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Knocked out Alaska on my honeymoon 21 years ago; only have Hawaii left to hit.
Got my personal nonsense out of the way, so here's what I saw in my two weeks there. First of all, we stayed in B&Bs the entire time, which added tremendously to the trip since we learned which places the locals liked vs the standard touristy spots.
Flew into Anchorage and spent a couple of days there, going to places like Chugach SP and Eagle River. My wife and I are art enthusiasts, so we went to the Anchorage Museum, where there are some phenomenal pieces of work by Sydney Laurence, one of the best artists in American history.
We then ventured south to Seward and Homer, the latter which we absolutely loved. We took a Kenai Fjords day boat trip from Seward and saw all kinds of marine wildlife. A trip to Exit Glacier is well worth it as you can walk right up to it; very cool to hear the glacier cracking deep inside its depths.
Homer was interesting; it has the world's longest spit, essentially a big sand bar. There was a restaurant called Land's End that was very good. The highlight was a trip on the Danny J, a small boat that took us out to Halibut Cove...a little place accessible only by boat that has a marine animal rehab center and a delicious restaurant called The Fishery.
We came back to Anchorage and took the train to Fairbanks, which was a dump, as others said. We took a looooong bus trip the next day up to the Arctic Circle; it was really fun to see the Alaska pipeline and cross the Yukon River, the third longest in North America. The highlight was stopping at a little settlement called "Joy", a little homestead about an hour north of Fairbanks. The family was very friendly and I got to hold a wild fox there.
We stopped at Denali on the way back from Fairbanks, and took the bus fairly deep into the park. Went through an area full of grizzlies, and stopped for a mom and her two yearling cubs. One of them climbed up on the hood of the bus. Fantastic experience. We got lucky because the mountain was out that day, and there are no words to describe how massive it looks.
Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. It was an incredible way to kick off our marriage, and thankfully we have had a fantastic 21 years since. Best of luck!
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