need advice for alaska trip this august

[Vavso]

I am planning on doing a one week trip to alaska with my G/F this august probably flying into anchorage .Does anyone have any tips /deals /ideas for a one week kick back vacation ( a little Freshwater Salmon fishing, Alaskan amber ale , seafood and breathtaking scenery would be nice ) All help greatly appreciated Thanks Vavso

 

[banned username 2]

I am planning on doing a one week trip to alaska with my G/F this august probably flying into anchorage .Does anyone have any tips /deals /ideas for a one week kick back vacation ( a little Freshwater Salmon fishing, Alaskan amber ale , seafood and breathtaking scenery would be nice ) All help greatly appreciated Thanks Vavso

Have a dinner at Simon & Seafort's in Anchorage... Expensive but very good food (Excellent Prime Rib and Seafood)... (420 L Street, Anchorage, AK 99501 Phone: (907) 274-3502)

The Glacier Brewhouse is very good for some Amber and an excellent meal ([size=-1]737 W 5th Ave, [/size][size=-1]Anchorage, AK 99501)[/size]...

F-Street Station (325 F Street) is a local crew hangout... basically a bar with some pretty good food, and plenty to drink (try the Halibut chunks)...

If you are dying for a good (and expensive) steak, try Sullivan's Steakhouse you won't go wrong... (320 West 5th Avenue, Fifth Avenue Mall, Anchorage, Alaska 99501 907.258.2882)

Check out the Fancy Moose Lounge at the Millennium Alaskan Hotel... Great atmoshpere with an incredible view of Lake Hood and all of the float planes arriving and departing... (4800 Spenard Road, Anchorage,AK , USA 99517)

If you want a quick, fast food lunch, try the Arctic Roadrunner for a good burger and fries... Nice change from the usualy fast food burger joints... (5300 Old Seward Hwy, Anchorage, AK 99518)

For lodging, I recommend the Anchorage Marriott Downtown, it is located centrally downtown, everything is an easy walk from there...

Hope this helps!

 

[Vavso]

Thank you more responses appreciated

Thanks for taking the time to offer some tips Would it be practical to rent a car and drive over the 7 days I know nothing of Alaska geography Thanks again !! vavso

 

[banned username 2]

Thanks for taking the time to offer some tips Would it be practical to rent a car and drive over the 7 days I know nothing of Alaska geography Thanks again !! vavso

Definately rent a car... Less than an hour from Anchorage there is some incredible scenery... Take the boat tour out to Portage Glarcier...

 

[mar]

Tips, deals and ideas.

Deals in Alaska during the summertime are very rare, my friend. Expect to get bent over.

Quick and dirty salmon fishing can be had at Ship Creek right behind the train station downtown. Scenary sucks (industrial) but if you're looking to just snag--er, I mean, catch a fish real quick you'll find some there.

Another inner city fishing spot (July thru Oct maybe???) is Campbell Creek. It's more scenic (a green belt) and pretty convenient.

Other than that you'll have to get outta town. Bird Creek and Kenai for combat-fishing. Or you can try the Kasiloff (smaller maybe less accessible than the Kenai). Kenai is a three hour drive. Bird Creek a 30-minute drive.

The Matanuska Glacier is about two hours outta town and five dollars to park. Access is free. Follow the markers thru the mud (bring shoes to handle it) and morraine to the foot of the glacier. Walk carefully, they lost a kid a few years ago thru a crack or a hole...

Take a quick hike up Flat Top to get a great view of the city. About a one hour hike up with a steep rocky climb (some scramble) at the very top. Parking fee.

Lots of trails in the back hills (Chugach). Try Crow Pass from the Eagle River Nature Center. About a 3.5 mi hike to the river where you may or may not want to cross. Trail continues for another 22 to Girdwood. Expect bears near the river now that the salmon are running. But late summer will be the best time for wild flowers.

Girdwood has mountain biking and hiking. Shops and restaurants. Lots of cool dope smoking hippies.

The Anchorage Museum is fairly impressive if you're into artsy-fartsy stuff.

Good restaurant recommendations from Falcon Capt. You can't go wrong with Thai in ANC. Every one is good. For authentic Mexican food try Taco King or Mexico in Alaska.

There is no authentic Italian food in ANC but Orso's is gourmet level and like the Glacier Brew House puts an Alaskan spin on their dishes--very unique and a little spendy.

As far as I'm concerned the best steak in town can be found at Club Paris. A local hangout with tacky decor but great service and good food.

The best *cheap* steak is found at Rice Bowl. Talk about TACKY! But man, their grill is seasoned perfectly and the meat is about half the price of Club Paris.

I could go on and on. Moose's Tooth for pizza. F-street for out of town pilots. Darwin's Theory for the oft-maligned but always interesting bush folk/pilot. Also one of the best juke boxes in town.

Best decks: Peanut Farm, Snow Goose, Millinneum.

Have fun.

 

[TRLpilot]

spent only a day in the anchorage area but will throw in my two cents...

i had a great salmon salad sandwich and some incredible fresh brewed scottish ale at the snow goose while sitting out on the deck at dusk (10:30pm).

the drive to portage is nice as the road winds along the edge of the water, and then the hike up to bryson glacier or the boat trip around to portage.

had probably the biggest breakfast of my life at gwinney's (sp?). it seemed like a half dozen eggs, a side of reindeer and a 5 lb. bag of hashbrowns.

take a drive around lake hood and see the hundreds upon hundreds of planes. there are some picnic tables on the south side of the lake which make for some great viewing of the continuous parade of floatplanes.

i'm doing the crazy thing of talking myself out of going to kodiak this year with my dad since i'm using my money to work on my instrument rating. somebody slap me!

 

[flyguybri]

You can't see Portage Glacier anymore without going on the boat, if you don't want to do that check out Byron Glacier about a half mile away. Not as big, but a nice hike along the river. You'll see the signs as you pull into the parking area for Portage Glacier.

Check out the Aviation Heritage Museum at Lake Hood http://home.gci.net/~aahm/

Two places downtown if you want good, but not spendy food - Wings N Things and The Lucky Wishbone.

Drive up to Talkeetna. It's a fun town to walk around and if Denali is out the views from around there are great, plus it's a nice drive.

Check out Hatcher Pass about an hour north of Anchorage. I probably wouldn't drive all the way through in a rental car but it's paved now all the way up to Independence Mine. The scenery is great and you can walk around the old mine buildings. There's also lots of hiking up around there. If you do go there, stop at the Hatcher Pass Lodge for the fondue.

You could also south down to Homer and/or Seward.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

And let's not forget the Great Alaskan Bush Company.

 

[TRLpilot]

"And let's not forget the Great Alaskan Bush Company."!!

Mr Jorgan knows what he is talking about.

Vavso, August will be beautiful up there. It will be an unforgettable trip I can guarantee.

 

[av8instyle]

about time...

...someone mentioned the bushco.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Humpy's. It's downtown and has awesome food and just about any beer on tap you could want. Great day or night stop.
I highly recommend.
Also, another good Mexican restaurant is La Mex.
For a good Alaskan atmosphere try dinner at The Sourdough Mining Company. It's also conveniently located near the ABC.
If you are there bachin' it hit Chilkoot Charlie's. Its basically a meat market and they have live tunes sometimes.
On the way to Portage stop in to Alyeska Ski Resort. You can take the Gondola up for a great view and you can also hike up. There's a great soup and sandwich shop in the ski town but I can't remember what it's called. But everyone there will know what you're talking about.
Speaking of hiking, near Anchorage you can hike up to Flat Top and get an incredibe view of ANC. It takes anywhere from an hour to two.

 

[av8instyle]

Ps:

Everytime I read stuff like this it makes me wonder why I still haven't moved back up North. I sure do miss it.

 

[TundraT]

Are you planning on flying commercially or are you going to fly yourself. Just want to make sure you don't try the latter if you are planning on a one week vacation, it can drag out for days depending on the weather and whether VFR or IFR. The nicest thing about Anchorage is that it is only a thirty minute flight from Alaska. No seriously, ANC has some great spots to visit for a "big" city. Don't forget to have a few brews at the deck on Lake Hood and watch the float planes come and go.

If you really want to see Alaska go to Fairbanks and sit on the deck at the Pump House or Pike's Landing.

 

[Vavso]

Thanks to all

Flying commercially into ANC 2 nights than up to Healy for 2 nights maybe a day trip to fairbanks . ( will be in Alaska 7 days.)Anyone know if the times can be done not sure of travel distances between these towns . Thankls All!!

 

[TundraT]

The drive to Healy from ANC is about 4 to 4.5 and Healy to FAI is about an hour to an hour and a half. Or you can take the train which takes about 12 hours from ANC to FAI and it stops in Healy or anywhere you want to get off. I think the AK Railroad is the last flag stop service in the U.S. Which means you can be standing in middle of nowhere with a backpack on and wave down the train and they will pick you up or get off in the middle of nowhere.



Anyone know the unofficial Alaska State flower?

 

[mar]

The mosquito is the state bird

I've heard 50-gal drums called tundra flowers.....

 

[TundraT]

I've heard 50-gal drums called tundra flowers.....

Alright! You are correct. The Blue Chevron fuel drums everyone cached all over the place. I remember many a gallon I had to hand pump while swatting no-see-um. Ah, those were the days!

 

[mar]

<pumps fist in air>

So what'd I win? A free trip to Alaska?

YES!

Hey, the name Chisum is familiar. Are you from the FAI area? You can PM me if you like.

Here's one for you:
Do you know why Alaska has the best Eggs Benedict?
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Because there's no place like Nome for the Hollandaise...

I said, because there's no place...ah, nevermind.

 

[Vector4fun]

This won't do the originator any good, but just got back from a 7 day cruise last month. New Cruise ship destination this year is Hoonah, or Icy Strait. I called and arranged our own fishing day trip with Royal Charters,

http://royal-charters.com/

There were 13 of us in two boats. (31 friends and family on same cruise). We caught 400 lbs of Halibut in 3 hours. My 14 yr old son caught one 115 lbs. Nobody on either boat skunked. Had a blast!

In contrast, didn't talk to a soul who booked for Salmon through the cruise line that caught a thing. Several were quite upset when they heard us talking about our catch. One said the guide finally admitted it was too early in summer for Salmon.

Can't recommend Capt Hill enough.

 

[flyguybri]

Chair 5 in Girdwood for good food. Everyone says Double Muskie down there too, but we still haven't tried it yet.