1.      Tony Knowles Coastal Trail
This spectacular, paved, multi-use trail hugs the Anchorage coastline of Cook Inlet from Second Avenue in downtown Anchorage all the way to south Anchorage’s Kincaid Park, located 11 sprawling miles away. Whether walking, running, biking, or blading, keep an eye out for dramatic views of Knik Arm, Cook Inlet, six mountain ranges surrounding Anchorage and the beauty of Sleeping Lady mountain across the water, Earthquake Park and Point Woronzof. Wildlife viewing is abundant with many birds, small mammals, beluga whales, moose and even an occasional bear sighting.
Cost – FREE

2.      Anchorage Market and Festival
Held in downtown Anchorage every Saturday and Sunday throughout the summer, this open air market mixes one-of-a-kind arts, crafts and giant Alaska grown vegetables with live music, street performers and a selection of local and international food.
Admission – FREE

3.      Wild Salmon on Parade
Wild salmon take to the streets each summer from June through late August, when 20 wacky salmon sculptures “swim” through downtown during Wild Salmon on Parade. These aren’t your ordinary chum – the four-foot statues are original, whimsical designs by Alaska artists. Established in 2003 and modeled after Cows on Parade in Chicago, Wild Salmon on Parade is a fun way to raise awareness and appreciation for salmon habitat, history and its physical properties. As the summer ends and the salmon run slows, the sculptures are auctioned off for charity at the annual Fish Fry & Buy.
Cost – FREE

4.      First Friday Art Walk
Art enthusiasts can gallery hop and view local Alaska artwork at many of Anchorage’s finest showrooms, coffee shops and eateries the first Friday of each month. This after-five affair is a great way to mingle with locals and meet Anchorage artists. A complete list of participating businesses is found in the free “Anchorage Press” paper.
Cost – FREE

5.      Music in the Park
Music in the Park is a favorite among both visitors and residents. Local musical acts perform at Peratrovich Park, located right downtown in front of the Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at noon throughout the summer.
Cost – FREE

6.      Anchorage Downtown Walking Tour
Visitors can explore Anchorage by foot and see how it has grown from the tent-lined streets of its early years to a cosmopolitan city complete with unique attractions, shops, galleries and historical treasures. Start at the Anchorage Log Cabin Visitors Information Center on the corner of Fourth Avenue and F Street to pick up a map of this three-hour walking tour.
Cost – FREE

7.      Salmon Viewing at Ship Creek
Ship Creek runs through the Port of Anchorage to the ocean waters of Cook Inlet. A favorite local Fishing Spot set against the backdrop of the Anchorage Skyline. Sedge flats and ocean fed waters provide strong salmon runs, as well as a habitat for migratory shore birds.
Cost – FREE

8.      Alyeska Roundhouse Museum
Located just south of Anchorage, visitors can hike up Mount Alyeska and visit the historic roundhouse museum. Take in the history of the small community of Girdwood and find out why Alyeska is called the perfect mountain. Hikers get a free ride down via the Alyeska Tramway.
Cost – FREE

9.      Alaska Public Lands Building
Located in downtown Anchorage, the Alaska Public Lands Building is a great information center with wonderful data and maps about Alaska’s national and state parks, as well as museum displays, and informational videos.
Cost – FREE

10.  Bird Viewing at Potter’s Marsh
Located in south Anchorage along the scenic Seward Highway, bird watchers can stroll along a 1,150-foot wooden boardwalk that stretches into the 2,300-acre Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge. This is where more than 220 bird species are discovered. During the late spring and early fall, the wetlands are a great spot for viewing red-necked phalaropes, horned and red-necked grebes, northern pintails, Canada geese, canvasback ducks and northern harriers. And keep an eye out for moose in the marsh.
Cost – Free

11.  Alaska Trooper Museum
Visitors can learn all about the history of law enforcement in the last frontier at this interesting museum. The museum features a fully restored Hudson Hornet automobile among other memorabilia.
Admission – FREE

12.  Geocaching
If visitors have their own GPS device, they can pick up a geocaching guide from the Anchorage Log Cabin Visitors Information Center and go on a high tech treasure hunt.
Cost – FREE

13.  Frisbee Golf
A popular late-night activity is a round of Frisbee golf under the endless midnight sun. Anchorage has four scenic courses. Players often see wildlife wandering around the baskets!
Cost – FREE

14.  Oscar Anderson House Museum
Built in 1915, the Oscar Anderson House Museum is an original Anchorage town-site house and one of the first wood structures built in the city. The 45-minute guided tour provides a great explanation of Anchorage’s short history and life before statehood. The house contains many of the Anderson family’s original belongings, including a working 1909 player piano around which the structure was built.
Admission – $3

15.  Crow Creek Mine
Nestled in the Chugach Mountains in the Girdwood Valley, historic Crow Creek Mine offers a unique blend of historical buildings, antiques, rare mining equipment, beautiful gardens, wildlife viewing and hiking trails as well as access to explore the mine’s original claims. Visitors can learn to pan for their own gold and give it a try along Crow Creek.
Admission – $5

16.  Flattop Mountain Trail
The most hiked trail in Anchorage, Flattop Mountain is great for hikers of all abilities and offers stunning views of the city and surrounding mountain ranges. Located up the hillside from Anchorage, there is ample parking at the trailhead and a shuttle that runs by request from downtown Anchorage (for an extra cost).
Cost for parking – $5

17.  Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center
The Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center features exquisite artwork by Alaskans, exceptional historical artifacts and traveling exhibits from around the world. In May 2009, visitors and locals will get a first look at the museum expansion project that began in 2006: Alaska’s home for the Smithsonian Institution, new galleries, new shop and café and a planetarium. The Anchorage Museum is a favorite of residents and out-of-state visitors, so this is a highly anticipated opening.
Admission – $8

18.  Alaska Botanical Gardens
With more than 1,100 species of hardy perennials, and 150 native plant species, the Alaska Botanical Garden is the place to experience the abundance of the summer sub-arctic growing season and to learn about flora native to Southcentral Alaska.
Admission – $5

19.  The Bear Tooth Theatre
Named after Bear Tooth Peak in the Alaska Range near Mt. McKinley, the Bear Tooth Theatre is not your ordinary movie house. The concession counter is a full-service kitchen featuring gourmet pizza, burritos, tacos, salads and desserts.  Food is made to order and delivered to you in the theatre (with the help of a glow in the dark number), where every other row of seats has been removed and replaced with table tops. The movie house features second-run contemporary, independent, foreign and classic films.
Admission – $3

20.  Eagle River Nature Center
Traveling north of Anchorage, just 20 minutes from downtown Anchorage is the Eagle River Nature Center, located in a gorgeous glacier-carved valley. The Nature Center is open year round and offers weekly interpretive programs and guided nature walks for summer visitors. Wildlife abounds here including brown and black bears, Dall sheep, moose, lynx, wolverines, eagles and salmon.
Cost – $1 for self-guided walks; $10/per person for 1.5 hour naturalist guided walk

I promise you that visiting Anchorage and Alaska will never disappoint- even on a budget.

*Thanks to The Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau for the information. The Anchorage Convention & Visitors Bureau’s (ACVB) mission is to attract and serve visitors to the Municipality of Anchorage as a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO). ACVB’s marketing functions are funded by one-third of the bed tax collected by lodging associations. One-third goes to the Municipality’s general fund, a contribution established in 1978, and one-third to service the bond debt and operations of the Anchorage Convention Centers. ACVB receives no state or federal funds.

That’s not to say there aren’t ways to get cheap tickets; it’s just that most people I talked to have never tried them out. So we set out to discover the secret of saving a few bucks while seeing Broadway. These are our findings:

1. One of the most popular ways to get discount tickets is by going to TKTS. TKTS sells discount tickets to Broadway shows the day of the performance. Discounts can be as high as 50% and the plus is that you can select from a wide range of tickets. This is good because if they sell out of “Mama Mia” tickets, you can still get “Jersey Boys” tickets. There are three locations (we went to the one in Times Square). Tickets go on sale at 3:00 p.m. but I recommend you arrive at least an hour early. Once we got to the front of the line, we realized they weren’t selling tickets to any shows we actually wanted to see, so if you decide to go through TKTS, check the display to see what tickets are available that day.

2. Another way to get a discount is by purchasing rush tickets. These tickets go on sale a few hours before a performance so the box office can liquidate any remaining tickets. But be aware, not all theaters offer rush tickets. We inquired about them at the box office for “Mama Mia” and the gentleman behind the counter seemed pretty offended by our asking.

3. While some places may not offer rush tickets, they usually do have another way of liquidating unsold tickets for same-day shows. Lotteries are one of these ways. We used this method to win cheap, second row, “Wicked” tickets. Essentially, we entered our names into a drawing 2 1/2 hours before actual show time. 30 minutes later, approximately 10 names were drawn, each winning a pair of first or second row tickets for only $26.50 per ticket. We participated in the drawing twice and each time there were about 150 people vying for the same tickets. While this may be the least guaranteed way to get tickets, it is the best way for those of you who are on a budget and are looking for a few hours to waste.

So there you have it. My last recommendation would be to do a little research before you go to New York. Choose three or four shows you’d like to see and once you get there check with the theaters about their ticketing options. We decided to see “Wicked,” and it was worth every penny.

Dan Sorensen is a Salt Lake based public relations professional that prides himself in his quirky antics. When he’s not working for the man, you can usually find him doing something outdoors, traveling or playing Xbox. For the writings, rantings and ravings that don’t make it past the editor at www.dottingthemap.com, Dan runs a personal blog at www.sorensenpower.blogspot.com. He also declares himself a Twitter fiend, where he’s known only as @sorensenpower.

Well I bet you didn’t think it could you would be staying in an old nuclear bunker converted into a hotel! For only £6 (which would be the equivalent to almost $9.00) you can sleep underground in a bunker. Ok it does sound a little cool- and really I might be willing to try it out except there is no heating (mind you it is underground) so you are provided rubber water bottles for your bed. Also because the ventilation system is so dang loud you are provided earplugs. A lottery is held to see who gets the hot water in their morning shower and there are no windows. Basically you are sleeping in a prison cell.

If this is starting to sound horrid, it’s ok-you can always upgrade to a luxury room for £11. Now you get an antique bed from a condemned hotel. Wow- sounds….luxurious? I know it’s cheap but really? I mean you’ve got to have standards people! It would be kind of cool to say you stayed in an underground nuclear bunker in Switzerland, and it is pretty cheap, I could see how there could be some benefits… Ok I retract my previous statement I might actually stay in this hotel.

Check out the YouTube video on the Null Stern Hotel!

The Hilton’s reward program is called Hilton HHonors and includes partners such as Embassy Suites and Hampton Inn, to name a few.

Quick Facts:
*can be redeemed at over 3,000 hotels worldwide
*has no blackout dates
*can use free room (category 1) at 7,500 points
*the more you stay the higher your status becomes (VIP) which means the faster you accumulate rooms
*best option for accumulating rooms is getting 15 points for every $1 you spend on your room

Marriott Rewards is a highly popular rewards program. There is something about Marriott that leads me to believe it has a cult following, which I suppose could be a good indicator of quality.

Quick Facts:
*have the ability to earn up to 25,000 bonus points if you refer up to five friends
*earn 5-10 points per each dollar you spend at participating Mariott hotels
*has blackout dates
*can be used at over 2,700 hotels worldwide
*category one rooms available at 7,500 points

Sheraton’s rewards program is known as Starwood Preferred Guest and is in conjunction with Westin and the W hotel as well as many more.

Quick Facts:
*can be used at over 860 hotels worldwide
*has no blackout dates
*three tiered membership levels
*2-3 points for every dollar spent at hotels
*free rooms at category 1 with 2,000 points
*stay four consecutive nights on points and get a fifth night for free

Holiday Inn’s program is known as Priority Club. One thing I like about the Holiday Inn is that it includes five star resorts but also has the cheaper but still nice option of Holiday Inn express (which does offer breakfast).

Quick Facts:
*can be used at over 3,800 hotels worldwide
*has no blackout dates
*has capacity controls (have limited amount of discount and free rooms they will book a night)
*earn 5-10 points for every $1 you spend on your hotel room or eligible charges (and increases as you get   higher up in the club)
*Three levels ranging from club level to platinum elite
*free stays at 10,000 points

Comparing and contrasting these four different programs it may seem that the Sheratons’ reward program would be the best when you have the opportunity to stay in a free room at 2,000 however, they only have 860 hotels worldwide, and you also only get 2-3 points per dollar. The Hilton and the Marriott are pretty close with just a few key differences such as blackout dates and referring bonuses. I like Holiday Inn’s program but you need 10,000 points to get your free room although it may be a nicer room than Marriott and Hilton’s category 1 room. I guess what it really comes down to is what you personally prefer and what you find convenient. I would take time and figure out which program is right for you and your travel needs.

***These are not all the facts please look at fine print when signing up for a program***

*Photo credit goes to Brian Hansen (Follow him on twitter: @bhans) *