Alaska

anne513

We want more of an adventurous honeymoon so we are considering a road trip to Alaska. It is about a 60 hour drive and it is through some of the most beautiful country you could find. We are planning on staying in Denali National Park when we arrive in Alaska. Has anyone ever done this (honeymoon or not). Any advice? Best things to do and check out along the way?
Thanks )

Stalegummies

I was in Alaska for 2 weeks (not for a honeymoon).  Denali is beautiful.  Just note that the only thing there is the national park.  You can do the park in a day or two.  I would also suggest not driving.  There are so many things to do in Alaska, that driving there is really wasting time.  You would be able to experience Alaska better.

anne513

The biggest part of our experiene is going to be driving...So I think we're still going to drive. This kind of explains the reason we would love the drive: http://ourdrivetoalaska.com/WhyDrive.html
Thanks for you input. )

cvl105

I went some time ago on a cruise with my family and then traveled Alaska for another week. It is so beautiful and so different! You'll have a blast!

lwahl

There is so much to do up here! It's definitely a lot of fun! June through August are the best months to come, but July and August will be the hottest. Denali is great, especially for viewing wildlife. You should also drive down to Homer. The drive from Turnagain Arm to the Kenai Peninsula is beautiful! You will also be able to see the Kenai River and could possibly see bears. I would also suggest you go to Seward and go on the Kenai Fjords boat trip. That is a great way to see whales, seals, sea lions and birds. You can also hike up to Exit glacier which is a lot of fun. The possibilities are endless! It just depends on what you want to do! We drove up to Alaska from Michigan back in 1991 and I've been here ever since! Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck!

sunshine_day_dreams

FI and I backpacked Alaska earlier this year.  We didn't drive to AK, but did quite a bit of driving from Skagway up into BC and the Yukon and back down to Wrangell St. Elias.  I would HIGHLY recommend Wrangell-St. Elias if you can make it there.  You can camp or stay in McCarthy inside the park.  There are daily tours to walk out on the glacier.  The road in is 60 miles of dirt and it's pretty rough, but some of the best scenery and wildlife sightings we found in AK.

We also took a train up to Denali from Anchorage - which might be a better idea since you can't drive your car into the park anyway.  If you're really adventurous, don't waste money on the lodges inside the park.  Get yourself a tent and backcountry camp.  We did this and it was amazing.

Take a look at the Great Alaskan Tour Saver (I think that's what it's called...)  We used this book to shape our trip and determine where we stayed and ended up saving over $2k on the entire trip.  It includes flights, hotels, excursions, etc.  Try the Northern Lights Saver (I think that's the name of it...) recommended to us by a local to save on restaurants as they will be really expensive in the summer months.

If you're going to Seward, make sure you go down the rest of the peninsula to Homer.  That was one of our favorite places.  Absolutely gorgeous.  Also, try to do the Kenai Fjords tour out of Seward.  It takes you right up to the Ailak Glacier and you can watch it calve off into the ocean.  We also saw tons of whales and other wildlife on the tour.

If you like fishing, you can do halibut charters out of Homer and good salmon charters out of Soldotna.  It'll probably be expensive b/c it's tourist season and also king salmon season.  We did this, though and loved it!  Our freezer is still full of delicious Alaskan salmon.

We spent over 3 weeks around AK and I have a TON more advice on sights and restaurants and everything else.  If you'd like some more pointers, I'd be happy to help.  rkzog at yahoo

sunshine_day_dreams

Oh, I actually just remembered when I saw my post - my sig pic is from the Lands End Hotel in Homer, AK.  The picture doesn't even do the sight justice at all.