Alaska

For our big, super hooty family vacation this summer we pooled all of our close to expiring Delta miles and were able to pull off a visit to the interior of Alaska. I would really love to visit the coast, but Alaska is so big you have to take it in several visits. We will likely visit the coast on a cruise sometime so we picked the interior this time.

Here we are throwing rocks into a river.

Let me just say, EVERYTHING in Alaska is expensive. $3.65 for a gallon of gas and $2.50 for a loaf of cheap bread. I guess they have to transport everything from the mainland US, so transportation costs are pretty high. We did see some spectacular scenery and wildlife, so the trade off was worth the extra expense of gas and food. The sun rose at 0400 and set at 0100. This made for some weird jet lag but we got over it 3 days into the trip.

Here is Taylor sitting in a portion of the Alaska Pipeline.

We started off in Fairbanks, then spent several days in a cabin at Denali National Park. We nearly got carted off by mosquitos but we did finally remember to put on the bug repellent BEFORE we went outside and things got much better. Tom and the older kids went on a whitewater river trip. The water in the river is glacier melt so they had to wear dry suits. I took the little kids to the Denali Visitor's Center where they were able to watch a movie about animals and then feel different animal furs. Isaac loved it and I had difficulty dragging him away when Nick would lose interest and wander off.

At Denali, we took a bus deep into the park (that is the only way to get there as they don't allow cars more than 7 miles into the park). We got off the bus and then followed a GPS trail that Tom had downloaded prior to us leaving. There wasn't really a trail and we bushwhacked the whole hike. It makes you appreciate the efforts of the early explorers and pioneers where they had to make their own trails. It really is hard work. Isaac managed the 4 miles but it did take all day. We stopped midday for lunch at an alpine lake. While there, we saw a beaver come out of its dam and swim across the lake, pick up a branch and then go back into its dam. Isaac thought that was pretty cool. We also saw caribou and from far off some mountain sheep. No bears, however. I think our crew is a bit too noisy for bears to come near. It was too cloudy to see Mt McKinley until the last day when, after a big rainstorm all night, it was clear and the mountain appeared. I put this picture as the family picture on our blog page.

Here we are next to the lake where we saw the beaver.

Tom, Miriya and Taylor hiked to the top of Mt Wright while the rest of us stayed down by the lake and observed the beaver.

Fairbanks is an old mining town so we were able to visit a working gold mine and they taught us how to pan for gold. We each got a bag of dirt and a pan and then swished it around until all we had left were gold flakes. Taylor, did the best. His gold flakes were worth $34, everyone else got approx $14-20.

Taylor's pile of dirt.
Taylor's gold flakes.