2 days in ANC - what to do?
 

Making the trek up to ANC on my LONE4. Will have two days in ANC with a beer budget - any suggestions on what to do/see?

Not an enormous amount to see.do in ANC itself, ans this time of year there are a zillion cruise ship tourists hunting for t-shirts and similar kitsch.

At the risk of stretching your beer budget, a ride on the Alaska Railroad to Seward, followed by a reasonably-priced wildlife cruise (Kenai Fjords operates some very good cruises) would be a memorable excursion.

There are lots of exciting things to do in and around ANC. A drive or train ride down to Seward would be one of the highlights. Don't let the cost scare you off. It's a great trip and beautiful place to visit. The Alaska forum on FT has much more info...

Forgot to give you a recommendation for a restaurant.

Check out the Glacier Brewhouse.

Great food, great beer.

http://www.glacierbrewhouse.com/home.htm

Costs are high during summer -- typically triple the price for hotel rooms and rental cars compared to December -- can't imagine why! (my own ANC story is renting a car in December and finding the doors completely frozen shut, not just the lock but the whole door). Despite the cost I would say renting a car is mandatory if you want to see any of the good parts of Alaska. The alternative as mentioned is the railway to Seward and a cruise (which, if same cost as a rental car, might be a good option). Save elsewhere on your OWE trip, in ANC you have to spend money and you have to leave the tourist strip in ANC (which is abysmal).

You are not wrong there!, yesterday and today I have beem trying to put the final touches to my ANC bookings for late June, and the prices I'm getting make Paris and Tokyo look like el cheapo destinations!

Try Priceline for cars, and look for secondary chains for accommodation, not Hilton, Sheraton et al. The cruise business absolutely drives the tourism economy in Anchorage in the summer, buying massing blocks of rooms.

You won't save any money on accommodation, but I'd recommend first timers heading down Turnagain Arm to Girdwood for an overnight. You will definitely feel like you're in Alaska, rather than a fairly typical US city (albeit with mountains in the suburbs and moose in the neighborhoods on occasion.) Next day, take the "26 Glacier" cruise out of Whittier for some up-close encounters with amazing scenery. Try the Double Musky restaurant at Girdwood, and the bakery at the Alyeska ski resort lodge in the morning, for cinnamon rolls from heaven.

Visit the Native Heritage Center on the northern edge of Anchorage, to get something of a glimpse of the many human aspects of Alaska, rather than just a diet of mountains and critters.

If you want to buy the best native crafts to take home, the gift shop at the Alaska Native Hospital (get a map - not far from downtown) is by far the best, and quite reasonable given the quality.

If time permits, do try a floatplane flightseeing trip out of Lake Hood (next to ANC.) Some amazing scenery just outside the suburbs.

Darwin's Theory in ANC, if you drink.

Excellent advice. Most of the scenery on the flight to ANC is on the right hand side, so get an F seat if you care about this. On one flight the plane was an hour ahead of schedule due to winds and the pilot started doing S turns for the last 2 hours of the flight -- to show off the scenery as well as slow down the flight. But that happens rarely. Even without the scenic tour there is a lot of wilderness to observe on this route and quite interesting even from 37,000 feet.

ANC Doings
 

The museum in town is worth a look. Driving to Seward, and then taking one of the day fijord trips is fun. (I did one last June with all the prime rib AND salmon you could eat! I had 2nds of each, and was stuffed for 24-hours!) There is a bridge tournament in ANC at the end of June to which I am going.

Cheers.

Only 2 days???
 

I also had 2 days as part of a DONE4 in July 2002 and would have gladly extended it to 2 weeks if it wasn't for other family committments at the time. Although we stayed at the Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, I would have been perfectly comfortable sleeping in the back of the rental car, which turned out to be a Ford Expedition even though we had reserved a mid-size.

Day 1 included decent hiking around Girdwood and day 2 was the beautiful 26 Glacier cruise. Despite some rainy weather, the natural environment we experienced on both land and water was nothing short of breathtaking. If you can stay longer, there is so much more to see and you will not be disappointed (as long as the beer budget stays intact) !

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.

Seriously though, if you are on a beer budget, then there's no better place to go than the Midnight Sun brewery. Yummy beers and a few odds and ends you can buy as well. http://www.wildales.com/

The brewery is in Anchorage but you'll need a car to get there.

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.

The only problem with any of the PenAir flights down the chain is the fish factories - they'll block book every possible seat on some flights just to move their workers as the "catch" demands. The only way to get on then is to pay the US$500 ANC-DUT. This must be a real money maker now that the SAABs are pretty near 100% sure of landing in DUT whereas the old 732s were lucky if they COULD land in DUT (with the dodgy winds and cumulo granite clouds).

One needs to be aware of who's processing what where, and work around it. Any travel in SW Alaska requires a good deal of patience and flexibility of schedule - not the best bet for many RTWers or those doing seagull/MR trips.

The jets at DUT were always a dicey proposition. Reeve's YS-11 was the perfect plane for the route, albeit I think it topped out around 200 knots so not exactly a lightening bolt.