Jul 1, 2011 - Great Alaskan Road Trip - Day 6

Today we drove from Palmer to Seward along the Seward Highway. Before heading south we visited a Musk Ox farm. Very informative and fair amount of fun. The Musk Ox has survived from the last Ice Age to the present day pretty much unchanged. The Seward Highway has been designated as a Scenic Byway. It follows Cook Inlet and Turnagain Arm. Today has been one of those dreary days with a cold rain. We have hunkered down at a RV park outside of Seward. Tomorrow we will venture into the town of Seward.We should be able to walk onto a glacier at...

Jun 30, 2011 - Great Alaskan Road Trip - Day 5

Last night we pulled off of the Richardson Hwy (AK4) into Smith's Green Acres RV Park in Delta Junction. This turned out to be a great experience. We were met by the owner.The park is a Good Sam affilated park. The sites are spacious and clean. We had a full hookup (30 amp). Our site as with most was a pull-thru. The park was very quite and restful. This morning we got back on the road and continued on south. We drove about 230 miles (0930 to 1700) to Palmer, AK. The Richardson Hwy is a two lane road. Very little traffic. We saw another...

Jun 27, 2011 - On the road to Fairbanks

This was an easy day of driving from Denali to Fairbanks; checked into the Rivers Edge RV park on the Chena River. Weather was rather warm and nice. Sleeping is a bit of challenge for the kids. When you ask the local folks when will the sun will set they generally answer with "sometime in August".

Jun 26, 2011 - Denali National Park - Day 3

Today was an easy day. Planned it to be that way. We went back to Denali NP to go to the sled dog demonstration to learn how the Alaskan Huskies are used in the maintenance of the park. The ride to the kennel roundtrip from the visitor center with the demonstration and Q&A session was roughly 90 minutes. Well worth the time. Tomorrow we will be heading to Fairbanks to do a little gold panning.

Jun 25, 2011 - Denali National Park - Day 2

Took the park tour. The tour is 4hours out and then 4 hours back; 66 miles in a school bus. However we did see animals in the wild. Came across Caribou, rabbits, ground squirrels. Then we say a pair of golden eagles on the hunt, lone grizzly bears, a mama grizzly bear with her cubs, and we spotted a Dall sheep (ram) . A very long day for us. Keira and Ella did quite well with the long trip. Better than seeing these types of animals in a zoo. Denali is a huge park. Covers about 1% of the state of Alaska or 6 million acres.

Jun 24, 2011 - Denali National Park - Day 1

spent most of the day at Denali NP, bought tickets for a park tour for the next day. Got my Natinal Park Pass and Natinal Park Passport. I can now go to any national park with any number of guests for free, for life. We drove into the park up to the Savage River, approximately 15 miles. We then returned to the RV park for dinner and a small marshmallow roast over a pine wood fire. Need to run the heater at night. Temps are in the 50’s.

Jun 23, 2011 - Great Alaskan Road Trip - Day 2

arrived at McKinley RV Park after a 6 hour drive from Elmendorf AFB. We will be here for the entire weekend. We made a couple of stops on the way. Also hit a few unexpected stops due to road construction. The first stop was a short visit at the IDIROD(sp?) Center just outside of Anchorage. Kiera got to get up close and personal with some 2 week old puppies that destined to pull a sled Next stop was a scenic look inside the Denali State Park We got a glimpse of Mt. Denali from there. Tomorrow we are set to go to Denali National Park for an...

Jun 22, 2011 - Great Alaskan Road Trip - Day 1

Arrived Anchorage @0530; got taxi to ClippershipRV; dropped bags off at cottage and got breakfast; then back to cottage and crashed; got up around 1000 started the process of signing out the RV; that took two hours; hit the road and found a nice KFC for lunch; went grocery shopping at the commissary at Elmendorf AFB; picked our way to the RV park at the AFB got there about 1500; got settled in at a nice camp spot in the woods.; the kids were very good considering how tired they were; Sarah and I were just as tired. Sarah and the kids...

May 30, 2011 - Alaskan Journal

Starting the trip journal for our great Alaskan get-away. About 25 years ago I went to Juneau on a business trip. When I left I vowed to return someday with Shellie. I wanted her to see the things that I saw. Eagles! Wilderness (lots of it). did I mention eagles.