Episode 36: Alaska - Exploring the Final Frontier

Angie Orth:

Imagine a snow-capped mountain vista stretching as far as the eye can see, the fragrant scent of pine trees all around you, cool air filling your lungs. And as you raise your binoculars, the velvety antlers of a herd of caribou come into focus, seeming almost close enough to touch. Today, we're heading to the wild and wonderful state of Alaska. Grab a warm beanie because you never know in Alaska, and get ready to explore this spectacular, untamed land like you've never seen it before.

Today's guest is Valerie Stimac, an award-winning travel writer, author of Dark Skies: A Practical Guide to Astrotourism, a Harry Potter aficionado—which obviously I love—and for the purposes of today's show, a homegrown Alaskan. Thank you so much for being with us today, Valerie.

Valerie Stimac:

It's my pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Angie:

I have so many questions about what it was like to grow up in The Last Frontier and the 49th state. I think it's one of the states that's on everybody's bucket list because it's so cool, so different, it's not attached to the rest of them. What was it like growing up there, and how did it shape you being a kid in such an amazing state?

Valerie:

That's a great question, and the funny thing is that I don't know that it particularly shaped me in any unique way. The thing about being a kid is that you don't really have anything to compare it to. So, when I grew up in Alaska, I lived there from when I was 5 until I was in college. I didn't realize how different and unique Alaska was and how many people wanted to visit until I went to college. People would say, "Oh, I want to go to Alaska someday," or "Wow, you've seen the northern lights," because when you're a kid in Alaska, that's the experience every child's having.

Angie:

You don't realize how cool your state or hometown is until you go away and come back. I had the same experience and people often ask me, "Being a Floridian, do you see alligators all the time? Isn't that scary?" I'm like, "No, I mean they're everywhere, so we don't think about it." It's probably the same for you with moose, the northern lights, and bears. That's all so exciting to me, but another day in the life of a kid in Alaska, right?

Valerie:

Pretty much.

Angie:

When you go back, what are your top must-see destinations throughout the state? And obviously, it's the biggest state, so there must be so many.

Valerie:

As you said, Alaska is massive, but most of it is not accessible on the road system, so there is a tourist track that everyone follows in a different order and visits different parts of. Just to give a little bit of geography, there's the south central region, which is where Anchorage is—that's the biggest city.

There are also communities like Seward, Homer, Whittier, Girdwood—the town where I grew up—which is just outside Anchorage.

Then there's interior Alaska, which is where Denali National Park is. That's where Fairbanks is, sort of an unofficial capital of that part of the state.

Then there's Southeast Alaska, which is where most of the cruise ships go. That's where the actual capital of Juneau is located, as well as other small coastal communities like Sitka, Skagway, Haines, Ketchikan that are not connected by road, they're only connected by water.

Those are the 3 big regions that most people visit. Most people never go to the Arctic, they never go to Western Alaska, they never go to the Aleutians, which are sort of the other 3 of the 6 regions. Like most people, my favorite places are in those easy-to-reach, more popular places. For me, no trip to Alaska ever feels complete if I don't go to Denali National Park.

Angie:

Can you give us a rundown of the 8 national parks in Alaska?

Valerie:

There's Glacier Bay, Denali, and Kenai Fjords; those are the big 3 that people typically visit. Some might make it to Wrangell-St. Elias. If you want to visit Katmai or Lake Clark, you have to fly to both of those. That's where the bears are, and where people love to go see bears eating right from the river when the salmon are running.

The other 2 parks are Kobuk Valley and Gates of the Arctic, which are both far north and are pretty much accessible only by plane, but a plane from like Fairbanks—so you fly to Fairbanks and then you might fly to like Kotzebue or somewhere else further north—and then you get transported in.

It's a very big journey to get to some of those parks, which is why I believe Gates of the Arctic gets fewer than 10,000 visitors a year, and these are the hearty bucket-list national park travelers who want to visit them all. They're not necessarily Alaska people, they're the people who are like, "I've got to see all the national parks." They make that journey because it really is a trek to get up there, and you're going to be in the backcountry with no support. The ranger station is 600 miles away; you literally are on your own. That's it. You're on your own out there.

Angie:

You can forget about getting snacks at the ranger station, right?

Valerie:

Oh yes, yes. What snacks you bring better come in a bear container because you're going to be out there with all of the wildlife by yourself.

Angie:

Is there one park that's better than another for seeing wildlife, or do they all have specific animals that they're famous for?

Valerie:

Denali National Park is known for the "Big 5." Alaska's "Big 5" are moose; grizzly bears; Dall sheep, the species of sheep that the park was created to protect; caribou; and wolves. Those are the "Big 5," but there are a ton of other animals in Denali, so lots of times people see porcupines, and if you're really lucky, you'll see a wolverine.

If you want sea life, go to Kenai Fjords. That's where you can see orcas; humpback whales; and sometimes other whale species; lots of seals; sea lions; sea otters, which are beloved by everyone; puffins; and all kinds of seabirds.

If you want land, you go to Denali, and if you want sea, you go to Kenai Fjords. If you want bears eating salmon from a river, you go to usually Katmai, but Lake Clark is a good backup.

Angie:

Is there a park that's better for kids? I'm guessing the ones that are easier to get to are probably better, just depending on what kind of traveler your kid is.

Valerie:

Alaska is kid-friendly, but it really tends toward kids and parents that are willing to engage with it and look at it, enjoy and see what's there for them. There's the Junior Ranger program and the boat concessioners who run the boats in Kenai Fjords often have children's programming as well. So, they do try and get kids on the boat engaged because they know that it's important to keep them interested and make them want to come back, visit again, and have a good time.

Angie:

When people are visiting the national parks, are there any accommodations that are maybe not the typical hotel? Is there anything that people can do that's so typically Alaska or different?

Valerie:

The accommodations you encounter when you're visiting one of the national parks are going to be pretty standard, pretty much what you expect. Though, I will say your budget is going to need to be higher for the class of accommodation you're going to receive. There are a number of properties deep in the backcountry of Denali National Park that you currently have to fly to reach. They are cabins, lodges, things like that.

There is an incredible property that's actually on the slopes of Denali in the Alaska range, but that is a very high bucket list price tag. I think the last time I checked it was something like $3,500 per person per night with a minimum of 3 nights. Definitely something you're going to be saving up for a while. Other than that, you're looking at pretty standard hotels and campgrounds near the parks.

Angie:

You mentioned that most people are on the "tourist trail" because there aren't roads that go throughout Alaska. For people who love a good road trip, what are some of the best routes and itineraries? Where do you send people when they want to know where to drive around in Alaska?

Valerie:

We don't have any interstates, as you would expect from the fact that we don't connect to any other states. What that means is that you're going to be either doing a loop or doing out-and-backs along the available highway. So in general, I advise people to start in Anchorage. It's a good place to fly into— typically the cheapest place to fly into—start yourself there and then strike out.

The 2 ways that I would go from Anchorage—depending on how much time you have—if you're a little bit short on time, you could just do what's called the Kenai Peninsula. You'd head south from Anchorage and hit up Seward and Homer, and then there are a number of other communities; that's sort of an out-and-back road trip. It's a beautiful drive.

Angie:

When I was road-tripping in Alaska, I noticed that there were camper vans and RVs everywhere. People took it to a whole new level. Does it make sense to drive there from the lower 48 through Canada or is it possible to rent an RV once you get there?

Valerie:

It's absolutely possible to rent an RV or a camper. There's pretty much any variety of combinations you might want. If you already own an RV and you're trying to decide whether to drive or fly up and rent, I would say the deciding factor would be how much time you have because driving the Alaska Canadian Highway or one of the other routes up through Canada to Alaska is time-consuming. Not only do you need the time to travel to and from, but how much time do you want to spend in Alaska? If you have a month or longer, bringing your own vehicle is a great option because even when you rent an RV, accommodation is going to add up quickly. If you're looking at 1 or 2 weeks, that's a great time to just fly up and rent because that's going to make the most sense. It's going to be the most cost-effective option.

Please don't forget that everything is more expensive in Alaska, including gas, so your RV, which gets 6-10 miles per gallon is going to add up whether you're renting or driving your own, but if you drive, it's a lot further. I would say make the decision based on how much time you have and how much time you want to spend in Alaska. That's probably the best way to decide.

Angie:

Let's talk about Alaska in the winter. I have no idea how to drive in ice, snow, or mountains. What do we need to know about visiting in the winter and possibly dealing with driving in adverse conditions? Or should we just not visit in the winter at all? Is there someone that can drive me around?

Valerie:

Roughly 90% of people visit Alaska in the summer, which falls between Memorial Day and Labor Day more or less. Most of the tourism infrastructure is seasonal and aimed at summer activities. Winter visitors are coming for the northern lights, maybe some dog sledding, ice fishing, and things like that. If you want to visit in the winter, a lot of car companies will provide you with a vehicle that has either studs or 4-wheel drive, or both. It is a vehicle that is meant to handle snow and ice, and you'll accommodate that different condition pretty quickly.

If you are visiting Alaska and you don't feel comfortable driving, there are ways to still do a lot of the activities and it's going to rely on shuttles or taxis—things that are going to end up costing more and be a little bit less flexible on the schedule. But it is entirely possible to still fly into Fairbanks and take the shuttle out to Chena Hot Springs Resort, spend a day or 2 there, see the northern lights, go in the hot springs, shuttle back, and then taxi around town for all your other activities. Totally possible.

Angie:

Let's talk about the quintessential Alaskan cruise. If you want to access Glacier Bay, you have to be on a boat, right?

Valerie:

Correct. Yeah, you have to be on a boat. You could visit Glacier Bay by flying to the town of Gustavus and then getting on a national park service boat and going into the park that way. But it's only boat accessible, so one way or another, you're going to be on a boat and a lot of the big cruise companies do have Glacier Bay on their itineraries because it is a park you can't get to any other way.

Angie:

Overall, do you think cruising is the best way to see the sights?

Valerie:

I've been primarily on the smaller ships. I did do what's called a mid-size ship, it was about 250 passengers. So you can imagine when I say, "small ships," I mean small, like less than 100 guests.

On the mid-size ship, we set out from Vancouver and we came up the Inside Passage, and then we visited communities like Ketchikan, Juneau, and Sitka. Basically, it's either going to be a day cruising at sea, but it's not really a day at sea because you're inside the Inside Passage, so you've got land on either side of you, and each port is going to be very different where you just pull in and have access to all of the excursions, and just walking around if you don't want to pay for excursions and like to do your own thing. It's really easy to get off your boat, walk, and do things on your own at all the Alaskan ports, which is nice.

The largest cruise ships typically have really good deals, but if you're doing this on a budget, you can do a budget Alaska cruise by getting a really good deal on your cabin and then just walking around in port, and you'll still see plenty of things. You might not see the main sights that everyone else is going to see, but you can still get a really good sense of each community when you do it that way.

Angie:

That's a great budgeting tip. I assume that the bigger ships come with more people, too.

Valerie:

I've never been on one of the big ships in Alaska. I've done some of the smaller companies. I love the small-ship cruising. It's a great option if you want to get away. A way to escape crowds in Alaska is to do a small-ship cruise.

Angie:

We talked about budget and Alaska being an expensive destination for a lot of reasons. Can you come to Alaska as a budget traveler? Or are there things that are worth splashing out on that maybe you can find other things that you can do on the cheap?

Valerie:

I always love seeing budget questions, but it is a very hard one to answer because it requires you to compromise. I think budget travelers generally realize that, but then they get to Alaska and they're like, "I want to do all these tours!"

So, you might not be able to do the tours, but for example, instead of going out on a boat tour of Kenai Fjords National Park, you could drive a vehicle up to Exit Glacier and hike up to the ice field. They’re very different experiences, but you have technically visited Kenai Fjords National Park by doing both. If all you want to do is visit that national park, there's a way to do it for really cheap. In fact, you don't even need a car. There's a $10 shuttle, so you don't have to rent a car, you can cut that price.

Accommodation is definitely going to be the biggest part of your budget. Transport will be the next biggest. So, it's always worth considering. As I said earlier, there are lots of rustic accommodations at not-rustic prices. You can imagine when you start cutting toward rustic pricing how much more rustic the accommodation will be. Then with transportation though, we do have bus lines, so you don't have to rent a vehicle. Typically, there are buses that transport between the major communities, so Denali, Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Seward are all connected by bus. It can be done, it's just going to require that you be aware in advance of the compromises you will be making and be OK with that.

Angie:

What are the lesser-known experiences for the more adventurous person? The $1,000 flightseeing or those things that people need to say, "I'm saving for this because it's worth it."

Valerie:

I would plan for 3 flight-seeing trips. I would plan for flightseeing trip in in Denali National Park that lands on a glacier, that's going be $600-700 a person. I would plan for a flightseeing trip to land on another glacier, typically either Knik Glacier or Matanuska Glacier, that'll be from Anchorage. I think that one is typically in the $400-500 per person range. Then I would plan a flightseeing trip to see the bears over in Lake Clark or Katmai.

Angie:

Let's talk about the history of Alaska and the influence of Alaska's indigenous culture and people. There's 10,000 years of history before the U.S. ever showed up on the scene, so there's so much more to Alaska than meets the eye. What do you think is the best way for visitors to honor that?

Valerie:

I'm glad you asked about this. First of all, I want to identify that I am not of native Alaskan descent. I'm not of indigenous American or First Nations descent, but it is something which I'm incredibly passionate about. The thing that came to me most from growing up in Alaska is the realization that the land that you travel on in the entire United States, but in Alaska also, was stewarded by native peoples who understood how to manage it so that it is here for us today. So, when you're planning your Alaska trip, remember you are on land that was kept not for you, but kept so that you could visit and have it be this incredible experience that it is today.

Angie:

This is very important to keep in mind, so thank you for bringing that up. What are some specific types of cultural activities that visitors can seek out?

Valerie:

In Anchorage, there's an incredible museum called the Alaska Native Heritage Center. It's meant to be this one central area where you can kind of get a sense of the major native groups around the state. They also have this beautiful short walking path—flat, super accessible—that has different examples of native structures and teaches you about how when you live in the Arctic your general lifestyle is going to be very different than when you live in South Central, or when you live on the coast and you're relying on fishing and boating. So, it does a really nice job of doing introductions. Pretty much all of Southeast Alaska is the land that was once the traditional area of the Tlingit people, and I apologize for my mispronunciation, I am not great with the sounds that their language uses.

They were one of the largest indigenous groups in the New World in North America, South America, rivaling the Inca and the Maya. There's not a lot left of what they built, but this tradition of carving totem poles is still alive. So, interestingly, totem poles were typically not preserved. When European-descended people arrived in Alaska, they wanted to preserve these totem poles, and they were like, "We don't preserve totem poles. That's part of the cycle. These cedar trees, which we have felled and have carved to tell our stories, when they fall again they become part of the earth."

The idea of preserving totem poles was a totally novel thing that has been accommodated. They just recently started the first phase of a huge totem pole project in Juneau where when you arrive, even by cruise ship, there are these totem poles lining the waterfront, which evokes the way it would've been if you had arrived in the native community historically where totem poles would've told you who you were arriving to, and told you the story of the people that were there.

Angie:

I love that. It's important to connect with the culture of where you are and not just take a tour of the animals. The people matter too, and I'm glad that states like Alaska and Hawai'i have found really good ways of focusing on that and honoring the past.

Are there any culinary traditions that are important to Alaskans? I think everybody thinks about salmon because you get there and very quickly find out there are 5 kinds of salmon, and you can try it all. And yes, we know all about the salmon. So, what do you have to eat when you're there? Salmon and then what?

Valerie:

Seafood, in general. You can get incredible salmon, of course. Fresh salmon, five different varieties of Pacific salmon, and lots of great shellfish. Increasingly, we have what I believe they call mariculture, so oyster farming is actually coming up. Some communities in Southeast, as well as Homer, are looking at actually creating oyster farms, which is neat because it's totally different water and water has such an impact on the way oysters are produced.

We're starting to see a resurgence in the use of indigenous plants in food, so you'll start to see a lot more berries, fireweed—which is a beautiful pink flower that blooms throughout the summer—they're using that in things like ice cream, pastries, it's a nice floral flavor. Then there's birch farming, so much like maple syrup, there's birch syrup, there's birch water.

Some people are curious about wild game, so moose, bear, caribou, etc. That is not allowed to be sold commercially, so typically, you will find restaurants that may have some. I had a moose steak once. It's not common, and I don't think they're particularly popular. Most Alaskans who eat wild game, they're finding it from their friends or they're going out and hunting it themselves. So, make friends with some Alaskans, maybe they'll invite you over. For example, on my Facebook, I just had a former boyfriend from high school who's getting married and he was seeing if anyone had any extra ground moose for a taco bar. And my husband was like, "I don't know about a moose taco bar." I was like, "That sounds great, let's go!" We're not invited, but...

Angie:

That's really different though. You could only do that in Alaska.

Valerie:

That's a very Alaskan thing. The Department of Fish and Wildlife works to take animals that have been killed on the road and actually distributes them in a lottery system. So, people will get a moose kill. They don't have to go out into the wild to hunt, and they'll split it with their friends because moose are huge. So, you will find that occasionally, but that's not going to be on most menus. You're more likely to just find American classics and some incredible craft beer, great craft beer up there.

Angie:

There is a gorgeous section in your Dark Skies book on the aurora borealis. So, for those who haven't read it just yet, can you give us some tips for seeing the northern lights in Alaska?

Valerie:

I'd say the best time of year to see it is typically between the beginning of November and the middle of March. But the best chance is to go in the heart of winter, bundle up, just endure, and let the awe of the night sky distract you from your freezing toes and fingers.

Angie:

Are most hotels open during the winter?

Valerie:

The vast majority of hotels that are open in the winter in Alaska, even in Anchorage, can do an aurora wake-up call. If you're up in Fairbanks, I would assume every hotel in Fairbanks will do that.

Angie:

There's just so much to do and see in your home state, Valerie, it feels impossible to capture it all in one go. There's the wildlife, the native culture, the aurora light show, and if you're lucky, maybe even a few moose tacos. So, whether you're on a budget or want to focus on just one area, Alaska definitely seems like a place to visit more than once in a lifetime.

Valerie:

You can feel pretty confident that in 10 or 15 years, Alaska's still going to be ready for you and there'll be all kinds of new and interesting things because every year there's something different.

Angie:

Valerie Stimac, thank you for joining us. Thank you, our listeners, for being with us. If you're planning a trip, be sure to connect with AAA Travel Advisor, check out AAA.com/travel, or visit your local branch. If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe. I'm Angie Orth, thank you for traveling with AAA.