The Great White North

Courtney has been doing this blogging thing for a while now, but this is my first post. As many of you know, I recently flew up to Anchorage, AK to help my brother Eric move back to the "Lower 48". Just about everyone said we were crazy to drive from Anchorage to Seattle (and then on to SLC) in the middle of winter. I have to admit I had my doubts, but I'm glad I didnt let that get to me. We had a great time!! Courtney aside, I don't think there is anyone but Eric with whom I would dare to attempt a 2500-mile, winter-time, Alaska road trip.

I got to spend a couple days hanging out with Eric and my uncle Steve in Alaska, before Eric and I set out. The three of us enjoyed a few days of being bachelors. We went sight-seeing at Beluga Point and Talkeetna. We went skeet shooting (my first time). We watched Eric's Hockey "Final". We even cooked salmon on the grill by ourselves. It was great to see Steve again and have some time with just the guys. I wish Joey could have been there too; then maybe I could have eaten some Thai food.

Thankfully we planned for worse weather than we encountered. I felt guilty when I talked with Courtney each night and heard about the monsoon rains and hurricane-force winds that were rampaging Western Washington. We had gorgeous weather on our drive. The coldest temperatures we encountered were in Tok, AK where it dropped to about -18F. Otherwise it pretty well stayed on the positive side of the thermometer.

We had Eric's Suburban packed to the rafters with everything he owns. We had to lash his extra set of tires to the roof. We slightly exceeded the load rating of the roof rack, but we figured with all the internal support, it would be fine. With all of the interior space taken, we had to store our clothes for the trip in rubbermaid bins strapped to a rack on the back of the Suburban (thanks again Steve). The outsides of the bins got filthy but thankfully our stuff survived unscathed.

Mostly we drove from one stop to the next with very few stops other than to switch drivers every couple hours. We did make one brief detour and visited the Liard River Hot Springs. The pools are about 1/2-mile walk from the parking lot, but after that many days and miles sitting in the car, it was well worth the walk. There were only four other people brave enough to get into a swimsuit in single-digit temperatures, so we mostly had the place to ourselves. Eric's swimsuit was packed away, but thankfully I wear boardshorts with a speedo underneath, so I let Eric wear the speedo. It was wonderful to stretch our muscles and enjoy the wonderful warm water. The air was still very cold so the hair on our heads (as well as our eyebrows/lashes) got quite icy, but it was still worth it.

We saw lots of animals; Bald Eagles, Moose, Caribou, Elk, Bison, Bighorn Sheep, and others. We had a couple moose run down the middle of the road for about 1/4-mile or so before they finally decided to get over. Not the brightest animals, but their size is certainly awe-inspiring.All-in-all it was a great trip and I look forward to visiting Alaska again - maybe in the summer next time.