Travel Tips

One place I am looking forward to traveling to is Alaska. This travelogue is meant to be the beginnings of planning an itinerary. I thought it would be interesting to put the above travel "blogs" to work, and so here goes. Please email me if you have any thoughts on what to see. Sorry about having no photos - I have yet to travel there, though I might put up a Powerpoint on the itineray once things start to reach a critical mass.

What I know so far:

When: On one hand want to have longer days (July) to see more, though also want to see the Northern Lights (December to March). Perhaps May or October.

I. History Books: I've yet to visit the world history department, though am thinking a book on Native Americans and also one on the recent development with the Gold Rush and Oil Pipelines. These might be handy to have while in transit.

II. UNESCO had the following:

1. Kluane/Wrangell-St. Elias/Glacier Bay/Tatshenshini-Alsek: These parks extend from Juneua up to Anchorage.

2. SGang Gway: Memory poles (like Totem Poles). Island seems out of the way, and should be able to see Totem Poles elsewhere.

3. Nahanni National Park: A bit out of the way, though looks interesting. Will need to follow-up on this.

III. Musuems

? TBA

Hm...this one is a bit hard to develop ideas...I guess I will know when I get there!!! The below is stereotypcal though meant to be in a humorous way. One thought is to stay in an Igloo for a night!

I. Food

With respect to food, I am looking forward to some Alaska King Crab. and another is to perhaps have a "Whale" sandwhich if something like exists or perhaps not due to environmental concerns.

2. Dancing

?

One thing that comes to mind is to use a "home base + day trip" approach. Perhaps I can set up camp in Anchorage or someplace, and then make day trips in various directions.

Also, it would be helpful perhaps to talk to locals to see what they think are places worth seeing.

I went through the various sites and found the following:

I. Festivals.Com: The main site I use (festivals.com) did not have too much. I general web search turned up a music festival in Wrangler.

II. 2Camels: Many more hits.

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race -March 03 - March 24, 2007

The 46th World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO) - July 18 - July 21, 2007

Hairy Chest, Legs and Beard Contest

Great American Bathtub Race - Nome, AK. Labor Day Weekend

Alaska Bald Eagle Festival - mid-November http://baldeaglefestival.org/

Well, no problem here with respect to Alaska. Actually, there is probably too much to choose from. There appear to be some obvious choices such as Denali National Park.

Also, really want to see the Northern Lights. I saw this on a web site:

"The "Northern Lights", at their most dazzling from December to March when nights are longest and the sky darkest, can usually be seen even as far south as Juneau."

With the focus on the outdoors and culture this looks to be a pretty focused trip.