Alaska Vacation Planning 3.27.12

Alaska 2012 – Are you planning a trip of a life time but you don’t want to do any of those industrial touristy tours? You know, where everyone is herded around like cattle and you have to elbow your way to the front to get a view; standing in line to go to the bathroom or waiting for stragglers to get on the bus? Then there is a crowd holding up everything you do. All the services are over whelmed such as restaurants that are maxed out with stressed out servers. You end up waiting until you are starved then pay top price and get served a meal that rates along with your old high school cafeteria. When you get home you show off your photos and everyone guesses where each photo was taken because millions have taken the same cattle tours with the same photos. Unfortunately this is the case for most that come to Alaska. They read all those big dollar ads and are fooled into believing that’s the best way to see Alaska. They couldn’t be further from the truth. First of all those who take the industrial tour route find themselves  spending their time waiting for others , riding buses for hours, and riding trains for most of a day in each direction . You end up spending a lot of your valuable vacation time commuting. I would think most would have had enough of commuting back at home. Paying top price for a marginal experience mostly seen through a bus window or from a train doesn’t seem like a good vacation. My recommendations: first choose what you want see and experience while here. Remember Alaska covers a vast area, so unless you plan to spend a month or more here, you won’t have enough time to see everything you want. I have lived here for over 26 years and still haven’t seen everything. Next, what kind of experience do you want? Some seek a true wilderness experience where you leave the crowds and the road system behind. Others have a check list of major attractions that are must sees. You can make your once in life time Alaska vacation a truly great experience with a little research. For those who don’t have the time or patience to do the research there are small local Alaskan businesses that can plan and book your trip using other small local Alaska businesses. Going small and local means you are dealing with Alaskans that are not supportive of industrial tourism, as opposed to large out of state corporations, run by people that seldom set foot in Alaska. These small businesses know who offers good service and who has the best deal. They are also much better at matching up the customers desires with the best local Alaska business.  If this sounds like what you are looking for, check out www.sewardalaskaadventuretours.com . If an Alaska coastal adventure is what you are looking for check out www.princewilliamsoundlodging.com. We will custom tailor your Alaskan adventure to you! No waiting in line, no crowds, far from civilization, close to the wildlife.  We are a local small business and proud of it.

Alaska Sportsman Show 3.27.12

We just got back from the Mat-Su Outdoorsman Show last weekend. What great spring weather we had in Wasilla - sunshine every day, not one snow flake fell. The stadium was filled with lots of Alaskans looking for deals on the latest fishing and hunting gear and planning their trips for the year. The Mat-Su Outdoorsman Show is my favorite. Folks in the valley are really serious about fishing and hunting. They are not interested in the touristy cattle tours. I saw lots people of picking up great deals on shrimp pots and dip nets at the Donaldson booth. If you missed them they will be at the Great Alaska Sportsman Show in Anchorage next weekend. I’ll be getting some of their larger shrimp pots for this season myself! Every year there is something new at the show. This year we launched our Alaskan Boaters Base Camp. Many boat owners stopped by the booth to see what we had to offer. Most boaters who cruise Prince William Sound have seen our Bayweld water taxi boat the Bayhawk. Some boat owners have rode on the Bayhawk for the late season deer hunts. Our Boater’s Base Camp the R/V Cathy G has been refitted using the input from many of our friends who are avid boaters and long time Alaskans. The only thing that everyone wanted that we won’t have is gas for sale. Unfortunately to have a legal and safe way to sell gas off the boat would be very expensive. However we did completely remodel the galley to accommodate up to 12 guests and added 4 state rooms. The other big change is we added a 17’ by 16’ addition to the house and a 7 foot wide fish cleaning table on the back deck. We know that many Alaskans are great cooks and enjoy cooking up the days catch. So we offer lodging deals where you cook your own meals and save. Check out the web site www.princewilliamsoundlodging.com. We will be posting special events and deals on our face book page. I would like thank all our past customers who came to visit us at the show - we really enjoy hearing about everyone’s adventures. One thing I especially enjoy at the Mat-Su Outdoorsman Show is seeing all the parents bringing their kids to the show and encouraging them to get involved in the great outdoors and not sitting in front of a TV. Looking forward to seeing you all out in Prince William Sound this year!