Alaska - Nick

7/20/17

Yesterday we drove most of the day to the next campsite. We did a lot of education. When we got there we met up with our friends the Rutters. They have two girls. Sibyl is 11 and Daphne is 8. We haven’t seen them in three years. Their dad is here and their mom is coming in a little later. It is nice to have some kids to play with. Then the dads went shopping and the kids stayed home. The adults also picked up my mom from the airport. When they got back the kids all played together outside. Then we all had dinner together.

7/21/17

Yesterday we drove seven hours. We were trying to get as far as we could. We drove until noon and then had lunch. After lunch, we switched seating. Sibyl rode with me in our car and Andi rode with Daphne in the Rutter's car. It was fun riding with Sibyl. We finally chose a little pullout to spend the night. We had hot dogs for dinner and the kids played Cover Your A$$ets.

7/22/17

Yesterday we drove 8 hours. We were still trying to get as far as we could. We stopped at noon for lunch. We also switched seating. I rode with Sibyl and Andi rode with Daphne. When we got to our next site we rode bikes. Then we had chicken for dinner and played Cover Your A$$ets again. We also did a 1 mile hike down to a lake nearby. Then we came back and went to bed.

7/23/17

Yesterday we drove most of the day again. We stopped at noon again for lunch. Then we switched cars again. Sibyl rode with me again. When we got to the site we were spending the night at, we went looking for geodes, which are hollow rocks with crystals in the middle. We were looking on the river bed. We smashed a ton of rocks looking for geodes. We had to jump across the river a bunch of times. When we came home after we were done, we went to bed.

7/25/17

Two days ago we drove a long time again. We drove until lunch and then had lunch. We also did a lot of school work. We switched cars after lunch. Sibyl rode with me and Daphne rode with Andi. When we were almost to our destination there was a river with no bridge and we had to drive onto a boat and go across on that. Then we drove into Dawson city. We did laundry there. We also went to the Jack London Museum. He is an author. I have read his book Call of the Wild. It is a good book. The museum was very small but interesting. There were a lot of photographs of Jack London’s life. We also saw a cabin he lived in for a year. It was cool. Then we had dinner at a Greek restaurant. I got a lamb gyro. It was really good. Then we picked a campsite to stay at. The kids played outside in the woods for a while. Then I went on a very short hike with the dads. When we got back Mr. Matt showed me his machete. It was really cool.

Top of the World Highway

Yesterday we drove the Top Of The World Highway. It was a really pretty drive. About 3 hours into the drive we crossed the border into Alaska. It was my first time in Alaska. 

Sourdough pancake toss

Then we got to our campsite. We rode bikes and went off two big jumps for a while. Then at 7:30 we did a pancake toss. That is where you try to throw a pancake into a five gallon bucket. It was harder than it looked. There were about 40 people and only about 5 people made it. I didn’t make it. If you got it in, you won a free breakfast. Then we came home and went to bed.

7/26/17

Yesterday we had breakfast at the campground café. I got blueberry pancakes and reindeer sausage. It was really good. Then we drove 3 hours to a place where you pan for gold. We got a bag of dirt and rocks and we had to find the gold flakes in it. I found 22 dollars worth of gold. It was really cool. Then we kept driving to our next campsite. When we got there we rode bikes for a long time. Then we had loaded baked potatoes for dinner. Then my mom picked up my Aunt Lisa from the airport. She is staying with us for two weeks. I really missed her a ton. Then since it was really late we went to bed.

This is a real gold nugget worth $75,000!
Unfortunately, I didn't find this!

7/30/17

Four days ago we left our campsite and started driving to our next site. We stopped at a bus stop and took the bus to a place where you watch a dog sled presentation. We got to pet a bunch of dogs. They were all Alaskan Huskies which are bred for pulling sleds. My favorite dog was a really friendly dog named Disco. He had bright blue eyes and he was all dark black. I pet him for a long time. Then we got to watch a presentation where a bunch of dogs pulled a wheeled sled. There was no snow. It was really cool. Then we finished driving to our campsites. When we got there, we set up camp and the kids rode bikes for a while. Then we packed our backpacks for the next day. We are going to go tent camping for one night the next day.

Denali Park rest stop

Three days ago we took a bus to Wonder Lake. On the bus ride we saw tons of caribou. It was so cool. But best of all we saw a grizzly bear with two small cubs. One of the cubs was running towards its mom and it tripped and did a somersault. It was so funny. Then we did a probably half a mile hike to the campsite. When we got there we set up our tents. Then we did a little hike down to wonder lake. We waded into the water, and we just relaxed on the benches for a while. Then we came back to the tents because it started to rain. When we got back we had freeze dried Chicken A La King and Noodles and freeze dried beef stew for dinner. Then we played some card games and talked. Then all the kids slept in a 6 person tent with Aunt Lisa. It was fun.

View of Denali peak from Wonder Lake Campground

Two days ago we packed up our tents and took the bus back to our camper. We saw a ton of caribou and a few bears. It was a lot of fun. Then we stopped at the visitor center and did a hike. The hike we did was 0.8 of a mile but there was an elevation change of 1000 feet. Aunt Lisa, Sibyl, and I all ran down the mountain. It was a fun hike. Since we were so far ahead of everyone else, we did another small hike. Then we got back on the bus and went home. We rode bikes and had dinner before bed.

Yesterday we went to the visitor center to do a hike, but when we got there it was raining and foggy. We looked around at the visitor center for a while instead. When we got back to the camper we rode bikes and had dinner. I forgot to mention that when we were tent camping at Wonder Lake we got a great view of Denali. It was so cool. It was so much higher than everything else.

7/31/17

Close encounter with a moose and one of her yearlings

Yesterday we did a small hike while dad dumped the RV tank. We got to walk down to the riverbed. We also got to go over a big suspension bridge. The bridge was cool. On the last part of the hike we saw 3 moose right on the trail. There was one full grown female and 2 babies. The full grown female was at least 10 feet at the shoulders and the head and neck probably added another 2 feet! The babies were just a little smaller than full grown horses. We watched them for about 15 minutes before they went off the trail. They were eating most of the time. We were about 30 yards away from them. After we finished the hike we met my dad at the visitor center. Then we drove to our next site. On the road we saw a full view of Denali. It was really cool. On the drive we stopped at the salmon museum which was more of an art gallery. We also got some really good homemade ice cream. Then when we got to our campsite we started watching a movie and had dinner.

8/1/17

Rock climbing

Yesterday we went to the Iditarod Museum. The Iditarod is a 1,000 mile race. You do it on a sled pulled by a team of dogs, usually 10 or 12 dogs. The record for speed was just over 8 days. We got to hold some baby dogs. One of them pooped on me. We also got to pet a grown dog named Dandelion. She was really nice. We also got to get pulled around a quarter mile by dogs on a sled. They were really fast. 

Then we met my Aunt Lisa’s friend Ross at a rock climbing place called Boy Scout Rocks. Ross was really nice. He put us in harnesses. We also got to use climbing shoes. There were a few climbing routes. My favorite one was straight up the whole way. It was really hard. It was sixty feet tall. There was one big crack up the rock we were climbing that was easy to climb. The climbing shoes made it a lot easier to climb. You could step on stuff you couldn’t even see. When you were coming down you could just walk down the side. When we were done we ordered pizza. I rode to their house with Sarah, Ross’s wife. She was nice too. We stayed at their house for a while and then went home.

Sibyl and I on the hand tram

8/5/17

Four days ago we drove to the Kenai Peninsula. We did a pretty long hike on the Winner Creek Trail. At the end was a hand-operated tram over a river. The view was really cool. Then we hiked back. The hike was pretty. Then we drove to our next site. When we got there, we rode bikes and the kids played on the beach. It was really fun.

Three days ago we had breakfast and then we drove to the Whittier Tunnel. It is a two mile tunnel, one of the longest in the USA. It was really cool. On the other side there was a town called Whittier. It was a really small town. We got some ice cream that was really good. Then we saw what used to be the biggest building in Alaska. It was pretty big. Then we came home and watched a movie with the Rutters.

Two days ago we left really early in the morning to go on an all day long kayaking trip right up to a glacier. We took a three hour ferry ride to the spot where we started kayaking. On the ride we saw two whales, which were awesome, a bunch of bald eagles, a few otters and my favorite was a ton of jellyfish. We had two guides named Bobby and Chelsea. They were super nice. I kept trying to call Bobby Matt for some reason. When we got to the spot where we started kayaking we got off the boat and got on the kayaks. I went with Mom. We kayaked three miles to get to the Glacier. It was really hard. When we got to our stopping spot we were only half a mile away from the glacier. We could see big chunks of ice falling off the glacier. The noise they made was called white thunder. It was so cool. The name of the glacier was Aialik Glacier. They we kayaked back to the boat. Then we came home and had dinner.

kayaking to the Aialik Glacier

Yesterday we did a hike to the Exit Glacier with Daphne. Sibyl, Mrs. Carrie, and Mr. Matt were going fishing. We got to get really close to the glacier. It wasn’t as big as the Aialik Glacier. Then we came home and played on the beach for a while. After that we went to a restaurant that will cook fish that you caught. We ate the fish that the Rutters caught. It was so good. Sibyl caught a fish that was bigger than my dad. Then we came home and went to bed.

8/6/17

Yesterday we drove into town to do laundry. Aunt Lisa, Andi and I did laundry while Mom and Dad ran some other errands. Then we kept driving. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner. It was called Pita Pit. It was good. Then we finally found a site. We had ice cream and went to bed.

8/7/17

Yesterday we drove most of the day again. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center for Wrangell-St. Elias. It is the largest National Park in North America. It is the size of Vermont and New Hampshire. There was also a glacier the size of Rhode Island in Wrangell-St. Elias. Then when we got to our site, Sibyl, Daphne, Mrs. Carrie and I all swam in the lake that was right by our site. It was pretty warm. Then we had a campfire and roasted marshmallows for s’mores.