Alaska Travel Advice….
OK, this is probably going to get no one, but if there is anyone who knows anything about the Ketchikan Alaska area, and more specifically Prince of Wales Island, can you send me an email through Jonn at our Admin box? I am taking a work trip there in late Nov into early December. Probably going to add a day or three on one side or the other, and want to know if anyone has any ideas. (ie Travel on the shitty little airplane to the island, or take the boat. What to see etc.)
Anyway, if anyone lives in Alaska, has been to Alaska, knows how to spell Alaska, knows how to bake Alaska or thinks they once spent a night with an Inuit named Dolores in a Igloo, send me advice on what to do.
Category: Politics
I WANNA GO!
Ooh Ooh, pick me pick me!!!
**drool**
Alaska, even in December–one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
Yes I think I know someone who lives in Alaska. I think I can get a hold of him.
Sparky
I know.
I lived there 12 years and worked all over Alaska however made it to that island. Outside the Mooskeetos are a huge problem. Can suck the blood from a human in minutes so take (or buy there) plenty of repellent.
Not trying to be captain obvious but take good quality rain gear and boots that will keep your feet dry when the rest of you is semi-soaked.
If you like the outdoors you could not be going to a more beautiful place. I would probably opt for the boat with the chance of seeing an Orca or two. Not sure if they still have whale watching tours during those months, probably not.
It would help to know what kind of work you are going to be doing. I worked outside for 11 of the 12 years. I would move back in a heartbeat,
Feel free to e-mail me if you questions, I might be able to answer a question or two, maybe not.
Azygos451(at)yahoo(dot)com
I know.
Probably one of the biggest of my (relatively) few regrets is that I didn’t make the time to go up with my father and grandfather on their annual trips to Yakutat, fishing for salmon, halibut, and crab.
Sadly, my father died two years ago this December, and my grandfather has had a series of strokes. Life is precious, folks.
Nice Spork, niiiiiiice!
in juneau, see the mendenhall glacier and surrounding lake, about 20 minutes away from downtown; bald eagles all over the place –
in skagway dont miss the white pass railroad trip
in ketchikan i dont know much. theres a dude downtown who sells guitars who will let you sit there half the day demo’ing the goods at his store/recording studio.
also what passes for the town “golf course” is a few patches of artificial turf spread around a parking lot. ungodly amounts of fresh crab to eat if thats your thing.
Was up there on an Inside Passage cruise in ’93 – in Sitka, (IIRC) go see the Alaskan Raptor Center – eagles of several types, hawks and owls, cool beans…also, we went up to the town dump/landfill (!) to see the bears (don’t wanna get too close, to THEM, though!).
Take a day-boat cruise up College Fjord, more glaciers in one relatively-small area than you see anywhere else in the world.
Definitely see Mendenhall glacier; it’s HUGE, hard to exaggerate how impressive it is.
Enjoy…not too many places left on the globe where true wilderness is so readily accessible.
I found this site when I was researching my cross country motorcycle trip (Kennedy Space Center to Edwards AFB via Huntsvile AL):
http://www.pashnit.com/30days/30-7.htm (the journey starts 30-2.htm but -7 is when he hits Alaska)
One of the most epic Alaska trips I’ve ever read.
talk to anyone in the 501st.
When someone who lives up there says “It’s really not that cold this time of year”
They’re LYING.
Bring Long-johns.
Been all over it- Wainwright, Richardson, etc. Then out to the islands- and THAT’s where it gets INTERESTING:
Agattu, Adak, Amchitka, Attu, Shemya, Kiska, and a few others I cannot recall. Some really interesting terrain, and journey just to GET to them. And some truly neat pics too. Would hate to live there tho- they can have it…
I was at Fort Richardson for 3 years….it isn’t cold this time of year….at least in Anchorage or Ketchikan. I can’t speak for Fairbanks or Greely.
I walked around Ketchikan for 45 minutes when I PCSed to Anchorage via the Alaska Marine Ferry. Quiet town, nice, quaint…there’s some Coast Guard people there too. I think there’s even less to do in Juneau, though I toured that by a cab ride.
Other than that I don’t know much other than that the tour guide said it rains a lot. They have a scale at the waterfront of how many actual inches they accumulate….its a lot.
I didn’t know you lived there Spork.
I think what I am looking at doing is flying into Juneau, and then taking the ferry down to Ketchikan. Sort of a poor man’s alaskan cruise. I am freakishly low maintenance, and just want to see the vistas etc, so that seems like a plan to me. Need to make sure all the timing is right and such, but one tipster at my Facebook page spoke highly of the ferry.
Be very careful of a “tipster that talks highly of a fairy”. Oops, you did say “Ferry”, my mistake.
Well FO, DADT is history so ya never know.
TSO-
Spork will give you the skinny…but man, it is effing beautiful there!! Ketchikan was the last stop on our cruise last June…maybe get the missus a nice little fur for your cold Indy winters? 🙂 Or get some awesome clam chowder at the end of the road there? Yum. Take the gondola to the top an if it’s not too cold, hike. It’s very quaint and enjoyable. The days are darn short, so you gotta hurry!
As for Juneau, we went up to the first original road to where they panned for gold and hike a bit along the stream and saw the old rail line…Mendenhall also really nice. A gondola ride there, too. Otherwise, they have great tourism offices. And try the Alaska Brewing Company! You can sample their beers and get a cool t-shirt or two.
Don’t know if you made your trip or not, I just came across this but I have lived in Ketchikan and on POW for over 20 years now. It really isn’t all that cold that time of year but we do get horrific winds and rain storms from October through December. I have tons of photos of the area, at least the Ketchikan area on my Flickr page….enjoy southeast Alaska, any time of year is beautiful.