We've Made It Home-r.

Driving onto and through the Kenai Peninsula took a long time to get through – only because we kept stopping to take pictures, hike to glaciers, and take more pictures. It was incredibly scenic – almost like British Columbia was, but had its own Alaskan-like qualities I’m beginning to recognize. The mountains come right up to the waters edge, leaving little way for a road to wind in and around the abruptly protruding passes. Once we got around the final bend Homer came into view – and both Nick and I let out an, “Oh my gosh,” or two. It was by far the most indescribable place we’ve been to on this trip. We drove down Pioneer (the main street) in an attempt to find our hostel we had planned on staying at – since it wasn’t coming up on the GPS. Nick pulled up a page online from my phone looking to find directions, but instead happened to stumble upon some reviews. At one mention of bed bugs, we opted to take our money elsewhere, and find a cheap hotel in the area. We found an aged inn in old town, and got to stay in a room with both bunk beds and a double. I had to tell Nick the story of how my mom wouldn’t ever let me sleep on the top bunk because I slept walk. Now, all we really have to worry about is me talking – which, apparently, I’ve done a couple times so far (I mentioned something like, “Oh, that’s right – Winnipeg.”). I can’t help but laugh at poor Nick – I’m not sure the last time he got a good nights sleep.

When we were settled, we headed out to the spit – a long strip of land that stretched ten miles out into the waters, with small tourist-focused stores, seafood stands, the infamous Salty Dawg and low-and-behold, two ice cream parlors that seemed to do pretty well, regardless of the chilly day we were experiencing. We shared some fresh local halibut and crab cakes (HUGE chunks of meat, mmm) along with fries (the theme of our excursion) and despite the sun still high in the sky, called it a night.

We were able to go to a thrift store while there, and Nick went on a walk, and on our final night ate at the Olive Pit – some of the best food we’ve had to date. Nick’s Frommers book deemed it “Mediterranean,” but it was Italian to us. He got a meaty pizza, and I chose the artichoke, mushroom, pesto and ricotta laden calzone. They had a glass of Pinot Noir listed at $6.75, and I couldn’t pass it up. It was from California, and was pretty darn good for being cheap AND a PN – I felt like I found some hidden gem of a restaurant, but come to find out it’s pretty popular, and rightfully so. Full and content, we slept pretty well in our next hotel on the edge of town (and on the edge of the peninsula). It was hard leaving Homer, because it meant we were back to a schedule – we had to be in Haines by the 17^th to hop on the ferry, and it was roughly 15 hours away. We’re pretty tired of driving to say the least, but once we get to Haines that means no cars needed for 5 days! Plus, Dad’s coming – I can’t wait.

Goodbye, Denali - Hello, Anchorage.

After a somewhat difficult time the National Park brought (physically, that is), we (my I-somehow-saw-your-hand-pitifully-trying-to-keep-the-door-open-and-only-a-foot-above-the-ground hero and I) trekked a few hours west to the largest city the state has to offer. We had plans the first night we were there to go to an Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zero’s show (I know, right?) at some pub in the Fresno-sized town. It turns out it was an actual theater, with both a balcony and a standing room floor with a conveniently located beer and wine bar in the corner. A band came on prior to the eclectic and trancelike influencing group, and after the first song we both looked at each other, and Nick made a comment along the lines of, “They must be a local band.” True enough, they were voted the Anchorage Daily News Band of the Month for June. Sitting here trying to recall their performance, I can vaguely hear the repeated (on every song, no less [it signaled the end of each tune]) teen-rock screech, a lot of aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh’s. Nick and I had a lot of fun – regardless of the slowly increasing temperature upstairs and the middle-aged men and women grooving to the modern day melodies.

The next day, we awoke from our incredibly hospitable boutique hotel with the receptionist Douglas giving us a list of local hot spots for a decent combination of food, atmosphere and authenticity. It’s been nice, now, since we’ve been able to have a full day to relax and not have a driving schedule blocked out for 8 hours to keep. We did a walking tour of the town, which Douglas had a good laugh out, that led us through the main square, seeking out random sculptures and giant planets. We went to dinner at a fancy restaurant, and, for the first time being here, felt like I didn’t belong. It’s like that sensitivity when you’re at a pool party and the only one without a suit, yet this time consisted of greetings not returned and two orders of burgers weren’t worth a water refill. I know that this is rare here, and can confidently hypothesize that the larger the population, the more room and desire (from some) to feel the need to reside above others.

There wasn’t too much to do in Anchorage, but far more than Fairbanks (and far less mosquitoes). Our next destination is Homer – a place I’ve been dying to see for a long, long time.

More photos!!

Dall Sheep and Grizzlies!!!!






This is us at our turn around stop in Denali, Toklat River. It was cold and windy!!




Here's the tent cabin we stayed in for a couple of nights at Mountain Morning Hostel, about 6 miles from the entrance of Denali National Park.

Denali and Bears!!

Hey everyone, Nick here, Court asked me to take over the update today. So yesterday we left Denali National Park and our very cold tent cabin. Here's a little recap of our adventures there.

The thing about Denali National Park is that private vehicles aren't allowed to drive up the one road that winds through the park. You have to take a bus from the Wilderness Access Center which is located near the Visitor Center. You CAN however drive to "Mile 15" which is as far as you can go up park highway. Once we got there we debated as to whether we would take the bus into the park then decided, "we're here we might as well do it.

There are several bus rides (they're not really tours as much as they are bus rides) that leave throughout the day, each going a little further than the next. We opted for the Toklat River ride, which means the bus would turn around at Toklat River about 53 miles from where we started. It was a 6 1/2 hour ride and $25 but it was totally worth it! Because we decided late in the day to take the trip we didn't leave the bus terminal until about 5pm which we thought might be kind of neat because we knew the wildlife would be more active the later it got. We were right. About an hour and a half into the trip we spotted a grizzly and cub. A while later Courtney saw a grizzly and a lynx sort of chasing each other on the hillside. Court was the hero for the rest of the day because she had seen it first and it was very rare to see a lynx let alone a lynx chasing a grizzly bear.

There were only about 11 of us when we started out, four of the passengers were backpackers that were literally dropped off in the middle of nowhere. There are no trails in Denali, it's above tree line and it's mostly tundra so you can walk for hours and hours and see in any direction. Then we picked up about six or seven hikers that had ventured out for the day and needed a lift back. They managed to jump on a bus heading down the hill and we were a small group again.

The road we were on was gravel, but a well maintained gravel road and in some sections it was only as wide as the bus with a sheer drop off to one side but beautiful scenery the entire way. We finally made it to Toklat River where we took our final break before heading down. I had given my flannel to Court so I was freezing in a t-shirt as much as she was with my thin long sleeve. It was windy, cold and completely isolated.

On our way back the driver spotted something on the road ahead near where we had just dropped off some backpackers. As we got closer we realized that it was a grizzly in the road! It was walking slowly along the edge. There was no room to pass so we followed it for about 15 minutes taking pictures and whispering about how huge its paws and head were. Finally, the driver managed to pass and we all sat in awe of this animal that had a blood stained neck and back. It was amazing. An hour or so before we saw a moose with two young ones, the driver said the blood on the bears back could very well have come from one of them.

We made it back around 11:30pm in one piece without being mauled and of course it's still light as day out. We slept as well as we could in the drafty canvas walled tent and woke up to a cold and cloudy morning. While I was getting breakfast together Court had decided to take a shower. Unfortunately, she stayed in a little too long in the very small, no ventilation room and decided to pass out. I was wondering where she had gone until I saw her hand push open the door of the outdoor shower from the kitchen window. We sat there for a minute until the room cooled down and she got her legs back.

Other than that little mishap things have been great, Court is feeling better from whatever struck her that sent us to the emergency room in Fairbanks. She has been so much fun traveling with, she's always so positive, worries about nothing and is up for anything. I've been blessed to have such a wonderful travel partner.

Photos coming soon!

Happy Belated Photo Update!

These pictures are from the drive up (which, we were too lazy to upload during that time) - through California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory. Enjoy (we did)!

PS: you can note the order of the trip by Nick's facial hair length.

Starbucks apparently doesn't open until 8am on Sunday mornings - so we went three hours of driving (on little sleep) before we could stop and get some. Nick re-arranged the car once we got there (please be sure to notice the "camping box" he made, I'm incredibly proud of him).

We, as tourists, decided to take a 30 minute detour and go see said "Mystery House." Well, turns out you had to buy tickets so we took a couple of pictures and left. We figured it was pretty much the same thing even if we bought some.



Once we got into Washington, we decided to go on up and see Mt. St. Helen's. It was pretty amazing.And on the way back down from the volcano, there was a "Bigfoot" nostalgia store, so, of course, we had to stop.On the way to visit my family, there was this huge hatchery where apparently the largest egg was produced.And, for reminiscent purposes, Nick took a picture of me at my Aunt's house that I hadn't been to in years. Once in Seattle, we walked to the market place and had to take a touristy photo.


British Columbia was literally breathtaking. I'm sure anyone in the car with us would have been so annoyed - every 5 seconds one of us was pointing to something and exclaiming, "Look at that!"

The infamous chocolate covered raisins. In this photo, the container was filled. Once we made it to Bell II, I spilled half of them on the ground and the next morning they disappeared.

Bell II, where we stayed. It was a neat lodge - within each building there was a common room with a kitchen, TV, and a stash of scratched and C-rated movies, and your bedroom was off of a long corridor. When we stopped to check the transmission fluid, Nick found where the spilled raisins had gone. Poor little squirrel probably came back and wondered where his goldmine of a stash went.
Just, you know, on the side of the road, eating some shrubs. We of course stop and take pictures.


Probably my favorite part of Canada was all of the bridges - practically around every turn you found yourself driving over a large body of water. I've never really experienced anything like that before.


And again, the majesty of Canada - and the terrible part about it is that no camera will ever do it justice. Every once in awhile we'd debate whether or not to take a picture of something, simply because it wouldn't even compare to the original. Finally arrived to the international border - I'm not sure if you can tell in this photo, but there's a line that divides Canada from the US that's cut through this forest.


We just purchased tickets to go on a "night ride" into Denali National Park that leaves at 5pm tonight and lasts about 6 1/2 hours. It's prime animal spotting time - and we're so excited that we're going to go take a nap in our cots until then.