NORTH to Alaska!

A little more than twenty years ago I surprised my husband with his “dream” trip: Ten action-packed and adventurous days in ALASKA! Our family of five explored the state from Seward to Denali (really only a small portion of this beautiful land). We did whitewater rafting, hiking, glacier viewing, boat excursions, even horseback riding. Each night, exhausted, we collapsed into beds at various Bed & Breakfast-style establishments, where we met people from all over the world, and more importantly, spent time with the local owners and learned about living in Alaska.

Reluctantly we flew back to Southern California, where we landed on a 100+ degree day, immediately pulled out of the airport into a bumper to bumper freeway traffic jam, and couldn’t even see the mountains behind our house it was so smoggy! As we pulled into our driveway, at the same time we looked at each other and said, “What are we even doing here?!!”

Plans began, as throughout the coming year we designed our own bed and breakfast, bought land in Talkeetna, Alaska, painted, re-roofed, and sold our California house, and planned another exciting trip back to Alaska.

One year later, we packed up a 32-foot trailer pulled by a 15 foot Suburban, with three kids, a large dog, three cats, two birds, and headed NORTH TO ALASKA. The 1960’s Johnny Horton tune became our theme song as we made our way up the ALCAN.

And while the first year (stories for another post) was pretty rough as we tried to acclimate from sunny California to frosty Alaska, we’ve been here (almost) ever since and have never even glanced back at California!