Favorite Places in Alaska???

mike-uswest wrote:
Soldatna,
Valdez,
Homer spit,
Denali,
Any place fish are running.

Mike

It's Soldotna, not Soldatna -- please don't start that argument all over again! It was fought and won years ago.

WE-C-USA wrote:
We've only been once, that as in 07. All of AK we saw was great. There's only one place, when we go back,on the 'NO GO' list.. Skagway.

Hmmm, Skagway is by far my favorite place in Alaska. Was born and raised on the Kenai and had never been to Skagway until my return visit in 2014, now it's always a planned stop for me traveling by road or ship. The town really turns out for the 4th of July and I've been there for two of those celebrations.

One place that's another favorite of mine is actually at the border on the Yukon side. The old gentleman who runs the Yukon Tourist Center in Beaver Creek has built a private museum containing things he's collected over the past 50 years dealing with life in Alaska and the Yukon and the building of the Alaska Highway. His name is Sid, and if you run into him at the Tourist Center you might ask if you can visit his museum. It's located only a few blocks away from the Center and well worth the hours you can spend there. He's also an old car buff and rebuilds cars in his spare time.

Soldatna,
Valdez,
Homer spit,
Denali,
Any place fish are running.

Mike

We've only been once, that as in 07. All of AK we saw was great. There's only one place, when we go back,on the 'NO GO' list.. Skagway.

I do not know if it is still there, The Bethel National Forest. Flying through Lake Clark Pass, flying over the tides of the Turnigan Inlet (Arm), Mt Denali, Wasilla, Homer and Seward in the 1970's

Kodiak Island
Denali Highway about 15 miles east of Cantwell
Teklanika
Brooks Range on the Dalton highway
Sorry to have missed Valdez.

Sitka--that's my favorite place in Alaska! Everyone who goes to Alaska needs to go there at least once. It has incredible scenery, history, wildlife (fishing, whale watching, bear viewing, etc.), and native culture.

Second is Denali National Park just for the views of the mountain on a clear day and of course the wildlife. Third might be the Kobuk Valley--now a national park--with its jade mines, sand dunes, and Brooks Range backdrop. Fourth would be Valdez just for the drive over Thompson Pass, the cruise on the Arm on a sunny day, and NO cruise ship passengers! Fifth might be the Haines area due to all the wildlife you can view and photograph there. Even though it does occasionally get a small cruise ship or two, they don't stay long.

For honorable mentions, Kodiak Island is an interesting place to visit, but, unless you are there for fishing, you can see everything in a couple of days. The towns along the Iditarod Trail and the Yukon River like Ruby, Galena, Unalakleet, and Nome are also worth a visit. In summer, they are certainly off the beaten path for RVers and cruise ship passengers, which in itself makes them more interesting. But the native culture and history of those villages is worth exploring. Hyder-Stewart, BC, is also an interesting place to visit. The bear-viewing and views from above Salmon Glacier are unique and Hyder sort of reminds me of what Talkeetna was like in the early 1970's.

In 1972, Seward was my favorite but these days, despite its beautiful setting, it is overrun with cruise ship passengers. Talkeetna was also one of my favorites back then when it was just a railroad stop and the Parks Highway had just been completed. Today same problem--too many cruise ship passengers. And these days Skagway wouldn't even make my top 20 list with as many as five 2,000-passenger cruise ships there on a single day! And you can have the Aleutians too. Adak and Shemya, while historically interesting, are definitely not on my top 10 list.

One of these days I hope to get to Lake Clark before mining ruins it. Then maybe it will become my third favorite place in Alaska.

Whittier (excision or fast ferry Whittier to Valdez)
Seward (fishing & Sea Life Center)
Kenai & Homer (fishing & beach walking)
Palmer (Alaska State Fair)

3-4 is a bit limiting if one lives here: :)

Little Su (in danger of being loved to death)
Misty Fjords
Purkeypile area in winter (the real, no BS, cold, deep winter)
Almost anywhere on the Denali Highway

Homer Spit
Bore Tides
Matanuska(sp) Valley
Denali Park area