Archive for February 28th, 2008

Check out these web specials. Pay special note to Fairbanks and Bethel. Right now (as in T-o-d-a-y) you can fly on Era up to Fairbanks for $139rt. And you can come back any day between now and Mar. 5. Suh-weet.
You remember Era, don’t you? In addition to convenient service to Valdez, Homer, Kenai, Cordova and Kodiak, they now fly to Fairbanks and Bethel.
The gate is just steps from the curb–and these web prices are g-r-e-a-t. 
The Bethel rate of $189 also is valid through Mar. 5. 
Here are some other great destinations:
Anchorage-Kodiak through Mar. 3: $149rt
Anchorage-Cordova through Mar. 3: $139rt
Anchorage-Kenai through Mar. 2: $79rt
Anchorage-Homer through Mar. 2: $129rt
Anchorage-Valdez through Mar. 3: $139rt
Check the website for the fly/stay and fly/drive packages!  

Wow, the whole town turned out for Sunday’s “Running of the Reindeer”! This is the first year for this event–and it will definitely be a part of next year’s lineup!

Check out this video from Alaska Podshow.

Be sure and subscribe to the Podshow feed. Just go to the website and download the “HD” episodes. Great!

 
Also, when you’re downtown, check out the luminous WILDFEST Ice Castle, constructed in Town Square and open to the public free of charge tomorrow (4 p.m. – 10 p.m.), Saturday (11:30 a.m. – 10 p.m.), and Sunday (11 a.m. – 8 p.m.). The WILDFEST Ice Castle is 90 tons of fun for the whole family! Fairbanks ice carvers Steve and Heather Brice have been working on the castle all week. We met the Brices up at Chena Hot Springs in Fairbanks, where they carved all the artwork in the Ice Hotel. Fabulous. 
Don’t miss it! 

Free is one of my favorite words. Call me jaded and cynical–but that’s just how it is! That’s why I love the Great Alaskan TourSaver. Because when you buy the book for $99.95 (that’s where the money changes hands), you have more than 140 offers to bring your companion along for free. There’s more than $22,000 in travel offers where your companion goes F-R-E-E. Let’s be clear: this is one of those deals where it PAYS to know someone with a TourSaver book! HA!

Right up there next to “free” is “2-for-1″. That, I think, is my second-favorite phrase. Everything in the TourSaverbook is 2-for-1. For hotels, it means you pay the regular rate for the first night and you get the second night free. For cruises, it means you pay the original rate and your companion goes f-r-e-e. 

All the coolest things to do in Alaska are in the book, including:

a. Charter fishing in Seward, Kodiak and along the Kenai River.

b. Glacier cruises in Valdez, Wrangell, Whittier and Seward. 

c. Bear-viewing trips in Wrangell.

d. Denali flightseeing trips from Talkeetna (fixed wing) and Denali Park (rotor wing). Choose from glacier landings, summit flights or heli-hiking!

e. Hotels in Juneau, Wrangell, Skagway, Fairbanks, Anchorage, Seward, Valdez, Talkeetna, Copper Center, McCarthy and Whitehorse.

f. Rental cars in Anchorage, Juneau and Ketchikan.

g. Tram ride in downtown Juneau.

h. Wilderness Lodge at the edge of Gates of the Arctic National Park (Bettles Lodge).

i. Wilderness Lodge in Nikolski (week-long adventure!).

j. Alaska rail tours between Anchorage, Denali Park and Fairbanks.

k. Admission to Alaska SeaLife Center, Alaska Native Heritage Center, Alaska Wilderness Conservation Center and Diamond Tooth Gertie’s! 

…much more.

Check the TourSaver.com site today and see all the great offers. You only have to use one coupon to get your money back. And the rest, they say, is free! Ah, my favorite word! Catch a big fat King Salmon on the Kenai River, just like my son, Drew. There are two coupons for 2-for-1 salmon charters in this year’s Great Alaskan TourSaver. By the way, we flew back to Anchorage after catching this fish and grilled it up on the BBQ t-h-a-t e-v-e-n-i-n-g. Yummmmm.