I went back to the Spit-Fire Grill after lunch and got the sandwich I wanted earlier to-go for dinner later. I also got a piece of Irish cream cheesecake, which was Delicious. My sandwich was good too. How could anything called a Roasty Toasty ever be bad? They had mesquite chocolate chip cookies there, too. I asked the guy behind the counter where the mesquite comes in because all I could think is that it's smoked chocolate or something. Turns out there are little mesquite pods that are sweet. I still wasn't getting it, so I asked him in what form it's used in the cookie. It was mesquite flour. How cool is that. Of course I had to ask him how he ever got into doing that, because he seemed to be the mastermind behind the shop. He had come across it at some point in a random article he read, so he went on a search for it. He said finding it was extremely difficult. Getting them to ship it to him without costing an arm and a leg was even more fun, I'm sure. Homer is a well-established town and it's right on the water and everything, but it's still not a priority shipping destination by any means.
Also, here's a picture of Homer Spit. The mountains in the background still have lots of snow on them now, so they're even more beautiful than in this picture. The Spit is that bit of land the extends out into the bay (Kachemak Bay)
Showing posts with label Alaska. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alaska. Show all posts
Friday, June 13, 2008
Homer, AK (I will be going back there)
Frenchy's cousins are in town and spent the night here in Sterling last night. They're from Texas and weren't enjoying the chilly air here. It's hot as hell in Texas, so I don't blame them. We had a fire out back and made food and s'mores, which is a perfect night for me. They didn't make it out there for too long, though, so it was just Frenchy and me for most of the time. It was chilly even for here, about 45, but it wasn't that bad, especially by the fire. Oh well, they caught up on TV watching while I got to eat delicious s'mores. Their loss.
Today we drove down to Homer, which was just a beautiful drive. The volcanoes across the cook Inlet are visible from parts of the road there and when you get to the outskirts of Homer the trees just open up to an amazing panoramic view of all of it. I'll upload pictures later. There were eagles galore, too. We saw a few perched on top of trees, one in a nest and several others flying around. A few actually flew along with us for a distance, which was cool. I tried to get a picture but I failed miserably. The way the feathers on the very tips of their wings curl up when they fly looks so neat. I love how people always get excited when they see an eagle. I think I get more excited now than ever before, even though I see them pretty regularly.
Homer is what I've been looking for in my journey. Every town I go to I keep thinking it'll be cutsey and have a nice little artsy downtown. Every town I'd been to before Homer was nothing but gas stations, grocery stores, fish processing and mechanics. Oh, and usually a taxidermist in there someplace, too. Which reminds me, I uttered a phrase I never thought would come out of my mouth. I said, "I'll just ask the local taxidermist, I'm sure there's one in town." First off, at home I'd never assume there's a taxidermist and second, I don't refer to anything as "in town." Here I have to drive to get to anything, so it's normal to say that. okay, back to my original train of thought. In Homer I finally found the cute little artsy town I was looking for. They have lots of cool little shops and really good food places.
Speaking of food, we went to lunch while we were there. We stopped into a place called the Spit-Fire Grill which had great sandwiches and good desserts. Unfortunately, I was the only one that wanted to go there. On we moved to a little cafe that was really neat, called Spit Sisters Cafe. Everything has Spit in the name because Homer is on a spit, which is a piece of land that extends out into water. Sort of like Nahant, but it's long and thin, with room for just one road down the middle with stuff on either side. Everyone vetoed that cafe, too, because there wasn't really enough sitting room. I was all for getting something and sitting on the benches to eat. It was a little cool because it's right on the water, but it would have been perfect in the sun. Oh well. We walked across the street and went to a sit down restaurant where everyone ordered fried food but me. I hate fried seafood. Seafood is usually such a delicate flavor that I think frying it just kills the whole experience. I got baked halibut with dill sauce and it was very good. Halibut is a white fish and it's extremely mild. I also got a beer that's made in Homer. Surprisingly, they make wine there, as well. It's berry wine, which I usually hate, but it's still neat. I also got a cup of chowder in lieu of cole slaw and french fries, which was also pretty good. After noting that the chowder was so thick I could stand my spoon up in it, her cousin tried to tell me that it's supposed to be that way. Puhhhhlease. I just simply told him I'm from Boston. I didn't think he'd need more explanation since I had already said it was the thickest I'd ever seen. C'mon, if I've never seen it like that, chances are it's not supposed to be like that. Chowdah, it's all we got.
I'm really critical of people's eating habits. I usually don't say anything out loud, though, that's just bad form. I'm pretty sure I picked that one up from the Bartlett side of the family. Especially because I'm even more critical if they're overweight. I really don't like that I do it, but I can't help it. It's especially stupid because I eat my fair share of bad foods, too. Balance is key, though. We stopped at a gas station that had fountain Dr Pepper, so of course I had to get some. Any time I see fountain Dr Pepper I'm allover it. It's the one soda I really like. Every size was 99cents, so I got the biggest one because A) it's funny to have a 44oz soda and b) who cares if I don't drink it all, it's the same price. I was laughing at the size when I got to the car and the response was, "oh, that's nothing, I drink the 64oz size." They were both on the larger side. I feel like such an evil person, but I just want to say, "yeah, no shit, I can tell," or, "no wonder!" Really, I feel like such a jerk when I think these things in my head, but I suppose it would be a lot worse if I actually said them. It's no excuse, but I'll just tell myself that for now to feel like less of a schmuck than I am.
The cousins didn't quite keep up with our speed, but we all still had a good time. We stopped at a bunch of places on the way, one of which was an art gallery this woman had in her house overlooking a stunning view of Mt. Iliamna (it could have been Mt. Spurr or Mt. Redoubt. not so sure on that one). She did beadwork and it was all really neat. She also had some small antiques. I picked up this little two compartment silver pill case and opened it up to find mysterious white powder residue. hmmmmm. Didn't explore that one any further. I used her bathroom. . . which was an outhouse. Another phrase I never thought I'd say: "Your outhouse is so cute." I seem to be saying a lot of phrases I never thought I'd utter ( I originally typed that as udder by mistake. haha!). The outhouse was cute, though. Peeing in a hole in the ground has never been so splendid.
Today we drove down to Homer, which was just a beautiful drive. The volcanoes across the cook Inlet are visible from parts of the road there and when you get to the outskirts of Homer the trees just open up to an amazing panoramic view of all of it. I'll upload pictures later. There were eagles galore, too. We saw a few perched on top of trees, one in a nest and several others flying around. A few actually flew along with us for a distance, which was cool. I tried to get a picture but I failed miserably. The way the feathers on the very tips of their wings curl up when they fly looks so neat. I love how people always get excited when they see an eagle. I think I get more excited now than ever before, even though I see them pretty regularly.
Homer is what I've been looking for in my journey. Every town I go to I keep thinking it'll be cutsey and have a nice little artsy downtown. Every town I'd been to before Homer was nothing but gas stations, grocery stores, fish processing and mechanics. Oh, and usually a taxidermist in there someplace, too. Which reminds me, I uttered a phrase I never thought would come out of my mouth. I said, "I'll just ask the local taxidermist, I'm sure there's one in town." First off, at home I'd never assume there's a taxidermist and second, I don't refer to anything as "in town." Here I have to drive to get to anything, so it's normal to say that. okay, back to my original train of thought. In Homer I finally found the cute little artsy town I was looking for. They have lots of cool little shops and really good food places.
Speaking of food, we went to lunch while we were there. We stopped into a place called the Spit-Fire Grill which had great sandwiches and good desserts. Unfortunately, I was the only one that wanted to go there. On we moved to a little cafe that was really neat, called Spit Sisters Cafe. Everything has Spit in the name because Homer is on a spit, which is a piece of land that extends out into water. Sort of like Nahant, but it's long and thin, with room for just one road down the middle with stuff on either side. Everyone vetoed that cafe, too, because there wasn't really enough sitting room. I was all for getting something and sitting on the benches to eat. It was a little cool because it's right on the water, but it would have been perfect in the sun. Oh well. We walked across the street and went to a sit down restaurant where everyone ordered fried food but me. I hate fried seafood. Seafood is usually such a delicate flavor that I think frying it just kills the whole experience. I got baked halibut with dill sauce and it was very good. Halibut is a white fish and it's extremely mild. I also got a beer that's made in Homer. Surprisingly, they make wine there, as well. It's berry wine, which I usually hate, but it's still neat. I also got a cup of chowder in lieu of cole slaw and french fries, which was also pretty good. After noting that the chowder was so thick I could stand my spoon up in it, her cousin tried to tell me that it's supposed to be that way. Puhhhhlease. I just simply told him I'm from Boston. I didn't think he'd need more explanation since I had already said it was the thickest I'd ever seen. C'mon, if I've never seen it like that, chances are it's not supposed to be like that. Chowdah, it's all we got.
I'm really critical of people's eating habits. I usually don't say anything out loud, though, that's just bad form. I'm pretty sure I picked that one up from the Bartlett side of the family. Especially because I'm even more critical if they're overweight. I really don't like that I do it, but I can't help it. It's especially stupid because I eat my fair share of bad foods, too. Balance is key, though. We stopped at a gas station that had fountain Dr Pepper, so of course I had to get some. Any time I see fountain Dr Pepper I'm allover it. It's the one soda I really like. Every size was 99cents, so I got the biggest one because A) it's funny to have a 44oz soda and b) who cares if I don't drink it all, it's the same price. I was laughing at the size when I got to the car and the response was, "oh, that's nothing, I drink the 64oz size." They were both on the larger side. I feel like such an evil person, but I just want to say, "yeah, no shit, I can tell," or, "no wonder!" Really, I feel like such a jerk when I think these things in my head, but I suppose it would be a lot worse if I actually said them. It's no excuse, but I'll just tell myself that for now to feel like less of a schmuck than I am.
The cousins didn't quite keep up with our speed, but we all still had a good time. We stopped at a bunch of places on the way, one of which was an art gallery this woman had in her house overlooking a stunning view of Mt. Iliamna (it could have been Mt. Spurr or Mt. Redoubt. not so sure on that one). She did beadwork and it was all really neat. She also had some small antiques. I picked up this little two compartment silver pill case and opened it up to find mysterious white powder residue. hmmmmm. Didn't explore that one any further. I used her bathroom. . . which was an outhouse. Another phrase I never thought I'd say: "Your outhouse is so cute." I seem to be saying a lot of phrases I never thought I'd utter ( I originally typed that as udder by mistake. haha!). The outhouse was cute, though. Peeing in a hole in the ground has never been so splendid.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Random Campground to Anchorage
That's right, I made it.
The random campground I was at last (the other night, now) night was somewhere near Tok, AK (pronounced Toke, not Talk like I was saying it. oops!). I find myself pronouncing things wrong a lot. I was saying Kenai with a soft E, when it's supposed to be pronounced KEE-nie. I went to the Matanuska Glacier yesterday and I'm afraid to try a pronunciation of that one.
The ride within Alaska was stunning. There were snowy mountains visible the entire time. Once again, I wanted to stop every minute for a picture. I didn't stop as much as I wanted because I was running lower on gas than I wanted to be and wanted to conserve. I had a repeat of my gas experience toward the end of Canada. It's really early in the season so a lot of places haven't opened yet. I did have a handy little guide which I wrote about before, called The Milepost. It tells me where there are campgrounds, gas, recreation like trails and fishing, and will tell me about vegetation and landscape, where to watch for animals and to prepare for road grading etc. It's a pretty comprehensive guide and it covers just about every road in Alaska and the major routes up there through Canada. I wasn't able to use it as much as I wanted in Canada, but I got a handle on using it later on in my ride. Interesting stuff.
Early in the morning I woke up and started out. It was really nice to get to see the sun come up. It came up behind me so it was shining on the mountains, giving me some great views. Because of how early I left I also got to see some more animals. It's common to see them at dusk and dawn. I saw a lone moose hanging out by the side of the road and then a bit later saw two of them, one on either side of the road. I stopped the car in hopes of getting a picture to post, but the one I had a good view of trotted away. It amazes me that they're afraid of humans, that is until I realize I'm in a car that's a lot bigger than a human. . . so I'm not really sure how I stand on that one.
I also saw lots more bunnies. They were just so tiny. I wanted to get a picture of one of them, too, but they were far too fast. every once in a while one would stay where he was on the side of the road when I passed, but there was no way to know which ones were going to run and I wasn't about to stop for every single bunny to try to get a picture. There were a lot of
them, I'm sure I'll see more.
So, back to the mountain views. I hit one sizeable community before the Anchorage metro area, called Palmer. Palmer is surrounded by these giant mountains that overwhelm the scenery because palmer is relatively flat. Most communities are in in the valley. If you do a google image search you'll see what I mean by the mountain view overwhelming the scenery. It looks like the mountain is practically on top of you until you realize you're in a valley that's miles wide.
Some of the best views were when I was driving through the last set of mountain roads I needed to hit before Anchorage. Most of the mountain roads I've hit so far have been over and between the mountains for the most part with the occasional road carved into the side of one. This last mountain road was a REAL mountain road, carved right into the side the whole way. I think it's that way because putting the road further south and out of the way of the mountains a bit would have plopped it right into a valley which a glacier empties into, which wouldn't be so great. The river varies in size quite a bit from season to season because of the glacial runoff. I actually stopped at the Matanuska Glacier Nat'l Park. There was a sign that said "Yes, We're Open" at the entrance, so I went in. The access road is beyond scary. It's also carved into the side of the mountain, winding back and forth, because you need to drive down into the valley. Above you the 'mountain' is made up of mostly dirt, not rock. Every second you feel like it's going to come tumbling down on you. There were cracks in the dirt that made it seem unstable. You can't hurry on that road, though, because it's bumpy and small.
Once I got down to the Park it was a little weird. It didn't seem very official. There was an old building with a gift shop and an old dog on the porch. There were lots of little trinkets around the front yard. I went up to the front door because you're supposed to go in and pay, but it wasn't opened until 9am and it was 7am. I figured it wouldn't be a big deal if I just walked out there. It isn't like there's a gate you have to walk through or anything, it's nature, not an amusement park. I started my walk. Past a few horses that lived there, past a big old army vehicle, past a crude painted sign that advertised the glacier cafe and lodge - If you can call saying "warm beer, cold food" and "almost too close [to the glacier]" as advertisement - then I made it to the access road. It was just a dirt road wide enough for a car, maybe two. I walked for a little bit, singing to myself again to avoid bears. Finally I took a look at where I was on GPS because I was looking at the glacier and it seemed awfully far away. according to GPS, it was. I think the trail was a few more miles or so. I decided to turn around and come back someday when it's open because I figured it wasn't really safe to be out there completely alone. Bears, springtime glacial melt and the unpredictability of water, etc. It just didn't seem like a good idea. I went back and headed out. so lame.
After the almost glacier viewing is where it gets really interesting. On the way up out of the park I took some pictures of the cracking dirt above, which I'll post. I'm surprised they don't do something to make it a little safer seeming. Anyways, I was back on the road. Because I was on the side of a mountain, I saw sign after sign that said "slide area," which is equivalent to "falling rock" at home. I entered an area which was 25 miles of these mountain roads. at the entrance there was a sign saying that it's illegal to hold up more than 5 cars on the road and that you MUST use a turnout to let them pass you. I LOVE that. Of course if there was traffic I would have been the slow car, but at home I'd Love that law. There was also a sign soon after that said "few turnouts, next 25 miles," and then another sign soon after that said "VERY few turnouts next 25 miles." VERY was underlined and everything. There was some good signage.
There was a car a little ways behind me so I pulled over and waited for him to reach and pass me because I didn't want to hold him up with my sightseeing. He wasn't going much faster than me, but I was okay with it. He was just far enough ahead of me that I caught glimpses of him through the winding every once in a while. Suddenly I came around a corner and had to SLAM on my brakes. I will never ignore another Falling Rock sign. There was a rock slide right into the road. It must have happend seconds before I got there because the guy in front of me made it through the road. I could also see little bits of rock still tumbling down. I parked there in front of it for a minute wondering what the hell to do. Do I try to drive around it? No, that would put me too close to the edge of the road and I don't know how soft the dirt is there. I finally decided to get out and move enough of the big rocks so that I could get by. I didn't want to be there any longer than I had to. As I was moving my first rock a car came from the other direction. It was a guy and his son. They saw the road was impassable and got out to help move rocks. The first words out of his mouth were "what did you do!" I laughed and then he said "never seen this before." I was glad to hear it wasn't a common thing in Alaska.
We spent a bit moving all of the rocks. There were a good amount of them, some so big that we had to roll them because we couldn't lift them. Every once in a while we'd have to move aside because a few more rocks would fall. Luckily all small ones. Once the road was passable we said a hurried goodbye and thank you and went to our respective cars because we didn't want to be there any longer than needed. I'm still a little amazed by it. Because of when it happened I just missed the slide. If I had been driving slightly faster I don't know what would have happened. If rocks were tumbling down toward me it isn't like I'd be able to swerve around them if I'm on the side of a mountain. It makes me wonder what my reaction would have been. It seems the best thing to do would be to let the rocks hit you because they weren't big enough to push my car or anything, but at the same time I think that the reaction I have built into me is to swerve to avoid objects so I probably would have done just that, given a split second to react. Luckily I was driving the speed I was and wasn't a few seconds ahead of schedule. I'm also lucky I was looking at the road and not the view!
After my harrowing experience (ha! I was actually a little giddy about it because 1. I didn't get hurt and 2. that isn't something you see everyday) I made it to Anchorage without a hitch. I'll write about Anchorage in another post. This one is certainly long enough.
The random campground I was at last (the other night, now) night was somewhere near Tok, AK (pronounced Toke, not Talk like I was saying it. oops!). I find myself pronouncing things wrong a lot. I was saying Kenai with a soft E, when it's supposed to be pronounced KEE-nie. I went to the Matanuska Glacier yesterday and I'm afraid to try a pronunciation of that one.
The ride within Alaska was stunning. There were snowy mountains visible the entire time. Once again, I wanted to stop every minute for a picture. I didn't stop as much as I wanted because I was running lower on gas than I wanted to be and wanted to conserve. I had a repeat of my gas experience toward the end of Canada. It's really early in the season so a lot of places haven't opened yet. I did have a handy little guide which I wrote about before, called The Milepost. It tells me where there are campgrounds, gas, recreation like trails and fishing, and will tell me about vegetation and landscape, where to watch for animals and to prepare for road grading etc. It's a pretty comprehensive guide and it covers just about every road in Alaska and the major routes up there through Canada. I wasn't able to use it as much as I wanted in Canada, but I got a handle on using it later on in my ride. Interesting stuff.
Early in the morning I woke up and started out. It was really nice to get to see the sun come up. It came up behind me so it was shining on the mountains, giving me some great views. Because of how early I left I also got to see some more animals. It's common to see them at dusk and dawn. I saw a lone moose hanging out by the side of the road and then a bit later saw two of them, one on either side of the road. I stopped the car in hopes of getting a picture to post, but the one I had a good view of trotted away. It amazes me that they're afraid of humans, that is until I realize I'm in a car that's a lot bigger than a human. . . so I'm not really sure how I stand on that one.
I also saw lots more bunnies. They were just so tiny. I wanted to get a picture of one of them, too, but they were far too fast. every once in a while one would stay where he was on the side of the road when I passed, but there was no way to know which ones were going to run and I wasn't about to stop for every single bunny to try to get a picture. There were a lot of
them, I'm sure I'll see more.
So, back to the mountain views. I hit one sizeable community before the Anchorage metro area, called Palmer. Palmer is surrounded by these giant mountains that overwhelm the scenery because palmer is relatively flat. Most communities are in in the valley. If you do a google image search you'll see what I mean by the mountain view overwhelming the scenery. It looks like the mountain is practically on top of you until you realize you're in a valley that's miles wide.
Some of the best views were when I was driving through the last set of mountain roads I needed to hit before Anchorage. Most of the mountain roads I've hit so far have been over and between the mountains for the most part with the occasional road carved into the side of one. This last mountain road was a REAL mountain road, carved right into the side the whole way. I think it's that way because putting the road further south and out of the way of the mountains a bit would have plopped it right into a valley which a glacier empties into, which wouldn't be so great. The river varies in size quite a bit from season to season because of the glacial runoff. I actually stopped at the Matanuska Glacier Nat'l Park. There was a sign that said "Yes, We're Open" at the entrance, so I went in. The access road is beyond scary. It's also carved into the side of the mountain, winding back and forth, because you need to drive down into the valley. Above you the 'mountain' is made up of mostly dirt, not rock. Every second you feel like it's going to come tumbling down on you. There were cracks in the dirt that made it seem unstable. You can't hurry on that road, though, because it's bumpy and small.
Once I got down to the Park it was a little weird. It didn't seem very official. There was an old building with a gift shop and an old dog on the porch. There were lots of little trinkets around the front yard. I went up to the front door because you're supposed to go in and pay, but it wasn't opened until 9am and it was 7am. I figured it wouldn't be a big deal if I just walked out there. It isn't like there's a gate you have to walk through or anything, it's nature, not an amusement park. I started my walk. Past a few horses that lived there, past a big old army vehicle, past a crude painted sign that advertised the glacier cafe and lodge - If you can call saying "warm beer, cold food" and "almost too close [to the glacier]" as advertisement - then I made it to the access road. It was just a dirt road wide enough for a car, maybe two. I walked for a little bit, singing to myself again to avoid bears. Finally I took a look at where I was on GPS because I was looking at the glacier and it seemed awfully far away. according to GPS, it was. I think the trail was a few more miles or so. I decided to turn around and come back someday when it's open because I figured it wasn't really safe to be out there completely alone. Bears, springtime glacial melt and the unpredictability of water, etc. It just didn't seem like a good idea. I went back and headed out. so lame.
After the almost glacier viewing is where it gets really interesting. On the way up out of the park I took some pictures of the cracking dirt above, which I'll post. I'm surprised they don't do something to make it a little safer seeming. Anyways, I was back on the road. Because I was on the side of a mountain, I saw sign after sign that said "slide area," which is equivalent to "falling rock" at home. I entered an area which was 25 miles of these mountain roads. at the entrance there was a sign saying that it's illegal to hold up more than 5 cars on the road and that you MUST use a turnout to let them pass you. I LOVE that. Of course if there was traffic I would have been the slow car, but at home I'd Love that law. There was also a sign soon after that said "few turnouts, next 25 miles," and then another sign soon after that said "VERY few turnouts next 25 miles." VERY was underlined and everything. There was some good signage.
There was a car a little ways behind me so I pulled over and waited for him to reach and pass me because I didn't want to hold him up with my sightseeing. He wasn't going much faster than me, but I was okay with it. He was just far enough ahead of me that I caught glimpses of him through the winding every once in a while. Suddenly I came around a corner and had to SLAM on my brakes. I will never ignore another Falling Rock sign. There was a rock slide right into the road. It must have happend seconds before I got there because the guy in front of me made it through the road. I could also see little bits of rock still tumbling down. I parked there in front of it for a minute wondering what the hell to do. Do I try to drive around it? No, that would put me too close to the edge of the road and I don't know how soft the dirt is there. I finally decided to get out and move enough of the big rocks so that I could get by. I didn't want to be there any longer than I had to. As I was moving my first rock a car came from the other direction. It was a guy and his son. They saw the road was impassable and got out to help move rocks. The first words out of his mouth were "what did you do!" I laughed and then he said "never seen this before." I was glad to hear it wasn't a common thing in Alaska.
We spent a bit moving all of the rocks. There were a good amount of them, some so big that we had to roll them because we couldn't lift them. Every once in a while we'd have to move aside because a few more rocks would fall. Luckily all small ones. Once the road was passable we said a hurried goodbye and thank you and went to our respective cars because we didn't want to be there any longer than needed. I'm still a little amazed by it. Because of when it happened I just missed the slide. If I had been driving slightly faster I don't know what would have happened. If rocks were tumbling down toward me it isn't like I'd be able to swerve around them if I'm on the side of a mountain. It makes me wonder what my reaction would have been. It seems the best thing to do would be to let the rocks hit you because they weren't big enough to push my car or anything, but at the same time I think that the reaction I have built into me is to swerve to avoid objects so I probably would have done just that, given a split second to react. Luckily I was driving the speed I was and wasn't a few seconds ahead of schedule. I'm also lucky I was looking at the road and not the view!
After my harrowing experience (ha! I was actually a little giddy about it because 1. I didn't get hurt and 2. that isn't something you see everyday) I made it to Anchorage without a hitch. I'll write about Anchorage in another post. This one is certainly long enough.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Getting There
I can now say that I've explored every possible way of getting out to Alaska. Seems simple enough, right? Wrong. I need to arrange to have a car while up there and I need to be there through August, then I need to be home to be in a wedding on September 7th. Tight time frame, but I would not miss this wedding for the world.
I've looked at every possible combination of flights, drives, ferries, rentals and shipping. This is my plan:
Drive like crazy to Alaska in late April/early May to hopefully arrive there by May 8th. It will be a horrible, horrible drive. All I have to say is CANADA. I will be driving at least 11 hours a day, but it's supposed to be a really beautiful drive, so I'll be okay. I'm going to try to camp most of the way up because camping is fun and camping is cheap! Plus I'll be in some amazing wilderness which I really shouldn't pass up.
For the way home I'm going to drive to Seattle, leave my car there with a friend while I fly home for the wedding etc for a few weeks, then fly back to Seattle to pick up my car and do some exploring on my way home.
Let me know if you want to join me for any leg of the journey back or have any suggestions as to where I should go.
Now all I have to figure out is how I'm going to get my bridesmaid dress tailored while I'm in a place where dresses are practically forbidden. I'd probably get laughed at if I attempted to bring it to a tailor there. Things aren't so formal there. I requested a visitor/transplant guide from the closest city to get an idea of what the area is like. The most telling part of it was this ad that a mortgage guy had in there. Usually mortgage and real estate brokers have professional pictures taken to go on business cards and ads, as I'm sure you've noticed. Well, this guy had a picture of himself squatting on a riverbed showing off a fish he caught! That is his 'professional' picture?! I'm entering a whole different world.
I've looked at every possible combination of flights, drives, ferries, rentals and shipping. This is my plan:
Drive like crazy to Alaska in late April/early May to hopefully arrive there by May 8th. It will be a horrible, horrible drive. All I have to say is CANADA. I will be driving at least 11 hours a day, but it's supposed to be a really beautiful drive, so I'll be okay. I'm going to try to camp most of the way up because camping is fun and camping is cheap! Plus I'll be in some amazing wilderness which I really shouldn't pass up.
For the way home I'm going to drive to Seattle, leave my car there with a friend while I fly home for the wedding etc for a few weeks, then fly back to Seattle to pick up my car and do some exploring on my way home.
Let me know if you want to join me for any leg of the journey back or have any suggestions as to where I should go.
Now all I have to figure out is how I'm going to get my bridesmaid dress tailored while I'm in a place where dresses are practically forbidden. I'd probably get laughed at if I attempted to bring it to a tailor there. Things aren't so formal there. I requested a visitor/transplant guide from the closest city to get an idea of what the area is like. The most telling part of it was this ad that a mortgage guy had in there. Usually mortgage and real estate brokers have professional pictures taken to go on business cards and ads, as I'm sure you've noticed. Well, this guy had a picture of himself squatting on a riverbed showing off a fish he caught! That is his 'professional' picture?! I'm entering a whole different world.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
INAUGURAL POST
I will be heading to Alaska this summer. I plan on driving out there at the end of April/beginning of May to arrive around May 8th. I will spend most of May exploring the state before I settle in on the Kenai Peninsula for the rest of the summer. I'll be living in a cabin on the Kenai River in the small town of Sterling, AK.
So, those are the major details. At the urging of a smart family member (thank you, Phyllis) I've decided to keep a blog of my Alaskan adventures. I'll plan on posting nearly daily for my drive up there and for my stay. I'm also going to get a few posts up before I head out there to detail my preparation and a little bit of info about where I'll be and what I plan on doing. I'll also be able to post slideshows. I plan on taking a LOT of pictures while I'm there. Until then, I've posted a few pictures of where I'll be.
If all goes as planned, in addition to being a family and friends updater, this should become a good little diary of sorts to keep for my memory. I'm going to enable comments, so feel free to leave me comments, ask questions or make suggestions if you have them.
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