drat19
Jul 21, 08, 10:22 pm
The following is my FT-pertinent report for the pleasure trip my wife and I just completed to AK between 7/11 and 7/20...for the FT audience's commentary and/or use. Be advised, once I got rolling this ended up being a pretty long and detailed account (I wrote it during my "usual" business travel flight back to work this evening); make yourself comfortable and I hope you enjoy it (and find at least some of it useful) as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Summary:
(1) Like a good FT'er, I used frequent flyer and hotel points for those aspects of the trip, and I am COMPLETELY glad that we elected to travel independently as opposed to via a cruise or other tour group. After observing and/or talking with many other folks along the way who traveled in that fashion instead, it is clear that the idea of being subject to that sort of structure, cattle-herding, and lack of control over one's destiny is unimaginable to me. (I'm sure all other Type A Control Freak FT'ers here would agree with me on that!).
(2) We followed recommendations from here on FT and elsewhere on the 'Net and stayed at the Homewood Suites a few miles from downtown, and I would echo those recommendations. The customer service was excellent, the rooms were clean, roomy, and comfortable (gotta LOVE that full kitchen when you stay for more than a few days), and the free breakfast was excellent as well. (Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention another thing of which I am particularly proud of myself: We stopped at a local Wal-mart our first day and picked up a case of bottled water, which amounted to about 20 cents a bottle - much better than the criminal 2 or 3 dollars a bottle we would have instead paid one bottle at a time at whatever venue we visited. If you're staying anywhere (not just AK) for more than a few days, you should definitely do this - as much for the principle (to avoid the criminal amount that places charge for bottled water) as for the several bucks' savings over the course of the week.)
(3) As part of my advance research, I scoped out a majority of our planned restaurants and other venues, and plotted them on my portable GPS ahead of time (I have a mapping/routing Garmin model that also doubles as my hiking/Geocaching (http://www.geocaching.com) GPS). This proved invaluable, as all I had to do was mount it up on the dash of our rental car and have it route us to wherever we wanted to go. I would recommend this technique to anyone traveling to any new place...it makes it so stress-free to get around a new town.
(4) Having experienced everything that I did this past week, I would surely return for another AK adventure if time/life allows it, only the next time I would do it in early June (one week AFTER Memorial Day week...not the week OF Memorial Day) instead of July...the weather would still be acceptable (most likely a bit cooler, and perhaps even less rainy), and more importantly most venues would more likely be a bit less overrun with crowds of tourists...I'm sure there would still be a fair amount, but maybe not quite so many as we had to endure this past week. (This was even true at breakfast at the hotel...if you showed up during "prime breakfast time" there was no place to sit.)
Details:
Day 0:
Upon arrival into Anchorage late afternoon after a long day of 3 flights, we really only had enough energy for dinner, and seeking something simple, we headed for a location of the Taco King, a local Mex/taco chain I had seen well-recommended on various 'Net sites. It may have seemed like a hole-in-the-wall upon entering, but the food was served hot, fresh, and tasty. Worth your time for an alfresco sort of meal.
Day 1:
We stayed in Anchorage for the day and "did downtown". After a while of that, my wife and I split up for a few hours and I hiked the first 4 miles of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, from downtown to Point Woronzof behind the Airport. I would highly recommend setting aside some time for the Coastal Trail, either those 4 miles I did, and/or the additional 5 miles from Point Woronzof to Kincaid Park. A GREAT way to see the coastal areas, and both quiet and peaceful while still having enough other humanity around to feel safe. (Many people rent bicycles to enjoy the trail...although I'm a hiker and prefer to travel on foot, I would recommend cycling as well if that's your inclination...just find a way to enjoy this trail somehow.)
We regrouped later and then went up to Glen Alps at Chugach State Park just outside of town...another venue I would HIGHLY recommend (although this was our first (and certainly not last!) encounter with excessive crowds; the parking area was completely full and required parking off on the approach road.) The views on a clear day are exceptional, and the immediate area near the parking is friendly even for the physically challenged. I also then split off from my wife (who was not up for the longer hike) for an hour+ and hiked up the trail there to Flattop Peak...a more challenging hike, but worth the effort for the additional views and of course for the fun.
We then attempted to have dinner at 5PM at the Moose's Tooth, a local pizza/brew venue (which was highly recommended here on FT and elsewhere, but apparently not advance-reservable (true?))...and the wait there was already over an hour...phooey. We ended up eating at a national-chain restaurant instead, which was just fine with us, actually.
Day 2:
We drove up to Denali for a 2-day (1-night) side trip. We elected to ride the 9-hour Shuttle Bus as opposed to one of the more detailed Tour buses, and we learned what others have reported: Success on the Shuttle (as opposed to the Tour) TOTALLY depends on your driver. We stayed with the same bus the whole day, and I would rate ours as "middle of the road" as far as along-the-way narration (others who boarded our bus mid-trip reported that the other drivers they had were better than ours), and worse, since part of the protocol is (seriously) to shout "Stop!" anytime photo-worthy wildlife is spotted, it was rough that our driver seemed to be partially hard of hearing...I couldn't make this up - we all had to pretty much SCREAM for him to hear us. Still, we really enjoyed the bus ride in any case...Denali is an amazing place and definitely a must-experience.
Now, during our ride we apparently saw far less wildlife than average (luck of the draw, I guess - some people sincerely b*tched about it (which was unbelievable to me) but I just tried to find the humor in it all - imagine sitting for a half-hour stalking a couple of caribou barely visible over a mile away up near the top of a peak!), but after 8.5 hours of seeing only wildlife that could be seen with binoculars and barely photographable, our patience was finally rewarded with a huge, full-racked bull moose who blocked the roadway and posed for pics for us. That saved the morale for the day of our whole bus...until then we were only beginning to somewhat believe reports of wildlife sightings in Denali. (Heh!) Oh, and also through complete (lack of) luck of the draw, the mountain was completely NOT visible all day due to cloud cover. Still, in all seriousness and despite the less-than-all-good points I made above, I wouldn't have missed our Denali excursion for the world...GO THERE. (And if you can, bring an SLR camera with a strong telephoto/zoom; the 10x zoom on my digi didn't quite get it done for anything a fair distance away from the road...which was most of the time!).
Side note: Upon initially boarding the bus, like any good gate-stalking FT'er, (my wife and) I positioned ourselves at the front of the queue, in order to have primest choice of seating. Well, about 3 people back a group of European tourists (I'll spare their specific nationality in the interest of political correctness) actually tried to force their way to the front of queue, instead of waiting their turn. Whassup with THAT?? Needless to say, their attempt to do this was rather impolitely blocked...do NOT mess with a veteran of the War for Overhead Storage!
We reserved a room for the night at the Princess Denali Lodge, and were thoroughly unimpressed. The room was clean and pleasant enough, but it was too warm (opening the windows was our only option...apparently it's not equipped with central A/C, only heat - which I DO understand given its location in Central AK, but sorry, in the summer and at $269 a night, I don't want to hear outside noise around the multi-building lodge complex at night). Additionally, I followed others' advice and called ahead multiple times prior to and on the day of our arrival to ensure that we did not get sloughed off to another hotel in the event of overbooking...apparently a common occurrence at this property. All was well this day, though, but only because business is down this year...the desk clerk did acknowledge that it does indeed happen, and that when it does they do pick up the tab at the other hotel...whoopity doo (the clerk actually told me some would consider this a GOOD thing!). Phooey on that...if I pre-pay $269 and do so literally 6 months in advance, I expect to get a guaranteed room at the venue where I'm planning to stay.
Day 3:
We elected to forego our second day of bus shuttle that I had pre-booked; I was able to cancel it within 2 hours of scheduled departure and got the cost refunded (except for $4/person refund fee, no biggie) (oh, and be advised you can only get the refund on the Shuttle; by contrast, if you cancel the Tour too close to its date/time, the refund policy is far less liberal). We drove back to Anchorage in the rain, and made reservations for dinner at Simon & Seafort's, a seafood/steak restaurant highly recommended both here on FT and elsewhere. At this place, on a Monday, our 5PM reservation was no problem and was honored on time. We found the food well prepared and excellent, and the service to be quite excellent as well, although I wouldn't consider it to have been twice as good as somewhere else, considering that we paid twice as much as elsewhere might have been. Maybe we're just not "fine restaurant" connoisseurs (seriously), so YMMV on that part of the review. Lots of other people seem to think this is one of the best restaurants in town.
Day 4:
With a "free day" on our hands and acceptable weather, we spent the day taking a drive down Hwy 1 to the Kenai Peninsula all the way to Homer, made famous by Tom Bodett (among others) as "as far as you can drive without a passport". This day/drive was a true highlight of our trip. Not only were we totally on our own not having to fight for space with the tourists, but the scenic opportunities along the drive are spectacular, and at the end of the road Homer is indeed a quaint and quirky little town, and also with spectacular scenery, just as advertised. FIND TIME FOR THIS DRIVE...it will not disappoint.
Day 5:
Another drive part of the way down the Seward Highway, only this time instead of continuing on to Homer, we turned off toward Seward for our day cruise through Kenai Fjords National Park. We chose the Kenai Fjords Tours "National Park Tour", apparently their most popular - a 6-hour journey. Heed the recommendations to take your Bonine or Dramamine ahead of time, because the waters out in the Gulf of Alaska do indeed get rough. The on-board food offering was just "meh" (ours was at lunchtime, so just a deli snack and not the "salmon dinner"), but no biggie since that's not why we were there. We had quality glacier viewings, including good calving (something you must experience in person), plenty of marine wildlife viewing (including a surprise surface breach by a humpback whale literally 10 feet from the boat), and all in all a grand time. Of course (and in keeping with the theme of this report), it was frustrating at times jostling for position on the decks to get pictures...another reason I would recommend going earlier or later in the season in the hopes of riding a not-packed-to-capacity journey.
After the boat ride, we diverted to nearby Exit Glacier, and with fewer crowds than on the cruise I had a blast here and would rate this as a MUST DO. You have the opportunity to walk literally to the foot of a glacier (it's a relatively easy hike), and although it is roped off for safety, some people were actually ducking under the ropes to actually touch it (I didn't). Very cool. Don't go to Seward without taking this relatively quick side trip.
Day 6:
This was a total "free day" for us, recovering from yesterday's day cruise and getting ready for another one tomorrow, so we just "did Anchorage" again, nothing special. We did stumble upon an excellent hole-in-the-wall pizza/calzone joint on G Street between 4th and 5th, Uncle Joe's Pizzeria. As a native New Yorker I take my 'za quite seriously, and Uncle Joe's did not disappoint. My wife and I split a meat calzone "for two", and it was big enough that we could barely finish it (and that only because we were quite hungry). Hot, fresh, and delicious.
Later in the evening we drove through Kincaid Park, and as I will document shortly and in more detail on Day 8, Kincaid Park is an Anchorage MUST DO.
Day 7:
Another day cruise, this time on the calmer Prince William Sound for the 26 Glacier Cruise operated by Phillips Tours. Many more glaciers to view than on the Kenai cruise, which is more about the wildlife. Still, on this cruise we were also treated to excellent wildlife and bird viewing, along with the advertised 26 glaciers (although extended time is only spent at a few of them...the rest are just drive-bys). The on-board snack/lunch (Alaskan Cod was served on ours) was much tastier than the offering on the Kenai cruise, and the overall service and narration experience was more enjoyable as well (not that there was anything wrong with the Kenai one; we just thought this one was better, is all). We also appreciated the reserved seating, as opposed to the free-for-all that was the case on the Kenai cruise.
Words of warning, though: If you're a passenger of size, you will NOT want to reserve yourself at a table for 6...it's a "booth" and you WILL be cramped. Book yourself at a table for 4 instead...you won't necessarily be on a window at a 4-seater, but you'll be much more comfortable...trust me on this! (Reserve by phone and ask about 4- vs. 6-seat tables when you talk to them.) Besides, you'll be getting up out of your seat for your primary photo ops out on the decks anyway. (Now, if you DO want a window seat and reserve a 6-seater, request positions A and F at your assigned table - the 2 window positions. We didn't know that ahead of time and had the A and B positions, which amounted to a window and a middle - again, not good for passengers of size (or anyone for that matter!)).
Also, here's a note about parking in Whittier: The cruise operator (whichever one you choose) will provide in advance a map that shows the correct parking for day cruisers...it's a couple blocks away from the cruise ship docks. Follow these instructions. There is also a parking area right at the docks, but it's not clearly marked that this area is NOT for day cruisers, and so it may appear at first that it's OK to park there. Instead, the staff processing your boarding documents will remind you quite clearly (and over and over) that you need to move your car to the other lot. So, just get it right the first time...trust me on this one. (I did get it right, but I watched countless others have to do the move-the-car dance while we were waiting to board (and of course I basked in my well-prepared-FT'er superiority while I watched...hehehehe)).
I would recommend both the Kenai Fjords cruise and also the Prince William/26 Glacier cruise, but if I had to choose only one, I would choose the latter one...smoother waters and a better overall experience, IMHO. YMMV, of course.
And of course, I have already documented our experience at the Whittier Tunnel in this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=846527).
Day 8:
Our final day in AK before catching a red-eye flight home that night, with my wife a bit under the weather for the day and wanting to take the whole day off, she turned me loose again and I hit Kincaid Park for an almost full day of hiking and Geocaching (http://www.geocaching.com). Despite the many great highlights of our trip, this may well have been the best day of all for me. Once again in pure crowd-free bliss due to this not being a tourist hot spot, the weather also happened to clear up as well, and this park is a TRULY GREAT PLACE. Moose roam the park like they own the place; I ran into 3 different moose along the way, including a mama moose and her calves (which I quite accidentally jumped just a few feet from where a geocache was hidden - they blended in with fallen tree limbs - but I lived to tell about it!), and a full-racked bull right along where the Coastal Trail enters the park, just munching away on the local greenery. Do your moose-safety research beforehand (as I did elsewhere on the 'Net and in this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=841643) here on FT) and if you're fortunate, this is a place where you can safely experience (and photograph if you're careful) these creatures pretty darned up close and personal. In addition, if you like to hike (or if you're like me and your geocache target coordinates take you there), go off the main paved trails and onto the many side trails...some of these trails took me up to some spectacular views of the Inlet and surrounding mountains, and for you FT plane geeks, views of incoming aircraft at nearby Anchorage International. And finally, all along the way I struck up conversations with many friendly locals who were there doing their own walking, hiking, and cycling, who were happy to chat with an out-of-towner like me who took the time to explore someplace in their town other than one of the typical tourist destinations. Be one of those people like I was, and you'll be like me telling your story about it as much or more than your stories about the more famous venues...I promise you that.
Thanks for reading this far; I hope my travelogue proved helpful to some of you as well as at least somewhat interesting/entertaining. I had fun writing it. And I want to thank again great FT'ers here like Jackal and Oldpenny and others here who provided such great info ahead of time; this made a BIG IMPACT on our enjoyment of our possibly-once-in-a-lifetime trip; I'm truly and genuinely grateful.
Summary:
(1) Like a good FT'er, I used frequent flyer and hotel points for those aspects of the trip, and I am COMPLETELY glad that we elected to travel independently as opposed to via a cruise or other tour group. After observing and/or talking with many other folks along the way who traveled in that fashion instead, it is clear that the idea of being subject to that sort of structure, cattle-herding, and lack of control over one's destiny is unimaginable to me. (I'm sure all other Type A Control Freak FT'ers here would agree with me on that!).
(2) We followed recommendations from here on FT and elsewhere on the 'Net and stayed at the Homewood Suites a few miles from downtown, and I would echo those recommendations. The customer service was excellent, the rooms were clean, roomy, and comfortable (gotta LOVE that full kitchen when you stay for more than a few days), and the free breakfast was excellent as well. (Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention another thing of which I am particularly proud of myself: We stopped at a local Wal-mart our first day and picked up a case of bottled water, which amounted to about 20 cents a bottle - much better than the criminal 2 or 3 dollars a bottle we would have instead paid one bottle at a time at whatever venue we visited. If you're staying anywhere (not just AK) for more than a few days, you should definitely do this - as much for the principle (to avoid the criminal amount that places charge for bottled water) as for the several bucks' savings over the course of the week.)
(3) As part of my advance research, I scoped out a majority of our planned restaurants and other venues, and plotted them on my portable GPS ahead of time (I have a mapping/routing Garmin model that also doubles as my hiking/Geocaching (http://www.geocaching.com) GPS). This proved invaluable, as all I had to do was mount it up on the dash of our rental car and have it route us to wherever we wanted to go. I would recommend this technique to anyone traveling to any new place...it makes it so stress-free to get around a new town.
(4) Having experienced everything that I did this past week, I would surely return for another AK adventure if time/life allows it, only the next time I would do it in early June (one week AFTER Memorial Day week...not the week OF Memorial Day) instead of July...the weather would still be acceptable (most likely a bit cooler, and perhaps even less rainy), and more importantly most venues would more likely be a bit less overrun with crowds of tourists...I'm sure there would still be a fair amount, but maybe not quite so many as we had to endure this past week. (This was even true at breakfast at the hotel...if you showed up during "prime breakfast time" there was no place to sit.)
Details:
Day 0:
Upon arrival into Anchorage late afternoon after a long day of 3 flights, we really only had enough energy for dinner, and seeking something simple, we headed for a location of the Taco King, a local Mex/taco chain I had seen well-recommended on various 'Net sites. It may have seemed like a hole-in-the-wall upon entering, but the food was served hot, fresh, and tasty. Worth your time for an alfresco sort of meal.
Day 1:
We stayed in Anchorage for the day and "did downtown". After a while of that, my wife and I split up for a few hours and I hiked the first 4 miles of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, from downtown to Point Woronzof behind the Airport. I would highly recommend setting aside some time for the Coastal Trail, either those 4 miles I did, and/or the additional 5 miles from Point Woronzof to Kincaid Park. A GREAT way to see the coastal areas, and both quiet and peaceful while still having enough other humanity around to feel safe. (Many people rent bicycles to enjoy the trail...although I'm a hiker and prefer to travel on foot, I would recommend cycling as well if that's your inclination...just find a way to enjoy this trail somehow.)
We regrouped later and then went up to Glen Alps at Chugach State Park just outside of town...another venue I would HIGHLY recommend (although this was our first (and certainly not last!) encounter with excessive crowds; the parking area was completely full and required parking off on the approach road.) The views on a clear day are exceptional, and the immediate area near the parking is friendly even for the physically challenged. I also then split off from my wife (who was not up for the longer hike) for an hour+ and hiked up the trail there to Flattop Peak...a more challenging hike, but worth the effort for the additional views and of course for the fun.
We then attempted to have dinner at 5PM at the Moose's Tooth, a local pizza/brew venue (which was highly recommended here on FT and elsewhere, but apparently not advance-reservable (true?))...and the wait there was already over an hour...phooey. We ended up eating at a national-chain restaurant instead, which was just fine with us, actually.
Day 2:
We drove up to Denali for a 2-day (1-night) side trip. We elected to ride the 9-hour Shuttle Bus as opposed to one of the more detailed Tour buses, and we learned what others have reported: Success on the Shuttle (as opposed to the Tour) TOTALLY depends on your driver. We stayed with the same bus the whole day, and I would rate ours as "middle of the road" as far as along-the-way narration (others who boarded our bus mid-trip reported that the other drivers they had were better than ours), and worse, since part of the protocol is (seriously) to shout "Stop!" anytime photo-worthy wildlife is spotted, it was rough that our driver seemed to be partially hard of hearing...I couldn't make this up - we all had to pretty much SCREAM for him to hear us. Still, we really enjoyed the bus ride in any case...Denali is an amazing place and definitely a must-experience.
Now, during our ride we apparently saw far less wildlife than average (luck of the draw, I guess - some people sincerely b*tched about it (which was unbelievable to me) but I just tried to find the humor in it all - imagine sitting for a half-hour stalking a couple of caribou barely visible over a mile away up near the top of a peak!), but after 8.5 hours of seeing only wildlife that could be seen with binoculars and barely photographable, our patience was finally rewarded with a huge, full-racked bull moose who blocked the roadway and posed for pics for us. That saved the morale for the day of our whole bus...until then we were only beginning to somewhat believe reports of wildlife sightings in Denali. (Heh!) Oh, and also through complete (lack of) luck of the draw, the mountain was completely NOT visible all day due to cloud cover. Still, in all seriousness and despite the less-than-all-good points I made above, I wouldn't have missed our Denali excursion for the world...GO THERE. (And if you can, bring an SLR camera with a strong telephoto/zoom; the 10x zoom on my digi didn't quite get it done for anything a fair distance away from the road...which was most of the time!).
Side note: Upon initially boarding the bus, like any good gate-stalking FT'er, (my wife and) I positioned ourselves at the front of the queue, in order to have primest choice of seating. Well, about 3 people back a group of European tourists (I'll spare their specific nationality in the interest of political correctness) actually tried to force their way to the front of queue, instead of waiting their turn. Whassup with THAT?? Needless to say, their attempt to do this was rather impolitely blocked...do NOT mess with a veteran of the War for Overhead Storage!
We reserved a room for the night at the Princess Denali Lodge, and were thoroughly unimpressed. The room was clean and pleasant enough, but it was too warm (opening the windows was our only option...apparently it's not equipped with central A/C, only heat - which I DO understand given its location in Central AK, but sorry, in the summer and at $269 a night, I don't want to hear outside noise around the multi-building lodge complex at night). Additionally, I followed others' advice and called ahead multiple times prior to and on the day of our arrival to ensure that we did not get sloughed off to another hotel in the event of overbooking...apparently a common occurrence at this property. All was well this day, though, but only because business is down this year...the desk clerk did acknowledge that it does indeed happen, and that when it does they do pick up the tab at the other hotel...whoopity doo (the clerk actually told me some would consider this a GOOD thing!). Phooey on that...if I pre-pay $269 and do so literally 6 months in advance, I expect to get a guaranteed room at the venue where I'm planning to stay.
Day 3:
We elected to forego our second day of bus shuttle that I had pre-booked; I was able to cancel it within 2 hours of scheduled departure and got the cost refunded (except for $4/person refund fee, no biggie) (oh, and be advised you can only get the refund on the Shuttle; by contrast, if you cancel the Tour too close to its date/time, the refund policy is far less liberal). We drove back to Anchorage in the rain, and made reservations for dinner at Simon & Seafort's, a seafood/steak restaurant highly recommended both here on FT and elsewhere. At this place, on a Monday, our 5PM reservation was no problem and was honored on time. We found the food well prepared and excellent, and the service to be quite excellent as well, although I wouldn't consider it to have been twice as good as somewhere else, considering that we paid twice as much as elsewhere might have been. Maybe we're just not "fine restaurant" connoisseurs (seriously), so YMMV on that part of the review. Lots of other people seem to think this is one of the best restaurants in town.
Day 4:
With a "free day" on our hands and acceptable weather, we spent the day taking a drive down Hwy 1 to the Kenai Peninsula all the way to Homer, made famous by Tom Bodett (among others) as "as far as you can drive without a passport". This day/drive was a true highlight of our trip. Not only were we totally on our own not having to fight for space with the tourists, but the scenic opportunities along the drive are spectacular, and at the end of the road Homer is indeed a quaint and quirky little town, and also with spectacular scenery, just as advertised. FIND TIME FOR THIS DRIVE...it will not disappoint.
Day 5:
Another drive part of the way down the Seward Highway, only this time instead of continuing on to Homer, we turned off toward Seward for our day cruise through Kenai Fjords National Park. We chose the Kenai Fjords Tours "National Park Tour", apparently their most popular - a 6-hour journey. Heed the recommendations to take your Bonine or Dramamine ahead of time, because the waters out in the Gulf of Alaska do indeed get rough. The on-board food offering was just "meh" (ours was at lunchtime, so just a deli snack and not the "salmon dinner"), but no biggie since that's not why we were there. We had quality glacier viewings, including good calving (something you must experience in person), plenty of marine wildlife viewing (including a surprise surface breach by a humpback whale literally 10 feet from the boat), and all in all a grand time. Of course (and in keeping with the theme of this report), it was frustrating at times jostling for position on the decks to get pictures...another reason I would recommend going earlier or later in the season in the hopes of riding a not-packed-to-capacity journey.
After the boat ride, we diverted to nearby Exit Glacier, and with fewer crowds than on the cruise I had a blast here and would rate this as a MUST DO. You have the opportunity to walk literally to the foot of a glacier (it's a relatively easy hike), and although it is roped off for safety, some people were actually ducking under the ropes to actually touch it (I didn't). Very cool. Don't go to Seward without taking this relatively quick side trip.
Day 6:
This was a total "free day" for us, recovering from yesterday's day cruise and getting ready for another one tomorrow, so we just "did Anchorage" again, nothing special. We did stumble upon an excellent hole-in-the-wall pizza/calzone joint on G Street between 4th and 5th, Uncle Joe's Pizzeria. As a native New Yorker I take my 'za quite seriously, and Uncle Joe's did not disappoint. My wife and I split a meat calzone "for two", and it was big enough that we could barely finish it (and that only because we were quite hungry). Hot, fresh, and delicious.
Later in the evening we drove through Kincaid Park, and as I will document shortly and in more detail on Day 8, Kincaid Park is an Anchorage MUST DO.
Day 7:
Another day cruise, this time on the calmer Prince William Sound for the 26 Glacier Cruise operated by Phillips Tours. Many more glaciers to view than on the Kenai cruise, which is more about the wildlife. Still, on this cruise we were also treated to excellent wildlife and bird viewing, along with the advertised 26 glaciers (although extended time is only spent at a few of them...the rest are just drive-bys). The on-board snack/lunch (Alaskan Cod was served on ours) was much tastier than the offering on the Kenai cruise, and the overall service and narration experience was more enjoyable as well (not that there was anything wrong with the Kenai one; we just thought this one was better, is all). We also appreciated the reserved seating, as opposed to the free-for-all that was the case on the Kenai cruise.
Words of warning, though: If you're a passenger of size, you will NOT want to reserve yourself at a table for 6...it's a "booth" and you WILL be cramped. Book yourself at a table for 4 instead...you won't necessarily be on a window at a 4-seater, but you'll be much more comfortable...trust me on this! (Reserve by phone and ask about 4- vs. 6-seat tables when you talk to them.) Besides, you'll be getting up out of your seat for your primary photo ops out on the decks anyway. (Now, if you DO want a window seat and reserve a 6-seater, request positions A and F at your assigned table - the 2 window positions. We didn't know that ahead of time and had the A and B positions, which amounted to a window and a middle - again, not good for passengers of size (or anyone for that matter!)).
Also, here's a note about parking in Whittier: The cruise operator (whichever one you choose) will provide in advance a map that shows the correct parking for day cruisers...it's a couple blocks away from the cruise ship docks. Follow these instructions. There is also a parking area right at the docks, but it's not clearly marked that this area is NOT for day cruisers, and so it may appear at first that it's OK to park there. Instead, the staff processing your boarding documents will remind you quite clearly (and over and over) that you need to move your car to the other lot. So, just get it right the first time...trust me on this one. (I did get it right, but I watched countless others have to do the move-the-car dance while we were waiting to board (and of course I basked in my well-prepared-FT'er superiority while I watched...hehehehe)).
I would recommend both the Kenai Fjords cruise and also the Prince William/26 Glacier cruise, but if I had to choose only one, I would choose the latter one...smoother waters and a better overall experience, IMHO. YMMV, of course.
And of course, I have already documented our experience at the Whittier Tunnel in this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=846527).
Day 8:
Our final day in AK before catching a red-eye flight home that night, with my wife a bit under the weather for the day and wanting to take the whole day off, she turned me loose again and I hit Kincaid Park for an almost full day of hiking and Geocaching (http://www.geocaching.com). Despite the many great highlights of our trip, this may well have been the best day of all for me. Once again in pure crowd-free bliss due to this not being a tourist hot spot, the weather also happened to clear up as well, and this park is a TRULY GREAT PLACE. Moose roam the park like they own the place; I ran into 3 different moose along the way, including a mama moose and her calves (which I quite accidentally jumped just a few feet from where a geocache was hidden - they blended in with fallen tree limbs - but I lived to tell about it!), and a full-racked bull right along where the Coastal Trail enters the park, just munching away on the local greenery. Do your moose-safety research beforehand (as I did elsewhere on the 'Net and in this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=841643) here on FT) and if you're fortunate, this is a place where you can safely experience (and photograph if you're careful) these creatures pretty darned up close and personal. In addition, if you like to hike (or if you're like me and your geocache target coordinates take you there), go off the main paved trails and onto the many side trails...some of these trails took me up to some spectacular views of the Inlet and surrounding mountains, and for you FT plane geeks, views of incoming aircraft at nearby Anchorage International. And finally, all along the way I struck up conversations with many friendly locals who were there doing their own walking, hiking, and cycling, who were happy to chat with an out-of-towner like me who took the time to explore someplace in their town other than one of the typical tourist destinations. Be one of those people like I was, and you'll be like me telling your story about it as much or more than your stories about the more famous venues...I promise you that.
Thanks for reading this far; I hope my travelogue proved helpful to some of you as well as at least somewhat interesting/entertaining. I had fun writing it. And I want to thank again great FT'ers here like Jackal and Oldpenny and others here who provided such great info ahead of time; this made a BIG IMPACT on our enjoyment of our possibly-once-in-a-lifetime trip; I'm truly and genuinely grateful.