This summer, I am doing a special series of blogs titled “I ♥ Fairbanks.” I will separate them into parts as I usually do. Fairbanks is a beautiful town, full of a lot of wonderfully kept secrets; I am so in love with my town. While Andy and I love to travel, we never forget […]
Washington D.C. Part III: The Holocaust Museum, White House Visitor Center, Ford’s Theater, and Guapo’s
Our last day in Washington D.C. had to be a short one. Our flight back to Fairbanks was at 5am, meaning we had to get up at what I like to call the “unfunctioning” hour to catch our flight. Accordingly, we decided to make our last day a shorter day and get back to the […]
Washington D.C. Part II: Blithe Spirit!
Blithe Spirit, which we saw at the National Theater, is a famous play written by Noel Coward. The plot centers around a wealthy socialite and writer, Charles Condomine, who lives in an upscale flat with his wife, Ruth Condomine, and their maid, Edith. Charles is writing a book about séances and psychics, and despite the […]
Washington D.C., Part I: Library of Congress, Supreme Court, National Archives, Washington Monument, and the White House
My dear friend, Janice, and I toyed with the idea of going to Washington DC to see Angela Lansbury in Blithe Spirit. It was Angela’s last performance of her career and we felt like we should honor it. Originally, it started as a joke, not really sure if we were financially committed to the idea, […]
Death Valley Day Five: Rhyolite Ghost Town & the Sand Dunes
On day five, we got up a little later in the morning and drove out to the Nevada area to explore Rhyolite, a ghost town in the Bullfrog Hills, about 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Before we hit the ghost town, we stopped at Beatty, Nevada, about 4 miles away, for groceries. Beatty is […]
Death Valley Day Four Part II: Borax Museum, Harmony Borax Works, & Pupfish
After exploring the Furnace Creek Inn, Ranch and Visitor Center, we made our way over to the Borax Museum, a small, slightly cramped, museum decorated with wall-to-wall antiques and historical items about the Harmony Borax Works (later called the Pacific Borax Company). Entrance to the Borax Museum is free with a $2.50 printed guide available […]
Death Valley Day Four Part I: Furnace Creek Inn & Ranch, Golf Course, and Death Valley National Park Visitor Center
We got up late that morning; all of us were incredibly tired from our hike the previous day! We planned to spend the first half of this day exploring Furnace Creek Inn and Ranch, as well as the National Park Visitor Center. Don and Donna, ready to go! Furnace Creek Inn has always been one […]
Lowest Point in North America at 282 Feet Below Sea Level – Badwater, Death Valley National Park, California
We woke up early that morning and prepared for our hike to the lowest elevation point in North America at 282 feet below sea level, Badwater Basin! Dad and Andy had studied the maps and did as much research as humanly possible to figure out where this exact spot was. As you will read below, […]
Death Valley Day Two: Fall Canyon Hike & Stovepipe Wells
We woke up early the next morning to prepare for our hike. My father had proposed two possible hiking routes for us. One was what he deemed “technical,” which, after further questioning, we learned meant “lowering Mom into a dry fall.” Apparently my parents had done this hike previously and the completion of it necessitated […]
Death Valley Day One: Las Vegas and Driving to Death Valley National Park
Andy and I left very late/early (depending on how you look at it) on Wednesday the 11th/Thursday the 12th. My father, who is an avid Death Valley hiker (see below), instructed us to fly into Las Vegas (through Seattle), as the drive to Death Valley National Park was only about a two hour drive from […]