Hi Folks!

I'm seriously considering a visit to ANC at Thanksgiving (Wed-Mon). The timing is right (extra vacation days and time before end of year to earn more UA EQMs.)

My biggest concerns are weather and the holiday slowdown in terms of available activities.

I've seen folks online say it's not going to be *that* bad weather wise. (and on a different forum, @jackal, gave me some sense of what to expect.
(I live in Chicago. So, by late November, I'll be in the mind set of cold weather and early sunsets).

I've never been north of Vancouver so I'm just curious about AK and very open activities wise.

I'd be pretty happy with just driving around to see beautiful sites, take photos and relax for a long weekend. But it would be nice to do a few other things.

With it being t-giving, i expect everything to close early on Wednesday until Friday morning. Will I be bored stiff?

If the weather falls on the cooler/snowier side, will I still be able to find something to do?

Thoughts would be much appreciated.

What are you looking at doing when you are there?

If it were me, in November I would go to Juneau and Haines instead. There are thousands of eagles that congregate in the Eagle Preserve north of Haines every year in November through early the following year.

You can fly to Juneau then either fly or take a ferry to Haines. You can rent a car either in Juneau or in Haines. I find that renting in Juneau and taking the car on the ferry to Haines is the same price or less than renting in Haines, and far more convenient since you will have the car upon arrival in Juneau.

Also, taking the ferry to Haines is more reliable than flying that time of year. Flights Juneau to Haines are small planes and often get canceled due to the weather.

And a day or two in Juneau would be nice - museums are still open (and often free in the winter), the Mendenhall Glacier never "closes" and the visitor center at the glacier is free in the winter when it is open.

Something to consider anyway.

The risk in Anchorage in November is that as the days are much shorter than in Chicago the feeling will be drab and dreary. Not good for photos. Trust me, I've tried.

The OP needs UA EQMs, and no *A carrier flies to JNU. He's coming to ANC because of the *A service.

The weather is likely to be better/milder than ORD, but oldpenny16 has a point about the length of the days. At Thanksgiving, the sun rises at 9:30am and sets at 4:00pm. I've personally gotten so used to it over the last 15 years that it doesn't really affect me, but it is something to think about.

As for activities, most of the touristy things will have shut down by then. The museum will be open, and I believe the Alaska Native Heritage Center (a very worthwhile stop) is open on Saturdays. Hiking opportunities are obviously more or less gone, but if you're into winter sports (skiing, snowmobiling, etc.), there's tons to do.

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for the information. Sorry for the sluggish response. I've been away from FT for a while. (Oh, the horror!). I subscribed to the thread but for some reason didnt receive emails with your responses. So, I didn't realize you all had chimed in.

Sooo, to answer some questions ...

Yup. I am on Star Alliance so Anchorage is where I'm headed (though Juneau does sound interesting).

I'm coming at Thanksgiving since I'll have some extra days off.

The weather and daylight situation (atleast the timing of sunset in the afternoon/evening) will be similar to Chicago. (Sun sets there around 420pm in mid december.) Can't say that I like it but I'm used to it. LOL!

What do I want to do? Well .... I don't know :-o .... I have never been to AK so just being there is exciting enough for me. I wanted to drive around and just see the sights/landscapes. I'm not a skiier but snowmobiling or dog sledding could be fun.

I didn't think about the fact that it might not be sunny but overcast. I'm also used to dreary looking fall/winter days in Chicago ... but that could be a problem as I was hoping for some nice photo ops.


Well, thanks for the info everyone.

Hope the upcoming DO is a blast!

vysean led some of our group on a snowmobiling tour out of Girdwood last March for our Spring Break Do. They all reported it was an absolute blast, and they came out with some awesome photos. Might send him a PM for the name of the outfit he used (I don't remember what it was).

Not sure what the dogsledding options are in winter. The weather's right for them, of course (well, sometimes--November can be hit or miss on the snowfall), but not too many tourists are here in the long, dark days of winter! I've got to hit the sack now, but if no one else has input on those, bump this thread back up and I'll take a look.