Anchorage Alaska

[roosta]

Me and my girlfriend are planning a trip to Anchorage Alaska for the middle of August and i am looking for something to keep me occupied. She wants to go look at whales and mountains, I just want to get away for awhile. Any suggestions on things to do while there? I dont have alot of money to blow so would like to keep things on the cheap, dont plan on renting a 40 foot schooner and sail the high seas or anything. Halibut fishing would be good but i think that would probably be expensive. We will be renting a car so we could drive around alittle. My brother lived in Fairbanks and has been telling me how much Anchorage sucks so hopefully this wont be a shitty trip.

Isnt there a real cool bar in Anchorage? somethingg that was voted one of the top 10 or 20 in the US?

[Borzak]

Since you will have a car you can drive down the highway along the cook inlet and watch the Bora Tide, where the tide changes so fast it creates a tide wave of 6 foot or more. Kinda neat to watch, and people try and surf it as it comes up.

You can also keep driving down toward Kenai and at the mouth of the river watch the whales from shore there. It's also fun to watch people who park on the beach and walk off and loose there car when the tide changes 30+ feet in a few hours.

Halibut fishing is "ok", we went on a private boat but the charters are more about getting a lot of people out to sea than catching halibut.

Salmon fishing is the big thing if you go before the end of August. They call it comat fishing because people stand shoulder to shoulder.

Drive down to Seward for the day and look around, lotta fun. Look up on the net when they have their annual summer race down the mountain. Go to that if it's while you are there and watch people hurl themselves off a mountain and break limbs and legs to win. Plus it's free to watch.

Visit Portage Glacier which is just south of Anchorage and it's either free or cheap to park I can't remember. Exit glacier you can get out and walk out on the glacier and it's free or nearly free on the way down to seward.

Basically just drive and look. Tho there's only a road from Anchorage to Fairbanks, a road from Anchorage down the Kenai penisula which goes to Kenai and Homer (home of the longest spit), and splits and goes to Seward and that's about all the "major roads".

Bring a pair of binocs and look at the Dall Sheep (white) and Mountain Goats (white) in the mountains off the road like Chugach state park, and Caribou, black bears and Eagles everywhere.

As far as bars I don't know much in that area. So many of the young people up there during the summer are FLAT ass broke after getting up there. They work the slime lines (fish cleaning) and sleep in tents. I didn't see a lot of young/hip people who were out partying in bars much.

[Blide]

You could also look into some of various scenic rail tours around there too.

[Zarcath]

The glacier parks are really peaceful/pretty, though I don't know what state they're in these days.

We visited a salmon fishery? as well, though i'm not sure which part of alaska that was in.

[Regime]

go live in a bus 20 miles off the freeway.

Oh and bring rice.

[findar]

there's a couple decent bars in downtown(or were last time i was there, ~3yrs ago). there's a ton to do in alaska, but it all depends on the type of person you are... but basically expect most all of it to be outdoorsy / and can be expensive fast. i'd honestly say that ....

if you are into fishing look up now to see what / where you can fish. there are a TON of parks and basically all of them are camping friendly. and it's super super super super super super super super easy to catch anything. fishing in alaska is like playing with yourself. you can only succeed. wildlife is plentiful too. don't be too shocked to see wild animals... but if ya see bears make sure you get the fuck away. wasilla would honestly be a better base of operations if you want to go be outdoorsey. halibut fishing usually runs $400/half day | $600 full day per person(these are rough numbers in my head i remember) and they generally have to be booked in advance. kenai peninsula / homer area is where you are going to do a lot of that. there is some nice places on the kenai peninsula for fishing too but i'm 99% sure most salmon will be out of season.

if you wan't to see fishing so easy that you can throw rocks and hit the fish, go to valdez. after the exxon spill they introduced pink/humpback salmon to quickly add life... but didn't realize how much it would absolutely dominate. the rivers are carpeted with their eggs and they black out the water. oh... thats another cool thing. all the water in alaska is crystal clear. like see 20 feet down clear. trout fishing is probably an option for you and basically every piece of water in alaska is stocked(and there is a book that lists what is stocked with what, its free at the sporting goods store). one last thing to remember is make sure you get your proper fishing regs. the game wardens there are in force and will check.

if you are into hiking look up all the more popular trails(hope, etc) and look at glaciers that you can hike too. thats what my mom wanted to do so i saw a lot of it that way the second time i went. the state has great online resource for all their parks.

my last trip there i spent a month in a motor home basically chasing fish. lots of good times. combat fishing is kinda over hyped. i was in the worst of it and never had any issues..... but i was also catching my limit in fish in 2hrs. you see a LOT of tourists and the amount of motor homes on the road will blow you away.

[roosta]

how about restaurants or things to do in anchorage? i assume there are lots of seafood restaurants, any good ones? is there any place to rent salmon fishing equipment or would i have to bring my own?

i think my girlfriend only wants to go to alaska because she seen into the wild.

[findar]

anchorage itself is like any less then major city. there are some good seafood places i'm sure, but we shied away from that kinda thing. its too.... "touristy"? and we caught so much fish we were giving it away. arctic fox isn't too bad for some grub but nothing impressive. you should visit the great alaskan bush club if ya get the chance to say you did. overall the problem with anchorage is it's too "dirty". dunno how else to describe it.

like i said before, im pretty sure you wont be able to fish for any good salmon(kings,reds) like you are thinking. coming waaaay too late in the season. you can click this map to double check though

you can get a "decent" king/red setup for under $100, but the fishing license itself is another $50-200 depending. use this link. really based on when you are going rainbow trout/arctic char/dolly's are all you will have much luck catching. the thing with salmon is they flood the rivers for a certain part of the year(early june - mid july) because they are spawning, then die. so this late you are going to rivers where the salmon already had their runs and will be showing up to a fish holocaust. corpses everywhere.

[Vinen]

I'd recommend going Halibut fishing down near Homer if you are able to drive there. With a half day trip you can easily catch your limit for the day and if the ship captain is nice they will let you use up their limit as well.

It's been a few years but I remember heading out at 8am and having our limit + the two crew caught by 10am.

[Brutul Tarew Marr]

I've never been to Anchorage but it's only got 300k people, so I wouldn't expect there to be lots of culture/urban stuff like high end restaurants or "top 20 in the US" bars. Why would one of the best bars in the US be in the middle of nowhere in Alaska? If you want to do stuff like that you should go to LA, New York, San Francisco, etc. You go to Alaska to do outdoor stuff, cause that is unparalleled in Alaska. Listen to your brother. If you're into big city stuff Anchorage probably does suck because it's not a big city. The hiking, wildlife, and fishing in AK are like nowhere else on earth, so that's what you should focus on if you want to have a good time up there.

[hauwk]

Originally Posted by Regime

go live in a bus 20 miles off the freeway.

Oh and bring rice.

ROFLLL... After that movie was over, and old dude died I have to admit I laughed my ass off. That's natural selection in it's purest form.

Best bar's in the US are in Vegas.. hands down.

[roosta]

we want to go to alaska because neither of us like the heat. vegas would be fun but not in august. we cant get our discounts if we go to sea (99 bucks anywhere in the us or canada) i have heard anchorage has a really high crime rate, even my brother in the army wont go there unless he can carry his hand cannon.

[Borzak]

Lots of people carry in Alaska, they have an open carry as well. You go to the store especially in the summer (fish+bears=) and 1/2 the people have a gun on their hip.

I would guess crime is pretty high considering how many people live below the poverty level. It's not exactly what you would call a place where money is just everywhere. Plus in the summer throw in the thousands of tourist, thousands of college students who go to work on the slime lines and have exactly nothing and are trying to get a ticket home etc....

Like everyone else said tho if your just going to be going and never really "wanted" to go to Alaska for the beauty and the outdoor activities it's probably not that great of a place to visit.

I've been twice and I spent just enough time in Anchorage to fly in and out both times.

[Tongue]

Bring a fuck ton of cash my friend. The price shock will give you a mild stroke.

Unlike the rest of the good folks here, I actually live here. The crime imo is not so bad but I don't live in Anchorage, I live about 12 miles north of it. I have not had any bad experiences so far with crime just use your wits and if it looks ghetto it probably is. There is a concealed handgun law here, so don't go out with the intent to piss anyone off cuz they might be packing. Also, avoid driving around at night (12am-4am). This place has a DUI rate that's astronomical. Just on Fort Richardson alone they have has over 65 DUIs this year and that's a closed post. So long story short, lots of fucking drunk retards on the roads at night.

As far as shit to do? Plenty of tours (cruise, flight, bus, train etc) to go on, fishing charters, go wander around downtown.

Eating? Must go to places are Humpys, Moose's Tooth Pizza, Phylis's Cafe (all you can eat crab $30), Glacier Brewhouse among a host of others. See $$ comment above.

Round about fucking off? Seward is within driving distance. Matanuska Glacier is within driving distance, tons of shit. I don't know much about the night life though so maybe someone else can answer that.

Not a bad place to visit all in all but if you don't own a boat, 4-wheelers, snow machines or have a private arsenal it's pretty dim to live here.

[AngryGerbil]

If a place is called Moose Tooth Pizza, it has to suck.

Jus sayin'.