Who ARE you?

I'm a software trainer.
I'm a mom.
I'm a writer.

Patrick is a planner.
Patrick is a biker.
Patrick is a numbers guy,

We often rely on stock phrases like the above to self identify, because it's easy to convey a lot saying things like:

"I’m an outdoorsman”
“I’m a deep thinker”
“I’m a couch potato”

At various times I have been a die-hard night owl (when 2:00 a.m. was the only time I could get anything done with 4 kids at home) and a reluctant morning person (when an early morning work schedule left me time to go to the beach everyday), but lately I've settled into the category below:

Such self descriptors can be useful and provide insight into who we are. Patrick has a myriad of talents and qualities, but he primarily identifies himself as a “Traveler.”

Although we are living in an RV, we don't really consider ourselves “RV-ers” …maybe because the RV is just the means to an end.  And the end is to travel, explore, and see what’s around the next corner.

Patrick named the blog “Following Our Feet” because he firmly believes you should follow your feet where ever they lead you.  I found this a delightful sentiment even though my feet mostly want to lead me to stores where I can buy more shoes for my feet.

But I digress.  We set out to follow our feet to Alaska and explore what was in the path along the way.

And why was our goal Alaska?

• It’s the Last Frontier
• It’s the farthest most point of the NW United States and a few months ago we visited the southern most point of the United States in Key West, FL, so there was a nice symmetry to it.

• You can reach it by road but not many people do, so we thought it would be an adventure.
• We really wanted to see a bear.  And a moose.
• Gold rush – enough said.

So off we went...and 7813 miles after we left Florida, we drove onto a ferry in Dawson City, Yukon

and crossed the river into Alaska via the Top of the World Highway.

And whether you consider yourself a stay-at-home person or an intellectual person or a just an average Joe, you might be interested in the folks we met and the experiences we had.

We Met Some Wild and Crazy Types

Alaska definitely attracts a unique kind of individual. In Talkeetna we stopped at Wal-Mike's, a frontier convenience/junk/DIY/Post Office/grocery store.

We had a few giggles at some of the oddities in stock (seriously, I invite you to zoom in on this picture and really explore the unique stock choices made),

but upon reflection I don't doubt that when you're miles from nowhere and it's 60 below zero, a guy who has an entire shed devoted to stove pipe probably comes in handy.

We Loved Their Sense of Humor

There were so many large animals for us to pose on that I can't help but think there's an Alaskan bureaucrat sitting at a desk somewhere musing, "Hey...how about a really big salmon that people could climb on?  A bear?  Maybe a walrus?  Bob - Get me the walrus people STAT!...."

There were independent car designers who customized for every wilderness contingency:

And there were artistic souls who couldn't resist making the everyday a little bit creative:

We Met Tough Folks Doing Tough Jobs

So many everyday jobs were made twice as difficult by virtue of simply being in Alaska. Road construction has to be done in the summer because there's too much snow in the winter. 

Road beds have to be built up several feet out of massive rocks to ensure they don't buckle and crumble on the soft tundra when the multiple freeze/thaws happen.

And rather than simply laying down some new asphalt (that would have to be trucked in from hundreds of miles away), they dynamite the rock out of the mountain, then crush it on site and create their own mix of surfacing as they go.  It's a scary dangerous job because just about every road in Alaska is built on, near, or around a huge mountain.

We went deep sea fishing and while it was a really cool experience, let me amuse all you professional fishermen by saying:

1) The ocean is very wet
2) Glacier water is very cold 
3) An Arctic wind is no joke

This means those hardy fishing boat captains are tough as nails and I'm pretty sure their skin must be on par with walrus hide.  We went out in the SUMMER...but you'll notice we weren't mincing around in flip-flops and shorts.  What those pictures don't show is my numb fingers and toes and the large quantity of hot chocolate I had to drink to recover.

We stayed a couple of nights at the Tolsona Wilderness Campground (which we can't recommend enough) and just getting there was an experience.  We traveled down a dirt road hoping there really was something at the end and this is what we found....

The bridge held up...and we had to admire people that choose to live so far from the rest of the world that this is their entrance.

Almost every question we had was answered by a variation of "Well, it's really hard to get that/ship that/do that here because...."  It's a tough place where you can't take all your normal privileges for granted.

We Met People Like Us

There are about three kinds of people in Alaska; Locals, Military, and Visitors.  The visitors aren't hard to spot - they're usually in an RV, 4-Wheel Drive, or a Tour Bus.  We encountered people from all over the world and they all wanted to come to Alaska.

In Homer, Alaska we drove down to the beach and then Patrick decided it would be fun to take the car (a Mini Cooper) right down to the water. On the sand. That worked out about like you would expect.

But never fear - Mr. P had no hesitation about approaching a 4-wheel drive SUV parked up the beach a ways and asking them for help. And that's how we met this couple from Switzerland who had flown to Anchorage, bought the SUV, and were planning to drive across the US and then into Central and South America all the way to Argentina. They also had a tow rope. And were very nice. And spoke French. And didn't laugh...at least not in front of us.

It Was Disorienting

Juneau is the capital but it's totally inaccessible by road – you can only get there by boat or plane. Or perhaps kayak. This seems....interesting. But totally in keeping with Alaska.

The Midnight sun is crazy!  It stays light until almost midnight and then the sun rises again about 3:15 a.m.  In Homer, Alaska we listened to some local musicians from the SalmonFest music festival at Alice's Champagne Palace (I couldn't resist going just for the name). 

The picture below was taken at midnight - see the light streaming in the windows? I don't drink, but I'm guessing the summer midnight sun may cut down on those regretful pairings that normally take place in dimly lit bars. No excuses here... 

This picture was taken as we were leaving.  No problem finding your car in the lot either.

At first it's awesome when it just keeps staying light... until you finally look up blearily and realize it's 1:30 a.m and the sun is barely going down.  You finally learn to force yourself to pull the blinds and go to bed, but it's odd to never quite get that "Oh, it's dark, it must be bedtime" feeling.

It Was Big

I know I've said that about several places we've been, but we drove virtually every major road in Alaska and went to almost all of the major towns and yet we still probably only saw 1/8 of the entire state.  I could give you all the stats that we repeatedly saw everywhere – that Texas would fit inside Alaska two times, etc., but suffice to say it's BIG and WILD and LARGELY UNINHABITED and INACCESSIBLE.

It's Just Cool (no pun intended)

The history is tough, brutal and unbelievably hard  - from the people who built the Alaska highway,  to the people who naively flocked there to make their fortune during the gold rush, to the people who work there now on the pipeline or in the national parks or coastlines tracking whales and migratory birds.

The summer is beautiful and very much like your summer at some point – they were having a “heat wave” just prior to our arrival where the days reached the high 80’s.

Every storefront, town and restaurant was decked out with hanging baskets of flowers bursting with lushness and the grass was rich and green. It's as if they want to experience summer to the fullest before they're deprived of it during the long winter.

Contrary to the myths, the mosquitoes weren’t terrible, although we had mostly breezy beautiful days so that may have kept them at bay.

The wildlife was amazing and we were never more excited than when we saw moose or deer or bald eagles or salmon.

We visited North Pole, Alaska...an actual town (with a post office) named "North Pole" and of course it's a huge tourist attraction, so we eagerly lined up with every other visitor to throw our money at the proprietors of the Santa Clause House.

You male readers may want to get a snack now, but I thoroughly enjoyed the decorations, cinnamon buns from the bakery, and the Alaskan themed Christmas ornaments. (And if you're one of my kids or close friends...SPOILER ALERT...now you know what you're getting for Christmas.)

Patrick enjoyed waiting for me in the cool Santa chair and the part where we left.

It's Very Untouched

Thanks to National Parks and Forests and Wilderness Preserves, the majority of Alaska has been set aside for people to enjoy in all its pristine, rugged glory.

From Denali National Park...

to glacier covered mountains that showed up around every bend of the road...

to the Gulf of Alaska (alas, several degrees colder than our Gulf of Mexico water)...

to glacial lakes and rivers so turquoise and clear they didn't seem real...

Alaska was everything we thought it would be and more.

We tried to experience it to the fullest...including dipping our toes in the frigid ocean water when we finally arrived.

Well, Patrick dipped his toes in because this man is a "Traveler."

I think I might be one too.