Trip to Alaska
Wife and I are fairly new to RVing and wish to go Denali Nat'l Park this May. We will be departing from AZ in a 2009 Class C ( 31ft )Coachmen. Any suggestions as to which way to go, extra supplies, et...
Forum Discussion
In dealing with any employees in Northern Canada or Alaska, that are working in the seasonal tourist businesses, that they may have been in the north country less time than you have. LOL Most folks living and working full year around in either northern Canada or Alaska, normally can't afford to quit their jobs to take a lower paying job within the tourist industry. There are some exceptions to this of course.
Most of the employees you will deal with in the north tourists businesses, last week may have been in college in Badwater Texas, Mountain Side Tennessee or southern Alberta or BC. A couple of years back, we were taking a tour of the restored paddle wheeler in Whitehorse, YT, run by Parks Canada. The uniformed tour guide, probably 20 years old tops, charming, smart, etc. but was giving out some very questionable info on the tour. She was telling the group that this was the only remaining river boat that ran in the days gone past. So afterwards, I talked to her privately and asked her how long had she lived in Whitehorse, she finally told me she lived in Edmonton and was attending college there and this was her first trip to the Yukon. She had been there about a week. I told her about the river boats in Dawson Town and Fairbanks and she was somewhat surprised.
Every once in a while one of the first or second time visitors to the north country will post something here on the forum and then state, that a park ranger told them it was true. Very few park rangers in Alaske live there year around and are seasonal employees. So they only know what they have read or heard, just like the rest of us at times. They really don't know if it is a dry summer or a wet summer, hot summer or cool summer, because they only know what they have read of someone's opinion.
Like all posts on this or other forums, try to decide if the person making the statement is really qualified to make the statement or not. A couple of years back on one of our visits to the north country. we were somewhere around Denali State Park and we parked next to a tour bus. The driver was standing out side and we struck up a conversation. He noticed my Florida tags on my RV and stated telling me all about Alaska. After 15 or 20 minutes of this, I told him he didn't sound like a man that had actually lived a winter in Alaska. After a bit of huming and hawing, he admitted he lived in Arkansas in the winter and had just come to Alaska that summer to drive the bus for the tour company. He had been in state about a month.
The years I was working in rural Alaska, 25+, we used to joke that a consultant on a matter was someone that had flown over the area in an airplane and an expert consultant was someone that had flown over it in the day light hours. LOL
Most of the employees you will deal with in the north tourists businesses, last week may have been in college in Badwater Texas, Mountain Side Tennessee or southern Alberta or BC. A couple of years back, we were taking a tour of the restored paddle wheeler in Whitehorse, YT, run by Parks Canada. The uniformed tour guide, probably 20 years old tops, charming, smart, etc. but was giving out some very questionable info on the tour. She was telling the group that this was the only remaining river boat that ran in the days gone past. So afterwards, I talked to her privately and asked her how long had she lived in Whitehorse, she finally told me she lived in Edmonton and was attending college there and this was her first trip to the Yukon. She had been there about a week. I told her about the river boats in Dawson Town and Fairbanks and she was somewhat surprised.
Every once in a while one of the first or second time visitors to the north country will post something here on the forum and then state, that a park ranger told them it was true. Very few park rangers in Alaske live there year around and are seasonal employees. So they only know what they have read or heard, just like the rest of us at times. They really don't know if it is a dry summer or a wet summer, hot summer or cool summer, because they only know what they have read of someone's opinion.
Like all posts on this or other forums, try to decide if the person making the statement is really qualified to make the statement or not. A couple of years back on one of our visits to the north country. we were somewhere around Denali State Park and we parked next to a tour bus. The driver was standing out side and we struck up a conversation. He noticed my Florida tags on my RV and stated telling me all about Alaska. After 15 or 20 minutes of this, I told him he didn't sound like a man that had actually lived a winter in Alaska. After a bit of huming and hawing, he admitted he lived in Arkansas in the winter and had just come to Alaska that summer to drive the bus for the tour company. He had been in state about a month.
The years I was working in rural Alaska, 25+, we used to joke that a consultant on a matter was someone that had flown over the area in an airplane and an expert consultant was someone that had flown over it in the day light hours. LOL
