Valdez and/or McCarthy?
 

Here's our itinerary so far (see below). What should we do with our last 5 days? Is Valdez/Prince Wm Sound amazing? Would it be better to do McCarthy area? Last summer we did Seward/Homer, so is Prince Wm sound that much different and special? Note that the ferry from Valdez-Whittier with our RV will cost $489. We can afford it, but is it worth it?

Renting an RV for 11 nights:
June 3 ANC-Talkeetna (overnight in a pull out somewhere)
June 4 Talkeetna-Teklanika (inside Denali--we have reservations)
June 5 Teklanika
June 6 Teklanika
June 7 Teklanika-? go across Denali Hwy (okay with my RV rental company)
June 8-13 open (fly out from ANC at 8am on the 13th).

Thank you!

Valdez and the Prince William sound is indeed a spot of beauty on this earth, and Thompson Pass on the Richardson Highway to Valdez is one of the most spectacular places you can drive to on this continent.

People sing the praises of Kennecott/McCarthy, but frankly, I failed to see the attraction of it (unless you were using it as a jumping-off point for trekking into the deep mountains of the Wrangells...). And that road is even worse than the Denali Highway (so if you do decide to go, check on that with your RV company, too). Maybe someone else can enlighten us on what there is to do and see there.

With your itinerary, you do have enough time to see both McCarthy and Valdez and take the ferry (which I do recommend doing, although I too would be hesitant at $489).

If you don't decide to go all the way to McCarthy, you might detour as far as Chitina, which is where the paved road ends and you can get a look at the majestic Copper River (famous for its salmon--there were fish wheels in the river when I went), before heading to Valdez.

Unless you're into hiking and the like, there's not a lot to "see" along your route, though, so even allowing a generous three days to drive to Valdez (sailing to Whittier on the 9th or 10th) leaves you with extra time on the back end. Since you said you already saw the Kenai Peninsula, maybe consider delaying the ferry ride (or the drive back from Valdez to Anchorage) to the 11th or 12th and making a detour up to Fairbanks.

Unfortunately, there is not an easy way to do this without backtracking if you are set on doing the Denali highway. But an idea I had would be this:
Drive north to Fairbanks on the Parks
South to Paxson on the Richardson
Back west to Cantwell via the Denali
South to Wasilla/Palmer on the Parks
Then over towards Valdez on the Glenn, which is a spectacularly beautiful This involves about 25 hours of solid driving, but I might split it up like this:
June 7: Denali to Fairbanks (2 hours), Fairbanks PM
June 8: Fairbanks AM, leave for Paxson in the afternoon (3 hours) and begin the Denali highway (check The Milepost, though, for a reference on a possible place to stop or a pull-out for the night), maybe go three hours in
June 9: Middle of the Denali Highway to Cantwell (another three or four hours) and then to Palmer/Wasilla (four hours)
June 10: Palmer to Glenallen (four hours), Glenallen to Valdez via a stop in Chitina (four hours)
June 11: Day in Whittier
June 12: Sail to Whittier and drive to Anchorage; return the RV

It kinda does sound like a lot now that I put it out like that, but hey, I like to drive! (And of course you could adjust how much you drive each day, if you want to spend less than a full day in Valdez--which would be perfectly fine--you can stay longer in Fairbanks or cover less ground per day.)

This itinerary might not be for you, but maybe it'll at least give you some ideas...and you'll have seen almost the entire state (at least the parts that are accessible by road!).

a suggestion:
 

most people drive the Seward Highway south out of ANC but never see it from the other side of Turnagain Arm. Check your MILEPOST for the road on the other side from Route 1 that goes to Hope. I've done some outstanding photos from that point of view. I don't know about taking an RV there.

I think you're making too much of a job out of this vacation. Driving too much and too far.

In all my decades of trips in and out of Alaska: living and working there, visiting and touring, I've learned to slow down and specialize. One glorious trip I spent 2 weeks along Turnagain Arm. I saw thousands of people drive past at speed while I was on foot taking my sweet time. I use the drive, park and hike method of seeing Alaska and will continue to do so as long as my legs will carry me.

I spent a day in the village of Hope (hundreds of people visit there a year!) and talked with gold miners who were still making a living in that area. They showed me where and how to look for gold nuggets.

There is so much more to Alaska than 99% of the visitors ever experience. Don't even talk to me about those who do the cruise/land tours and sleep on the buses along Turnagain arm! Makes me furious!

All right, so now you have two completely opposite perspectives! :D Being of the younger on-the-go generation, I like to see as much as possible, but there are definitely merits to oldpenny16's suggestions, too. I definitely agree with her perspective on the folks who come up on a cruise and cram a short land tour crammed in like cattle in a bus...

Thank you very much for the suggestions so far. I guess I'm a bit confused about why jackal recommends doing the Denali highway east to west and going through Fairbanks instead of doing the following:
ANC-Talkeetna-Denali (3 nights)-Cantwell-Denali Highway-Paxson-Glenallen-Chitina-Valdez-ferry-Whittier-ANC.
Wouldn't this be a more direct way of doing things? Maybe I'm missing something.
Thank you again for all of your help!

Because I'm more of a see-as-much-as possible kind of guy. (Oldpenny would argue that I'm a see-as-little-as-possible guy...) In my style of vacation, if you did that direct route, you'd end up with several extra days with nothing to do. Therefore, I was suggesting a visit to Fairbanks, but I was suggesting the route in a way that would minimize the backtracking and would also allow you to travel the Glenn Highway, which is a beautiful road.

Check out this Google Map with directions for a visual of my suggested route.

If, however, you feel like traveling more in oldpenny16's slower style, then perhaps you should consider going the Denali-Cantwell-Denali Highway-Paxson-Glenallen-Chitina-Valdez-ferry-Whittier-ANC itinerary, but go ahead and go to McCarthy, since it is a beautiful spot (in the middle of the Wrangells) and is very relaxing, especially if you'd like to take some hikes in that area (check the NPS page for Wrangell-St. Elias NP). (See this Google Map with a terrain overview to see the kind of terrain you'd cover on that itinerary--you can see that McCarthy is right in the heart of the Wrangells).

Picking this itinerary would have you skip both Fairbanks and the Glenn Highway, both worthy items on an Alaskan tour, but if your preferred pace is slower, it's likely a worthwhile trade.

Thanks for the clarification, Jackal. I appreciate your time and advice. I'm thinking we'd rather do less since we've got our two-year-old in tow :)

Hey! I'm an old woman!
 

Having a 2 year old along changes a great deal. For one thing make sure you have some black plastic trash sacks and tape so you can cover windows or the child won't sleep!

The child won't remember the trip, but you will have photos. Is your goal to have a wonderful vacation with your wife and go home rested and recharged or to put on the miles?

Most driving takes a lot more time in Alaska than most Outsiders can understand. You have to use your MILEPOST to plan where you can buy gas and get groceries.

You will have back ups of traffic on some roads caused by people driving RV's who have no experience doing so and are afraid of them.

You will want to meet and talk to some real Alaskans!

You have to be prepared to sit out weather and take care of laundry and child related duties.

You may meet some old woman working in an Alaskan road house (cafe/motel/store) who has a story to tell and likely drove the AL-CAN highway in an old Ford with her little dog for company.

You might meet some old man who knows where gold is!

Don't rush!

While I love the area and even the road to McCarthy (which actually doesn't go all the way to McCarthy), I would never recommend taking an RV there.

The road past Chitina is far from RV friendly.

I've heard they've made many improvements on it in the last couple of years, but if it's in the same condition it was when I did it (sometime between '94 and '97 or so), then yeah, don't take your motorhome on it. We did it going 35mph most of the way in a Toyota Tercel and had to replace the shock absorbers upon our return to Anchorage (the drive back up the Glenn felt like we were in a speedboat jumping wave crests...).

Also, as Quokka said, you can't actually drive to McCarthy or the Kennicott mine itself. You park in a large lot on the banks of the Kennicott River and walk on a pedestrian-only bridge. After crossing the river, you can either walk the half a mile or so to the town and the five or so miles on to the mine ruins or there are vans that run around the area for a fee. (Google Maps satellite imagery of the pedestrian crossing here and of the road to the Kennicott mine here.) In 1993 or so, my aunt went and told tales of having fun hauling herself across the river in a hand-pulled tram, but by the time we got there, they'd built the pedesterian bridge. (There's still a fun hand-pulled tram at Wonder Creek near the Alyeska hotel in Girdwood, though.)

If you can manage to go, it is a beautiful area (picture of the mine here, with the Wrangell-St. Elias mountains in the background), and apparently there are now tours of at least something (it was disappointing for me when I went because there were no tours--we just poked around the outside of the buildings and then left). But it's a long and harrowing drive to get there...

The vandals got to the tram in Girdwood several times last year. Its currently broke.