Blogs from Alaska, United States, North America
PORT OF WHITTIER, ALASKA The clear weather held as far north as Glacier Bay. We had wonderful stops in Juneau and Skagway with clear skies and plenty of sun. It is a little hard to believe that the capital city of Alaska, Juneau, doesn't even have road access. There are, of course, roads about the town, but no highway that connects the city to any other areas of the state. The only way to get there is to fly or come by boat. The amount of float planes in the harbor was overwhelming and they were constantly coming and going all during our stay. One in every 14 people has a pilot's license and owning a plane is as common as having a car in the lower 48. Skagway was a living historical museum. Born of ... read more
Friday May 25, 2012 Foggy Bay to Ketchikan We took the rollers on our beam as we headed up Revillagigedo Channel and when they slowly smoothed out we were glad to be back inside the Inside Passage. Into Tongass Narrows the boat traffic picked up and as we caught sight of the Ketchikan skyline we realized that it was dominated by cruise ships, four of them. No Betty, we are not alone! So there are 9,000 exta people being bussed, floated and flown around today. Everyone is friendly and helpful, even the fishermen as when BJ summons them to help land the shiny yacht in among the fishing fleet. We are in a boat basin full of small fishing boats, which make us feel like we are really in Alaska. I had to find a McDonalds ... read more
We finally got around to setting up our blog so here begins the chronicle of our first few days. Road miles to date: 285 We landed in Anchorage, Alaska at about midnight on Wednesday 16th. After a few hours sleep in a last-resort room above the hotel boiler room (so we were told later on) we awoke to clear blue skies. A brief orientation of downtown Anchorage had us snapping photos like seasoned tourists! The immensity of everything, from the trucks to the food portions and even to the wheel chairs at the airport (double the seat size) made us realise we were a long way from home. It's a cliche but it has felt like we just landed on a film set - they really have the gigantic Coca Cola wagons and say 'have a ... read more
INSIDE PASSAGE, ALASKA As you cruise north from Vancouver the landscape gives way to miles and miles of wilderness. Vancouver is a very densely populated city, but British Columbia as a whole is not. Except for the occasional tugboat pulling a raft of logs or a Ferry transporting passengers and their vehicles the horizon before us is clear. Clear, clean and beautiful. Snow-capped peaks fringe the narrow passage ahead and the shores are an immense forest of lush green trees. Alaska's first city is our destination. Ketchikan is billed as the salmon capital of the world and the whole city is waiting for us to arrive. We are the on the first cruise to Alaska of the season for Princess and the first to arrive at the dock on this Monday morning. We are the first ... read more
Fairbanks Alaska to Portal North Dakota
Published: May 8th 2012North America » United States » Alaska » North PoleThis a a layout of the path we will take through Canada on our journey from Alaska to Texas. We calculated that we can go a little less than 400 miles on a tank of gas in our motorhome. We decided to go through Edmonton and Regina in Canada and exit back into the U.S. through North Dakota, so as to avoid the Rocky Mountains. We have serious doubts that our rig could handle the stress of all the hills. We are eagerly awaiting the start of our journey and will continue to obsess over our travel plans until we get to go go go!:)... read more
Alaska: The last frontier
Published: March 8th 2012North America » United States » Alaska » AnchorageWe arrived in Anchorage on the 24thof February having spent the past 6 months working and living in Vancouver. Checking into our hotel. They informed us that we have arrived on a good week as they were celebrating Fur Rondy which is a Winter Festival held in Anchorage, Alaska every year in late February. We dumped our backpacks and headed downtown just in time to grab a perfect spot for the Grande Parade, It was pretty cold standing there -9 degrees! After that we walked down to the Snow Sculpting Competition. The work was very impressive a polar bear playing a piano, Peace signs, Jesus even a Banana Split. It was going to be a tight competition. It was now time to watch the dog sled racing and see the blanket toss a traditional activity where ... read more
Backcountry Ski Trip: Red Shirt Lake
Published: February 28th 2012North America » United States » Alaska » WillowAfter a long January of mostly below zero degrees, I figured it was time to get out of the house and put my 0 degree bag to the test. Since I have been up here I have raved about wanting to do a backcournty ski trip longer than just a few miles. Sherry and I had a long weekend and decided it was time to make this happen. We rented us a public use cabin out in the Nancy Lake area, just south of Willow, AK. By the time we made the reservation there was only one cabin available: Red Shirt Lake Cabin #4. Being only 3 miles from the campground, I thought this would be a good little introduction for Sherry to winter backpacking and cross country skiing. We invited a few friends along, but ... read more
Greetings ! Let me introduce myself --I'm a 51 year old fat white women. My last child has just graduated and I am now ready and free to focus on myself. My weight is slowly but surely making me a "liability" in the field that I work in. I work on the Alaskan North Slope as a construction cost / scheduler. I am sure I am the largest person here or at least the heavest women. Everyone says get the "surgery" came close to it in 2002 but backed out. Partly fear - I have never had surgery before and concern - I have seen several people fail to keep weight off after the surgery. Cost around 5K to 10K. Surgery was option number ONE. Then I researched Fat Camps for adults. You see I went ... read more
Anchorage - 'at a glance', LOL!
Published: October 16th 2011North America » United States » Alaska » AnchorageGreetings to all our merry followers! Many of us left Toronto this morning at the 'crack of stupid' :) And, after a fabulous flight on Air Canada, arrived in Vancouver to catch up with the folks from the West who were joining us on the wonderful adventure. We moved on over to a private terminal where our aircraft from Flair Air joined us. A great time was had by all on the flight - a great crew - and we are all getting ready to travel, eat, laugh, get to know each other and create memories. We kicked things off with orange juice/mimosa/champagne - not a bad way to start this wonderful trip! We are all enjoying the luxury of executive seating - lots of leg room (not that I, personally need much of that!) - ... read more
Alaska, A Cook's Tour
Published: October 30th 2011North America » United States » Alaska » Eagle RiverALASKA, A COOKS TOUR It’s May and time for my trip to visit my brother who lives in Chugiak, Alaska, a small bedroom community in South-Central Alaska, about 20 miles north of Anchorage. I arrived in the early morning; it was still dark at their house. The sun was soon up and I heard a low howling by one or two dogs. In rapid succession more and more dogs joined in the synchronized baying. The eerie howl was enough to cause shivers, enough to make me imagine that I was in the midst of a wilderness or perhaps engrossed in reading The Call of the Wild. It was the wakeup call of the sled dogs kept at my brother and sister in laws house. Chugiak is a quaint collection of modern, homemade, cabin like and curious ... read more































