Living In Alaska -June 2007

What an amazing week we had while Donna was in town visiting. I know that this will be a vacation she won't soon forget and neither will we.

Donna brought the sunny weather with her, which was the most fantastic thing besides seeing her! We had nearly record temperatures the entire time we were traveling, and all of our excursions were under mostly sunny skies and warmth. In fact, I didn't pack enough warm-weather clothes and had to buy a couple of t-shirts along the way to stay cool. What a big difference from last year at this time, when Diane was in town and we had to wear long underwear on the wildlife cruise. I am so thankful.

Because I took so many photos, I'm going to break this entry down into several different pages to save on load time. I hope you enjoy reading about our adventures and seeing the many photos I took. Donna took many more than I did and I know she's going to be busy working on her Alaska scrapbook for awhile.

Donna arrived right on time last Saturday, the 16th. I know how exhausting the plane ride is to and from the east coast, so we planned to grab a quick bite to eat on the way back to the house. We chose The Dogsled Saloon at the Captain Bartlett Inn, and were very pleased with the service and the food.

When we came back to the house, we chatted for a little while before Donna headed off to bed at 8pm. She was still on Eastern Time (midnight in Philadelphia) and we were planning to get on the road the next morning at 9am for the long drive to Palmer. She said she was asleep immediately after her head hit the pillow. The blackout drapes in the guest room did a good job of blocking the sunshine, however Donna did tell us that she woke at 3am and just had to get a photo out the window, where it was still light.

Sunday, June 17th - Fairbanks to Palmer:

Steve and I were up early and started loading the camper with food and linens for our 5-day camping adventure. Donna woke a little while later and helped. We were on the road by 10am, after a stop at Sunrise Bagel for a breakfast sandwich. I was thrilled to see sunshine peeking through the clouds, and even happier to see a hazy Mt. McKinley on the horizon as we passed the Tanana Valley overlook on the Parks Highway.

We made many stops along the way to stretch our legs and walk Sedona. Donna enjoyed watching the landscape change as we left the rolling hills of Fairbanks behind and met the Alaska Range head on just outside of Denali National Park.

( More about the trip to Palmer... )

Monday, June 18th - Palmer to Seward:

We were all up early, and anxious to continue on the next leg of our journey. I think we broke records packing up the camper, hooking up, and pulling out of the campground!

Seward is about 2.5 hours from Palmer, but the drive is awesome. I know how excited I am to see those views, and Steve and I do the drive at least once each summer. We wanted to make the drive an easy one and allow for plenty of stops along the way so that Donna could also appreciate the views.

( More about exploring Seward... )

Tuesday, June 19th - Cruising in Seward:

I booked a glacier/wildlife cruise with Kenai Fjords Tours for Donna and I. While we were cruising and looking for wildlife, Steve was out fishing with a charter out of the military resort. Our cruise was for 9 hours, and in that nine hours we traveled from Seward to Northwestern Glacier - 150 miles roundtrip.

We were picked up at the resort at 8am sharp. The ship left at 9:15am. It wasn't as full as it was when I went with Diane last year, and it certainly wasn't as cold. The sun was already high above us and warming the air nicely. We didn't bother wearing long underwear tops, but I packed them just in case. We also packed rain gear just in case. If it got too cold, the raincoats would at least keep the wind off of us.

( More about our Seward Cruise... )

Wednesday, June 20th - Seward to Denali:

We had another long drive ahead of us, and no specific plans except to get to our destination, check in at the Denali Wilderness Center for our bus trip the next day, and then relax. The cruise/fishing really wore us all out, and we knew the long drive would wear us out even more. We stopped a few times to stretch our legs, and didn't get to Grizzly Bear Campground outside of Denali until around 6pm or so. The highlight of our drive was a brilliant view of Mt. McKinley at mile 134. Donna has been quite lucky on this trip; some people come to AK and never see the mountain.

We set up camp, picked up our bus passes, checked out the bookstore at the park, and then came back to the camper to relax. We put a movie in the DVD player which made us all tired.

Other than that, it was a very long, but lazy day.

Thursday, June 21st - Exploring Denali:

We had tickets for the 9:15am bus to Wonder Lake - 11 hours roundtrip. We got up early, packed our lunches, filled our water bottles, and set off for the park. We were the first people in line, and took the two frontmost seats on the bus. Steve sat on one side by himself, and Donna and I shared a seat on the other side. This strategy ensured that we'd have someone on both sides of the bus in the event wildlife made an appearance. It's much easier to climb over someone you know, than someone you don't!

( More about our Denali Trip... )

Friday, June 22nd - The Eldorado Mine and exploring Fairbanks:

With a short drive back to Fairbanks, we took our time to have some breakfast and pack up the camper. I had reservations for Donna and I to visit the Eldorado Gold Mine at 3pm.

After helping Steve to unload the camper, she and I took off for Fox. On the way, I stopped at the pipeline so she could get a few photos, and pick up some literature (as well as more souvenirs).

( More about Eldorado and Fairbanks sightseeing... )

Saturday, June 23rd - The Riverboat Discovery and exploring North Pole:

We had early reservations for the Riverboat Discovery, so I set my alarm for 6:30am. After having a quick breakfast, we set off for the big paddlewheeler and our adventure cruise on the Chena River.

The Binkley family runs both the Eldorado Gold Mine and the Riverboat Discovery, and they do it in a first rate way. The narration is informative and humorous and makes for great entertainment.