Anyone from AK?

The SWMBO and I are planing a vacation to AK (Fairbanks and Anchorage) next year and wanted to know any notable site to see (breweries Silver Gulch? or any of THESE, etc.) also if we needed to rent a car in Anchorage; can you get around without one?

What about Denali? What is the best way to see the park? Is it worth getting a hotel in the park? Any recommendations?

The agenda is fly into Fairbanks spend 1.5 days then travel down (method of travel is TBD the train is nice from what I hear or rent a car) to Anchorage staying in Danali for a night along the way. We then have 3 days in Anchorage.

When do youy plan on going?

When you go to Denali the best and I believe only way to get to the base of McKinley is the busses. Well worth the time and money, I believe we have seen just about every animal available on every trip through.

You will probably will want a car to get around Anchorage.

Aug '09 its the honeymoon. After Anchorage we take a 7 day cruse to Vancouver BC.

I lived in Fairbanks (North Pole) 4 years ago. It was awesome. Silver Gulch just started doing tours recently, so I don't know if it's a worthwhile visit. Their beer is decent. The Chena Pumphouse is a neat old bar/restaurant and usually has something interesting on the menu. Chena Hot Springs is pretty neat as well (check out the ice hotel). If you want to go a little off the beaten path, check out Two Rivers Lodge for some great food and atmosphere.

Denali is awesome. I highly recommend doing one of the bus tours. When we did the Denali tour, we rented an RV in Fairbanks, drove to the park entrance, and set up "camp." We took the bus tour, then spent the night in the RV. It was a blast.

The Glacier Brewhouse and Moose's Tooth were always mandatory stops during visits to Anchorage. You'll definitely want a car.

Really? A honeymoon to AK?

Our last summer sucked badly. less than 5 days of 70 degree weather. For you sake I hope its much better when you come up.

Glacier Brewhouse- Fine dining and Good beers.
Mooses Tooth- Not bad but the hippies they have working there take their sweet ass time doing anything. Weekends are a 2+ hr wait.
Snow Goose is decent- However they have a HUGE selection of Belgian ales

Best for food and atmosphere
Humpys- EXCELLENT food- Tons of beer on Tap <---- Def try this place out.
F-Street- Not a real huge selection of beer but 5 star food for excellent prices.
Peanut Farm- Tons of beers and good food. A Sports bar.
Suite 100- Classy with good selection of wine an beer.
Sullivans- Expensive but good food.
Club Paris- Awesome eatery


Hit up one of the Brown Jugs here and get some Midnight Sun Beers. Excellent local brewery

Yuri_Rage said:

If you want to go a little off the beaten path, check out Two Rivers Lodge for some great food and atmosphere.

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I spent 5yrs at Eilson AFB outside of Fairbanks and Yuri is right, Two Rivers Lodge is fantastic. It's really worth going to well your there.

MikeFlynn74 said:

Humpys- EXCELLENT food- Tons of beer on Tap <---- Def try this place out.

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Humpy's is a little more of the college/young crowd scene, but it can definitely be worth your time. Live bands and a great beer selection can really make a Friday/Saturday night!

Humpy's is a little more of the college/young crowd scene, but it can definitely be worth your time. Live bands and a great beer selection can really make a Friday/Saturday night!

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In recent times its become more of a 35-45 type place.

MikeFlynn74 said:

Really? A honeymoon to AK?

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Yup A few reasons: We are HUGE outdoors people (camping , backpacking, hiking, canoeing, etc), I travel a LOT and I have seen the lower 48, a life goal is to see every state in the US (SD might be my favorite so far) and Hawaii is over rated

Thanks everyone for the great places and feedback. Keep it coming!

MikeFlynn74 - What is there to do in ANCHORAGE other than bars? What should we see

In Anchorage? Not a whole lot. People leave Anchorage to do outdoors stuff.

If you are gonna do some real backpacking and camping I suggest you have 2 things.
Bear Spray and a .44 or larger. There are tons of places to go. Drive down the Seward Highway to

South of Anchorage
Homer. That where you can hitup the SatlyDog saloon on the Spit out in Kamachak Bay. Beautiful Drive.
Hitup Girdwood and take the tram to the top of Alyeska for a cool little trip.
Seward Sea life Center is cool as well as Exit Glacier
Portage you can visit a glacier too.
North
Out in Palmer there are a few places to go that have Musk Oxen and other animals you can go see.
Talkeetna is someplace to spend a day and do some flight seeing tours.
Go to Chena Hot springs- Its completely run by Geo thermal and is amazing place to go take a relax in the hot natural springs.
Denali is amazing- worth every penny.

My family and I go up every other summer, and last june we were ther for the solstice which was fun in Fairbanks. My son and I did the 10k midnight sunrun.

Anyway the wife and I made a point to try to hit all of the micros we could. I think we ended up tasting 20 diff AK beers.

Fairbanks-Silvergulch is cool and Chena hot springs was a bit of a tourist trap but still a blast.

Denali-If you have the access to camping gear it is worth it to find a camp ground and stay there. A cool experience for my boys instead of staying at a hotel that cuts you off from the nature. Bring lots of money, everything is jacked up in denali and hotels are ridiculous. Might be cheaper to buy camping gear in Fairbanks and Skip the hotel.
Bus rides are a blast but don't spring for the guided bus tour. Not worth it.

Anchorage-didn't hang there long but thought the SnowGoose was great. The Glacier brewhouse was out of alot and the service was very poor, but you might have another experience.

Seward-if you can get there its fun and very diff scene than Denali, again bring camping gear if you can.

Anchorage-didn't hang there long but thought the SnowGoose was great. The Glacier brewhouse was out of alot and the service was very poor, but you might have another experience.

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Ive always had the exact opposite. Snow Goose has pissed me off to where I dont go there anymore.

So I've lived in Fairbanks now for nearly 10 years, grew up here mostly. So here's my take/reccomendations:

Silver Gulch Brew Pub (a MUST). The place used to just be a brewery, but now is a "Brew Pub" with some pretty stellar food. Expect to spend a little but (~$20/person) but in my opinion well worth it. That's one of my favorite restaurants in this town.

Chena Hot Springs Also a good place to go, though in August it's meh. The best time to go is in the winter (since there is an outdoor pool). At about -20 F it's cold enough that your hair will freeze solid if you stand up out of the water far enough. It's not bad, but if you're outdoors-y people, I'd reccomend hiking at Angel Rocks (on the way to Chena hot springs, well known and state maintaned trails).

Pump House Restaurant Another good restaurant around here, sorta rustic feel. I personally like their grill menu (bergers/etc) and sitting on their deck rather than in the fine dining area, but to each their own.

Two Rivers I can't say I'm a fan of Two Rivers.. I've been there a few times over the years, and lately I just don't think the food is worth the cost. On top of that, I'm a non-smoker and the place still sorta reaks like tobacco smoke. I know some that love the place, but can't say I'm a fan.

I'd also reccomend renting a car in Fairbanks and driving up to the Arctic circle. It's a good day-trip up and back, on a rather bumpy (dirt/gravel) haul road. Also take some cans of gas since there's not really many (any?) gas stations up that way. How many people can say they've been to the Arctic circle? Along the way there's plenty of places to pull off and hike if you like, but there are a lot of bears in that area, so be aware.

That's about all I can think of off the top of my head. I'd also echo previois reccomendations, Moose's Tooth in Anchorage is a must visit, and you'd want a car in Anchorage.

I know August is your Honeymoon, but we typically don't have good weather than. In Anchorage, the average number of days of rain in August is 15. I typically tell me friends to visit in June and/or July. All of the places previously mentioned are good places to visit, just bring your rain coat.

One more thing, someone mentioned midnight sun brewery. If you're in Anchorage on a Friday, head over there after 5. Cool crowd, great beer, and a brewery tour.

Great information so far for Alaska. One thing I would suggest is if you rent a car in Fairbanks see if they have any that need to be returned to Anchorage, otherwise you will pay a fee to have your Fairbanks car returned. You will need a car in Anchorage: Brewhouse a must!

If you are into hiking here are a couple great day trips.

1) Hatchers Pass is about 15 miles outside of Palmer which is 40 miles from Anchorage, don't bother in August because of the rain. Like some one said earlier, this past summer was pathetic.

2) Crow Pass. Access it from Eagle River Road. You can play around or hike the entiere 24+ miles to Bird Creek. Awesome!!

3) Girdwood. Where hippies and convicted ex-congressmen hang out. Take the tram ride at Alyeska ski resort. You could ski in June too if you are so inclined.

4) Consider flying to Ketchikan and taking the ferry to Vancouver. It is a poor mans cruise but really wonderful way to travel, relaxing and pretty comfortable. You can rent a stateroom or pitch a tent on the fantail of the boat.

5) Float the Yukon River. If you start in Nenana on the Nenana river which empties into the Yukon the river flows at a good 6kt clip to Galena. You can catch a plane back to Anchorage from there. An awesome trip that is unsurpassed.

Alaska is a big place, to say the least. Between my wife and I, we have been from Ketchikan to Barrow form Cordova to Kodiak to Adak to many places in the interior. I love it and at -72, I have hated it too.

If you stick to the road system (which is still a nice trip) you will only see a fraction of the state. If you get creative and have a lifetime, you'll see a lot more. Stop by and sit in the hottub and we could share a HB!!

I was in Anchorage in Aug 2004 and it was 85 degrees. Hotel I stayed at did not have AC.

It was absolutely miserable

skier! said:

I was in Anchorage in Aug 2004 and it was 85 degrees. Hotel I stayed at did not have AC.

It was absolutely miserable

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That wasnt last summer- Less than 5 days over 70 this year. It really sucked ass.

Thanks for the tips LewBrew and everyone else!

DuffmanAK said:

Silver Gulch Brew Pub (a MUST). The place used to just be a brewery, but now is a "Brew Pub" with some pretty stellar food. Expect to spend a little but (~$20/person) but in my opinion well worth it. That's one of my favorite restaurants in this town.

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Went here last night for dinner. Our first meal in AK. Good beer great food!! Not cheap but I figure that's all of AK

Doing a few things around town today then grabbing the train down to Denali.

More to come later!


Ok what is the 1 Brewery I should see in Anchorage?

Glacier is better-

But if you havent been to Humpys- shame on you!

MikeFlynn74 said:

Glacier is better-

But if you havent been to Humpys- shame on you!

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I haven't made it to Anchorage yet


Pagoda for lunch in the North Pole. Great food!

Cool- In Downtown Anchorage you cannot beat F-Street for food, and Humpys for beer and hot women!

I was on that train so we didnt get into late

Went to Glacier last night for dinner good food and beer!

Leaving today to Seaward...woot!

skier! said:

I was in Anchorage in Aug 2004 and it was 85 degrees. Hotel I stayed at did not have AC.

It was absolutely miserable

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then stay out

RC0032 said:

I was on that train so we didnt get into late

Went to Glacier last night for dinner good food and beer!

Leaving today to Seaward...woot!

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Check out Chinook's or Ray's price a bit much, if you dont mind a smoky atmosphere then try the halibut at Thor's Showcase lounge.

Smoky atmosphere isnt a problem anymore......