Alaska Bound
I was thinking a few weeks back that its been quite a long time since I've taken an honest to goodness vacation. In fact the last 'real' vacation I took was with Kayuba down to Cay Lobos on the Nekton Rorqual back in September 2003. So by the time this summer runs around it will have been just about 4 years. That's too long so I decided to do something about it.
After some thinking about what kind of trip I'd like to take I decided to ask myself a few questions. First I thought about places I've never been but have always wanted to go. This list was admittedly long but considering I knew I'd be burning about a week and a half of vacation time it pretty much ruled out Palau, Australia and New Zealand as the time just really isn't enough for that.
So I've got the Americas, Europe and Africa. Now I've been to Europe before but I never got to the UK so my thinking was Scotland and perhaps England. Just have always wanted to get to Scotland so that took priority over England. For those of you that know me know that I spent about 6 weeks in mainland Europe and Ireland back in 1995 after I graduated from college. There's lots of places that I'd go back to but really there are so many more that I've never been to and that took priority.
After narrowing my choices down to the three above I thought about what I'd like to do and it came down to wildlife and getting out in nature. Clearly Scotland could be fabulous for this for the scenery and it'd be hard to deny that an African Safari wouldn't be fantastic. I'm not a hunter but I love to fish and dive so those options were open still.
I've been on several dive vacations and loved every minute of them but again wanted to try something different so that became less of a priority this time. So it came down to where haven't I been and always wanted to go where I could fish and see great wildlife within my timeframe. I chose Alaska!!!!
The more I learn about Alaska the more I'm excited to get there and check it out for myself. I love the Indian and Russian history of the place, the remoteness and grandure of it.
After making the decision I needed to look into where to go. I went through several options but I chose a lodge off of Kodiak Island for the main portion of my trip. The lodge I'm going to is Afognak Wilderness Lodge on Afognak Island. I need to get to Kodiak after flying into Anchorage and then a float plane picks me up and takes me on a 30 minute plane ride right into their bay. I will be at this place for 4 days and for now I'm planning 3 days of fishing and one day of whale watching. I'm thinking about two days of salmon fishing and the third being a halibut trip. On my wildlife sightseeing trip I hope to see whales, sea lions, sea otters, puffins and in the air some bald eagles amongst a host of other things.
That portion of my trip is a few days into things. The first full day in Alaska I'm headed up to Denali National Park
via Talkeetna where I'm planning on taking a flight seeing trip. I looked into this place but I booked with a travel agent and I'm not 100% sure it will be the exact same place but the idea is to fly around Mt. McKinley and land on the glacier. I'm looking forward to this part of the trip.
After the Denali trip I'm headed back to Anchorage and then straight off to Kodiak where I will have about two days before my lodge trip. I'm thinking about renting a car and doing some sightseeing on one of the days on the island itself and the second day of hiring a charter for a day of wildlife viewing or fishing. I'm not sure which yet but either way will be great. So this part of my trip is up in the air a bit but renting a car gives me some flexibility as I have to be back at the Kodiak airport first thing in the morning on the 27th for the float plane to the lodge.
After the Lodge its back to Kodiak for a day and in the late afternoon its back to Anchorage for the flight back home.
So there's the plan as it stands today.
With this comes a whole another realm of interests. Stay tuned for the next post to hear all about that. This time with pictures!!!
I purposely didn't add photos to this long post as I'll be saving those for my photos from the place.
After some thinking about what kind of trip I'd like to take I decided to ask myself a few questions. First I thought about places I've never been but have always wanted to go. This list was admittedly long but considering I knew I'd be burning about a week and a half of vacation time it pretty much ruled out Palau, Australia and New Zealand as the time just really isn't enough for that.
So I've got the Americas, Europe and Africa. Now I've been to Europe before but I never got to the UK so my thinking was Scotland and perhaps England. Just have always wanted to get to Scotland so that took priority over England. For those of you that know me know that I spent about 6 weeks in mainland Europe and Ireland back in 1995 after I graduated from college. There's lots of places that I'd go back to but really there are so many more that I've never been to and that took priority.
After narrowing my choices down to the three above I thought about what I'd like to do and it came down to wildlife and getting out in nature. Clearly Scotland could be fabulous for this for the scenery and it'd be hard to deny that an African Safari wouldn't be fantastic. I'm not a hunter but I love to fish and dive so those options were open still.
I've been on several dive vacations and loved every minute of them but again wanted to try something different so that became less of a priority this time. So it came down to where haven't I been and always wanted to go where I could fish and see great wildlife within my timeframe. I chose Alaska!!!!
The more I learn about Alaska the more I'm excited to get there and check it out for myself. I love the Indian and Russian history of the place, the remoteness and grandure of it.
After making the decision I needed to look into where to go. I went through several options but I chose a lodge off of Kodiak Island for the main portion of my trip. The lodge I'm going to is Afognak Wilderness Lodge on Afognak Island. I need to get to Kodiak after flying into Anchorage and then a float plane picks me up and takes me on a 30 minute plane ride right into their bay. I will be at this place for 4 days and for now I'm planning 3 days of fishing and one day of whale watching. I'm thinking about two days of salmon fishing and the third being a halibut trip. On my wildlife sightseeing trip I hope to see whales, sea lions, sea otters, puffins and in the air some bald eagles amongst a host of other things.
That portion of my trip is a few days into things. The first full day in Alaska I'm headed up to Denali National Park
via Talkeetna where I'm planning on taking a flight seeing trip. I looked into this place but I booked with a travel agent and I'm not 100% sure it will be the exact same place but the idea is to fly around Mt. McKinley and land on the glacier. I'm looking forward to this part of the trip.
After the Denali trip I'm headed back to Anchorage and then straight off to Kodiak where I will have about two days before my lodge trip. I'm thinking about renting a car and doing some sightseeing on one of the days on the island itself and the second day of hiring a charter for a day of wildlife viewing or fishing. I'm not sure which yet but either way will be great. So this part of my trip is up in the air a bit but renting a car gives me some flexibility as I have to be back at the Kodiak airport first thing in the morning on the 27th for the float plane to the lodge.
After the Lodge its back to Kodiak for a day and in the late afternoon its back to Anchorage for the flight back home.
So there's the plan as it stands today.
With this comes a whole another realm of interests. Stay tuned for the next post to hear all about that. This time with pictures!!!
I purposely didn't add photos to this long post as I'll be saving those for my photos from the place.
Comments