Page 111 - Vacation Country Travel Guide

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® Interior Alaska
Home of Fairbanks, a metropolis full of cul-
8 Perfect Days 117 Chena Hot Springs hot springs just waiting for a traveler to sink into
tural activities, historical wonders, and interest-
ing places to visit like the University of Fairbanks
and Pioneer Park. Interior Alaska is teeming with
Eight
Southeast,
their warm, soothing waters. From tiny towns
in
like Chicken to larger urban areas like Fairbanks,
photo by:
Southcentral,
VC Travel Guide
this area has something for everyone.
Interior, Southwest,
Far North
and
Kenai
Far North
Taking the Dalton Highway across the Arctic
Alaska
Circle and farther north is an amazing journey
never to be forgotten. The northern Alaska
wilderness is home to many species of wildlife
As the publisher of the TRAVEL GUIDE, I including arctic fox, grizzly bears and caribou. As
have over 40 years of experience exploring you head north, trees disappear and the summer
the great state of Alaska. From the southern days get longer and longer until there is just an
city of Ketchikan to the northern part of the hour of darkness a day in towns like Deadhorse.
Arctic Circle. I have journeyed by car, ship, Home to only a handful of permanent residents,
ferry, helicopter and floatplane, now read Prudhoe Bay is the location of famous oil fields
my adventure that have supported the state’s economy. Prob-
in my travels ably the most famous of the northern towns is
to Southeast Nome, endpoint of the Annual Iditarod Dogsled
Alaska by air, Arctic Circle Race. The Iditarod Trail gained notoriety after
land and sea. photo by: dogsled teams fought harsh conditions to bring
I have had a VC Travel Guide residents lifesaving serum in 1925.
front row seat to
nature’s greatest 137 - 181 Southcentral Alaska
shows of glacier This region is teeming with Gold Rush history in
calving, whales areas like Petersville and Trapper Creek. It is also
breeching and home of the “largests” with Anchorage, the largest
Kodiak bears city in the state and Denali, the largest mountain in
battling over North America. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
salmon. Along is the country’s largest national park and rich in
the way I have wildlife and towering mountain peaks. Reaching
come across the coastline, Southcentral Alaska is where the
some remarkable towns and have met largest tidewater glacier, Columbia Glacier flows
extraordinary people from all over the world. into the icy blue waters of the Pacific between
When most people plan their Alaska vacation Flightseeing Whittier and Valdez. This is also where more than
photo by:
they book one of the numerous cruise ships Kennicott Lodge half of the state’s residents live.
that frequent the waterways of the 49th state.
182 - 220 Kenai Peninsula
The Kenai Peninsula is a region rich in excel-
lent fishing grounds and full of companies play-
Drive ing host to eager anglers. View beluga whales
from Portage, hike tranquil trails through wilder-
Alaska Southcentral ness areas in Sterling and Cooper Landing, and
visit the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. The
Refuge is home to over 200 species of wildlife
There is nothing quite like traveling the and a paradise of canoe trails and backcountry
open road. Maybe it’s something in our DNA, hiking options. Visitors should not miss the Is-
but we love our cars with the windows down lands and Ocean Visitor Center in Homer or the
and rolling vistas before us. As the publisher Fishing in Alaska Homer halibut fishing grounds, where anyone
photo by:
of Travel Guide Fly/Drive Alaska, I have Captain Bligh’s Lodge and Guide Service who can hold a pole can catch a 200 lb. fish.
logged thousands of miles in my van roaming
the scenic by-ways of the 49th state. From as 221 - 224
far north as the Arctic Circle to the southern Southwest Alaska
tip of the Southeast Alaskan panhandle, I Kodiak Island was discovered in the 1700s
have been on the move exploring cities and by Russian Fur Traders—it is now a top tourist
towns, National Parks and coastlines in order destination. Home of the Kodiak Brown Bear,
to give you the skills to see Alaska like never this is where you come to view this amazing
before. Taking on the largest state in the union species from the air on a flightseeing trip, or even
doesn’t have to be intimidating as we have hunt with a local outfitter. Sportfishing is another
put together five driving itineraries. Each one popular activity and the waters around Kodiak Is-
incorporates tips and places of interest to land are filled with both commercial vessels and
make your vacation a unique experience. people out for a fun day on the water. At the end
The following itineraries all begin by flying Bear Viewing on Kodiak Island of the Aleutian Island Chain is remote Unalaska/
from Seattle to Anchorage, Alaska with Alaska photo by: Dutch Harbor, the only place to be bombed by
Air, and then renting a vehicle. VC Travel Guide the Japanese in WWII other than Pearl Harbor.

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