My husband recently pointed out that I have inadvertently created a method for planning trips. He was able to test his theory when he went on a short deployment to Guam. He had been to Guam before and wasn’t super excited to be stuck on this tiny island when it seemed like there was nothing to do that he hadn’t already done. After settling in, he decided he was going to guide his experience by asking “What would Ashlee do?” and thus, my method came to light! The funny thing about him explaining this to me is that I’m the one in the family that sits down and plans out our family adventures and it is something that almost comes second nature to me so I didn’t realize that I really do have a step by step “method”! As he was guiding me through his thought process of how he found things to do in his downtime, I felt a sense of pride for having, albeit accidentally, taught him how to have a fulfilling adventure! And as that’s really the motivation behind the creation of Our Big Backyard, I thought it would be a great process to spell out for a blog post. So here it is, our 6-part method to planning adventures! (Maybe you can help us come up with a name for it ;) PLaces to eatThe first thing I do when I am planning a trip is to research good places to eat! Good food is arguably the best part of a good adventure! And the best way to get to know a culture or area is through the food they eat! There are many ways that I find good places to eat and none of them include looking for chain restaurants. Doing a simple search on Pinterest (Ex. Places to eat in ______) can bring good results. Yelp has proven to be a good tool from time to time as well. You can always ask locals for recommendations, too! We’ve never met someone who wasn’t happy to recommend a good place to eat in their town. The best places we’ve ever eaten have been considered “hole-in-the-wall” type places so it’s important not to judge a book by it’s cover! While Jon tested his theory of my method, he explored a few different places to eat in Guam that brought him to trying a Japanese dish called natto, aka fermented soy beans. He also grabbed some octopus on a stick at the Chamorro Market. I will admit he was a bit braver in his endeavor than I am, haha. historical placesThe next thing I do when looking into things to do in a specific place is to find historic places in the area. Historical places are so interesting to us and as a homeschooling family, we know there truly is no better way to understand the world than through learning about our collective history. Jon put this into practice when he visited the War in the Pacific National Historic Park to see the Piti guns, which are coastal defense guns put in place by the Japanese in WWII. Just going to the park was really interesting because he learned about devastation the war brought to the island of Guam. Finding some of the markers were an adventure in and of itself because it became almost a scavenger hunt to find the trail. During this adventure, not only did he learn a lot but there was also there was a feeling of appreciation for the Chamorro culture that almost crumbled during the war. This is the perfect example of why we make it a point to visit historical places. Nothing is more fulfilling than learning new things. Outdoor AttractionsAnother thing I look into is outdoor or nature attractions. We’ve been able to explore some really cool places and have learned that every location has something beautiful to add to the world. And it’s always great to spend time outdoors! Jon crossed this off the list by snorkeling the beautiful waters of Guam. At one time, he and his friend noticed a reef shark not far away and then started noticing they were actually surrounded by them! These types of experiences create memories that will stick with you forever! They are also fun stories to tell ;) Another example from our recent trip to Hawaii was exploring nature on all sides of the Big Island. We went from exploring the tropical jungle of the Hilo side of the island, to the cliffs on the northern side, the drier beach areas on the Kona side and even the lava fields and volcano on the south side, which will stick in my memory forever! We were only on the island for 5 days and we feel like we got a really good sample of everything the island has to offer. We’ve talked about connecting to the culture of places, but getting out in nature really connects us to the world around us! Exploring the outdoors doesn’t have to be big hikes or all day adventures either. Just connecting with nature in some way has a way of grounding us like nothing else can. Unique ToursAs a family of 5, we definitely find the value of budget travel, but we also make a goal to fully take advantage of where we are exploring and that means that we always try to work a tour or excursion into our budget. Our logic is that if you took the time and money to get there, you may as well try to experience as much as you can! We especially love booking tours that are unique and specific to the area. Sometimes these tours are big - like the time we did a helicopter tour and landed on a glacier during one of our road trips through Alaska. Other times it’s a little smaller scale, like the chocolate farm tour we took in Hilo, Hawaii. Jon’s way of completing this was by taking a fishing charter with a small group of guys from work. They spent a Saturday deep sea fishing and ended up catching some mahi mahi and a 6 ft shark! It was a memorable experience, for sure. And being able to eat some of the fresh cuisine from the island after putting in the work to get it made it all the more sweeter. Experience the CultureAnother aspect that I look into when traveling is something we can do to experience the culture. Sometimes this overlaps with historical attractions, like when we visited the Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historic Park near Kona, Hawaii or all the amazing cliff dwellings and Native American sites that we visited around New Mexico. It can also overlap with tours like the River Boat discovery tour that we love in Fairbanks, Alaska. But sometimes these are things that can stand on their own as separate adventures. Jon made a point to visit the Chamorro Village in Guam while he was testing out our method. He brought some people from work with him and they really enjoyed themselves. It was another way to enjoy local food, history, and a place to find some good souvenirs to bring home. And it gave them all an appreciation that even though they were visiting an island that is a U.S. territory, it also home to it’s own customs and people. Cultural activities may not be as obvious as some of the other but sometimes it can be as simple as exploring a local farmer's market or swap meet to get a feel for life in the local area. Stay PositiveThe last part of our method that we admit really takes some practice is to stay positive and flexible! We all know that one of the major frustrations with traveling, or adventuring in general, is that not everything works out exactly as planned. To be more specific, sometimes we plan things that don’t end up being as impressive or meaningful as we meant them to be. Or maybe something happens and we aren’t able to cross off everything on our list that we had planned to do! We’ve all been there and the more you can chalk things up to “learning experiences” the easier it is to adapt in these situations. For example, on our last trip to Hawaii, we took time to go explore some waterfalls that we had heard good things about. When we got there, they were steps from a parking lot and weren’t as much of a hike or experience that we had built up in our heads. But, we saw some beautiful scenery and we used the time we had before our tour started to drive through some beautiful Hawaiian farmland. Another example is from our trip to California. I was so excited to take my little girls to the pirate’s tower in Laguna and I kept all the details a little bit secret so there would be an element of surprise. Once we got there, they could not have cared less about seeing the tower and were more interested in playing in the water and chasing seagulls haha. Oh well, in the end, every one had fun and that was what mattered!
By using these categories to guide our trip planning, we have been able to have so many fulfilling adventures! Jon showed that we can easily apply this method to bigger destination trips like his trip to Guam but these are also things we focus on when we plan trips around Alaska or even just when we’re looking for things to do closer to home! We can have fulfilling day trip adventures when we visit a museum in our hometown or exploring a new nature trail that we’ve never carved out time for. We have special ties to everywhere we’ve lived because we took the time to seek out adventures that cover all these categories. Are these things you can easily duplicate when planning a trip? Do you have any that you would add? We want to know! As always, we’d love to answer your comments or questions! Make sure to pin this post for future adventure planning and consider following us on Instagram to join our day-to-day adventures! Until next time, we encourage you to get out and enjoy where YOU live!
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As residents of Alaska we get the opportunity to absorb all that Alaska has to offer year round. From her glorious summers to her pristine winters and the abundance of activities, Alaska brings every type of adventurer. We get friends, family, and followers alike asking us when is the best time to visit Alaska and our answer, without fail, is, "It depends." If we've learned anything during our time in Alaska, it's that everything is seasonal and the difference in seasons is extreme. In this post, we'll break down the tourists seasons in Alaska and help you decide when the best time would be for a visit. And then we'll tell you our opinion ;) winter seasonSince we are currently in the middle of winter season, why not start here? In interior Alaska, "winter season" really starts around October, which is when we can pretty much guarantee snow on the ground and below freezing temperatures start creeping in. The lakes are starting to freeze over and Alaskans start settling in for another 6-7 month winter. Once the snow starts to fall in October, it's not uncommon to say goodbye to our grassy yards until April. November-January are the darkest months of the year and, in Fairbanks, it's not uncommon to reach temperatures near -40*F. SO....if you can get past all that...these months are actually a great time to visit Alaska because it's Aurora viewing season! While Aurora Borealis occurs all year, it can only be seen when the skies are dark enough which occurs late September-March -- October and February being the best months in our experience. In snowy conditions, dog sledding is another activity that visitors like to experience when they are in Alaska. Dog sledding has been a way of life for many Alaskans for the last few hundred years, even being used to deliver mail up until the 1960s! There are still families in the Alaskan bush who use sled dogs for trapping and others for sport so it makes sense that this activity is something that is equated with the arctic of Alaska. There are many tour companies that offer dog sledding tours, and while the dogs do very well in the frigid conditions, their human counterparts, especially those who are un-acclimatized, can struggle. This means companies will cancel tours if temperatures reach below -20*F. Other sled dog events include famous dog races including the Yukon Quest which occurs in Fairbanks every February and the Iditarod which begins in Anchorage every March. One of our favorite annual winter events is the World Ice Art Competition. Every February ice sculpting teams from around the world travel to Fairbanks to compete in the prestigious competition and the sculptures stay up in the park until they start to melt around the end of March. The talent is incredible and if you go early enough in the season, you may even catch a few teams at work! This is a fun family event especially if you hang around the front of the park and enjoy the ice slides and games...picture a giant chess set made of ice...or a ping pong ice table! So much fun. We love exploring glaciers in the summer season, but we have had some pretty awesome experiences exploring these beautiful natural phenomenons in the winter season as well. Near Fairbanks, we've hiked to Castner Glacier which is definitely more safe to do in the winter. In the Anchorage area, I took an amazing guided tour to Matanuska Glacier also in the winter season. There are multiple tour companies offering winter flights to glaciers around Alaska. Other winter activities include ice fishing - local recreation sites around Fairbanks start putting out ice huts in December - snow machining, cross country skiing (and downhill skiing in Girdwood!), snow shoeing...the possibilities are endless. SpringWhen you bring up the concept of "Spring" to Alaskans, they may chuckle a little bit about the idea since that season is pretty non-existent here. We lovingly refer to Spring as "break-up" meaning the season when all the rivers and lakes starts to melt and...well...break up! It's a pretty exciting time for Alaskans because the temperatures are obviously warming up and the sun is getting higher in the sky and there's a feeling of coming alive again in the air! This season is relatively short and occurs in April to about mid-May. This time of year is very muddy and brown and would definitely be considered a "shoulder season" but for good reason. There's not much to see and do quite yet as tourist season isn't quite in full swing but we do have our favorite activities in this season too! Namely, we like to explore Denali National Park. There's a short window of time when the park road is open for personal vehicles before tourist season starts and the only way to drive the road is on a Denali Bus Tour or by purchasing a pass. Summer![]() Ah, Summer. Summer in Alaska is a truly magical time that interior Alaskans wear as a badge of honor for surviving the harsh winter. It does come with it's own hardships though, namely mosquitos - affectionately called the State Bird. If you think you know mosquitoes, I'm not quite sure how to tell you that you don't, haha. Alaska mosquitoes are from another world and are especially brutal the further into the interior you get. May-September is also known as "Midnight Sun Season" which can be pretty hard to deal with for some people, as it doesn't truly get dark in Fairbanks during this time of the year. But, if you can get past *that*....midnight sun season means there is a lot more time to fill with adventures! Mid-May to Mid-September is officially tourist season for the whole state of Alaska. Because of this, there are many more opportunities for tours and activities during this time of the year. We have our own list of things to do in the summer around Fairbanks which includes gold panning, farm tours, and a river cruise just to name a few of our favorites. For more specifics, you can check out our sample summer itinerary for the Fairbanks area as well but we have enjoyed some pretty epic summer activities around the state including glacier tours, wildlife cruises, and more. Another event that brings people to Alaska in the summer is the world famous salmon run. King Salmon (or Chinook Salmon) run from about late-may to late-July. Mid-July to Mid-August is when the Pink and Sockeye Salmon do their thing with Silver Salmon - or Coho - bringing up the rear from July to October. The salmon run does more for Alaska than just providing opportunities for humans. These months are amazing for wildlife viewing as orcas come in chasing their dinner as well as seals, sea lions, and bears, oh my! Other fishing popular in Alaska is Halibut from mid-May to mid-September as well as cod and rockfish, among others. Fresh water fishing includes trout, arctic char, pike, grayling, and more. If you thought the possibilities sounded "endless" in our winter synopsis, summer is a whole different animal. FallAs you can imagine, Fall comes early in Alaska. While other states are enjoying their last days of summer, we're all pretty deep into our short Fall season. Our fall foliage really pops in August-September which is also considered a "shoulder season" as tourist season comes to an end. Most tours are still running but locals are really starting to prepare for the impending winter. This doesn't mean that we aren't still taking advantage of the weather before it turns icy and cold, though! Hands down, our favorite place to visit in the Fall is Valdez, where the salmon run comes right into the bay, and brings a lot of other locals - human and otherwise - to stock up their freezers - or bellies - until the next run. Fall is a beautiful time in Alaska as the mosquitoes start to die down, the auroras start to become visible again, and the hustle and bustle of summer activities starts to slow down as we head back into winter. If you've read this far, you can see why it's hard to pinpoint a "good time" to visit Alaska! It truly depends on what you want to get out of it. So are you ready for our recommendation? We suggest a winter visit AND a summer visit so you can truly get the whole picture :)
So let us know! What time of year do you think would make the best Alaska vacation? As always, we’d love to answer your comments or questions! If you're interested in a one-on-one chat to help plan a custom trip to Alaska, check out our options here! Make sure to pin this post for future reference! Consider joining us on Instagram to come with us on our day-to-day adventures! Until next time, we encourage you to get out and enjoy where YOU live! |
AuthorWe're just a military family enjoying where we live, one PCS at a time. Follow us as we explore our current home, South Carolina, and beyond. The world is our backyard. Archives
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