Going to Anchorage!
 

OK, so I just bought my plane ticket for Anchorage. I'm going in September for work (the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Fall Meeting - more like client development than work), and I'll be there September 11 through the 14th, leaving at 12:30 AM on the 15th, arriving back in Tallahassee at 3:30 that afternoon. I'll be pretty much by myself (my office's managing partner is going, but he's taking the family and is doing a cruise up to Anchorage).

So....who's been and what's to see? What is mandatory sightseeing? Good restaurants? I'm renting a car in case I need to drive to cool places to go.

I'm very much looking forward to the trip. My wife's none to pleased that I'm leaving her at home with the kids, but she doesn't want to take our 5 year old out of school, and I can't imagine two 11+ hour trips with a 5 year old and 4 month old being that much fun. The sacrifices we must make...

Don't forget to visit the Spankerage

*gets list*

Check!

BTW, I'm too lazy to go to the PM screen, so...the package is in the mail today. Sorry for the delay. Kids. What can I say?

go see the penguins.

I'm thinking about reaching out and touching Russia.

hope you pack your insulated wetsuit.

Walrus costume.

These are kinda cool...

I spent a year in Fairbanks. There are much prettier places in the State. Not worth taking the time to go to Fairbanks unless you want to stop on your way to the Arctic Circle.

Make sure that you go to Denali National Park while you are in the state.

The Moose's Tooth is a pretty good pizza joint in Anchorage.

If you do go to Fairbanks, the best two places to eat are The Hilltop Truck Stop and Tacks (great pie) (though I heard that Tacks burned down after I left).

I have not been--but I have heard that Juneau is one of the most amazing places on Earth. Might be easier, quicker, and less expensive to get there than to Russia.

I hear that the legal market there is pretty open, so if you fall in love with it, you will not have a problem finding a job. Good luck.

I'd make Rob Morrow look like Grizzly Adams. Don't think I could get the wife and kids to move there, in any event.

Who needs a wife and kids? You'll live off the land using nothing but your wits and a buck knife.

That'd be a haul, but here's the info if you want to go:

Denali National Park

I'm afraid if I attempted to take off without the family, the buck knife would wind up buried in my wits.

Spent a couple of weeks in and around Anchorage years ago. My brother-in-law and family lived there forever (Corps of Engineers guy) so we stayed at his house and used his camper, etc....

So cool to look out the back door at 2 a.m. and see (cuz it's light) the mountains towering with their snow capped peaks (in early July).

If at all possible, DO go to Denali. It is incredible. If I had web space (and a scanner), I would post AMAZING pictures, as we got lucky and had clear weather.

I.HEART.ALASKA.

It doesn't look THAT far away from Anchorage. I'll have to check it out to see if it's feasible or not. Since I have to check out on the morning of the 14th and my plane doesn't leave until midnight, I might just take that entire day to do some sightseeing.

Bah, it looks like it's 250 miles away. I don't know if I can swing that. We'll see. I've got 3 months to plan. Perhaps Fritz can concoct an evil plan for me to escape for 2 days without anyone noticing...

There are some interesting places on the Keani Pennisula, though I don't know their names. That will be a bit closer to Anchorage. With three months to plan, you should be able to find some pretty kick ass stuff pretty close by.

dola--

It's really spelled Kenai Peninsula

Oooh, can I go?

EDIT: I spent about 3 weeks in Anchorage in January. It was really depressing. Of course, I was working all night, so I spent the 3-4 hours of sunlight a day asleep. I don't rememer anything terribly interesting to do there. The restaurants I remember were very expensive, although the Sourdough Mining Company was pretty decent food for the money, but hardly fine dining. It is right next to Alaska Wild Berry Products which makes some pretty kick ass homemade candy, and you can get your picture taken with the world's largest chocolate waterfall as the background. Enthralled yet?

If I were to name one memorable attraction, it would have been the Great Alaskan Bush Company, link xx'ed for obvious reasons.

hxxp://www.akbushcompany.com/

If you enjoy a good strip club, this becomes a can't miss attraction. It is by far the best one I have ever been to.

I'm leaving next week for Alaska (by way of Miami, actually). At this point, it looks like I'm going to have Tuesday th 14th to do whatever I want. I'm planning to rent a car in the morning, and drop it off at the airport at around 10pm (my flight is at 12:35 am).

So, I've got 12 or so hours to tool around. I'm thinking about driving the Seward Highway and stopping at a bunch of places along the way. It's 125 miles one-way, so I should have plenty of time to make the trip and get back. Otherwise, I don't think I can get to Denali and back in one day. It'll give me an excuse to go back to Alaska, though.

For those in the know, is the Seward Highway a decent trip to make, given my restrictions? Anything I absolutely need to see along the way?