Up the Alaskan Highway

First, a little background. My background. Just to get us all on the same page. Even though I now live in the beautiful and colorful state of Colorado, I actually spent most of my childhood (from age four to eighteen) in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Now...just be clear for those of you who are making assumptions...NO, I am not Mormon, and YES, I do ski). I spent many a pleasant day in the mountains near Salt Lake, skiing, hiking, biking and even just sitting around. It is the home of my childhood. My family, however, no longer resides anywhere close to SLC. In fact, most of them now live about as far away as you can get and still be in the USA. My brother, now known to my kids as Uncle D and his lovely wife, Auntie K, moved up to the utterly gorgeous state of Alaska almost eight years ago. They have spent the last couple years up in a small town off the Alaskan Highway nearer to Fairbanks. (If you want to hear more about them...check out the "My Cute Nephew" link...Auntie K does a fabulous job on her blog!) My mom & dad, known to the grandchildren as Granny & Grandaddy, got the adventuring bug about three years ago. After 27 years of living in SLC, my dad accepted a job in Anchorage. My folks packed up, sold the house, and moved the whole homestead (including 500 lbs of rock collection) up to Anchorage. So that leaves me, and Auntie Jessica, as the only immediate family that still live "down outside" (in the lower 48 States).

All this is to say that when I go visit my family, I get to do what most tourists long to do... I travel to the Great White North. So, this past June, I packed up the kids and made the five and a half hour plane flight to Anchorage. (LT came up later.) Other than a lap baby who thought my face looked more like a pin cushion for her finger and a slight incident that soaked one of our seat cushions, we made it to Anchorage without me going completely crazy.

We spent a few days at my folks, riding bikes, taking walks and visiting the local indoor water park. Then we packed up again and took off driving, along with a lot of baby boomers in RVs, up the Alaskan Highway. We took two days to drive the long way (8 hours) to my brother's house. Did I mention that Alaska in really, really, really big?

Here's a picture I got of Mt. McKinley or Denali as it is known locally. The tallest mountain in North America. It is so big that it creates its own weather. If you look closely at this picture, you can see the peak coming through the top of the clouds. This is taken from a viewpoint off the highway.

We spent a night in a little cabin near Denali National Park. My kids didn't sleep too well with the midnight sun (it really doesn't get very dark even in the early a.m.) coming through the not-so-dark window curtains. But we had fun seeing a little of the park and checking out the sled dog demonstration. Here is Grandaddy, Sparkle, Slugger, (and the tip of Sugar's head in the backpack) pretending to ride the sled.

From Denali, we drove up through Fairbanks and on to Uncle D & Auntie K's house. At the time, they were living in a rental while they were building (literally building themselves) their new place. Since then, they have been living on their land in a tent trailer and will soon be moving into the basement while they finish the rest of their house. It was Slugger's first time meeting his cute little red-headed cousin, Squirt Boy. Slugger was very, very excited. Here is a picture of the of Uncle D, Auntie K, and Squirt boy on the front porch of their new house. Did I mention they are doing a fabulous job building it?

LT, meanwhile, flew in to Fairbanks. I went to pick him up in the early a.m. of June 21 - the Summer Solstice - or the longest day of the year. When his flight got in an hour late at 2:30 a.m. LT commented, "Wow...it is really light outside." It really was light outside...at 2:30 a.m. Technically, the sun is actually down at that time, but it is still dusky, not truly dark. It is very surreal. Despite getting a lot less sleep than usual, we really never felt tired. It is amazing how our bodies respond to the light.

Here's Uncle D with Squirt Boy. Gotta love that red hair!

We went to the lake, ate at the local drive-in and saw lots of moose! The kiddos and I actually saw a mama & her twin mooselets (what is a baby moose called?) walking about 100 yards from the rental house. Very cool! Here's Grandaddy, Sparkle, Slugger, and Uncle D going for a canoe ride.

LT & Uncle Dan went fly-fishing on the Clear Water River. They floated down the river and caught graylings. While on their expedition they saw a moose hanging out in the river. Here's Uncle D with a grayling and LT fishing...

We had a great time visiting. My family is dear to me and I enjoyed the time spent together. LT flew back to Colorado and Granny, Grandaddy, the kiddos and I headed back down (the shorter way) to Anchorage and eventually we returned to Colorado. But...I savored the time well spent with those I love and can now say I have seen more of Alaska (a lot more) than just Anchorage.

Here's one last picture of the cousins...Slugger, Sugar, Squirt Boy, & Sparkle Girl.