It's hard to believe it's been so long. Alaska friends, we owe you a visit in the next couple of years. Have RV, will travel!
Before starting our extended travels in 2014 I spent time scanning our photos from over the years. As the Alaska trip predated our switch to digital they were included in the mass. Today was the first day I had gone through them again.
Here we were, in August of 1996. We flew in to Anchorage, rented a Subaru outback, picked up some more camping gear, and started exploring. We traveled from Anchorage north to Denali, up to Fairbanks, back down to Tok, circled back to Anchorage, and spent more time on the Kenai Peninsula near Seward. Except for a needed break to dry out at a Super 8 in Fairbanks we camped in a small tent.
Eagle River, North of Anchorage
I was younger. And my hair was redder.
Things needed: several layers of clothing. Not needed: the lantern we bought in the sporting goods store in Anchorage.
Spirit Houses in native cemetery. Note the Eastern Orthodox influence.
Old Cabin at State Park near Talkeetna.
One of the first views of Denali.
Denali National Park
Grizzly sow with two cubs.
Caribou
The Denali sled dogs
Puppies!
Moose with calf we startled from beside the road north of Denali
Near Delta Junction
The Alaska Pipeline.
Fireweed
Porcupine Flat
Matanuska Glacier
The Kenai Penninsula
Boat tour of Kenai Fjords National Park
Rock islands teaming with wildlife
We were treated to a performance by a mother Orca and her calf.
And glaciers, also with calves.
Camping at Lake Kenai
The Kenai River
The west side of the peninsula on the way down to Homer
Scenes in Seward
The peak of our experience (literally) came on our 25th anniversary.
This postcard shows an aerial view of the exit glacier, the only glacier on the Kenai peninsula which does not terminate in the sea. The top of the peninsula is covered by a sheet of ice named The Harding Ice Field. To the right of the glacier in the picture is a trail which leads to the top.
Below the glacier
This is sure to remain one of my defining moments.
Views from the trail back down.
On the way down we passed very fresh bear scat on the trail. It had not been there on the way up.
I'm ready to go again, but this time in my house with my own bathroom and my sleep number bed. It appears that there are more RV parks on the route than there were twenty years ago.
