Anchorage, Alaska

[notsopicky]

We are booked for an Alaska cruise in June. I booked all of the excursions today for the cruise itself (Salmon fishing! Lumberjack show! Wildlife cruise! Panning for gold! White Pass Railway!). 

We will have 2 full days in Anchorage before the cruise leaves, and I have no idea what to plan. 2 adults and 1 9 yo.

Who's been/lived there? Tell us what to see, eat, do. This trip is a bucket-list for me, and it'll most likely be the only opportunity in my lifetime that we'll get there. 

[FrozenSunshine]

Yes - Eat at Moose's Tooth it is worth the wait. It is the first meal I have everytime I go home.

Biggest question is will you have a car? or using uber? Public transportation is basically non-existent.

[notsopicky]

I think we will end up getting a car.

Is heading up north toward Denali reasonable? Are there places to stay? I was thinking we could do a night in Anchorage, a night "up north" and then a second night in Anchorage before we sail.

Or, are there guided driving tours (meaning, someone else drives us)? We did that in Acadia NP in Maine and it was awesome. EXPENSIVE, but awesome.

[dcn]

Denali is at least 4 hours from Anchorage to drive. You could take a bus or train which is a lovely way to see Alaska but it takes longer. There’s more than plenty to do for 2 days in anchorage though.

Midnight sun brewery was our favorite brewery when we lived there. Yes to moose’s tooth! We usually went at off hours to avoid a long wait. South and Spenard Roadhouse are also good, Snow City for breakfast, Middle Way cafe is also good. There are a ton of new restaurants that have popped up since we moved away in 2015.

Anchorage is great because there are bike paths/ski paths all throughout the city. You could rent bikes downtown and head to Kincaid Park, go see Earthquake park and point Worzonof- on a clear day you can see Denali from here. WestChester Lagoon is also lovely with lots of wildlife and the railroad goes by so you could catch a glimpse of the Alaska train.

If you want to hike you could do Flattop. You could also go a bit north of Anchorage and do Thunderbird falls and Euklatna Lake. Or go south toward Girdwood and do an easy 1 mile hike to Byron Glacier.

There is a big market on the weekends downtown - I used to like getting a salmon quesadilla there! Lots of local crafters and food.

[notsopicky]

Feb 23, 2020 21:24:06 GMT -5 strawberry said:

I have no idea what date you’ll be there in June but if it happens to be around Summer Solstice, they have a Summer Solstice festival that was pretty neat. We also went to a late night baseball game during the daylight that was pretty unique. We tried to take a walk out at Earthquake park but the mosquitoes 🦟 almost carried us away. 😂

We'll be there June 17 (late arrival, 9pm or so)-June 20 (will check in for cruise around 2pm). 

[lahoagie]

I like the Anchorage zoo. Last time we were there we did a behind the scenes with the wolves which was awesome.

[FrozenSunshine]

The drive to Denali isn't all that pretty. It'd be a good 4 hours each way and if you want to do a tour at the park I think the shortest one is 3-4 hours on a bus, so that'd be a lot of sitting time on a vacation.

If you get a car and want a pretty drive I'd head south of Anchorage to Girdwood (less than an hour drive.) There is the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center which I remember being way cooler than the zoo. It's a beautiful drive. There are glaciers down there you can walk up to. A couple great restaurants too - my favorite being Double Musky. You can take the tram up the Mountain at Alyeska for views. There's a cheesy place along the way that you can pan for gold.

If you stay downtown Anchorage, you can rent bikes as PP mentioned. The Coastal Trail goes all along the water basically from downtown Anchorage to the Airport. Lots of parks and resting places along the way. You can walk the trail as well.

Eat a reindeer dog from a street vendor.

Ship Creek runs right along downtown and there is a Fish Hatchery you can view if your 9 year old is into that kinda stuff.