Visting Anchorage? The Basics ...

I've seen a few questions on the big series of tubes from folks planning to come to Anchorage this year to watch their team lose to the Seawolves. So as a courtesy to those visitors, I thought I'd provide some basics. Last year I wrote this fairly comprehensive post for visitors. It has suggestions on lodging, dining, bars and activities. It's chock-full-o-links. For BU, Wayne State and Robert Morris fans the weather this week looks to be highs in the mid 40's with lows hovering right around the freezing mark. There's still leaves on the trees and the grass is still green. During the rest of the season the one thing to keep in mind that Anchorage is at 60 degrees north latitude and as such can be pretty damn cold. You generally won't need arctic survival gear, but be prepared. There are more than a few intermittent mild periods during the winter as well since Anchorage is perched just above the northern Pacific Ocean which often moderates the temperature. Just don't count on it. I wear shorts to every UAA Hockey game but we ain't playing outdoors ya know. Bring your winter coat. Anchorage is a fairly cosmopolitan city of about 300,000 people. Most of what you're used to back in whatever city you're coming here from exists here as well. Except there's no Red Lobster or Olive Garden; but if that makes your trip here a bummer then you're really not looking for an Alaska-style experience are you?

The airport is on the west side of town and most of the hotels and the Sullivan Arena are near the middle of town. You won't have to drive more than a few miles to get from one to another. Beware that rental car companies don't equip their vehicles with studded winter tires. Sometimes, the roads up here are pretty slick so take your time and use a light foot on the gas pedal. Don't ask anyone where the igloos are. Don't try to use the word "Eskimo" in some sort of attempt to make a joke. Do marvel at the winter beauty. Don't expect to walk from the Sullivan Arena to anywhere other than the parking lot. The tourist traps are pretty much all downtown on 4th avenue, so if you can't leave without your own Ulu that'd be the place to get hooked up. Anchorage is pretty simple to get around with multiple north/south and east/west corridors running the length and breadth of the city. For more information just google "visiting anchorage" and you'll get boatloads of useful links.

Everyone always wants to know how long the days and nights are. The best answer is that as winter solstice approaches the amount of daylight progressively gets less until Dec 21st when there is about 5 hours and 30 minutes of light. Then it progressively gets lighter until June 21st when the sun goes down for 5 hours and 30 minutes but it remains light enough to continue daytime activities almost the whole 24 hours. The sun really just dips below the horizon.

That's about all that comes to mind that I really didn't cover in the post I linked to above. Enjoy your visit and come back anytime you feel like watching your team bow to the mighty Seawolves. Below is an overhead view with some basic labels showing you the layout of the city. Click on it to get a larger readable version.