That’s what surveyors call Mt. Rushmore, since Roosevelt was not a surveyor. Surveyors are extremely proud of the foundational role surveying has played in our country, and rightly so. (Warning for extreme grumpiness and ranting.) I gotta say, though, that I approached Mt Rushmore with a cold shoulder. I mean, nearly everyone in this country […]
Alberta into Montana: Seamless Prairies and Big Sky
Western Alberta is astoundingly beautiful. Gently rolling grassland—as far as you can see—for hours of driving. I’m sure we saw lots of cattle and horses, but the land is so vast that they seemed like only a handful scattered around. In some places, the grass was so tall when we drove through that they’d look […]
Alaska Trip Retrospective
After our summer-long trip to Alaska, we’re traveling south through British Columbia, Canada, and the climate, sunlight, ecosystems—really everything—is all changing rapidly. No more alpine or subalpine terrain, and it’s kind of shocking. I shouted out to Tracy when I saw a cow. We both said, “Hey, look at this!” when we had to use the flashlight […]
Down the Cassiar Highway
We’re heading south through far-western Canada along the Cassiar Highway, a relatively new road (1970s) that connects the Alaska Highway to British Columbia. There are a few small First Nations villages on either side, and that’s it. The Cassiar The highway runs through the Cassiar, the Coast, and the Skeena mountain ranges, in a southward river […]
Once More in Alaska for the Bears
(I’m writing this without cell signal and can’t do even the smallest bit of research, so please forgive inaccuracies.) We decided to cross the border one final time, driving down the inside passage—along braided rivers and seemingly endless mountain ranges covered in a new, light layer of powdered snow, plus glaciers peeking out when you’re […]
Along Kluane Lake
I am beat after a morning of hiking, an afternoon of online trivia (go team Donner Party!), and the heaviness of clouds after one sunny day. So, below are disjointed captions to my photos for this lovely area near Kluane National Park in Yukon. Congden Creek Campground We’re at a Yukon government campground that’s in […]
Alaska’s Toll
Yesterday, I posted a photo on Facebook of Banjo’s last morning in Alaska, and two friends texted right away, enthusiastic about our trip and curious about where we’re going next. A third friend texted along the lines of, “Alaska wore you out, didn’t it.” Ha! Yes. The enthusiasm of the first two friends is warranted, […]
The Alaska State Fair
What made this fair different than what I’d expect from other states? I’ll refrain from snarky comments about such topics as what Alaskans wear to the fair (a lot of goth, and, I mean a lot), who they go hear as the headliner band (Foghat), and I’ll try to stick with the positives. Even though […]
Narrowly Averting a Very Bad Travel Day
It’s been a while since we narrowly averted a tragedy, like the time we almost blew up the trailer because Banjo turned the propane on inside while we were out kayaking. And it’s been a while since we had a very bad travel day, like the day hitching was a nightmare, and then we had to […]
Experiencing the Kenia Peninsula
The Kenia Peninsula is surrounded by the Gulf of Alaska and Cook Inlet, and it’s a huge tourist destination famous for mountains and glaciers and King Salmon. We’ve avoided camping in the Kenia during the salmon season because of the crowds, but as our Alaska trip is winding down, we had to come down to […]
