Originally Posted by og
I was going to mention the following day trip until I saw the "beer budget" remark - but hell, I'll mention it anyway!
If you have USD $1000 to spare, and if the weather is totally clear, go to the friendly folk at Pen Air at ANC and ask them for a round trip to Dutch Harbour (DUT). It's a 3 hr SAAB flight half way down the Aleutians. The DUT landing is better than the old Kai Tak landing in HKG. Stunning scenery - active volcanoes, the usual glaciers, islands etc. You also get a fuel stop at King Salmon. Try to squeeze a few hours in at DUT so you can walk into town and smell the fish factories or walk up the hills to see the WW2 war relics. Even better, fly from DUT further down the Aleutians in a Goose on one of its runs. Fine / clear weather only.
Actually, if your FFP allows rewards on AS, the trip to the Chain (DUT etc.) is a decent use of 20K miles IMO, or 15K if you don't go all the way to DUT (several other airports that would give an interesting glimpse of the Peninsula and inner chain.) Also (not sure if they'd want 15K or 20K) Pen Air flies to the Pribilof Islands, St Paul and St George, in the middle of the Bering Sea. Absolutely fascinating towns - fur seal rookeries, Russian churches, and one of the global Valhallas of birding.
Pen Air flies to all sorts of interesting places throughout the western part of the state, as heirs (sort of) to Reeve Aleutian. As in RAA RIP.
BTW, flying on the Geese only in fine/clear weather is good, if impractical, advice. Precious little of either out where the Goose goes. But VFR only, so if it's flying at all you'll see out. Some time I'll tell the tale of a wall-eyed Goose driver of my acquaintance who was anatomically perfect for the task.