That’s the name of this kit—Stories in Books—and it’s designed to look like a hardback book, with a tiny scene inside instead of pages. It’s a lovely idea: a story in a book, told with a scene instead of words. The Story Imagine that a small mountain village has grown up on both sides of a […]
Author: Shelly
Former nomad, currently adjusting.
A Dog Named Spoons, and Other Alaska Myths
I may not have any signal before my weekly email goes out, so I’m throwing up these photos and a few FAQ about our camping the last few weeks in central/southeastern Alaska. Friends ask me questions that make me realize I’ve neglected giving even the basics about where we are and how we’re living. Boondocking […]
Those Previous Photos Have Been One-Upped
I wrote my previous post from the Denali Highway this morning, and then the sun came out, and whammo—the Alaska Range opened up as if we hadn’t seen it at all. It’s impossible for me to display the full range, because I keep zooming in on specific mountains and glaciers, then getting distracted by another […]
Banjo Gets to Enjoy Alaska
Ever since a bear wandered through our campsite in British Columbia, we’ve kept Banjo on a short leash and almost never on the tie-out line that gives her free rein of the campsite. We’ve been on the lookout all the way north for bear, foxes, moose, who knows what, because wild animals do like to […]
Finally Seeing the Light on Denali
What can I tell you about “the mountain” that you don’t already know? You know it’s the tallest mountain on Earth as measured from base to top. You know the absurd controversy about its name. Maybe you don’t know what it’s like to finally see it after you’ve been a curmudgeon about Denali National Park […]
Attitude Check in Denali National Park
Since writing this, I’ve learned more about the protection of the park through the Wilderness Act of 1964 and have a better attitude! Maybe we’ve gotten used to having glorious nature to ourselves. In Yukon, especially, we’d pull off the road to camp, with stunning views and walks on the tundra in every direction—no one […]
Musk Ox and More in Fairbanks
We were in Fairbanks for almost a week, but, because it had been more than a month since we’d been in a city, we had so many errands to run that we hardly had enough time to sightsee. We did squeeze in some fun, though. Musk Ox & Reindeer Research Station The Large Animal Research […]
Tiny Prairie House
It’s been quite a while since I finished a Tiny House, and this one was a doozie to get back in the game with, let me tell ya. For one thing, I’ve wanted to buy this kit for years—especially when my Wisconsin friend Doug picked it out when I asked if I could make him […]
Crossing into Alaska near Chicken
This photo says it all! Although, I don’t know why I’m using an exclamation mark, since this whole trip has been lovely, and Alaska seems like it will be just another nice leg. We will see. Top of the World Highway To get from Dawson City, Yukon, to the border crossing nearby, we drove along […]
Canada Day on the Klondike
The confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers is where the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin have gathered for thousands of years, and in the early 1900s it’s where gold was found—which began the big Klondike gold-mining boom. Travelers like us who go through famous Dawson Creek to the south call this “Dawson City,” but I’ve noticed that […]
