That aside, I had never considered Alaska a vacation destination. Being a Seattle native, I recognized Alaska as “that place our boys go to fish.” Upon arrival, however, I only wished we had more time. Juneau was absolutely stunning, although the town is touristy and a bit kitsch. I can’t to see the rest of Alaska.

Oh, I almost forgot! I doubt you’ve had much time to watch TV, but have you caught any “be nice to the tourists, they bring us money,” commercials? I just about died of laughter when I saw those. Between those and the anti-alcoholism ads that clearly target the Native population in the area, it appears as though Alaska tries to perform a lot of social programming via TV.

Glad you’re having a good time!

Another trip that you’ll see a number of people do every year is to ride their motorcycles from Tierra del Fuego up to Prudhoe Bay. That trip becomes especially impressive when you consider that there are no roads through the Darien Gap in Panama, a 100 mile expanse of jungle. So any trip between those extreme northern and southern points of North/South American typically consists of finding some small boat that will carry you past it, and praying that your bike doesn’t take a swim when they’re loading and unloading it by hand.

Another interesting trip done recently by a guy in my local BMW motorcycle club was a trip around the world on his motorcycle. He started in Virginia, rode up to Toronto to airfreight his bike to England (since Homeland Security won’t allow you to fly in the same plane with your motorcycle for some unexplainable reason), and rode down to Turkey to meet with a tour group to work as staff on it. From there, they traveled to Xian, China, and had all of the bikes shipped to Seattle. While his bike was shipped, he waited back home in Virginia. Then he flew to Seattle with his wife, and they rode all the way back, never once hitting an interstate the entire way, and even avoided highways when possible.

I would say pretty much every white collar worker living in an urban area should probably just admit as much. So, I am not a man either.

Radley — I have to speculate that a big part of the rental car price has to do with market forces. Alaska rental car companies can charge more because you are over a barrel. Seems to me that if rental car prices get too high in the continental 48, more people will just start driving to their final destination. Its less likely that anyone visiting Alaska is going to drive up from the lower 48 with their own car. The consumer has less options so prices go up.

Of course it may be the case that excessive taxation raises that price even further.

and don’t forget Skinny Dicks Half Way Inn on the western highway also just a few miles south of Fairbanks.

Radley – According to Wikipedia, she’s in trouble for firing the commissioner of public safety because he wouldn’t fire her brother-in-law. Apparently the state trooper brother-in-law is still a state trooper.

Thank you, thank you very much… Don’t forget the waitresses…

By the way, I heard that if you really didn’t want to pay the high prices on the rental cars, just hitch a ride on one of those GIGANTIC mosquitoes…

What a ride…now that’ll make a MAN out of you and the Mrs…LOL

Stay safe and have fun but HURRY BACK!