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 […]
Tag: Alaska
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 […]
Sharing the North Together
Melanie and Doug and Tracy and I have been playing musical camping locations the whole time we’ve been on our trips to and in Alaska. The music in this game has been a mix of data—where we want to go, where we’ve already been, the weather, road conditions—each factor dominating our decisions differently. When the […]
Kenia Fjords Critters and Views
Here’s more about that boat tour we took from Seward, Alaska, along the Kenai Fjords National Park. It was such a highlight of our summer in Alaska that I want to document as much of it as I can. Previous posts about this one danged day are about the orcas and glaciers we saw. Port […]
The Glaciers of Kenai Fjords
I had never been on a boat tour before, so you’ll have to skip over all this detail if you’re a pro or if you know all about glaciers, or if my low level of research here is annoying. I want to set this stuff down here while I can still remember a bit of […]
Orcas in Resurrection Bay
Geez Louise, I just disembarked from a boat cruise of the Kenai Fjords National Park, and it was all about glaciers and fjords and amazing views, but to me, it was the mammals and birds that blew my mind. We saw sea otters, sea lions, puffins, and I don’t even known what else right now […]
Spawning Salmon at Williwaw Creek
The Chugach National Forest campground we stayed in called Williwaw—the one that’s right on the Trail of Blue Ice and other trails with access to several glaciers—is also right on Williwaw creek, an unusually clear creek running from the glaciers far above. The Blue Ice trail runs alongside it for part of its five miles, […]
Trail of Blue Ice
We’re camped in Chugach National Forest, the second-largest in the country, I believe. What’s extra cool is that our campground is nestled among amazingly high mountains and glaciers, all around us. Here I am biking back from the iron ranger where we paid for our campsite for a week. That’s a glacier visible from the […]
