McCarthy/Kennicott in Wrangell St. Elias National Park is one of our favorite places in the world. Wrangell St. Elias is the largest National Park in the United States at 13.2 million acres (second is Death Valley National Park!). This summer, Andy and I took two trips to McCarthy/Kennicott, one with my parents and one with […]
Kayaking the Clearwater River – Delta Junction, Alaska
For our actual anniversary day, Andy and I met Kelly and Madison at the Clearwater Lake Campground at the Clearwater State Recreation Site to go kayaking. The campground offers 17 campsites, a boat launch, picnic area, water, and toilets. See a campground map here. For fishing enthusiasts, the water is filled with Arctic Grayling, Whitefish, and Salmon. […]
I ♥ Fairbanks Part III: Driving the Denali Highway
Another fun Fairbanks area activity that Andy and I like to do is drive the Denali Highway in one big circle – starting at Fairbanks, then going from Paxson to Cantwell, and coming up through Denali Park from the South end. The highway is closed from October to May and only 23.9 miles of the […]
Oregon Part VI: Cannon Beach
Cannon Beach sits about 25 miles south of Astoria along the coast. It’s a very beautiful drive, and takes about 40 minutes. A city in Clatsop County right on the Pacific Ocean, Cannon Beach is famous for its discovery by William Clark of Lewis and Clark. History of the Lewis and Clark expedition is alive […]
Oregon Part V: Astoria and The Goonies House
Now that Andy had Mt. Hood under his belt (did you like his blog?!), we were able to relax a bit and finally left Timberline Lodge (I had had enough cheese, thankyouverymuch). We were on our way to Astoria! The drive to Astoria was beautiful. Pretty forests and gorgeous countryside. Don helped drive, per usual. […]
Summiting Mount Hood – Timberline, Oregon
Hey there, blog world, it’s Andy. Normally my wife writes our blogs, but since I summited Mt Hood solo, this blog post was up to me. Allison didn’t climb with me on this one because the gear required was too extensive and costly for us to gather prior to the climb. Don refused to come […]
Oregon Part III: The Timberline Lodge
After Multnomah Falls, our next stop was the Timberline Lodge in Government Camp, Oregon. The Lodge sits at the base of Mt. Hood and was an obvious place to stay, not only due to its convenient location but because of the lodge’s fun and alluring history. Despite Timberline’s rich and compelling history, its status […]
Oregon Part II: Multnomah Falls
Next on our Oregon tour was the Timberline Lodge (stay tuned for the blog on that adventure!). The drive there was a few hours, so we made the most of the journey by first stopping at Multnomah Falls, the tallest waterfall in the State of Oregon, and the second tallest year round waterfall in the United […]
Oregon Part I: Portland!
We departed pretty late that night for Portland, as usual with Fairbanks departures and arrivals. We got in about 11am or so to Portland Airport and picked up our rental car. Donkeys riding the rental car shuttle Andy’s cousin, Carrie, and her husband Kevin, kindly offered for us to stay with them while we were […]
Healy Overlook and McCandless’s Magic Bus – Healy, Alaska
Next in the “I ♥ Fairbanks” series is the Mt. Healy Overlook trail located in Denali National Park, the 49th State Brewery in Healy, and the Christopher McCandless bus, made famous from the book Into the Wild by John Kraukauer. Andy and I headed out last Sunday about 8 in the morning. The drive from […]