Alaska trip in July

[amdskip]

I will be spending a week in July with friends in Anchorage. I would like to start planning the trip. What cool things should we check into?

 

[dainthomas]

Polar bear tipping.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Mind the horseflys. The wind usually keeps them off near the ocean but, they've been known to carry off small children.

 

[everman]

There's a train that takes you to a place where you can get on a boat to see some glaciers, that sounds like something you must do from people who told me about it. It will take an entire day though, well worth it.

 

[pmoa]

glaciers definitely

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Kodiak Island to pet the bares.
"You mean bears."
There's bears here?

 

[everman]

You can probably charter a boat to do some fishing too, maybe a local river. I've been to Sitka AK for the fishing several times, but never to Anchorage. You'll probably fish for about 4-6 hrs. for Salmon.

 

[Nutdotnet]

If you have any hot GIRLfriends I can hook you up with some real good excursions at real good rates...

But they need to be hot, and they need to be single.

 

[Bacstar]

Well depends on what you want to do...

If you want to party during the "nites"...hehehe in july the sun don't really set til like 2-3 in the morning. There are a couple bars Koots (smoking), Platinum Jaxx (non-smoking)seem to be the most popular... then there are The Shed, Humpy's. Then countless other rinky-dink bars all over town. I consider this a military town, so you can take that for what it's worth. If you make it on the first Thursday of the month...there's a thing called "First Tap" at Moose's Tooth which is pretty fun.

I have family coming up in July, and we're planning some camping trips down in Turnagain Arm, a glacier cruise from whittier...train rides too.

You got hiking or mtn biking locally all around the Anchorage bowl area (flattop...powerline trail, bird ridge). If you got the time and money you can also take trips up to Denali by train or car....also sight-seeing day-trips by plane with a stop for lunch on a glacier. I told my family to pick up a guide called The Mile-Post (usually barnes & noble carry it) with all kinds of suggestions for stuff to do in Alaska...

Hope that helps...

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: everman
There's a train that takes you to a place where you can get on a boat to see some glaciers, that sounds like something you must do from people who told me about it. It will take an entire day though, well worth it.

Anchorage to Seward railway.
Kenai Fjords National Park tour
We met the lady who used to own that business in Puerto Vallarta of all places, on vacation.
My wife and I have taken the trip and it was worth it.
We got into a spot where the whales were breaching on one side and the glaciers were calving on the other. " Look over there, no over here!!"
We did not do the train part, but that has to be cool too.
We blasted down that same valley in the plane trying to make the early boat. We did not make it, but the flight was fun.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: skyking

Originally posted by: everman
There's a train that takes you to a place where you can get on a boat to see some glaciers, that sounds like something you must do from people who told me about it. It will take an entire day though, well worth it.

Anchorage to Seward railway.
Kenai Fjords National Park tour
We met the lady who used to own that business in Puerto Vallarta of all places, on vacation.
My wife and I have taken the trip and it was worth it.
We got into a spot where the whales were breaching on one side and the glaciers were calving on the other. " Look over there, no over here!!"
We did not do the train part, but that has to be cool too.
We blasted down that same valley in the plane trying to make the early boat. We did not make it, but the flight was fun.

You met the lady who owned Alaska Tour & Travel?

Kenai Fjords Tours (your 2nd link) has only been owned by two owners. The first being Tom Tougas (founder and now owner of Renown) and Cook Inlet Regional, Inc. (CIRI) which is large native corporation, who I've been employed with (through their subsidiaries) for the last 9 years.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: Bacstar
Well depends on what you want to do...

If you want to party during the "nites"...hehehe in july the sun don't really set til like 2-3 in the morning. There are a couple bars Koots (smoking), Platinum Jaxx (non-smoking)seem to be the most popular... then there are The Shed, Humpy's. Then countless other rinky-dink bars all over town. I consider this a military town, so you can take that for what it's worth. If you make it on the first Thursday of the month...there's a thing called "First Tap" at Moose's Tooth which is pretty fun.

I have family coming up in July, and we're planning some camping trips down in Turnagain Arm, a glacier cruise from whittier...train rides too.

You got hiking or mtn biking locally all around the Anchorage bowl area (flattop...powerline trail, bird ridge). If you got the time and money you can also take trips up to Denali by train or car....also sight-seeing day-trips by plane with a stop for lunch on a glacier. I told my family to pick up a guide called The Mile-Post (usually barnes & noble carry it) with all kinds of suggestions for stuff to do in Alaska...

Hope that helps...

Dude...you need to call Koots by it's real name for a tourist to ever figure out what you're talking about.

Chilkoot Charlie's

It is THE bar for 21-29 crowd. However, that's not saying much. I'm sure it would be pretty cool for a tourist to check out though.

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: Nutdotnet

Originally posted by: skyking

Originally posted by: everman
There's a train that takes you to a place where you can get on a boat to see some glaciers, that sounds like something you must do from people who told me about it. It will take an entire day though, well worth it.

Anchorage to Seward railway.
Kenai Fjords National Park tour
We met the lady who used to own that business in Puerto Vallarta of all places, on vacation.
My wife and I have taken the trip and it was worth it.
We got into a spot where the whales were breaching on one side and the glaciers were calving on the other. " Look over there, no over here!!"
We did not do the train part, but that has to be cool too.
We blasted down that same valley in the plane trying to make the early boat. We did not make it, but the flight was fun.

You met the lady who owned Alaska Tour & Travel?

Kenai Fjords Tours (your 2nd link) has only been owned by two owners. The first being Tom Tougas (founder and now owner of Renown) and Cook Inlet Regional, Inc. (CIRI) which is large native corporation, who I've been employed with (through their subsidiaries) for the last 9 years.

It would have been Tom's wife then.

 

[Nutdotnet]

Originally posted by: skyking

Originally posted by: Nutdotnet

Originally posted by: skyking

Originally posted by: everman
There's a train that takes you to a place where you can get on a boat to see some glaciers, that sounds like something you must do from people who told me about it. It will take an entire day though, well worth it.

Anchorage to Seward railway.
Kenai Fjords National Park tour
We met the lady who used to own that business in Puerto Vallarta of all places, on vacation.
My wife and I have taken the trip and it was worth it.
We got into a spot where the whales were breaching on one side and the glaciers were calving on the other. " Look over there, no over here!!"
We did not do the train part, but that has to be cool too.
We blasted down that same valley in the plane trying to make the early boat. We did not make it, but the flight was fun.

You met the lady who owned Alaska Tour & Travel?

Kenai Fjords Tours (your 2nd link) has only been owned by two owners. The first being Tom Tougas (founder and now owner of Renown) and Cook Inlet Regional, Inc. (CIRI) which is large native corporation, who I've been employed with (through their subsidiaries) for the last 9 years.

It would have been Tom's wife then.

I sure hope my future wife doesn't take credit for the things I do...she had absolutley nothing to do with the development of KFT.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Make sure you drink some Moose Tooth IPA while there. Best beer I've ever had.

Enjoy the scenery. Alaska's unreal.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

<--- 27 years in Fairbanks and 6 years in Anchorage.

Definitely make the drive to Seward. Start early. On your way, stop off in Whittier. It's a quick detour. There's not much to see but the drive through the tunnel is an experience and you can hit the Portage Glacier tour on your way back through the tunnel.

Seward has some neat things to check out and if you're going to be there over the 4th you can check out the madness at the Mt Marathon race. (A bunch of psychos run up a mountain and run back down in a controlled crash) They also have a great sea life center there.

On your way back I highly recommend hitting the Double Musky in Girdwood for dinner. Make sure you get there before 6pm though becuase it fills up fast. EXCELLENT food. One of the best restaurants in Alaska. You can also take the tram up to the top of the mountain and hike around. Incredible scenery.

If you do it right, that can easily nail it all in a day. It's a LONG day... but you have enough daylight to make it happen.

Valdez is another drive to make. Stan Stevens Cruises has an all day cruise that takes you to Columbia and Meares Glaciers. It'll blow your mind. Columbia Glacier is just huge. Plan on spending the night. You're not going there and back in one day.

Kenai for fishing. 'Nuff said.

What else... Denali Park is incredible. If you get a chance to see Fairbanks definitely do it. It's an amazing drive. I've made that run a million times (Fairbanks to Anch and back) and it still blows me away. Especially at night. If you time it right you can watch the sun set out of Anchorage and then have it creep back up over the horizon only to set again. Gotta time it just right though and you have to be moving at 70+. No worries since the Troopers all go to bed at 9pm.

If you do go to Fairbanks, try the deck at Pikes, the Pump House (It has a deck too). Both of those restaurants sit on the Chena River. In July it'll be nice and hot, perfect for a cold beer and a steak. If you spend the night there, good luck. LOL... rooms are tight. But if you can, try Pikes or the Princess. Both are on the river and are nice places.

As for where to go IN Anchorage... My favorite places to eat were the Glacier Brewhouse, Moose's Tooth (both places are absolute heaven if you love your beer), Double Musky in Girdwood, Club Paris, Snow Goose, Southside Bistro and HUMPY'S! Blackened Halibut! Hell yeah. DT Anchorage is a lot of fun. 'Koots (Chilkoot Charlie's) in Spenard is a wild place on the weekends... TONS of women. The Peanut Farm is the best sports bar in the state. There is another place downtown... it was just opening as I was leaving... can't remember the name. Skyking or nutdonet probably know what I'm talking about. It's near the Sheraton IIRC.

Anyway... that's all I can come up with.

 

[50cent1228]

glaciers and maybe take a seaplane and see Ketchikan or Juneau....alaska is just a bunch of ecotours....and if you go to Ketchikan you have to go to the famous lake there...i forgot what its called but ask around...fishing for salmon is really big in AK

 

[ShotgunSteven]

Don't forget your mosquito repellant.