Author Topic: Alaska Master Thread  (Read 189340 times)

Offline yehuda S

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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #120 on: May 12, 2013, 01:49:27 AM »
Is this worth anything? Two for one coupons!
http://www.alaska-discounts.com/
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Offline Something Fishy

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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #121 on: May 12, 2013, 03:43:55 AM »
Alaska trip report, Disclaimer I did this 3 years ago so trying my best to get it right.

Awesome report, thanks! Added to the wiki.

The next day we drove to Homer AK to catch a float plane to some remote national park to see Grizzly bears catch fish. Was really cool taking off and landing from the water. We paid 300 per person which is why we did it out of Homer which was a 2 hour drive away. From the touristy areas they start at 600 pp. Was the coolest part of our trip. We saw many many grizziles swimming in the water all around us (some were less the 5 feet away!). A few of them had cubs and it was really something you gotta do one day. You can see the salmon swimming in the water, and when they get caught the bears just gobble them up!

Do you remember if the was Katmai National Park? Or was it Kodiak Island?

Friday we drove on a dirt road thru Wrangell-St. Elias national park. We only went in about 35 miles which is as far as you can go, but the drive was over 2 hours. Hard to describe how amazing it was. The park has the largest concentration of high peaks anywhere in North America and you see them along the whole drive. Pretty scary driving but was worth every minute of it. The whole area has less tourists but it's still on the tourist route so you don't feel like you are out of it.

I'd love to do this, but my wife hates just driving around. She has to do stuff. Did you do anything in Wrangell-St. Elias besides driving around?

We also tried finding Sara Palin in Wasilla (that was when she was still big) but we couldn't find her.

Pity, you could've gotten a look at Russia from there too...  ;D
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Offline yehuda S

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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #122 on: May 12, 2013, 08:40:47 AM »
Great report! Thanks for writing it!

Couple of Qs: do you recommend driving through Wrangel St Elias over Denali? Also, I rented an SUV, do you think I can drive the dirt roads or does it have to be a jeep?
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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #123 on: May 12, 2013, 09:09:42 AM »
Awesome report, thanks! Added to the wiki.

Do you remember if the was Katmai National Park? Or was it Kodiak Island?

I'd love to do this, but my wife hates just driving around. She has to do stuff. Did you do anything in Wrangell-St. Elias besides driving around?

Pity, you could've gotten a look at Russia from there too...  ;D
Happy you liked the TR wouldn't have done it had you not asked  :)

It was Katmai national park. Didn't recall name until you mentioned it. Oh we went ATV'ing in Denali cause my wife needs to do stuff! Forgot to put that in the TR!

At the Wrangel st Elias when we got to the end of the road there is a bridge you walk across and then we caught a shuttle to this old copper mine which was really cool! There is a lot of camping going on there which makes for good pics with the mountains in the background. The road we took into Wrangell st Elias was the McCarthy Road. On the way we saw a flipped over car which was a good reminder to drive safely!

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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #124 on: May 12, 2013, 09:14:49 AM »
Great report! Thanks for writing it!

Couple of Qs: do you recommend driving through Wrangel St Elias over Denali? Also, I rented an SUV, do you think I can drive the dirt roads or does it have to be a jeep?
Pleasure,

Wrangell St elia is way more Alaskan than Denali because it's more rugged with a  lot less tourists. You can also drive it yourself. The views from Denali are way more expansive and you realize how small we really are while at Wrangell St elias you will see cooler peaks without a question. It's not as vast and open until you get till the copper mine which will blow you away. It's hard to reccomend one over the other they are both really amazing. Denali does have animals although not always so close. I for sure enjoyed Wrangel more.

Offline yehuda S

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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #125 on: May 12, 2013, 09:18:51 AM »
Here is something to help with the cruise decision: http://www.alaska.org/advice/kenai-fjords-vs-prince-william-sound
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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #126 on: May 12, 2013, 09:24:07 AM »
Here is something to help with the cruise decision: http://www.alaska.org/advice/kenai-fjords-vs-prince-william-sound
They hit it on the head. Note that on the longer tours at Kenai you will also see many many glaciers but not so much on the shorter.

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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #127 on: May 12, 2013, 09:25:51 AM »
I just remembered that we did the bear viewing from a place called Soldotna which is a lot closer than Homer to Seward.

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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #128 on: May 12, 2013, 09:38:17 AM »
IMO Denali park is overrated
The side roads are beautiful ask the locals where the nice ones are .took one from east to west not sure the name .
The glacier cruise out of the city called Whittier is from the nicest things I have ever seen really worth it .
Bear viewing is really cool ( but expensive ) small propeller flight , land in water , see bears eating salmon , 50 feet away from them .
You can climb glaciers .
Make sure you plan very well as lodging is very tough and expensive
For Shabbos we stayed in anchorage and ate by the rabbis house fri night really impressed with him .
And Shabbos day ate in the shul with the community .

Offline Something Fishy

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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #129 on: May 12, 2013, 10:28:30 AM »
Cool. did you ever do that before?

Nope, never. Wanted to it for the longest time though.
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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #130 on: May 12, 2013, 01:48:57 PM »
Nope, never. Wanted to it for the longest time though.
Do you know how to hook it up and all that?

Offline Something Fishy

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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #131 on: May 12, 2013, 01:59:19 PM »
Do you know how to hook it up and all that?

No, but I daresay I'll figure it out ;).

They also give you an orientation class when you pick it up.
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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #132 on: May 12, 2013, 02:05:18 PM »
No, but I daresay I'll figure it out ;).

They also give you an orientation class when you pick it up.
My wife would never go for it although it seems like so much fun. Would love to try it oneday....

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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #134 on: May 12, 2013, 03:43:31 PM »

Offline Something Fishy

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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #135 on: May 12, 2013, 04:07:54 PM »
http://www.groupon.com/deals/knik-river-lodge-palmer-1?pt=aUY_CTTAAAADC4f2OKFb2BFK5gAxOX72b

Meh. $159 for a 30 minute flight and a 20 minute glacier hike doesn't seem worth it. I'd rather pay more for a plane over Denali, these last longer. It also leaves from Knik River Lodge, which is totally out of the way for me.
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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #136 on: May 12, 2013, 08:42:41 PM »
Meh. $159 for a 30 minute flight and a 20 minute glacier hike doesn't seem worth it. I'd rather pay more for a plane over Denali, these last longer. It also leaves from Knik River Lodge, which is totally out of the way for me.
We didn't do a glacier landing at Denali as it was way more expensive. We did do it by chopper in New zealand though, which was very cool. Do the glacier landing if you can.

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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #137 on: May 12, 2013, 08:47:03 PM »
We didn't do a glacier landing at Denali as it was way more expensive. We did do it by chopper in New zealand though, which was very cool. Do the glacier landing if you can.
The whole flightseeing thing seems waay outside our budget. I'm trying to figure out how to moderate our spending or whether to open the wallet for this once in a lifetime trip. 
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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #138 on: May 12, 2013, 08:49:54 PM »
The whole flightseeing thing seems waay outside our budget. I'm trying to figure out how to moderate our spending or whether to open the wallet for this once in a lifetime trip.

+1.

We did the helicopter in Kauai in November, so we're not exactly dying to do an air tour again. I'm trying to keep to a fairly tight budget, and was even afraid that I'll have to give up on either the cruise or the kayaking. Now that you mentioned the coupon book, everything looks a bit rosier :).
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Re: Alaska Master Thread
« Reply #139 on: May 12, 2013, 08:54:46 PM »
+1.

We did the helicopter in Kauai in November, so we're not exactly dying to do an air tour again. I'm trying to keep to a fairly tight budget, and was even afraid that I'll have to give up on either the cruise or the kayaking. Now that you mentioned the coupon book, everything looks a bit rosier :).
;)

I expect some help finding a good deal on a starter mirrorless camera now.  :D
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