need your alaskan advice

my husband and I are arriving in anc on the 19 of july and renting an rv for the 20- the 1 of aug. we want to do a bear viewing so this is what we thought. what do you think.leave anc with the rv and ride up around to denali and up to fairbanks and down around the northpole down on to seward to do the glacier tour and be in homer the 25 or 26 for bear viewing. we was mostly just going to ride around and only do the bear viewing and the glacier tour. we dont want to be toured around for 2 weeks. the bear viewing is a little pricey its 540 each for the day. its called emerald air service. is that a good place to do it or is there another one as good but cheaper. i also heard that the bugs are bad then is that true and do we need nets. we live in maine and know about mos. but are the worse there.we just kind of thought of going and not having to much of a plan so we dont have to stess on being at some place every day if we didnt want to . please let me know your input.

need your alaskan advice

Yes, bear watching is very expensive but it is worthy to save money on meals, shopping, lodging, whatever so you can have unforgettable experience. I don%26#39;t think there is any as good but cheaper way than Emerald. I always recommend Emerald Air and if you chose them I know you won%26#39;t be disappointed. We went with them many times and each time we had a very unique trip. Will be going next summer again. The best viewing we always have is in the end of July so it looks like you%26#39;ll be there at most favorable time for seeing many beautiful brown bears. I wrote about bear viewing with Emerald Air many times on this forum so I won%26#39;t repeat any details. Maybe you can retrieve these posts if you want to know more. There is really no other way to go bear watching for less. Some companies offer half a day but that is not enough time for a real experience, first you have to fly there, then you have very limited time on a ground and before you know you have to return. If you thinking about watching bears on one of those flights that circle around bears and never land then it is a big waist of money. A plane won%26#39;t fly low enough for you to observe bears for any extended time.

As to mosquitoes, we never had a problem but once when we went all the way to the end of the road in Denali Park in June. They are not as bad as our black flies in Northeast at least you can hear mosquitoes arriving to get you. Sure, you may bring nets if that will make you feel better. We travel every year and never had a need for it. Bring bug spray.

I suggest you read posts here on this forum on Denali National Park (www.nps.gov/dena), Seward, Valdez, Matanuska Glacier, Talkeetna and decide what you want to see and do besides bear watching tour. If you decided on bear watching tour with Emerald you need to make your reservation asap, they already have many days in July and August fully booked. Because you have only 10 days you have to make choice and if you want to stay inside Denali Park in a campground reserve a place for your RV very soon after www.reservedenali.com starts taking reservations. I highly suggest staying at least three nights in Denali NP.

The best cruise to see glaciers is from Whittier. A day cruise from Seward to Kenai Fjords National Park is the best for marine wildlife viewing.

You have very limited time so personally with only 10 days available I think I would skip Fairbanks this time and focus on Denali, Seward and Homer. With 10 days only you need to know where you are going and why.

You may consider hiking on Matanuska Glacier and flight seeing from Talkeetna.

If you didn%26#39;t reserve your RV yet then do it very soon , the longer you wait more you have to pay.

If you want to go flight seeing from Talkeetna use coupons 2 for 1 at www.toursaver.com.You may use also coupons for your cruise from Seward. Do search on this forum and learn about using the tour saver book.

Go to your library and borrow Milepost then in March buy a new edition for 2007. Do search on this forum and learn about usefulness of Milepost.

need your alaskan advice

thanks places for your input. its been a great help. my husband drives for a living so he is used to dtriving anyway. we thought the 26 or 27 to do the bear watching.I have e-mailed emerald air and they will get back to me. he emailed me last week and they are in hawaii. we know someone in ninilchik and see him here in me last month and he said he would yakt my husband fishing. we will try to do that after bear watching.do you guys do the rv or where do you stay? THANKS AGAIN

dianne45, good luck with booking your bear watching trip.

We travel within Alaska only by car and stayed in many great accommodations. During our many trips to Alaska we had also a couple not so great accommodations. I highly recommend first deciding on your itinerary, then researching accommodations if you decide to forgo RV. Many tourists love RVing so you and your husband need to decide what would work for both of you.

If this is your first trip to Alaska I would focus on Denali, Talkeetna, Seward and Homer. Whatever you decide you need to secure your RV or a rental car very soon.

Denali and Homer deserve at least 3 nights each

Seward 2 nights

You can do flight seeing from Talkeetna on the way to or from Denali National Park.

Girdwood would be a nice stop before you get to Seward or Homer from Denali or Talkeetna.

Don%26#39;t plan too much. Maybe your husband doesn%26#39;t mind to drive but he deserves to look around and experience Alaska with all his senses and that means spending more time doing other things than driving.

we do have our rv booked we are with great alaskan holidays. we dont plan on doing too much except scenery and a bear watch and the cruise out of seward. my husband will fish with the guy he knows in ninilchik. do you know what kind of a place that is? Iam just waiting for ken and chris to get back to me on the bear watch. Iam sure we will want to do other things when we get there but we want to just tour around first and if something looks good do it if not thats ok too. we dont want this to be a streesed out thing. we go to mx in feb with all the kids and grandkids and this year there will be 9 of us .we all have a blast. thanks for your help

Ninilchik is a tiny village but has a beautiful setting with snow covered volcanoes in a distance. On the hill above the village you%26#39;ll see the Russian Church and cemetery. A steep path takes you from the village to the church. Ninilchik has one place where you can get a nice lunch. The closest large supermarket is in Homer or Soldotna.

I just want to let you know that I love little Ninilchik . . . there are a few great state campgrounds there - perfect for your RV. My favorite looks right over the ocean, and it%26#39;s just a short walk to the beach as well. As Places suggested, there is some interesting history to explore there, but it is small and on the quiet side. Fishing is good as well - we usually do our halibut fishing there, and near there is some good clamming. Best of luck! :)