The Great Alaskan Adventure - 16 days by RV

[TimeshareVon Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TimeshareVon]

David & Von’s Big Alaskan Adventure - Aug/Sept 2010

Fri 8/27 Arrive in Fairbanks, overnight in hotel near airport.

Sat 8/28 Pick-up RV; Large Animal Research Center (UA/F); Drive to Denali NP - camp 3 nights at TEK

Tues 8/31 Drive Denali to Talkeetna, Mahay’s riverboat tour in PM; overnight in Talkeetna at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge.

Wed 9/1 Flightseeing tour with K2. Drive Talkeetna to Palmer; State Fair and camp there. NOTE: May do Iditarod Hdqters and lunch at the Krazy Moose in Wasilla; Hatcher Pass & Independence Mine in Palmer on this day.

Thurs 9/2 Glacier tour at Knik Glacier; Musk Ox Farm in Palmer; Drive Palmer to Ninilchik, camp two nights there @ Alaskan Anglers/Afishunt

Fri 9/3 Halibut fishing charter w/Afishunt

Sat 9/4 Drive Ninilchik to Soldotna; camp two nights @ RW’s (also location for fishing) . . . this is an open day otherwise. NOTE: May do Homer (Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitors Center, Ninilchik Russian Church, on drive to Soldotna.

Sun 9/5 EARLY morning Silver salmon fishing charter w/RW’s; afternoon & evening open.

Mon 9/6 Fly-in to Silver Salmon Creek Lodge for bear trip/overnight

Tues 9/7 Drive Soldotna to Seward; Lodging at the Seward Windsong Lodge for two nights; Exit Glacier enroute or Alaska Sea Life late afternoon (weather dependent)

Wed 9/8 Kenai Fjords NP 6 hr boat tour

Thurs 9/9 Begin drive back to Fairbanks via the Richardson NOTE: May do Hatcher Pass, Independence Mine and Musk Ox Farm in Palmer enroute on this day if not done earlier.

Fri 9/10 Wrangell-Elias National Park, Continue drive back to Fairbanks – arrive by 5pm. AK Salmon Bake & Palace Theatre show; camping Fairbanks (2 nights).

Sat 9/11 Eldorado Gold Mine and the UA/F Museum of the North.

Sun 9/12 Fairbanks; return RV. Afternoon Riverboat Discovery Tour. Hotel near the airport.

Mon 9/13 8:00am flight home.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Looks like a dream vacation. Enjoy it.

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

Wow, now that's a vacation!! Can't wait to hear all about it and see the pics. shaggy

[TimeshareVon Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TimeshareVon]

Thanks Christine & Shaggy. I have started the blog that I'll be using to update from the road, which will include photos. Follow along here:

David & Von's Great Alaskan Adventure Blog

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

Great, I'll keep checking your blog

[susieq Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close susieq]

Sounds like a wonderful adventure!! I'll be sure to follow along - and live vicariously through your experiences. (...and drool the whole time...)

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

Sounds wonderful!

[xzhan02 Member Find all posts View Profile Close xzhan02]

Just found some great FF tickets to alaska next June. Seriously thinking about doing a trip like this, but from anchorage. RV is probably the closest thing to timeshare in Alaska. Will follow the blog closely. The only worry is that we've never been in and RV before, let alone drive one.

[TimeshareVon Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TimeshareVon]

Just found some great FF tickets to alaska next June. Seriously thinking about doing a trip like this, but from anchorage. RV is probably the closest thing to timeshare in Alaska. Will follow the blog closely. The only worry is that we've never been in and RV before, let alone drive one.

Hey neither have we . . . camping or driving one . . . and at 29' this will be a doozy.

Anchorage is the best place to rent an RV and many over on Trip Advisor recommend Great Alaskan Holidays. Another reputable company is ABC Motorhomes. ABC is a big sponsor of the Fur Rondy event in Anchorage so all things being equal, I think I would go with them.

I hope you (and anyone else reading) will enjoy the blog once we're on the road . . . just four weeks away!

Von

[funtime2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close funtime2]

Eldorado Gold Mine... we went there last year prior to our cruise. Had a great time. Everyone finds gold in their pan. They will weigh your gold and give you the value of it. You can even get the gold put into a necklace. Make sure you watch their demonstration of how gold is mined. They do a good job. The train ride over to the mine is also very informative and you go through a mining setup.
On the way to the gold mine we stopped at the Alaskan Pipeline. They have signs to explain the setup. Don't forget to read about the pipeline pigs. Pipeline shirts are also available there too. This is the only place we saw shirts for sale about the pipeline.
After we left Fairbanks we traveled over to Denali and spent 2 nights. We were very fortunate that we got to see Denali for 3 days straight! She was out and in plain sight. We did the lower portion of the Denali tour. And we found it to be enough for us as we did not want to ride on a bus (school type) for 8 hours. We had some older women 70's and 80's in our group and I did not want them to be too worn out from this before the cruise.
Another interest thing is the Nenana Ice Classic. On our way from Denali we passed through this area and saw the clock at the river.
Nenana Ice Classic
Looks like you have a great trip planned. Wow, just thinking about this makes me want to go back again this year. We were on the last cruise of the year in September 2009 and the weather was perfect. Only had 1/2 day of rain. The previous 3 weeks had lots of rain. We were so blessed to have such a wonderful trip. Hope you have a great time. I will be following you on the blog.

[MargeS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MargeS]

Looking forward to your Alaska blog. We did the RV trip about 15 years ago (wow, where did THAT time go???). We took the ferry from Seattle to Skagway, hopping on and off staying at B&B's a night here and there. The RV company we used, delivered the RV from Anchorage to Skagway (we paid a fee, plus driver's flight back to Anchorage). There were 5 of us splitting the bill, so it worked for us.
Drove up through Yukon, Fairbanks, Homer, and many many towns in between, ending up at Anchorage. On the road for 3 weeks (plus 1 week on ferry portion).
We actually had very good weather, very little rain!
Wonderful, wonderful trip!!

[TimeshareVon Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TimeshareVon]

Nenana Ice Classic - I actually had the right day for the ice break in 2008, but missed the time by several hours. It's a very cool "lottery".

For me, I've been to Fairbanks twice in the last three years, but always in the winter. I'm looking forward to seeing it green and actually preparing for winter. The leaves should be magnificent. My DH has never been any further north than Denali, so it should be a good time for him too.

I hope we're as fortunate as you, to see Denali (I'd be happy with one day!).

Thanks for the input
Von

[xzhan02 Member Find all posts View Profile Close xzhan02]

Hey neither have we . . . camping or driving one . . . and at 29' this will be a doozy.

Anchorage is the best place to rent an RV and many over on Trip Advisor recommend Great Alaskan Holidays. Another reputable company is ABC Motorhomes. ABC is a big sponsor of the Fur Rondy event in Anchorage so all things being equal, I think I would go with them.

I hope you (and anyone else reading) will enjoy the blog once we're on the road . . . just four weeks away!

Von

Booked June 9-20 for our family of 4 to Anchorage. Will probably following a similar itinerary as yours without Fairbanks or the Bear Viewing (way out of our budget). Your blog will be extremely helpful. Would really appreciate some tips for RV newbies. Also would love to know how the fishing and clamming go as we are interested in those. Thanks !!!

Interesting that you mentioned ABC RV rental. Tripadvisor Alaska forum seems all recommend GAH. ABC has 50% of for part of my dates but have to pay in full by Oct 31. GAH has not posted next year's rate.

[TimeshareVon Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TimeshareVon]

Booked June 9-20 for our family of 4 to Anchorage. Will probably following a similar itinerary as yours without Fairbanks or the Bear Viewing (way out of our budget). Your blog will be extremely helpful. Would really appreciate some tips for RV newbies. Also would love to know how the fishing and clamming go as we are interested in those. Thanks !!!

Interesting that you mentioned ABC RV rental. Tripadvisor Alaska forum seems all recommend GAH. ABC has 50% of for part of my dates but have to pay in full by Oct 31. GAH has not posted next year's rate.

GAH is popular with the TA folks as many of them have done the trip from the mfg in IA to Anchorage at a significantly reduced rental rate. I mention ABC rental because they are also a reputable company in Anchorage and they are a sponsor of the Fur Rondy event in Feb/Mar.

If you're going to be in AK (Kenai Peninsula) in June, you'll be fishing for kings (chinooks) rather than silvers (cohos). Kings are bigger but with lower limits (typically 1pp/day vs. 3pp/day) and maybe less possibility to land one. We did king fishing in late June 06, and DH caught one but I came up with zilch.

I'm not sure about halibut that early, but razor clams should be possible at a negative tide.

We are novice RVers too, so it will be a real adventure for us in "the beast" . . . the nickname my TA friend Tahoe2006 gave the RV. I will be posting my post-trip report on TA which will be a synopsis of the blog . . . and nowhere near the detail that my IgoUgo travel journals will have. Photos will be on the blog in limited numbers, with more also on IgoUgo.

There are some great people over there on TA, some of my favorite "travel friends" have been made there . . . including FTI/John, Tahoe/Pete and ArmyWife/Susan. All three of them are outstanding photographers and have been helpful as I hone my skills. ManitobaMaple is the best at building itineraries . . . and CoalMiner & DenaliCat are great resources on Denali NP. There are others I know I'm missing, but please join in the discussions

Von

[xzhan02 Member Find all posts View Profile Close xzhan02]

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely go over to TA once I have a more reasonable initial itinerary to present. I already booked car and minivan at very good rate in case we don't RV. Will follow your blog with great interest. Have fun !!!