Alaska on a Budget - 2009

my dream is also to travel to









i almost had my dream come true. i wish the best for those who can afford to go. someday, perhaps I can afford to go. until then, please enjoy this beautiful and wonderous place for me.

Fourth trip coming up in August and will probably be last as age 77 arrives a month prior to our departure. Will be arriving in Anchorage, picking up a motorhome and heading N. then back thru Glenallen, Chitina, Valdez, Anchorage Whittier, Seward, Hope, Soldotna and Homer, then back to Anchorage. Debating about fishing trip as 60 lb. Halibut and Ling Cod were tough on old shoulders back in '08. As I say about Vegas - All should go once!

I was station at fort Richardson in 1950 for two years went back in 1998 and could not believe how that city and fort grew was total lost for words.

My paternal grandmother has a family tree that goes back byond 1600, among some English royalty I discovered that a great grandfather of mine (not sure how many "greats", I want to say 3), Henry Seward, owned Alaska until he sold it to the US.. I could kick him for doing that, not only would I be finacially stable to some degree but I'd more than likely live there and it's always a a dream of mine to go there even before I knew about him. I want to see the glaciers (before they are gone), take one of the ferry/cruised to see the glaciers and whale watching, see the mountains and all the snow, the Northern Lights. I am from Long Island, NY, I can barely see the stars since the are blocked by the lights of NYC, my favorite season is winter which until the last few years was never really much to talk about. We used to get about 1-3 "storms"of maybe 3-6 inches, last yr I believe we had 3 BLIZZARDS and over 5 FEET of snow all winter, I am ready for ALASKA!!!!!

Hi Kara,

I noticed an Alaskan photo and a couple links later, came to your story and photo album.

Your cover photo: "8 11 09 Beautiful view along the East End Road (East of Homer)" is very nice. Horizontal layers of sunny green plants in foreground, topped by soft lavender (?phlox) blooms, contrasted behind that with narrow, spindly evergreens, then soft but rich blue waters, then faded distant dark blue/purple mountains, rising to white snow and clouds, layerd still above with wispy blue sky. It's one of several scenery pics by other photographers, I'm considering for my dining room wall, the the residence I bought and moved into several months ago.

Took a lot of pics in Alaska myself when I was there. Have some good ones. You covered some top areas I missed. I covered some top areas you missed. And we both covered some of the same spots.

My 2 wk trip in Sept 2001, with my nephew who was just finished with college but not yet employed, got interrupted in mid stream, by 9/11. So I never made it over to Juneau-to-Skagway area. We found other interesting places to go instead, and wound up on some of the same places you were in Seward, the Russian/Kenai River, etc.

I too considered moving to Alaska. But it's better suited to younger folks, than retirees. And once you get in there, it can be hard to get out, financially.

Okay with you if I use your photo for my wall? I can share some of mine with you if you like. Not sure how you can contact me, since I'm not familiar with this particular site. But I'm a member of a couple Yahoo Groups, and you can get my email from there. One is The OSS Society, where I'm an author and historian; another is Yamaha PSR Group, about music keyboards.

Bob A

a trip to alaska is never complete until you take a drive to homer and go halibut fishing,go in late august or early september and you can also watch the whale`s jumping in the gulf of alaska and the bearing sea.

alaska is awesome i lived there for a short time 1 yr in anchorage and 3 in sitka both have unique sights but for me sitka is the special place --the people are great and so helpful sights are fabulous and so is the fishing -i am going again in sept of 2011 but will probably the last trip i will make but if family was closer i would live there forever--i love it

My husband, daughter, & I are planning a trip to Alaska the end of June. We plan to fly to Anchorage, take the train to Denali, spend some time there, then go on to Fairbanks, rent a car & drive back to Anchorage to fly home. Any suggestions as to where to stay in Denali, or about the train, Fairbanks, or anything in general?

Kara so happy for you.Thanks for all the tips.Have Alaska on my bucket list after northern Ca and Oregon.