salty Dog Saloon if you get there.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/alaska/salty%20dawg.jpg
That is also where we hooked up with the water taxi that takes you
over to the Katchemak State Park that you can't drive to.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/alaska/water%20taxi.jpg
There is a great hike there that takes you down to this glacier lake,
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/alaska/Glacier%20lake.jpg
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/alaska/Ice%...%20glacier.jpg
Just be sure your GPS is working because the last half mile or so is
across a big field of round rock and shrubs that all looks pretty
much the same
and you need to find a small hole in the trees to get back on the
trail out.
If you drive towards Denali as far as you can go there is a parking
lot where you catch the bus to go to the mountain (no private vehicles
beyond that point) or you can take the trail that goes off to the
north and it goes back in there as far as you want to go along a ridge
above a small river. That was where we saw the grizzly bear fishing in
the river. We were up on the hill 70- 100' above him and he didn't
really pay any attention to us. My poor old camera did not have enough
zoom to really get a good picture and we were trying not to establish
eye contact anyway. Right past there it started getting a little rocky
and we turned around but that was a few miles in so it ended up being
a nice walk.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/alaska/Denali%20trail.jpg
If I did it again I think we would go down the east side (Rt 2 from
Fairbanks or Rt 1 from Anchorage) and see what is there. That gets you
all the way to Juneau I think.
There are really not a lot of roads in Alaska so you don't have that
many options. We never seemed to have a problem staying amused
wherever we went tho. You can just stop at any little shack along the
highway and find interesting people to talk with.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/alaska/Fine%20Dining.jpg
You could stop by Wasilla at the fork in the road north of Anchorage
and get a selfie with Sarah for Harry. ;-)