Stop Number 2, Anchorage Alaska

BLOG POSTED BY:  Matt Whitlow!

Anchorage, Alaska.  Stop 2

Ryan - $1,723.00

Josh -  $1,100.00

Matt - $480.00

Erin – Free

Robert –  $1,602.00

Nazmi - $54.00

Total Spend This Leg – $4,969.00

Balance Remaining - $90,605.53

Ryan –

Accommodations

While we are in Anchorage, Alaska I thought we would stay at the wonderful Sheraton Anchorage Hotel and Spa.  This is a great hotel that is located in downtown Anchorage and only 12 miles from the airport. I have booked two separate rooms for six nights.  The total for this reservation is estimated at $1,411.20.  We will be arriving September 21st and departing again on September 27th. The link that I booked our hotel on is http://www.sheraton.com/anchorage.

Food List
Alaskan King Salmon Fillets from 10th and M Seafoods: 4 lbs. x $24.95 = $99.80
Downtown Deli: 6 people = $55.00
2 cases of water = $12.00
Snow City Cafe: 6 people = $60.00
Snow Goose & Sleeping Lady Brewery: 6 people = $65.00
Various Snacks: $20.00

I have attached a picture of our hotel in Anchorage as well.

-Ryan

The total for food and hotel for this leg of the trip comes out to be $1,723.00        

Josh

Recreational Sport/Activity

For our activity I though that we could go whale watching! The boat we will be boarding is called  Lu-Lu Belle, also known as "limousine of the sea". On is boat we will see whales such as Humpback, Killer and Gray whales! We would also see sea lions, otters and seals! We would set sail from Valdez, Alaska and sail into Prince William Sound. We would also see some of the most beautiful scenery in the world! This trip would costs us $105 per person, $630 total. http://www.lulubelletours.com/book/index.asp
For our sport, I thought paintball would be fun! We would go to 907 paintball in south Anchorage. It is $10 for all day pass, $10 all day compressed air, $60 for 2000 paintballs. Which equal up to $480. This would be such a fun time!
 http://www.907paintball.com/

Matt - Natural Site

We took a day trip to Denali National Park to see if we could get a glimpse of Mt. McKinley.  We rode on a bus service called the Alaska Park Connection and the cost was $80.00 per person.  This all day trip, had us leaving at 7:00 am and returning to Anchorage at 9:30 pm.  This road trip took us on the spectacular Seward highway which is Alaska's only scenic Byway.   I don’t think I ever took any more beautiful pictures from the side of the highway.  We went through the small fishing town of Seward, across two scenic mountain passes into Denali National Park.  What an exhausting day, but thankfully we got to see Mt. McKinley.

http://www.alaskacoach.com/index.html

Total Cost $480.00

Erin: 

Built monument or Attraction.

For our historic monument this week we decided to visit the statehood monument of Alaska.  This is a large Bronze statue of President Eisenhower that was erected in  1990.  The monument was raised to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the first official settlement in the area, which was established in 1915, Tent City.   The Statue was beautiful to look at, and also offered a view of the history of Alaska, which was not well known to  most of us, so it was also very informative. This is not only free, but Is also within walking distance of our hotel!  We also met an elderly gentleman that was looking at the statue who told us about the bitterly cold winters and how much he loved the Summer in Anchorage.  The monument was absolutely beautiful, and we all really enjoyed looking at it, and learning more about the history of Anchorage!

Price:  Free

Link: http://alaska.usl.myareaguide.com/attraction_details.html?detailsListingId=ATTRACTIONS_1a47594861506423500f8547cfac81ff

Robert –

Transportation

We will be taking TLC taxi from Crater Lake Lodges to Medford (MFR) Airport which will be $28. We will arrive at airport an hour or so before departure which would be around 5:00 am. We will be taking Alaska Airlines Flight 2452. Our departure time is 6:20am and we will fly to Seattle, WA and arrive there at 7:44am. When we arrive there we will have a 1h 46m layover. Around 9:30 am we will be taking Alaska Airlines Flight 91 to Anchorage, Alaska. We will arrive at our destination around 12:04pm which will give us enough time to get situated and to take a look around Anchorage at the beautiful scenery. The total duration time of travel is 3h 34m and we traveled over 1,444 miles on a Boeing 737-800. The total cost for all 6 of us to fly to Anchorage is $1554 with each person being at $259 for the economy class. We will take a taxi from the airport to the Sheraton Anchorage Hotel & Spa for $20.

Nazmi –

I looked at the Anchorage Museum website and it seemed like a great place to go visit.  They also have a planetarium in the museum.  However for general admission it costs $12 per person per adult, and $9 per student.  I figured for the 6 of us at general admission it would end up being $54 dollars.

http://www.anchoragemuseum.org/

Crater Lake Oregon; Stop Number 1

Transportation:  Josh

Flight costs $2190.54 for all 6 of us. Depart RDU at 5:55pm on continental airlines flight 1234, arrive in Houston (IAH) at 7:47 pm. Change flights, have a 1hr and 13 minute layover. Depart at 9pm on flight 1495; arrive in Portland (PDX) at 11:26 pm, 8hr and 44 minute layover. Change airline to Alaska Airlines flight 2329, take off at 8:10am. Arrive at 9:10am in Medford (MFR). Total time for whole trip is 18hrs and 15mins, we traveled 3100 miles. We take TLC taxi from airport to Crater Lake Lodges 1211 Avenue C White City, Oregon, 97503. It would cost $28 for the taxi ride.  The flights were bumpy; and somewhat unpleasant, but all in all a good trip.


Accommodations:  Yates

The accommodations for our trip is that we will be camping for the week at Mazama Village Campground. There is one site that we will be camping at. The cost for the week for the site and campground is $210.00. The site can fit 8ft by 8ft tents. The food for the week is going to be just like any other camping trip (non perishable foods) like beans, 2 loaves of bread, peanut butter, jam, cases of bottles of water so we don't get dehydrated, granola bars, and then ingredients to make smores (chocolate bars, graham crackers, marshmallows. The cost of all of the food was 55.93. 

Arrive: Thursday September 15, 2011

Depart: Wednesday September 21, 2011

Number of sites: 1

Nights: 6

Adults p/room: 6 ($3.50 x 4 extra guest)

Children p/room: 0

Special Requests (not guaranteed): Total Width: 8, Total Length: 8

Thu 15th	1 x $35.00
Fri 16th	1 x $35.00
Sat 17th	1 x $35.00
Sun 18th	1 x $35.00
Mon 19th	1 x $35.00
Tue 20th	1 x $35.00
Total:	$210.00

Food list:

Beans 12 cans: $20.04

2 loaves of bread $3.00

Bottles of water (2 case): $12.00

Peanut butter: $3.99   

Jelly: $3.50

Marshmallows: $2.00

Hersheys chocolate: $4.65 (3bars)

Graham crackers: $4.50

Granola bars: $2.25

Total: 55.93

Natural Site:  Ryan

For our natural site while we are here at Crater Lake, I thought we could take a look at Vidae Falls.  It is a waterfall with a 100 foot drop and spectacular view.  It was a great piece of scenery.  Along with the waterfall there were wildflowers growing along side which added to the color and created an even better view.  You could not see the top of the waterfall which made me a little curious as to where the water was flowing from.  Vidae Falls was very easy to travel to as it located on the south side of the lake along Rim Drive nearly six miles east of Rim Village.  Overall, it was a great experience for me to see something like that in nature.  I cant wait to see what the rest of our trip has in store for us.  Another plus is that there is no fee to pay to view Vidae Falls. 

http://explore.globalcreations.com/places/vidae-falls-crater-lake-national-park/

Built Monument/Attraction:  Matt  

 

This morning we woke up early and hiked to the community house at Rim Village.  Once we arrived there, we took a 2 hour trolley ride around the rim trail at crater lake on a trolley that runs on Compressed Natural Gas.  I found this attraction online through web site http://www.craterlaketrolley.com .  This tour had a handful of stops at some of the most beautiful vistas around the lake, the views were breathtaking.  Our guide told us about a lot of the history of the lake and the park and some of the cool things that are unique to the lake.  First, the lake is the deepest in the United States at 1,949 feet deep.  In addition, there are no rivers in or out of the lake, it is solely fed my the surrounding snow melt and rain fall.  This is one of the clearest lakes in the world.  Our guide was very knowledgeable.  Our total cost was $25 per person for a total of $150.  Well worth the money.  I was bummed though that there were no student discounts!  

 Cultural Site:  Erin

 

For our Historic Site, While Crater Lake is a historic site in and of itself I decided we should visit one of the many caves located in Southern Oregon.  The tours are 8.50/Adult equalling out to $51 in total.  The tours include a guide which take you through the caves regailing visitors with stories and historic facts about the site.  We will take a tour through a marble cave. Learn and discover how the geology, fossils, cave life, bats, watershed, old-growth forest, and human history all make the Oregon Caves unique and fun to visit.  The Caves will be an interesting aspect that many of our teams have never experienced, and will help go along with our camping Theme!  The caves were absolutely gorgeous, and we got to see things that some members of the group never got to see!  Being the only girl in the group I got a little scared by the bats, but it was very cool being able to see the inside of a cave!  The tour guide also had a lot of funny stories about the people who used to go through the caves looking for gold and other treasures, he was very informative, and our entire group would recommend this tour to anyone visiting the area!

http://www.nps.gov/index.htm

 Recreation Spot/Activity:  Naz 

 

For our entertainment I figured that we could go white water rafting for one of the days on Rogue River, which is located in the Crater lake national park area.  It cost us 95 dollars a person for a full day pass, so the price ended up being $570 for that part, a good deal I thought for all the fun that we had.  I figured that we also spent a day just enjoying the scenery, I feel like Crater Lake NP is known for it's beauty that a tour that Matt had planned could also be included in the recreation and entertainment part of the trip.  Other then this, we spent a day out on the lake fishing. Fishing cost 195 per person for a full day, so it turned out to be $1170 total... overall for the trip we ended up spending $1740 for one full day of rafting (8:30 am - 4 pm) and one full day of fishing (6 am to 3 pm)  I've never been fishing and didn't catch any fish, but the rest of the group was pretty good at it and we all enjoyed it immensely.

http://wildrogue.com/rogue-whitewater-rafting-trips.htm

We all had a really great time in Crater Lake Oregon camping out and living in the wilderness while also being given the chance to experience the beauty of the outdoors, and all of the attractions that Crater Lake has to offer!  Looking forward to stop Number 2, we hope you've enjoyed reading about our first week! 

I'm here and ready

Thanks so much for inviting to follow your trip ~ I'm so excited.