Day trips and tours: 'showing independent visitors Alaska'.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: VISITORS INDUSTRY

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

I'm an Alaskan. I grew up here. When I was young I identified my favorite places as "that one with the big rock" or "we had to drive forever, and there was a bridge." I'm a little better with names now, though I have to say that even today if anyone were to ask me to how get to Liberty Falls my answer would be, "I don't know the name of the road, but I can take you there." There's a lot to do in Alaska, and getting close enough to climb on the rocks, wade in the water, or tell that out-of-state friend, "No, it's a wild animal, you shouldn't try to touch it" makes the experience all the more rich.

Independent Touring with Alaska.org

For those who don't happen to know the girl who knows the road to this really awesome place with a great rock, try Alaska.org. The site was built up by Bob Kaufman, and he created it specifically to address the issue of how to know what to do in Alaska. "Alaska is a really unfamiliar destination and it's a complex destination. Because of that people say, 'I'm just going to do a cruise.'" Alaska.org is meant to "show independent visitors a better way to see Alaska," Kaufman says.

One of the challenges that people face in exploring Alaska independently is a combination of its vastness and lack of infrastructure. Kaufman says, "The train here will run once or maybe twice a day. Most people that live in New York, they hear about a train and they ask, 'Do I take the 5:05 or the 5:20?"' The Alaska Railroad is a wonderful way to travel Alaska; just stopping by a station and thinking a train "will come by" isn't going to pan out. Kaufman's goal with Alaska.org was to create a place that has enough information and detail to be a useful tool without overly focusing on nuances or overwhelming travelers.

He says short, day tours are an important part of touring in Alaska. "If I fly to Hawaii and stay at a resort there, I don't have to purchase a single day tour to get the experience I paid for. I'll get the sun; I'll get the beach; I'll get all the things I want to do on the water. If I go to Washington DC I can see the Capital and the Lincoln Monument. All you have to do is arrive and you'll get 80 percent of the experience you want to have. In Alaska, with no day tours, you won't see a bear up close, you won't see tidewater glaciers crash into the ocean, you won't see our biggest mountains up close--you'll see it all from a dozen miles away. You cannot experience Alaska without taking them; they give...