Roll Call Alaska 2014
Anyone traveling to Alaska in 2014? We ,my wife and I, are planning a trip and was wondering if anyone is planning on going in 2014 also. Would go this year, except we have two weddings to go to in...
Forum Discussion
To get a jump on award season (and help those coming next year) here are our Best of Alaska awards.
Best RV Park - This award is given to the best operated/infrastructure RV park (e.g. $1M views with no way to get your slides out is not going to make the cut).
1st place: Klondike RV Park Soldotna – nicely laid out park, owner that really cares, good utilities.
Runners Up: Bear Paw II Valdez - Nice quiet park, great view. A bit disorganized at the office level, have to go to main park for any needs.
Rivers Edge Fairbanks – Large city park, but with room to put out slides, awnings, and nice table area with grass. Access roads are a bit narrow and too many people parking on drives and grass. However, this is what Anchorage needs in a RV park.
Best Government Park: Williwaw Portage (Girdwood). Nicely laid out with paved pads (less mud).
Runner Up: Teklanika Denali. Nice park and feels like you are cheating to be inside of Denali. Upgraded water service. Still roads are all dirt, and sites tend to pond water.
Best Bike Paths: Anchorage. Most bike paths are along roads in Alaska. Anchorage has very nice paths that follow the coast and ocean.
Runner up: Blue Ice trail in Portage area (Girdwood) Very nice path and you can then get to the coastal trail towards Girdwood (the trails in Girdwood proper are terrible).
Best Town: Talkeetna. Great Restaurants, great downtown vibe. Lots to do with activities.
Runners up: Soldotna/Kenai - Lots to do, great choices of restaurants, shopping. Not a downtown area though and the 2 towns are separated by 10 miles.
Homer/Seward - Can’t decide here, I like Homer, wife takes Seward. Both charming towns, good choices of restaurants, and activities.
Best Tour: Tie Homer Kayaking with St. Augustines and The Hurricane Gulch Turn Train Talkeetna
Runner up: Denali ATV Tour
Best Driving Experience: Whittier Tunnel. Awesome experience driving through a train tunnel.
Runners up:
Richardson – Delta Junction to Valdez. Very pretty scenery, road has it’s terrible moments but overall not so bad.
Glenellen Hwy – Glenellen to Palmer. Another pretty drive, enjoyed the white knuckle curves of the river canyon into Sutton.
Worst is Seward highway, it is rucky/chucky with a 65mph speed limit and lots of cars wanting to do 70mph where we could not do more than 45mph.
Halibut Fish and Chips: Swiftwater Whittier – Excellent fish and chips, great service, cute place, and really good Rhubarb Crisp for Dessert.
Runner Up : Glacier Inn Hyder. The bus was closed but this place was great. Good beer selection as well
Best Dining: Glacier Brewery Anchorage. By far the best food, consistent service, and great beer. Went here several times all excellent. It can get very crowded so get reservations early.
Runner up: Denali Brewing Talkeetna. Good food, good beer, nice patio (or beer garden).
Best Burger: Have to be a tie between the buses. Kenai Burger Bus and Red’s Burger in Seward. Both excellent burgers, a nice dive location (perfect for burgers).
Best Brewery: We visited all but one of the breweries. Lots to choose from:
Overall: Glacier Brewing Anchorage
Mom/Pop: Arkose – Palmer
Beer garden: 49th State Healy
Honorable mentions: King street – very good beer.
St. Elias – Excellent Raspberry and pale ale.
Best RV Park - This award is given to the best operated/infrastructure RV park (e.g. $1M views with no way to get your slides out is not going to make the cut).
1st place: Klondike RV Park Soldotna – nicely laid out park, owner that really cares, good utilities.
Runners Up: Bear Paw II Valdez - Nice quiet park, great view. A bit disorganized at the office level, have to go to main park for any needs.
Rivers Edge Fairbanks – Large city park, but with room to put out slides, awnings, and nice table area with grass. Access roads are a bit narrow and too many people parking on drives and grass. However, this is what Anchorage needs in a RV park.
Best Government Park: Williwaw Portage (Girdwood). Nicely laid out with paved pads (less mud).
Runner Up: Teklanika Denali. Nice park and feels like you are cheating to be inside of Denali. Upgraded water service. Still roads are all dirt, and sites tend to pond water.
Best Bike Paths: Anchorage. Most bike paths are along roads in Alaska. Anchorage has very nice paths that follow the coast and ocean.
Runner up: Blue Ice trail in Portage area (Girdwood) Very nice path and you can then get to the coastal trail towards Girdwood (the trails in Girdwood proper are terrible).
Best Town: Talkeetna. Great Restaurants, great downtown vibe. Lots to do with activities.
Runners up: Soldotna/Kenai - Lots to do, great choices of restaurants, shopping. Not a downtown area though and the 2 towns are separated by 10 miles.
Homer/Seward - Can’t decide here, I like Homer, wife takes Seward. Both charming towns, good choices of restaurants, and activities.
Best Tour: Tie Homer Kayaking with St. Augustines and The Hurricane Gulch Turn Train Talkeetna
Runner up: Denali ATV Tour
Best Driving Experience: Whittier Tunnel. Awesome experience driving through a train tunnel.
Runners up:
Richardson – Delta Junction to Valdez. Very pretty scenery, road has it’s terrible moments but overall not so bad.
Glenellen Hwy – Glenellen to Palmer. Another pretty drive, enjoyed the white knuckle curves of the river canyon into Sutton.
Worst is Seward highway, it is rucky/chucky with a 65mph speed limit and lots of cars wanting to do 70mph where we could not do more than 45mph.
Halibut Fish and Chips: Swiftwater Whittier – Excellent fish and chips, great service, cute place, and really good Rhubarb Crisp for Dessert.
Runner Up : Glacier Inn Hyder. The bus was closed but this place was great. Good beer selection as well
Best Dining: Glacier Brewery Anchorage. By far the best food, consistent service, and great beer. Went here several times all excellent. It can get very crowded so get reservations early.
Runner up: Denali Brewing Talkeetna. Good food, good beer, nice patio (or beer garden).
Best Burger: Have to be a tie between the buses. Kenai Burger Bus and Red’s Burger in Seward. Both excellent burgers, a nice dive location (perfect for burgers).
Best Brewery: We visited all but one of the breweries. Lots to choose from:
Overall: Glacier Brewing Anchorage
Mom/Pop: Arkose – Palmer
Beer garden: 49th State Healy
Honorable mentions: King street – very good beer.
St. Elias – Excellent Raspberry and pale ale.
