Posted: 6/8/2016 10:25:22 PM EDT
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My son just graduated college, and two days later took off for 3 weeks in Alaska with his girlfriend (who's from Anchorage).
They have a list of things to see and do, but I figured I'd check and see if there were any of you with connections to something he might not normally have access to that I could set up for him. They just got in last night, and I know tomorrow he's got some marine survival training all day, but he's in Alaska for 3 weeks. If anyone knows of some sort of cool experience, let me know. I'll cover any expenses. 
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| Do they like bar hopping? my son is a former Marine(24 yrs old) and I can get him to take them out along with some buddies.. In Anchorage down by the port at ship creek the king salmon should be kicking off I think june 10th..good fun to go watch people pull in some big kings....Good close hike would be thunderbird falls, if he is going to do that PM me and I can let him use my G-20 and chest holster so he has some protection in case of bears... |
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Right next to the Anchorage airport is the Alaska Aviation Museum. It sits on the shore of Lake Hood, which is also home to the busiest seaplane base in the world. If he likes watching planes, there are several areas around the lake that have picnic tables and grills, etc that you can just watch them take off and land.
In Fairbanks the coolest thing I've seen is the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum. It focuses solely on US manufacturers from the beginning of automotive history to the 1930s. About 80 vehicles (all but 2 or 3 are in running condition) and about 100 period clothing exhibits set up so that you can see what people wore when they were driving the cars that are on display. On a nice summer day, they take several cars out and drive them around a bit. If you're lucky and it's not too busy, you can actually go for a ride in them. Last time I was there I got a ride in a 1908 Cadillac and the 1927 Stutz Black Hawk Boattail Speedster, which at the time was the fastest production car in the world. The Iditarod Headquarters is in Wasilla, which isn't too far out of Anchorage. If they have the time, they can get to the Yukon River on the Dalton Highway, and just past that is the Arctic Circle. The Yukon is about a 240 mile round trip from Fairbanks, the Arctic Circle is about 360 miles. The Yukon River bridge is the only bridge in Alaska that crosses the river, and I think one of only 3 that crosses it at all (the others are in Canada). If in Juneau, the Alaska State Library, Archive, and Museum (SLAM) opened last week after 2 years of renovation. It's a really neat museum, and has all the old maps and photographs from back to the earliest days of the territory. You can go up to the research library and request for them to bring out the photographs or maps to look at. The local news story mentioned that you could see an old mining locomotive in the museum, read about it in the library, and see photographs of the same exact locomotive working in the mines in the archive. All under the same roof. If I get the chance, I'll post a thread here about the grand opening last week with some pictures. |
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If they make it to Fairbanks let me know and I'll show them around Despite being a mod, UAF is good people. 
If they want to shoot some full auto, I could probably get some folks out at Cushman for them. Would need heads up on that and a weekend. I know we are having the Midnight Sun Run marathon and Baseball game in 9 and 12 days from now. Can't do those anywhere but Fairbanks but they are an experience to say the least. |
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If they make it to Fairbanks let me know and I'll show them around Despite being a mod, UAF is good people.
If they want to shoot some full auto, I could probably get some folks out at Cushman for them. Would need heads up on that and a weekend. I know we are having the Midnight Sun Run marathon and Baseball game in 9 and 12 days from now. Can't do those anywhere but Fairbanks but they are an experience to say the least. You are a good man Charlie Brown...  hope you are feeling better....
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You are a good man Charlie Brown... hope you are feeling better....Quoted:
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If they make it to Fairbanks let me know and I'll show them around Despite being a mod, UAF is good people.
If they want to shoot some full auto, I could probably get some folks out at Cushman for them. Would need heads up on that and a weekend. I know we are having the Midnight Sun Run marathon and Baseball game in 9 and 12 days from now. Can't do those anywhere but Fairbanks but they are an experience to say the least. You are a good man Charlie Brown... hope you are feeling better.... so far the new med seems to be working, but it's only been a week. We'll see what happens. At the rate I'm going ill have about the same amount of hair as Charlie Brown in a year or two.
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So far he spent his first full day doing some cold water survival training.
Apparently he's working on a boat with his GF's family his last week in Alaska, so the company paid for him to take the course (they are biochem engineers working for the oil industry). He got to experience the shock of getting into cold water in street clothes, then did some different heat preservation and reach drills with different PFDs, then a work suit, then a dry suit. Worked on boarding life rafts etc, and throw/catch rescue lines. Sounds like a good introduction to Alaska. Thanks for all the suggestions and offers; I will pass on to him. |
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Knik Bar in Wasilla has great burgers and is close to me and the Iditarod HQ. My girlfriend is in a meeting right now to buy the place. Raimy Reddington usually has a dog team set up at the HQ that people can go for a ride on for $5 a person or so. Just a small loop but those little dogs are amazing.
Matanuska Glacier heading up towards Glen Allen is cool and close to Anchorage. How is he sleeping with nearly 24 hours of daylight?
ETA: A glacier landing flight out of Talkeetna that lands on Denali would be a great day trip. K2 Aviation or someone. Aviator |
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Did you pass a long travel Tacoma towing a small trailer with a roof top tent? Quoted:
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I just biked the denali highway. Probably one of the coolest things I have done up here. Did you pass a long travel Tacoma towing a small trailer with a roof top tent? Maybe... I saw a couple Tacomas. Friday I started in Cantwell and camped around 58 miles in. Saturday went from there to the Maclaren. One Tacoma with a trailer was at the Clearwater that day. I had mechanical issues right around there with my rear hubhad to pull the wheel and tighten stuff up. Sunday was Maclaren to the Richardson hwy. |
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I think I passed you guys on Friday in the morning / early afternoon as I was heading towards Cantwell. Right on...all the drivers on the road were awesome giving us tons of space, trying to not dust us out and stuff, asking if we needed water if we were stopped. Some random old lady took our pic so that she could show her son that there are more exciting things to do than whatever bike riding he did. |