Day 22: Fairbanks

We packed up camp today and said goodbye to Denali. I was so bummed to be leaving! But I don't think they'd let us stay forever, and come winter I think the tent would get a little cold. So away we went and a short drive later we arrived in Fairbanks.

The weather is beautiful here, very sunny and maybe hitting 70 degrees. Maybe. It could only be about 65 or so. But it's warm for me, and even Sarah is saying that it's warm. She'll get used to this never-gets-above-75 thing yet. We set up camp at the River's Edge Resort, and true to it's name, we're right on the Chena River. Like, maybe 10 feet from our tent is the river. Very very beautiful. We were visited earlier by a ducky family who was nice enough to stay a while and pose for pictures, which we gladly took.

We were feeling a little fresh fruit and veggie deficient since leaving Uncle Mike and Aunt Tami's, so we headed to the Safeway to pick up some stuff for a big veggie stir fry dinner. Wow! Veggies and fruit and expensive in Alaska! At least compared to California where I buy 10 for $10 avocados at the co-op and get fruit picked that morning from the farmers market.

But our dinner was good, and if not for horribly injuring myself, today would be a great day. When striking a match to light the camp stove, a bit flew into my eye, and a gallon of water plus several minutes standing in the shower holding my eye open in the water hasn't helped. I'm hoping tomorrow my eye will be better, because there's no way I can drive like this.

So I'm saying goodnight and will hope that tomorrow my eye is better.

Day 20 & 21: Denali is Beautiful

Our tour yesterday was amazing! The landscape here is beautiful, and we were able to see moose, caribou, a grizzly bear, tiny Dall sheep way up on the mountain sides, ptarmigans, a bazillion snowshoe hares, and a little red fox family with two adorable kits. We left camp at 3 pm and were out until almost midnight and traveled almost 54 miles into Denali National Park. I want to go out there every single day! I wish I had a better camera, one with many many more megapixels and a better zoom and one that will make every single picture I take come out National Geographic style. I love it here, and need to find out some way to make a trip up every week.... I'll have to start playing the lottery.

Needless to say, we slept in this morning. Last night when we got into camp it was only dusky; hardly dark at all. When I woke up at 4 A.M. (only God know why), it was already light out. I can't imagine what it is like on the flip side of the year with only a few hours a day of sunlight.

We have no plans today other than to shower, e-mail everyone and enjoy the day. I'm very very sad that we're leaving tomorrow.

Day 19: Denali!

We scooted out of camp first thing this morning, paused to do our laundry, and then hit the road for Denali National Park. It's so beautiful up here, I never want to leave. Sorry Uncle Mike and Aunt Tami, but I think if I'm going to move to Alaska it's going to be up here. Which would be quite the commute to the coast, but I digress.

Camp is all set up, and we're having Bengal Lentils, rice, and broccoli for dinner. I've never really considered myself a fan of Indian food, but this is pretty good. In a little bit we'll head over to the nature talk about Arctic ground squirrels, and then hit the sack. Tomorrow is our bus tour, which I hope will be a lot of fun.

Day 18: Anchorage

Well, we made it through the night safe and sound. Of course, this evening we had several more visits with weirdos, so now we're back on edge on wondering why the heck we decided to camp here (it was cheap!), but today wasn't all bad.

We had vegan pancakes and fake bacon for breakfast (first warm breakfast on the new stove, yay!), then went downtown to explore. There really wasn't too much to see, but we stopped in at the visitor center where everyone was friendly, and walked through the federal building (where the only weirdos were the two guards at the door). Afterwards, Sarah and I rode our bikes on the Tony Knowles Coastal trail. It's an eleven mile trail (I'm not even sure we rode two miles before turning around), and was very pretty, but it reaffirmed just how out of shape I am. I had to walk the bike up several of the hills, and by the time we were about a block away from our car (and at the bottom of the largest hill), I gave up and walked it the rest of the way. I think something might be wrong with the gears though, since it makes some pretty horrible noises when I shift and if I'm not in a low gear.

The restaurant that had been recommended to me was no longer serving food, but they sent us over to the Beartooth Theatre Pub, which by far has been the highlight of Anchorage. The food was excellent, and at least half the menu was vegetarian (with the option to add meat at an extra charge), and most were easily veganized. Sarah and I spent almost 20 minutes deciding what we wanted, and eventually we had to say "this is it" and not look at the menu anymore. We shared seven layer dip (except I don't think there was seven layers...I forgot to count), Sarah had the Veggie Bomber Burrito, and I had the Baked Veggie Sandwich with cremini and portobello mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts and left off the cheese. Sarah and I are both very happy campers and are looking forward to eating out leftovers tomorrow.

Day 17: Anchorage

Most of the people in the campground we're staying at are residents living in tents, and I'm worried about the group living a camp down from us. If it wasn't so late, we'd try to find some place else to stay, but tonight we'll just have to see how it goes. We did meet "Cute Vegetarian Guy" here, and gave him the names of the restaurants that were recommended to me as being vegetarian friendly. We tried to find where he was camped to ask if we could run to him if we needed help, but we couldn't seem to find him anywhere. Maybe if we walk around yelling "free vegan pancakes"....

Day 16: On the Road Again

Today was another very long, uneventful day of driving. We crossed into Canada from Haines and traveled through British Columbia and Yukon Territory until we crossed back into Alaska and arrived at Tok. It's not the most impressive place on Earth, but after 11 1/2 hours of driving, it'll do. Tomorrow should be a shorter day of driving and we'll be in Anchorage for two days.

Day 15: Setting Out Again

It was sad last night and today saying goodbye to everyone. I wish we would have had time to go see Uncle Mike at work before we left, but we ended up running a little bit behind and didn't get the chance. We restocked our supplies and repacked our car, and got on the ferry about 3:30 this afternoon. This ride was much shorter, and seemed even shorter than it was since Sarah and I watched a movie in the boat's little movie theater. There were more humpbacks, and they were closer, so we got to see them a little better. No good pictures of them though. We arrived in Haines about 9:30, and had to wait almost forty-five minutes to get checked into a hotel room. The room isn't worth what we paid, but we're not setting up camp this late, so I guess it works out.

Day 14: Fourth of July

After staying up all last night, Christina, Sarah and I went to the 4th of July parade with Uncle Mike, Aunt Michelle, Alex, Ivan and Henry. It was pretty good as far as parades go. The three boys got lots of candy, and I think the parade definitely got the point across that Alaskan's are against Measure 4.

Once we got back to Uncle Mike and Aunt Tami's house, people slowly started to trickle over for the BBQ. It was lots of fun visiting with everyone, and I wish we did more of this sort of thing back home. I'm ready for bed now though. Tonight is our last night here, and even though I'm sad that we're leaving so soon, I'm looking forward to continuing on with our adventure.

Day 13: Fireworks

I'm surprised I'm up so early today. Sarah and I had a long day yesterday, but it was a lot of fun. We walked through the State Museum then had lunch at a Japanese place around the corner. After lunch we walked downtown and shopped for several hours. In one of the little galleries we found some Holly Yashi jewelry, which is a local Arcata company. The world just keeps getting smaller and smaller.

When we got back Aunt Michelle and little Henry had already arrived. I think Henry may get the Cutest-4-Year-Old-I've-Ever-Met award, but I'm not sure. Christina, Sarah and I stayed up until midnight and went down to the docks to watch the fireworks. While someone did strip down and jump naked off the dock into the water, Christina said it wasn't nearly as rowdy as it had been in years past. The fireworks were awesome, and Christina was great company. I wish we lived closer so we could hang out more often.

In a little bit we're off to see the 4th of July parade. Should be lots of fun.

Day 12: Downtown

All of us, except Uncle Mike, went downtown today and did some window shopping. We ate lunch at a good Mexican place called El Sombrero (I think) and got dessert at the Alaskan Fudge Company, which we will have to visit again before we leave. We walked down by the cruise ships and I can't believe they're so big! I can't imagine seven of them docked here all at the same time!

When we got home, we all pitched in to get the house ready for Aunt Michelle's arrival. I must be a little home sick since I enjoyed cleaning so much! I'm secretly glad that Aunt Tami let us help clean, because it made me feel more at home and less of a "guest". Not sure if that'll come across the way I want it to, but trust me, it was a good thing!

Uncle Mike took the boy and us girls out to dinner, then we took Maggie for a walk out at the glacier. Alex and Ivan are so lucky they get to see this stuff everyday, although I'm sure they don't think so yet. Maybe when they make their great road trip they'll realize it.

Day 11: Uncle Mike's Day Off

Today was a day to get stuff taken care of and spend time with Uncle Mike on his day off. We got my bike tire fixed up, and found a second cigarette lighter in the car, and will have to buy a new camp stove since it costs almost as much for the replacement part as it does for a new one.

Uncle Mike drove Sarah, the boys, and I out to the NOAA facility (I'll be honest, I chickened out going to talk to them, but I still hope I can get a job or internship there someday), the Shrine of St. Therese (which was beautiful!), and to Eagle Beach. The whole area up here is so beautiful, and I wonder if someday I could live up here. I don't know if I could give up the redwoods though.

Day 10: The Glacier

Sarah and I must have really been tired yesterday; we ended up sleeping in until almost 10 am! Aunt Tami had a yummy breakfast of danishes, fresh fruit, coffee and soy milk waiting for us when we finally stumbled out of the bedroom.

After breakfast, Aunt Tami dropped Sarah and I off at the Mendenhall Glacier, which was absolutely beautiful. I wish we could have gotten closer and walked on the ice, but I guess that will have to wait for a winter visit. We walked the Moraine Ecology Trail and took lots of pictures. In the parking lot, we ran into another HSU student, which just goes to show what a small world it really is.

The rest of the day we hung out at the house with the family. It was nice just being settled in one place. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a nomad after all....

Day 9: Juneau

Sarah and I got into Juneau yesterday around 9:30 am or so and followed Aunt Tami, Alex, and Ivan to the house. We're sleeping in the boys' room, and I feel a little bad about kicking them out, but the beds are really comfy. After we got our stuff settled in, all of us and Maggie piled in the car to see Uncle Mike at work, picked up a map downtown, and headed out to the Treadwell Mine. It was really neat, and I'd like to go there again some time to take pictures. I couldn't believe that there was still pieces of the dishes and bowls on the beach, and that they hadn't all been taken by people. Aunt Tami found a good piece with writing on the bottom, and I have to admit, I was tempted to take it back with me, but it's still on the beach somewhere.

Once Uncle Mike got home from work, Sarah, Uncle Mike, Alex, Ivan, and I went to see Kung Fu Panda in the theaters. It was a lot cuter than I thought it would be. Afterwards we came home to a very yummy dinner and then headed across the street to meet everyone. I felt a little bad, since everyone was doing the "It's been so long since we've seen you!" and I'm thinking "I was in the 4th grade, and don't really remember you...." It's still nice to be 'home' again with family after a week of traveling.

Back across the street and Uncle Mike's and Aunt Tami's, the boys (including Uncle Mike) went to bed and us girls watched The Illusionist. It was a long day, but a very good one, and Sarah and I were grateful for the black-out curtains and beds.

Day 8: The Ferry

We broke camp in the rain this morning at 4 (yuck) and headed down to the ferry terminal. It was pretty much hurry to get in line, then wait around. Once we were on the ship and underway, everything was good. Sarah and I ate (decent) hot meals for the first time in several days, and spent most of our time out on deck or under the solarium with its heat lamps. We have our sleeping bags under heat lamps now to dry out, and we'll spend the night out here. We've seen one pod of orcas, and several humpbacks, which has been neat. They need to get closer to the boat though, and come farther out of the water. It's been really nice not to be the one in charge of getting us to our destination.

Day 7: Prince Rupert

Canada has definitely not been good to us. It rained most of today and when we got into camp the lady at the desk warned us that they were expecting a lot more rain and gale force winds, so we had to put a tarp under and over the tent to try to keep the rain out. We went into Prince Rupert to get something warm to eat since we still can’t get the camp stove to stop leaking when we turn the propane on. We ate at La Villa, and weren’t really impressed. I think we would have been better off eating trail mix, especially with the heartache that followed....

Day 6: Making Up Time

Today was driving from 8 am to 8 pm pretty much non-stop. We finally ended up in Smithers, BC. Our cigarette lighter broke at some point during the day, so we’re without a charger for our cell phones, laptop, and camera batteries. We’re also without Lee, which hasn’t been so bad, but I’m hoping to get it fixed so we can have him again.

Day 5: Oh Boy

The morning started out bad. We couldn’t get Lee to figure out where we wanted to go, then he couldn’t accept that the road he wanted us to take was closed. But we finally made it on the road. Then we hit Seattle traffic, and crawled along. Finally we were free and cruising along to Sumas to cross the border. I don't like Canadian Customs very much. Just because I'm not currently working, Lady, doesn't mean I've never had a job! Eventually we got through and drove to Cache Creek, BC and took a nice warm shower. It's weird going to bed at 10:30 and having it still be light out.

Day 4: Seattle

Morning dawned and we'd made it through the night raccoon-free. We broke out the camp stove to make pancakes for breakfast. We put on a pot of water to boil for hot drinks and set about getting things ready for massive pancake making. WHOMPH. Gee, the camp stove is on fire. We got everything put out and tried it again, but I started smelling propane so everything got turned off and I dumped soapy water over the hose and pipes. Sure enough, we have bubbles. No hot breakfast for us, it’s another day of cold cereal.

We decided to take the ferry from Bremerton (where we're staying) to Seattle since it was free and we wouldn’t need to worry about the car in the city. This really turned out to be the best plan. After an hour, the ferry dropped us off at the city center and we stopped into a little place called Thai 65 for lunch. We had veggie tempura (green beans, kombucha squash, eggplant, sweet potato) with a sweet chili sauce, I had the Rama Garden with Tofu (steamed veggies, tofu, and rice with a peanut sauce) and Sarah had the Ba Mee Hang (rice noodles, tofu, steamed veggies and some sort of broth). We were stuffed and ended up having to leave food, which was disappointing, but we couldn’t really carry take-out boxes in our backpacks all day either.

We meandered around downtown, being tourists and looking at all the neat buildings, and headed to the monorail. In 90 seconds, we were a mile away at the Space Needle. Thirty-two bucks (!!) later we were at the top of the Needle, looking around down at Seattle. It was pretty neat (I don’t know about thirty-two dollars neat…). After a little while we jumped back on the monorail and went back downtown and headed to Pike Place.

Pike Place was really cool, but we got there about fifteen minutes to five, so a lot of people were closing up shop already. We didn’t see any flying fish, but we did buy some cherries and strawberries to eat while we walked. We almost ate vegan cookies at Cinnamon Works, a vegan/gluten free/ sugar free bakery right across from Pike Place, but we decided to come back after we had walked around the market, but when we came back they were closed.

Sarah finally admitted her feet hurt (I’m glad she said it first and not me!) and we headed back to the pier to catch the ferry back to Bremerton. A looooong hour later, we were back at camp and Sarah made a much better and injury free fire. We gave in to the need for something warm and heated water over the fire and enjoyed raccoon-free hot apple cider. Tomorrow we set out for Canada!

Day 3: The First Fire, and Consequentially the First Injury

Today was another day of driving, although not as long as the first day. We drove through Olympia, WA. and stopped at the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. We were wimps and just did the one mile loop, but it was very nice and it was good to stop and stretch our legs. We got to watch a duck family swim around, then get out of the water and settle down for a nap (and do some duckie yoga).

After walking around we headed to Oskara Japanese Restaurant and ate vegan sushi; Sarah had a noodle dish and I had a rice bowl. Everything was really good and filling. From there we headed to Starbucks and finally got online. Yay! We watched the video of the newest Evers daughter (Josey? JoeZee?) and sent out a couple of e-mails.

We stopped by the University of Puget Sound, where I had originally planned on going to school, and walked around. It was really impressive. Brick buildings, ivy climbing the walls, very college looking. I’m not sure if I would have liked it more than Humboldt or not. I definitely wouldn’t be an oceanography major now, for better or worse.

Finally we set out for camp at Illahee State Park. Then the real fun started. We set up the tent, and got fire wood to make a fire. But to make a fire you need kindling. So as Sarah set up the bed rolls, I got the hatchet out and started splitting wood. For one reason or another (but definitely not user error, that’s for sure), the hatchet bounced off the wood and sliced into my finger. Guess it was time to break out that first aid kit. But finally we got the bleeding stopped and the wood chopped and a fire going and we were enjoying sitting there and tried to roast the left over hot dogs, which ended in sorrow. When suddenly, in the bushes, there’s a rustling. But it sounds like a small little rustling, a bird or squirrel or something. WRONG. A BIG FREAKING RACCOON comes out of the bushes. We shine the flashlight on it, shuffle our feet, shoo it off, but it keeps coming back. And it has us surrounded. We'll see if we make it through the night.

Day 2: Portland

What we failed to notice last night was that there were train tracks running pretty much right through camp. Every forty minutes or so, a train would come blaring through, horn blasting. We didn't get much sleep last night. But we got ourselves some breakfast and went on our way.

We went and viewed Multnomah Falls, the second tallest in the US, and Horsetail Falls, which was just pretty. We hiked around the trails for a while, and then it was time for a vegan donut at Sweetpea Bakery in Portland, Or.

Or that was the plan anyway. Lee (the GPS, which will from now on only be referred to as Lee), got us lost, and we ended up at Oaks Pioneer Park down by the river. Where apparently Portlanders can't read, because below the sign stating "No Fishing", there were five men sitting on the dock with poles in the water. We tried to get a good picture of it, but they just didn't turn out.

But by now we hungry, so it was back in the car and looking for one of the many places that had been recommended to me. Lee was still having trouble, so after driving for a half hour to try and find a parking spot, we set out on our own in search of food. We eventually ran into Paragon, which was on my list as a vegan friendly restaurant, so we went in. Well, it wasn't too vegan friendly, but we both had the Organic Quinoa Salad with asparagus, cherry tomatoes, peas, basil, and a balsamic sauce. It was really good, and very filling.

After lunch we wandered around until we came to a park with a weird elephant statue and a permanent doggy water fountain. We wandered around lost for a little longer before coming across The Blossuming Lotus (where we were trying to go when we ended up at Paragon). They didn't have any vegan soft serve ice cream left, so we went on our way and ended up at Whole Foods. We got a couple of donuts from Mighty-O, and a slushie.

Tired and disappointed from our lack of ability to find anything we had wanted to see, we headed back to camp, and stopped at the Bridge of the Gods, which is apparently just a bridge that they built where they think there was once a giant landslide that created a bridge for the Native Americans to walk across.

Tomorrow we drive to Seattle and explore Olympia and Tacoma along the way. Hopefully we'll get a better sleep than we did last night.

Day 1: Bon Voyage

Today was the start of Sarah's and my Great Alaskan Adventure. After struggling to pack everything in the car and to find the current registration (I knew I had it somewhere...), we were off! We drove from Arcata, CA to Cascade Locks, OR and are staying at the KOA here. Everything so far seems to be going great.