SaltyAdventurer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2009
- Posts
- 142
My husband and I are taking off for Alaska the end of May 2013, and we'd love to know if there are other forum buddies we might meet up with during our trip. We'll be gone for 94 days total. The general plan:
Leave May 29, head north from Denver to Jackson, WY, Yellowstone NP (June 1-4), then Glacier (June 7-10), Calgary AB (6/11-12), Edmonton AB (6/13-14), then up through Dawson Creek to the Yukon Territory toward Whitehorse (6/15-21). After Tok, we'll head west toward Anchorage--we're skipping Fairbanks (eliminating the miles), but want to see Valdez, then Talkeetna and Hope. Might take a flight over Denali out of Anchorage or Talkeetna, depending on weather. Our decision to skip Fairbanks and Denali is because of the long driving hours and then the long bus rides in Denali...sounded to us like just too much time on the roads, sitting. We'll hit Anchorage (June 30 to about July 4), then Soldotna for 2 days, Kenai for 4 days, Homer for 3 days, and on to Seward for 2 days. By July 15, we have to be in Whittier for our long ferry trip to Juneau...we decided to avoid the long road trip back north to Tok in order to get to Haines Junction and Southeast Alaska. The ferry trip at this point sounds terrific...1 1/2 days to Juneau from Whittier, for $1700, including a 4-berth cabin and our 25' Itasca Reyo MH. The day after we get to Juneau, we're flying to Gustavus (sans RV) to stay 2 nights at the Gustavus Inn (friends of ours stayed there and loved it!) to celebrate our 43rd wedding anniversary. After a lot of time on the ferry, I'm undecided whether to sign up for the 6-8 hour boat tour of Glacier Bay. Anybody want to offer an opinion?
Two more days in Juneau when we return (July 28-29), then a ferry to Sitka for 3 days. Sat Aug 3 ferry to Petersburg for a couple of nights, then ferry again to Wrangell for 2 nights. Ferry Aug 7 to Ketchikan for 4 nights, followed by the long ferry trip from Ketchikan to Prince Rupert...again, I got a cabin for us so we could sleep, read and view the scenery in peace. Aug 12 we go from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island by ferry, and take 6 days to drive south to Victoria, visiting Alert Bay along the way. On Aug 18 we ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, WA, then spend 3-5 nights in Olympic NP and travel down the Washington and Oregon coasts to Brookings, where we'll visit family for 4-5 days. We'll take 5-6 days to drive home via Klamath Falls OR, Winnemuca NV, Salt Lake City and Rawlins WY.
I've made almost all of the ferry reservations already, in order to ensure we'd get the dates we wanted and cabins when necessary. We were told by friends who traveled to Alaska in 2011 in their Roadtrek that 4-berth cabins are a necessity when taking long ferry trips...the 4-berthers have a private bathroom, and two lower bunks with space to put bags, cameras, luggage etc on the upper bunks. (2-berth cabins have an upper & a lower bunk...not very comfortable for people in their late 60s and 70s!)
Leave May 29, head north from Denver to Jackson, WY, Yellowstone NP (June 1-4), then Glacier (June 7-10), Calgary AB (6/11-12), Edmonton AB (6/13-14), then up through Dawson Creek to the Yukon Territory toward Whitehorse (6/15-21). After Tok, we'll head west toward Anchorage--we're skipping Fairbanks (eliminating the miles), but want to see Valdez, then Talkeetna and Hope. Might take a flight over Denali out of Anchorage or Talkeetna, depending on weather. Our decision to skip Fairbanks and Denali is because of the long driving hours and then the long bus rides in Denali...sounded to us like just too much time on the roads, sitting. We'll hit Anchorage (June 30 to about July 4), then Soldotna for 2 days, Kenai for 4 days, Homer for 3 days, and on to Seward for 2 days. By July 15, we have to be in Whittier for our long ferry trip to Juneau...we decided to avoid the long road trip back north to Tok in order to get to Haines Junction and Southeast Alaska. The ferry trip at this point sounds terrific...1 1/2 days to Juneau from Whittier, for $1700, including a 4-berth cabin and our 25' Itasca Reyo MH. The day after we get to Juneau, we're flying to Gustavus (sans RV) to stay 2 nights at the Gustavus Inn (friends of ours stayed there and loved it!) to celebrate our 43rd wedding anniversary. After a lot of time on the ferry, I'm undecided whether to sign up for the 6-8 hour boat tour of Glacier Bay. Anybody want to offer an opinion?
Two more days in Juneau when we return (July 28-29), then a ferry to Sitka for 3 days. Sat Aug 3 ferry to Petersburg for a couple of nights, then ferry again to Wrangell for 2 nights. Ferry Aug 7 to Ketchikan for 4 nights, followed by the long ferry trip from Ketchikan to Prince Rupert...again, I got a cabin for us so we could sleep, read and view the scenery in peace. Aug 12 we go from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island by ferry, and take 6 days to drive south to Victoria, visiting Alert Bay along the way. On Aug 18 we ferry from Victoria to Port Angeles, WA, then spend 3-5 nights in Olympic NP and travel down the Washington and Oregon coasts to Brookings, where we'll visit family for 4-5 days. We'll take 5-6 days to drive home via Klamath Falls OR, Winnemuca NV, Salt Lake City and Rawlins WY.
I've made almost all of the ferry reservations already, in order to ensure we'd get the dates we wanted and cabins when necessary. We were told by friends who traveled to Alaska in 2011 in their Roadtrek that 4-berth cabins are a necessity when taking long ferry trips...the 4-berthers have a private bathroom, and two lower bunks with space to put bags, cameras, luggage etc on the upper bunks. (2-berth cabins have an upper & a lower bunk...not very comfortable for people in their late 60s and 70s!)