There’s an old adage that Alaska has two seasons: winter, and visitors. It’s no joke! Streams of visitors flow through our household every year – mostly in the summer – so I have decided to create a one stop travel guide for our family and friends. Welcome!
Our visitors have ranged from 88-year-old grandmothers to 3-month-old babies. Some of our visitors come solo, and others arrive with their entire extended family in tow. A few have arrived on cruise ships, but most fly in and out of Anchorage’s airport. (Since it takes about six days to drive from the Midwest to Anchorage, no one has arrived that way… yet.)
Be prepared to pick and choose your excursions, because Alaska is too big to conquer in one single vacation:
We’ve explored enough of Alaska to make some solid recommendations, but every family has a different priority for their trip. Some visitors are go-go-go, wanting to cram in as many miles and photographs as possible in the short time they are here. Others are content to hang out in our living room, just happy to be free from the world of alarm clocks and annoying bosses. Either is fine with us.
There are many opportunities in Alaska: hiking, fishing, hunting, photography, wildlife, glaciers, scenery, museums, and more. Some families want to spend their trip on as many scenic drives as possible… while others get car sick. Some want to see moose… others want shopping. Some want to hunt… others are vegetarians. You get the idea.
Because you are all so different, we can’t plan your trip for you. (We’ve tried in the past, and failed miserably.) What we can do is offer you a place to crash, plenty of advice, and some darn good company for the days you are based in Anchorage. And if you visit in the summer, we’ll even leave the Midnight Sun on for ya. Top that, Motel 6.
We hope to enjoy some nice hikes and meals together, but probably won’t accompany you on all your grand excursions. Would we recommend a glacier cruise? Absolutely! Will we go along with you? Absolutely not! (Really, it’s not personal. It’s just that we’ve taken enough glacier cruises in our day that we should have bought stock 15 years ago.)
With all that in mind, I hope the following pages can help you plan your family’s dream Alaskan vacation. We love to share our state and home with family and friends, and can’t wait to see you here. So what are you waiting for? Book those tickets already!!
Profoundly Ordinary 