Itinerary/Activities for a 14 day vacation!

I%26#39;m planning a 14 day vacation to Alaska next year April 27, 2007 thru May 11, 2007. The problem is I%26#39;m finding out a lot of activities aren%26#39;t opened any help would be greatly appreciated.

Itinerary Flying into Anchorage spending 2 Nights, Homer 2 Nights,

Seward 2 Nights, Girdwood 2 Nights, Talkeetna 1 Night, Fairbanks 2 Nights, Glennallen 1 Night and 2 nights to add somewhere?

Thanks for your help :)

Itinerary/Activities for a 14 day vacation!

You%26#39;ve got a really ambitious itinerary cut out there; you%26#39;ll be doing a heck of a lot of driving. Seward is worth at least three nights... most places are. You also completely skipped Denali except for the flightseeing tour (I assume that%26#39;s why you added Talkeeta). I would recommend taking off maybe a few places; you%26#39;d actually be able to see Alaska and not just drive through it. :)

Itinerary/Activities for a 14 day vacation!

Hi there Autumn! Well, the reason you aren%26#39;t finding many activities open then is because it%26#39;s really not a good time to come up - it%26#39;s not Spring in most of Alaska then - in fact, it is just beginning to get green where I live right now (I am near Denali Park). April tends to be what we call break up and it%26#39;s not really pretty then - you would see mostly mud or snow, not green. Also, all most all activities, many hotels, restaurants really don%26#39;t open until mid-May. So, if you could, I would plan on coming in later May - though my favorite month up here is June, as it%26#39;s very green, flowerings are blooming and temperatures are great. And yes, I would add 2-3 days on your agenda just for Denali Park. Hope this helps you some in your planning - good luck! :)

Hello,

I talked to some travel agents/Frommer%26#39;s and they said more and more people are coming the beginning of May, lower prices and not as crowded that%26#39;s why we went with the dates we went with. Unfortunately, we have the dates pretty much set in stone so now I just have to work with what I can. We love to site see, do driving tours so all the driving won%26#39;t bother us one bit. We also like to hike but it sounds like we will be dealing with lots of mud :( I did find out that the 26 glacier tour will be opened when we are in Girdwood so we will have that to look forward to. The reason I skipped Denali Park is because the time of year we are going it%26#39;s not official opened and we may not even be able to ride the first 15 miles into the park from what I understand. Thanks for all your help :)

Hello again! Well, I see that you are going to make the best of it, and that is a good thing - but the travel agents gave you incorrect advice - the slower season is the shoulder season, which would be mid-may to first part of June, and then late August to mid-September. Those are good times to come, as usually the hotels are a bit cheaper and not quite so many people - school is still in session, so not many local families out either.

And actually, the Denali Park road is open to private vehicles until the shuttle buses begin running, so you can drive the first 15 miles, and usually all the way to Teklanika during late April/first part of May. (depends on snow level) So maybe you should plan a day here. While most of Denali Park is closed until mid-May, Healy is a year round community - we have one very nice motel, as well as several B%26amp;B%26#39;s so that is a possibility for you.

In Fairbanks, I would plan on seeing the museum at the University - it%26#39;s open year round and was just recently expanded. Not much in Glennallen, though parts of the Glenn Hiway are gorgeous - primarily from Palmer to the Sheep Mtn area. Sheep Mtn Lodge would be a good place to stay - great scenery and food as well. You might check out the Hatcher Pass area in Wasilla area as well - great views.

Hope things work out well for you. :)

Thank you for all your help! I didn%26#39;t realize Denali Park was opened to private vehicles that is great to know. I was told you could only go the first 15 miles and I just called a hotel the other day and they informed me that the Park road was just opened last week and that you could only drive to the Ranger Station because the road hadn%26#39;t been plowed. I will have to hope you don%26#39;t have a bad winter in 2007 :) If you could give me the name of the nice hotel in Healy that would be great. I originally was going to spend a night in Healy and again the person from the hotel told me there%26#39;s nothing to see there so to just drive on to Fairbanks. I do have the museum on my list in Fairbanks thanks. Glennallen is just a stop over to break up the drive from Fairbanks back to Anchorage and like you posted I heard the scenary on the Highway is gorgeous so I didn%26#39;t want to miss it :) Again thanks for all your advice and help. I will be checking into the hotels/lodges you listed. Have a great day!

Hi Autumn! Well, the road to Tek was opened by April 25th - it%26#39;s 30+ miles out, so don%26#39;t listen to whoever is giving you info. I live here - really! :) Also, this past winter, they had regular hours that the Murie Science and Learning Center was open as well. www.nps.gov/dena

I noticed you had on your other post that you were interested in a dog sled ride - we have several mushers in our area as well. Contact Jeff King (www.huskyhomestead.com)or Ramy Brooks (www.ramybrooks.com) for this possibility.

The nice hotel in Healy is Motel Nordhaven. It%26#39;s actually listed here on TA as the #1 hotel in the state. :) Large rooms, extremely clean. Healy is about 12 miles North of the Denali Park entrance. www.motelnordhaven.com

Holler if you need any more help. :)

Hello again :)

Thank you again for all your help and that is why I usually ask people questions that live in the area so you can get the facts :) I didn%26#39;t think we were actually going to be able to drive into Denali Park past the 15 miles so this makes me very happy to know we have that possibility! I had printed out information on Motel Nord Haven that was where I was planning on staying so I will make sure to put that back on my list as a 1 night stop which will also help break up the ride to Fairbanks. I%26#39;m very excited that you were able to give me some dog sled information I will check into it ASAP. I%26#39;m sure I will be back in touch with you as the trip gets closer and I get my whole trip planned out. If you think of anything else please don%26#39;t hesitate to let me know.

The time of year you are going is sort of the breakup time, between season changes. Be aware when going to Homer that you might wind up visiting a real estate agent. When we were there in 1994 my wife was impressed and wanted to see more, but we didn%26#39;t have the time. We returned February 1997 and six months later we went to a real estate agent and purchased five acres. In a few weeks we will be up there discussing building plans with a builder.

A nice place in Homer is out on the spit at Land%26#39;s End Resort. Ask for a bayside room. The time of year you will be there is no problem and they have dinner/room packages.

Personally, the Alyeska at Girdwood is over-rated although very nice. We were not that impressed by the food. Better to spend an extra hour into Anchorage. As for Seward we don%26#39;t care much for it unless you are going to do one of those Kenai Fjords tours.

See that you are from New Jersey. Will be flying there from Anchorage later this month for my 55th high school reunion.

Both of our grown daughters live in NJ (Oakland). Well, as long as ou are coming, I don%26#39;t need to say more about the time of year. The great thing you will notice is the amount of light. It will far exceed what you have there at that time. So, at least activities can be done with a lot of light.

I don%26#39;t know what you plan to do in Glennallen at that time, but if you can change that, I would. There really is nothing to do there. A couple of activities that would work out well in addition to what the others have recommended include a snowmobile tour and sled dog tour. In Girdwood you can do the snowmobile tour on the glaciers, and if you downhill, you might consider that. Also, The Double Musky is the place to go to eat in Girdwood. Forget about the Alyeska Resort unless you like those kinds of acccommodations and have the money to spend.

Are you going to Fairbanks in the hope to see the Northern Lights? I am not sure about the chances at that time of year. We will have a lot of light. Perhaps someone in Fairbanks can comment on that. However, that would not stop me from going to Fairbanks anyway.

Just so you know, you will see snow at that time. You need to bring layered clothing and good sturdy shoes. If you have hiking shoes, that you be best. The advantage you will have is no crowds. Have fun and safe journey.