Fly to anchorage and rent an RV.
I’ve not been personally but I know several people who have taken their RV to Alaska and every single one says they’d never do it again. Alaskan roads are awful and beat an RV to death, not that big of an issue if renting. Campgrounds are really rough and primitive. They all said that it’s pretty daunting and these are experienced RVers.
I’ve heard the road driving to Alaska through Canada is rough. You can fly to anchorage and rent an RV, then it’s very easy. You can drive to the Kenai peninsula and hang out there doing everything you’d like. Campgrounds range from full hook up the primitive. If they are primitive, just use the generator on your RV. May have to dump your tanks every other day, but that’s super easy. If it’s just two people, the smaller class c motor homes are plenty big enough for two people. Alaska roads and parking spaces are big because most everyone tows something at some point in time. There are tons of rental rv’s in Alaska during the summer, grocery stores, restaurants, attractions, etc have parking lots designed for rv size vehicles to park.
We cruised out of Vancouver and really enjoyed it on the Koningsdam. Our excursions were seaplane to Taku lodge over the Juneau glacier fields, unbelievable; Skagway - Klondike mountain train and rented a car to drive the Klondike highway also great, Ketchikan was a trip on the “deadliest catch” crab boat. I ‘d recommend a fishing trip out of Ketchikan too.
This is what I did. Spent my first 3 days/nights in Anchorage getting over the jet lag (which was significant) and exploring within a 100 miles in and around the Anchorage area. The first day in Anchorage, we just laid around the hotel and rested (highly recommend). Drove to Seward in our rental car (which was my favorite city in AK)....unbelievable scenery. After 3 days picked up our 31 ft. RV in Anchorage and headed for Wasilla and on to Denali. We went the last week in April and into the first week of May. Lots of snow still coming down, but made the mountains gorgeous for photo ops and natural beauty. Stopped by Sarah Palin's house, but they had her street blocked off (for obvious reasons). Spent 3 nights in Denali National Park at Riley Creek campground and we were about the only ones there other than the Park Ranger. Park had not opened for the summer season and it was free of charge during that time. Then went to Fairbanks/North Pole for a day and headed back south toward Glen Allen for the night. Drive from Glen Allen to Valdez was as a magnificent beauty as you'd ever want to see. Hard to keep our cameras from clicking nonstop. Spent 2 nights in Valdez where it snowed like a b(witch). We were gonna put the RV on a ferry and sail back to Whittier, but they wanted $250 for the one way ride. Much cheaper just to back track to Glen Allen/Copper Valley and then over to Palmer and into Anchorage. Amazing trip and you got a better feel for the real Alaska and Alaskans by RVing around for a couple weeks. And you become an RV expert by doing it. I knew NOTHING about an RV, but I guarantee you, you'll learn quick or suffer. Important Note: being transferred by plane from Memphis to Anchorage in one day is very tiring (emphasize resting for 1 full day at a hotel wherever you fly into.....likely ANC or Fairbanks, before you start your RV/car trip around the state}. Plus, there is much more wildlife in AK that can kill you than in MS. Don't forget about that as you'll run across Elk, Moose, and Brown Bears among other stuff. BTW....I found the average person in AK to be on the wild side as well. Tread carefully and don't hang around avalanche zones very long. The next time I go and I do plan a 2nd trip, I may do the cruise route from Vancouver, BC. with possiblly a side trip up to Barrrow and Dead Horse oil fields, etc. If I had to live full time any place in Alaska, it would be Seward. Neat little town like Mississippi towns and it felt more like community than any place else. Very enjoyable trip and highly recommend it. Save up in advance. Not a cheap place to hang out as a visitor, but a little better on the wallet than Hawaii.
