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Thread: Alaska trip

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Alaska trip

    We're planning a trip to Alaska this August.
    That's about the extent of our plans so far - we're going.
    No idea where to go, where to fly into, where to stay, what to see (well, I gotta see the Northern Lights).
    Any suggestions?

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    Where are you going?

    Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

  3. #3
    USMC 77, USRA 79


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    Well, august is not the best month to see northern lights. But it is typically a GREAT month for fishing silvers. I would highly suggest you stay away from the tourist places…. I would love to suggest coming to my island.. if you come in august, there will be tons of fishing, and no crowds… and I could actually take you to a couple places off the beaten path to the Real Alaska wilderness.

    You could take a cruise up the inside passage to Ketchikan, and then hop on a float plane to klawock. You could stay at the Fireweed Lodge, they are friends of mine and it’s a real nice family place. They take folks out on the salt water for salmon, and you will see whales sea otters, and be a part of some awesome fishing adventure. Good food too for our part of the world. The Cook Robbi is awesome!!!
    Here is a link to the lodge…

    https://alaskafishingkingsalmon.com

    I can personally take you out to a land adventure that you won’t soon forget.

    I would advise you against trying to do a whole bunch of different things. No matter where you do choose, don’t make it one of those 22 towns in 3 days sorta things. Pick a place, enjoy it. There is no other place in North America like the rainforest of SE Alaska.

    PM me if you are interested.

    Marko
    Any technology not understood, can seem like Magic!!!

    I will love the Lord with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    I live 5 miles from the Atlantic Ocean and I don't fish, not since I was a kid.
    I agree with not trying to see as much as possible.
    Rain forest of SE Alaska, Ketchikan, float plane to Klawock...all sound great.
    My wife loves trip planning. I told her that having her plan a trip is like putting peanut butter in a hollow dog toy - she'll stay with it for days. But, I think she might be overwhelmed with Alaska planning.
    At this point, we truly have no ideas, though she mentioned flying over a glacier.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master Half Dog's Avatar
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    My wife and I took the Princess cruise to visit Alaska. It was a great trip and I highly recommend it. I’m sure there are other ways to visit but we had no worries about eating and where to stay. The boat had everything.

    It sounds like Markopolo has a very generous offer and insight needed for a wonderful trip.

    Go more than once.

    I too have the Northern Lights on my bucket list but I’m not sure an Alaska cruise will get me there. Perhaps someone else can help with that.
    The sooner I fall behind...the more time I have to catch up with

  6. #6
    USMC 77, USRA 79


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    northern lights is a winter thing in Alaska. Hard to see them when it is barely ever dark in the summer.
    Any technology not understood, can seem like Magic!!!

    I will love the Lord with all my heart, all my soul, and all my mind.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    I am a refugee Yankee. I retired to Arizona from North Pole 99705 a couple years ago. You can have very independent adventures in Alaska. Several friends and family got the idea of renting six motorcycles and two cars and making a figure eight of Alaska. They picked the last week of August, first week of September. That's winter, rain changing to snow, all the bridges frozen. I had a blast in my Tacoma as the bike ambulance. Three days at my favorite place on earth, Alpine Creek Lodge. Fishing in Valdez, Chitna to McCarthy, from Tok down Tok cutoff, Princess Wilderness Lodge. They wanted to do the Haul road, but not in snow. No troopers gave any tickets, had some serious talks though. Those BMWs would fly.

    May, brown bear is open, no leaves on the bush so you can see them. It doesn't rain much, May and June can be hot. Fairbanks for the solstice June 21 is a three day drunk, no rooms available. Midnight baseball. Fairbanks switches from a sleepy army town to a tourist destination. It's amazing.

    If you threw a dart at the map, the dead center is Alpine Creek Lodge on the Denali Highway in the Clearwater mountains under the Alaska range, by the Susitna river, the middle of really nowhere. Heaven. I spent my vacations there, if I wasn't up a river.

    Hard to know how big Alaska is. Two Texas or four Arizonas with few roads few people. You could map out my native New Hampshire between cities. No fun for old folks, those long cold winters.

    Could I mention Usibelli coal mine?
    That mine has enough coal to last America 100 years, then they get down to the hard coal.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master
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    Go combat fishing where the Deska meets the Yetna river, Game wardens will stand right there fishing shoulder to shoulder with you...and you'll never know it until it's to late.
    So go by the rules at all times.
    A moose is as dumb as a box of rocks and will even charge a train.
    Glaciers are everywhere, Bring an icepick and good whisky.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    sounds super fantastic , wish I had traveled more when I was young and able.

  10. #10
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    Fly into Anchorage and rent a motor home. Provision up at the local stores. Then go wherever your desires take you. I did it about 10 years ago and it was fantastic.
    There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide. Ayn Rand

  11. #11
    Boolit Buddy


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    Quote Originally Posted by farmerjim View Post
    Fly into Anchorage and rent a motor home. Provision up at the local stores. Then go wherever your desires take you. I did it about 10 years ago and it was fantastic.
    I've done the same, twice. We had a great time. First trip was a week on the road, second was 2 weeks. August is a great time for sightseeing but not for northern lights.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    I have went 5 times taking a cruise (Holand America Lines) dienbarking at Seward (think most ships now go to Whittier or Anchorage). The ship is the easiest way to see Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway which has a great Train ride, as you can only get there by plane or ship. Take the train from Anchorage ( do your flying over a glacier here) to Fairbanks with a short stay in Denali (take the bus trip into the park).

    It is one wild and beautiful country! Stay away from Moose they can kill.

    I like Holland America Lines as they have few kids and seem to cater to the 50 plus age group.
    Last edited by warren5421; 04-23-2022 at 09:46 AM. Reason: spell check

  13. #13
    Boolit Man Alasgun's Avatar
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    This all sounds wonderful, enjoy your trip. Be sure to visit some of our MANY weed stores, probably more of them than you have espresso stands where your from! And notice all the trashed vehicles along our roadways, on a trip to Chitna last year i commented to my buddies; “ i been to Viet Nam and didnt see this many burned out vehicles along the road AND This isn’t a war zone.
    Notice how many run down places you’ll see as you drive about, and that’s along the road where you can see. Take a side road for a real look at how our general population lives and ask your self; how do these people make a living clear out here? Bingo; we’re a welfare state!

    Please drop a dime in some homeless persons cup too or on second thought maybe not. There’s enough panhandlers in some areas to severely diminish your vacation savings account.

    Keep looking up, it’s pretty where folks haven’t screwed it up.
    Last edited by Alasgun; 04-23-2022 at 11:47 AM.

  14. #14
    Boolit Buddy memtb's Avatar
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    Enjoy the hell out of the trip, give an extensive report back to us…..so I can enjoy Alaska vicariously! memtb
    You should not use a rifle that will kill an animal when everything goes right; you should use one that will do the job when everything goes wrong." -Bob Hagel

    “LETS GO BRANDON”

  15. #15
    Boolit Master Jim22's Avatar
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    Instead of a cruise ship consider taking your car on the ferry - the Alaska Marine Highway. You can get off at any stop.

    https://dot.alaska.gov/amhs/index.shtml

    Then when you get to Seward you will have wheels.

    Jim

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    Northern Lights go by the solar max cycle, you are in luck, next max is 2023.

    Every (dark) night in North Pole the Spirit River would be lit, a baby blue river across the sky from east to west, slowly undulating, a display is a curtain falling from it, blues greens reds. You mustn't watch it when driving, it's distracting when it moves because we expect the sky to hold still... Christmas Eve, driving home late from church, past -40, the sky was alive so wife and I drove a half hour out the Steese to Cleary summit to watch from a mountaintop where there were no city lights at all. Glad we did. The whole sky was dancing for joy.

    SWMBO wants to move back to Alaska, she says this old folks home is boring. The old Swede wants a Viking funeral on the Salcha river, then shoot her ashes out of the cannon at Chicken. What a good idea.

  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    Go on down to the Kenia and get in a halibut trip, Plenty of bald eagles down there to and maybe you'll get to see a volcano huffing and a puffing.
    Plenty puffins down that way, The halibuts between 35/50 lbs are the best for eating.
    I blackened some halibut up there for the family and friends, They loved it!

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    Ak is BIG. If you don't mind lots of people then driving a motor home around AK will get you to a lot of beautiful scenery with lots of other folks. If you are not into crowds and like the ocean and fishing, Markopolo has made a wonderful offer. His offer to personally take you on an inland adventure is worth more than you can imagine. That is unless you are a city slicker in which case the motor home is a better idea.

    I lived 32 years in AK starting with 6 years in Nome. It was a 32 year adventure and worth every minute.

  19. #19
    Boolit Master
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    City slicker? Nope. Daniel Boone? Nope. I don't fish. My favorite place to visit is South Dakota but I should branch out (says the wife, though she said No to a girlfriend). I don't like guided tours unless there's no options.
    Markopolo has sent me some really good info and videos, and his offer is amazing (and generous). I'd like to spend a year on his island.
    My wife does the planning but I still hold veto power. This will be interesting. Bottom line - I want to see Alaska.

  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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ID:	299447I visited Juneau last year. We wanted to go see brown bears on admiralty island. Mid-July is supposed to be the best time to visit but the salmon were running late so we didn’t get to see the bears swiping up the salmon out of the stream at Pack Creek but we did see a momma bear and her 2 cubs both days. We took a sea plane out to Swan Island and camped there over night. You can kayak over to Pack Creek from there. On Swan Island we saw bald eagles, seals, humpback whales, Sitka deer, and star fish before even getting the tent setup.

    The sun didn’t set until 10 PM and it was light until 11 so the chance of seeing the northern lights was about same as finding Big Foot. The sea plane flight was about $800 round trip for a half hour flight each way.

    We also did a Mendenhall glacier hike out of Juneau. There was an ice cave there last year so we got to go inside of that.

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