http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog Notes and comments, and occasionally, news about visiting Alaska. Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:03:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en All five of the Pacific salmon have a common name, and a really common name. Chinook salmon are also called kings. Coho are also called silvers. Sockeye are reds. Pink salmon are also called humpies. Alas, the poor chum salmon, whose common name conjures up images of ground-up fish gruel ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=188 I did something this year that I hadn't done in the past... I bought a ticket for the PSEA Matsu Valley King Salmon Derby. If you're not familiar with the concept of a fishing derby, the basic idea is you purchase a ticket (in advance) and then you check-in and ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=184 Back in 2006 I wrote this post about the advantages of visiting Denali National Park in the shoulder seasons. I have to say that this is definitely the way to go when it comes to visiting Denali National Park - you can take your own vehicle, stop where you like, ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=182 I have always been a bit of a weather nut. Those of you who are also weather nuts know what I mean. At a point earlier in my life, I was destined to become a television weatherman, but alas, I was defeated by calculus. But before I suffered that defeat, ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=180 Alaska Governor Sean Parnell traveled to Miami to attend the Cruise Shipping Conference in Miami Beach... where he was scolded by the cruise lines for Alaska's tax and environmental policies. At issue are wastewater discharge standards, and a $50 head tax. The Miami Herald quotes Stein Kruse, President and CEO ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=177 When people plan their Alaskan vacations, many come with a list of must-see and must-do destinations and activities. Unfortunately for most of them, they miss out on one of Alaska's most spectacular destinations - Wrangell St. Elias National Park. The park itself is the largest park in the National Park Service ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=161 (I wrote a blog a few weeks back about the Iditarod - click here if you'd like to check it out...) Alaska Vacation Store has been doing Iditarod packages since 2005, and they've increased in popularity every year... to the point where they are booking up earlier and earlier. The problem ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=158 A lot is made of the darkness in Alaska in the winter. We do get some sun, though. Would you like to see how much? Check out this video made last week at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. You get to see sunrise to sunset in one two-minute video. http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=154 We've been getting some phone calls today from one of our leisure travel clients who is feeling a bit put out because of weather-related travel delays. Fortunately for me, she's not my client, but rather, my office-mate's. But if she were my client, this is what I would tell her: Relax. There ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=151 There's a certain irony about coming to Alaska to experience an unspoiled environment. The average round-trip flight to Alaska releases over 1000 pounds of CO2 per person into the environment. When you add the gasoline you use once you're here - most of our packages are self-drive - you're getting near one ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=143 ... so are the minutes of daylight! Rejoice, Alaskans! Tomorrow there will be nine seconds more daylight in Anchorage. In Fairbanks there will be thirteen more seconds of daylight. Barrow, you're out of luck until the end of January. OK, most of Alaska can rejoice! It is the winter solstice, and the days are ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=140 There are an increasing number of visitors to Alaska in the winter... and many of them are coming here to experience the Iditarod. The Iditarod starts in Anchorage on the first Saturday in March, and the race lasts about two weeks. Most guests arrive on the Thursday before - you wouldn't ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=95 The Anchorage Daily News reports in this piece that the cruise industry plans to remove two ships from Alaska routes in 2011, in addition to the cuts announced for 2010. This amounts to a total reduction of almost 160,000 passengers annually by 2011. At issue is a head tax passed by ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=90 This whole new media thing, while not all that new to me, is a bit of a gear-shift when you're going from running a business to sitting on the computer and wading through directories of Twitter users. I was looking for Twitter users that had identified #travel as one of ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=88 ... and you're cutting it off, to spite your face. This morning's Anchorage Daily News contained this piece which describes Alaska Airlines decision to begin charging for even the first checked bag on most flights. Bad idea. Really bad. I suppose if you're some airline revenue guru, this makes some sense - a ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=65 Back when I started Alaska Vacation Store, I had to embark on the chore of finding vendors who were interested in working with a new tour company. One of the first that I found was Mike and Sharon Renfro, owners and operators of Renfro's Lakeside Retreat, located on the shores ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=57 Our friendly neighborhood volcano, Mt. Redoubt, has continued to put on a spectacular show just across Cook Inlet from Kenai. For the first time since the recent eruptive episode started, there was noticeable ashfall in Anchorage. We had a few hours of notice, so I put a sheet of notebook paper ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=31 The volcano is making for entertaining conversation both in the office and in online chats here in Anchorage, but while we marvel at nature, people in other areas are having to deal with some of the problems associated with the volcano. We had an eruption this morning, and most of the ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=29 After weeks of unrest, Mt. Redoubt, located about 80 miles southwest of Anchorage, has erupted. For the latest information, visit the Alaska Volcano Observatory Website. You can also see the plume in weather satellite images and on the National Weather Service Radar in Kenai . For the latest information visit the Alaska ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=27 I was headed out of my office yesterday for lunch, and ran into the woman who has the office next to mine. She was just coming inside the building from the pouring rain. I looked at her and said, "We should be a little more careful when we start wishing ... http://alaskavacationstore.com/akblog/?p=26