Gardyloo

Precisely.

There's a tendency for people on travel boards (especially on places like TripAdvisor) to re-plan your vacation for you, and I don't want to do that. But I think you need to appreciate that Alaska is SO FULL of incredible visiting opportunities that you can swap, for example, a hike in Denali Park with one somewhere else, get a very comparable (or maybe superior) experience, but at a much lower time and dollar cost. There are umpteen hikes around Anchorage, or Seward, or in the Wrangell-St. Elias NP area, or elsewhere on the Kenai Peninsula, that are glorious but not nearly as weather-dependent as some might be at Denali in May (or muddy, or with washed-out trails, or as cold.)

To the extent your visit is road-based, you need to understand that the road experience is often more rewarding than the destination experience. This certainly is the case with the Richardson Highway and Valdez; unless you're into oil and gas industrial architecture (oh wait, you're from Houston? ) the town of Valdez itself is not much to see. It's the getting there that matters - one of the most scenic roads in North America, with one "ooh look" opportunity after another - scenery, roadside glaciers, probably some animals way up there or way over there (cars pulled off to the side of the road = "stop.")

So rushing through to get to a destination misses the point; it's what you see en route that really justifies the drive.

You're right - mid-May is cheaper because not many people are there yet. They're not there because in some cases Alaska isn't ready for them yet. The key, in my view, is to work around the places that offer sub-par experiences at that time (or run the risk of sub-par) by substituting higher-percentage activities.

I think Denali definitely falls into that category, and, at the risk of offending some, I'll throw Fairbanks into that pile too. In terms of what you say you're coming to see - wilderness, outdoor activities, glaciers and wild scenery, etc. - frankly Fairbanks has much less to offer given your limited time than other alternatives using the same number of days. The town itself is okay (frankly no city in Alaska is going to be a finalist in any beauty pageants) and some of the things are interesting (the U of A campus, maybe, a couple of museums) but counting the hours to get there, is it interesting enough to consume a third of your total time in Alaska? In my view, no. Hell no.

One possible substitution - go to Valdez and maybe stop at McCarthy en route (but I would really pass on McCarthy too - if you want an "old mine" experience you could visit Hatcher Pass near Palmer - an easy day trip from Anchorage.) Take your time along the Richardson and through Thompson Pass. It's really worth poking along instead of trying to outrun the RVs.

But then from Valdez don't re-trace your route back up the Richardson. Instead, put the car on the ferry across Prince William Sound to Whittier (around 5 hours, super scenic, maybe close to the Columbia Glacier face) then head down the Kenai Peninsula to Homer. Spend a couple of days in Homer - maybe go across Kachemak Bay to Seldovia; maybe take a flightseeing trip over the Harding Icefield - go kayaking or halibut fishing, do some local hikes... There's lots to see, and you won't be constantly in the car.

(So there, I've gone and done it - re-planned your trip. )

But maybe you get my point.

Oh, wanted to mention on the arctic flight thing...

Right now Alaska Airlines is having a sale on frequent-flyer miles for purchase. Buy 22,000 miles for $600 or so, and they'll bonus you 8000 additional miles. Turn around and redeem those 30,000 miles for two round-trip tickets from Anchorage to Barrow, or Kotzebue, or Nome (or, for that matter, Juneau or Sitka in SE Alaska - a totally different environment.) Of course it's even cheaper if you happen to possess Alaska, Delta or American miles, all of which could be redeemed for the same flights, albeit at different "costs." Remember this is Flyertalk.

(I tend to recommend Kotzebue because you're above the Arctic Circle, it's a very interesting Eskimo village, right on the Arctic Ocean, and it's not as expensive or touristy as Barrow; however this applies also to Barrow.)

Go for a couple of days, maybe at the end of your visit. You wouldn't need a car for those days, and given car rental costs in Anchorage, the "net" cost might be surprisingly cheap in terms of trade-off, and because it would definitely be the shoulder season in the arctic, your accommodation costs might be decent too. And at the end of May, you'll be in "midnight sun" country - in Barrow the sun will be up 24 hours; in Kotzebue around 22.

In my view, even if the marginal cost ended up higher, the benefits - an entirely foreign environment, a remarkable cultural experience - would more than equal out, vastly so IMO. Alaska is as much about the people as it is the mountains and animals.

So more confusion to the pot, I suppose.