A Return Trip to Alaska Motivation

[deandec]

In my reading, I see several folks have made several RV trips to Alaska.

You will have seen the scenery, done the tourist stuff, and satisfied your curiosity with the prior visit.

If you eliminate visits to relatives, returning to home state, and stocking the fish freezer as reasons for the return trip, what motivates your return visit?

[AlCar]

Having taken our first trip across Canada and on to Alaska this summer, my co-pilot was not sure she wanted to go back again because of the roads. But, that was four months ago. Now she is saying that she would like to go back again someday. I guess the place just grabs you and you just have to return. Now that we have been there, we can see other things we did not plan of seeing on this trip because we wanted to see certain things to the point of not seeing certain other things. Some have said they have been other places two or three times, as were we with two trips to Yellowstone simply because it is so big. Can't wait till we are on The Road again.

[Grit_dog]

Motivation?
If you love everything about the mountains and rugged outdoors topped with the best scenery, then that IS Alaska.
Just moved the family back to WA after 18 mo living in AK. Still working on the Slope this winter and commuting and we WILL be back in a big way.
Have a great house and life in WA (And tons of that to explore too, only lived there 2 yrs before getting moved to AK), but after a couple months back at home, the WHOLE family said they'd move back in a heartbeat!
Not in the cards immediately unless my company gets a bunch more work up here but it will happen. Been looking for some property since we left. Just can't decide where!
Even though I had more time off work in the last year than prolly the last 5 combined, we didn't even begin to see or do everything we wanted up here.
It is expensive, especially if you're not getting paid to live here, but if you come prepared where all you need is food and fuel for the trip, it actually can be done pretty reasonably as you can camp for free about anywhere!
If you like cities, this ain't your place and it would be a waste of a drive, flight or boat ride to see Anchorage, but the other 10 gazillion square miles is impeccable!

[lakeside013104]

Francesca Knowles wrote:
Reason being that the first time everything was new- second trip allows one to concentrate on areas of interest already "learned".

This statement certainly applies to any location return visit. Short, simple, and very accurate statement. Thanks for sharing.

Lakeside

[fanrgs]

My reasons are slightly different from those who grew up in Alaska or the Yukon. I first went to Alaska for my job when I was in my mid-20's and continued just going for work off and on until I was in my 50's. But, although I flew all over the state--except SE--I was too busy to "just stop and smell the roses."

I finally took my youngest son on one of those jobs when he was 16. For the first time in all those years, I did some of the "touristy things" with him--the Kenai Fjords NP boat tour, the train ride from Anchorage to Denali, the Denali Park bus trip, etc. I suddenly realized that, although I had "seen" many more parts of Alaska than any tourist ever would, for 25 years I hadn't seen it through someone's eyes who had never experienced it at all.

In 2000, I took my wife to Alaska for the first time and she loved it, despite a deluge in Juneau, cruise-ship crowds in Skagway, and mosquitos everywhere! Wildlife-filled trips to Denali and Kenai Fjords, an overnight ferry ride from Skagway to gorgeous Sitka, watching fishermen pulling 3-foot kings out of the river on Kodiak, and photographing a perfectly clear Mt. McKinley from Talkeetna more than made up for those minor annoyances.

My wife loved Alaska so much that she wanted her "retirement trip" to be an RV trip to Alaska. So, we bought our first RV just for that trip and hit the road for 3 months in 2013. We went back to some places I hadn't visited in 40 years and a couple of places I had never been--Kennecott and Chicken. And the Canada portion of the trip was just as spectacular as the Alaska portion.

Next year we are planning to spend much more time in parts of BC that we first saw on our way to Alaska in 2013. In 2016, we plan to ride the ferry back to Alaska and stop in SE Alaska wherever we want for as long as we want. Let's see now . . . that will make trip number 19 or 20 for me. And I can't wait!

[daily_double]

WTG Bill!!!

[tonymull]

deandec wrote:
In my reading, I see several folks have made several RV trips to Alaska.

You will have seen the scenery, done the tourist stuff, and satisfied your curiosity with the prior visit.

If you eliminate visits to relatives, returning to home state, and stocking the fish freezer as reasons for the return trip, what motivates your return visit?

Have you been?? I suspect once you have you won't need to ask that question. Never the same twice and always a wonderful place! I lived there for 16 years and since have made a dozen trips back.

[explorenorth]

Trackrig wrote:
I don't think I'd call Sue's posting a "rant". It's very common knowledge for people that have lived in Alaska for a long period of time. (I've been here 50+ years.) It's often interesting to watch new people move up here. They usually either really love the place and want to stay a long time, or they can't stand it and can't wait to move out. Whereas stateside, it seems that a lot of people just live where they live and neither really like or dis-like it.

This especially gets interesting with couples when one can't stand it and wants to leave vs. the other one who loves the place and wants to stay. There's been more than one couple split up over it.

Bill

I'm one of those, Bill. My ex-wife told me 15 years ago that I had a choice - her or the Yukon. She now lives in Australia, I'm still in the Yukon. Yup, you either love it or you hate it - luckily, most people hate it so it will never get crowded.

[MORSNOW]

Great post PA12DRVR! I couldn't have explained living/visiting up here better. Passion is a great way to explain it, I couldn't wait to move back up here after retiring from the USAF in New Mexico...it is a passion of mine!

[PA12DRVR]

Trackrig said:

"I don't think I'd call Sue's posting a "rant". It's very common knowledge for people that have lived in Alaska for a long period of time. (I've been here 50+ years.) It's often interesting to watch new people move up here. They usually either really love the place and want to stay a long time, or they can't stand it and can't wait to move out. Whereas stateside, it seems that a lot of people just live where they live and neither really like or dis-like it."

Truer words were never spoken.....other than the unfortunate stints in Spokane and Ewe-stun, as an otherwise lifelong Alaskan, folks either love or hate Alaska. If they live in Los Anchorage or Squarebanks, it sometimes (sometimes!) takes a bit longer to decide, but almost exclusively, people either love it or hate it. My experience is similar to Trackrig's: I'm surprised at the number of folks "Outside" who just live somewhere without passion for it.

To the OP who mentioned that "one of us is not interested in doing it by RV"....I've lived in Alaska quite a bit as mentioned above and never (except for a couple of weeks as a kid) RV'd in Alaska and never taken an RV to Alaska. Yet I fly back for a long weekend at the drop of a hat, fly back for almost every vacation day I have, and will at some point load up the truck for the long drive from Ewe-Stun to The Great Land...never to leave again.

There's a lot to experience in Alaska and neither experiencing it nor getting to Alaska requires an RV...and as Sue T mentioned, many folks that RV a lot in the L48 are disappointed, not unreasonably so, at the RV'ng facilities in Alaska...but the attractions are still there whether one drives an RV or not:

- The flora and fauna along that Dall Sheep trail;
- The bright summer view or the severe winter beauty from Seven Glaciers (a true "fine-dining" venue) atop Mt.Alyeska
- The snap of a grayling realizing it's just been hooked
- The view of Mt. McKinley from a DNP tour bus.

...and so on.

RV'ng isn't the only way to visit or enjoy Alaska.

[jessjerr1831]

On our 09 cruise we did a lot of day trips and saw a lot but we didn't get to see much of the inside passage as it was usually at night and cruised outside the passage to the next port. Our motivation in going 2015 is doing the Alaska Marine Ferry and stopping and staying in different ports for 3-4 days at a time and sailing through the passage in daylight hours so we can really see what we missed in our big ship cruise.

[traveylin]

Each trip is totally different. My next may be with a light motorcycle using the public ferry system

[Scottiemom]

Good perspective Sue. Before we went, I read everything I could about Alaska and the trip up there through the Yukon, etc. We were never disappointed in what we saw or experienced. "Awed" by the vast wilderness, which is still a refreshing memory as we sit here in Houston, Texas! I found it to be spiritual, much like the desert southwest that goes on for miles and miles. It is a different life up there, that's for sure, in many areas; but in the big cities it is much the same as down here. We loved the peace and tranquility.

Dale

[Chiefelectusn]

Thank you Sue! Beautiful as always.
But I am comfortable in Florida till spring??

[sue_t]

Nah, it wasn't a rant. Just lots of experience having been born & raised here, and now living here again because we love it.

But many don't like it, maybe preferring their amenities.

Some recent November sights

Day's drive to Kluane Lake http://yukonsights.ca/20141109_Kluane.html

Dogwalk this afternoon http://yukonsights.ca/20141115_Ibex.html