Elephants, Moose & Dogs, Oh My!

26 June 2007 – Ferry Day 1

The nice thing about the ferry is that someone else is in charge of getting you from point A to point B. I woke up at about 6 a.m. in accordance with my pesky internal clock, then promptly rolled over and went back to sleep. Because I could. After the last few weeks of moving preparation, packing and getting to Haines, it was nice to finally relax for a few days.

I got up at about 8 a.m. and I could tell without even opening the blinds on our window that the sun was shining. During our ferry trip to Alaska three years ago, it was cloudy and rainy for 4 days, so I was excited about the prospect of sun. It was my turn to jog the dog. We weren’t in port, but every 6-8 hours or so they have a car deck call when we could go down to the car to walk the dog around the car deck for about 15 minutes. So I made some coffee in the little 4-cup coffeepot we brought with us and Drew came with me to visit Malley.

Interesting to note: the car deck of the M/V Columbia smells like the pachyderm building in the Cleveland Zoo. For those readers who aren’t from Cleveland, the pachyderm building has a smell all its own. It is even different from the elephant buildings in all of the other zoos I’ve been to. I don’t know if the Alaska Marine Highway System has been transporting Midwestern elephants or what, but that is the smell.

So Malley bounded out of her box in the car, we gave her breakfast and some water. Since several cars had been offloaded in Juneau, there was essentially a jogging track around the car deck. Her ears went back and we were off. We did about 9 laps of the car deck, played for a few minutes and it was time to put her back. And yes, when the ship is under way, we ‘walk’ the dog on the car deck. And then we clean up. The ferry charges $25 from a canine passenger that rides in the car the entire time. We gain some satisfaction by using $25 worth of paper towels and latex gloves supplied by the ferry.

By the time we got back to the room, Nate was awake so we all headed to the back deck of the ship about 15 feet from our door. It was a beautiful morning. Nate and I did yoga on the deck for about 25 minutes (OK, Nate only lasted about 5 until he was on to something else), then I grabbed a few granola bars and some juice from the room and we had dined al fresco so Steve could continue to sleep off his 3 a.m. dog jog. Drew and I worked on some of his Cub Scout Bear badge requirements and Nate grumped in the corner for some unknown reason. He must have put on his grumpy pants when he got dressed this morning.

So much time, so little to do. It was nice.

We spent the rest of the morning just hanging out in the observation lounge at the front of the ship and made sandwiches in the room for lunch. The ferry has an overpriced snack bar and a vastly over priced sit-down restaurant, so we packed food to eat in the room.

We arrived in Sitka at around 1 p.m. and we had about two hours to get off the ship. We walked about half a mile to the state park and hung out for a while. Malley really wanted to run, so Steve took her slaloming through the other tourists and we eventually caught up with them. I also took my first ‘money shot’ of the trip. This is Sitka:

Here’s a shot of our home for 4 days docked in Sitka. M/V Columbia, the flagship of the Alaska Marine Highway.

On the way back to the ship we also discovered a little known fact. Apparently Sitka moose are the most civic minded undulates in North America:


Actually, Sitka is one of the few places in Alaska without moose, but the sign made me laugh anyway. I’m assuming the sign meant Moose Lodge. I hope.
I've have to add this one too, just because:
Not much happened the rest of the day. We read books, worked on Cub Scout requirements, played cards and napped. It was nice, if not very exciting to write about.

Steve had the 0315 dog jog in Wrangell the next morning, so he went to bed early and I hung out at the bar, editing photos and drinking beer until the midnight dog jog in Petersburg. We can’t tell you much about either place since it was the middle of the night and we were off the ship for about 20 minutes each time.

All in all, not a bad day on the ferry.

If You Lived Here I'd Know Your Name

25 June 2007 – Haines, Alaska

We didn’t have to get our car in line for the ferry until 6 p.m., so the day was ours in Haines, Alaska.

We got up and made breakfast in the room. The boys had an exciting new experience with a pop-up toaster. We have a toaster oven at home and they have both mastered bagels and frozen waffles in the toaster oven and at their ages, they feel like they are cooking. Our kitchenette came equipped with a pop-up toaster, which hung ‘em up. Nate squealed with delight when his bagel popped up. A good time was had by all.

We decided to take a drive to the river to see if any bears were out and about this morning. We drove a few miles out of town and…nothing.
Look kids, no bears:


We got back to the room at about 10:15 for an 11 a.m. check out. Yahoo. None of us had showered yet and it takes forever to get the car re-packed every time we stop. So we zulu-drilled showers, re-packed the car, and left the hotel at about 11:15.

Only 6 ¾ hours to kill in Haines, Alaska, population 1,175.

This is the first time in weeks I’ve had time to kill. Here is our Family Truckster:
Our last Alaska bugs:

I was actually excited to spend the day here. One of my favorite books about Alaska is: If You Lived Here I’d Know Your Name by Heather Lende. She is a columnist for the Anchorage Daily News, NPR contributor, and obituary writer for the local paper in Haines where she lives with her family. I love the glimpse into the people and the lives of small town Alaska, especially as a metaphor for life. If you have stayed in our guest room, chances are you have read the book. I spent part of the day looking for people from the book. I figured at least I knew their names.

Steve had some work to do, so we dropped him off at the library and the boys and I set off to explore the town. We managed to skip the Hammer Museum (1500 hammers under one roof) and went in and out of a few gift shops, stopped for coffee (OK just for me) and checked out the hardware store. Nifty thing about small-town Alaska – you can buy anything at the hardware store. I’m not ashamed to admit that for many years I had a pair of Kodiak True Value Hardware jeans. And an electric mixer. And a crystal plate.

I ran into IGA to get some lunch meat and some contact cleaning solution. I knew I would pay an arm and a leg for the contact juice. I’ve lived in Kodiak. Twelve years later, I still have a laundry basket with a $7.49 price sticker in the bottom, just to remind myself that at one point in my life I had to pay $7.49 for a $1.50 laundry basket. And yes, I bought it at True Value Hardware. So I thought I was prepared for the price but I wasn’t. The cleaner/saline solution was $15.75 a bottle. Forget it! I’ll just clean my contacts every other day until we get off the ferry.

We had explored town and it was only about 1:30, so we grabbed Malley from the car, ran around a field, then headed to the library. I figured I could write for a while and the boys could look at books. The library is beautiful and most likely the best library in Alaska except for the main branch in Anchorage and the U of Alaska system. The little community of barely 1000 people raised a ton of money and applied for several huge grants to build this great library in 2005. It was named the best small library in America the year it opened (by people who care about that sort of thing). The children’s section is nice, but I lost the battle of the books as soon as the kids saw the three computers tucked into the corner. At least they were educational computer games. Nate hung out for story time while Drew played games, then Nate read a few books to me in his quest to qualify prizes from the treasure box. Our hang out for the afternoon:
By now, Steve was done with his work and we headed to the Lighthouse Restaurant for halibut & chips and Alaskan Amber Ale (root beer for the kids). The fish was good, but not as good as Humpy’s Ale House in Anchorage. If you are ever in Anchorage, that is the place to go for halibut and chips. On the way back from the restaurant to the library, Drew’s beaded necklace broke. Of course we had no idea where. So Steve backtracked to find beads while the boys and I jogged the dog. Steve is great at finding things. He once found my contact lens in the woods. He managed to find about 2/3 of the beads so we can re-string the necklace later. We drove back to the motel from last night so I could pirate their WiFi in the parking lot for a few minutes then headed a few miles out of town to the ferry terminal.

The ferry was scheduled to leave at 8 p.m. so we had to have the car in line by 6. Then we sat. And sat. And sat. Ferry line ups are a bit like tailgate parties, a bunch of people hanging our by their cars without much to do. The boys made friends with the kids in the VW pop up next door and Steve and I played with Malley. It has been warm in Alaska for about the last week and about 2 days ago the dog started to shed. And shed. We may have a bald husky by the time we reach St. Louis. So we brushed roughly a dog-worth of fur out of our dog and let her run around for a while. The boys played catch. I took a brief nap, read 2/3 of a book…and we waited. 8 p.m.no sign of the ferry. 9 p.m. nada. The ferry finally showed up at about 10. By now we’d been waiting for about 4 hours and we were tired. It took almost another hour to get our car loaded in and schlep about 4 tons of stuff up 4 flights of stairs to our cabin. We had to leave Malley in her kennel in the car, for the duration of the trip, but walking and feeding the dog will become a major theme of the next 3 days. We all basically fell into bed and Steve set his alarm for 3 a.m. so he could walk Malley in Juneau.

I think I’ll keep him, beard and all.

Mad Cow Souvenirs - June 24, 2007 - Part 2

So when you last heard from us we were somewhere in Yukon Territory, Canada with a broken bike rack and M. requesting a rest stop…

Finally, our current driver deemed it appropriate to stop at this rest stop. Now excuse the digression, but QUICK, everyone, stop what you are doing, run out to the travel toiletries section of your favorite big box store and pick up at least one roll of mini Charmin for each of your automobiles. I found it a few weeks ago and now we have one in the car and since my travel purse is much bigger than my everyday purse, I also have one in there. Steve thought I was crazy…or at least that was his current reason for thinking I was crazy for a while…but gosh am I glad I had the mini Charmin. And yes, I can spare a square.

So more driving…and driving…and did I mention 490 miles today. On less-than-interstate-highway roads. Eventually we reached Haines Junction, Yukon Territory, Canada. For the second time today we passed “Our Lady of the Way Catholic Church”, once just outside of Tok and once near Haines Junction. I thought it was worth a photo op.



After mass quantities of sourdough pancakes and road snacking our way through Canada we had pretty much skipped lunch, so we stopped for linner in Haines Junction at about 3:00. We ate at the Kluane Park Inn , which served an odd combination of Chinese and bar food. Steve sort of forgot we were in Canada and freaked out at the $20 Chinese entrees. Also, the menu contained absolutely no description of any of the meals, just the name. So to be safe (or so we thought – more on that later) we shared 3 cheeseburgers and potato salad. Then the next decision: regular or deluxe? The menu gave us no indication of what the difference was & the waitress seemed to be annoyed that we didn’t know. Maybe it’s a Canada thing, I don’t know.

Interesting fact: Molson and LaBatt are domestic beers in Canada. Yes, logically I knew that, but it was still nifty to see on a sign.

The cheeseburgers weren’t bad, but the potato salad was very bland. I’m sure the potato salad was just as bad for us as fries, but we felt better about it. Oh, and Deluxe means lettuce, tomato, mayo, pickle relish, if you are ever in Haines Junction and have the hankerin’ for a cheeseburger.

Linner over, we walked for a few minutes so Malley could stretch her legs, then the boys and I walked to the general store so they could spend the $5 Canadian that their new friends Tory & Teag Vest had given to them. How cool is it that Canadian money has hockey players on it?! The queen on one side & a bunch of kids playing pond hockey on the other. We may consider moving to Canada just for the $5 bill. The boys wanted ball caps and stuffed animals and all sorts of stuff, but opted to spend the $5 on junk food. Despite only spending about 4 hours in Canada, I got to have my “Stupid American” moment. Drew’s total came to $5.17 and since I knew Nate’s would be less, he borrowed $.17 from Nate. So we got $4.83 back in change – really change, no bills. Nate’s purchases came to $3-something and when I went to pay the cashier, I couldn’t figure it out. I thought I had been given $1 coins and I didn’t have enough. Now I have never claimed to be good at math, but even I can figure out that if we walked in the store with $10 and bought $8-ish worth of stuff that we have more than enough to pay. As I am stumbling with the coins in my hand, the cashier reached over and took the right amount from my stupid American paw. Did you know that Canada has $2 coins? I didn’t either.

Back to the car. I mention this brief walk because Nate is wacko. Steve & I have pretty eclectic music tastes & I have had a grand ol’ time loading my iPod with roadtrip play lists since we have one of those nifty contraptions that allows us to play the iPod through the car stereo. We have playlists entitled A Very 70’s Childhood, Hair, Punk-ish, Sing-a-long, Grungy, RoadTrip, and A Pirate Looks at 30-Something, and more. Well, Johnny Cash is on the RoadTrip playlist – along with, among others, Grateful Dead and Phish. There is nothing like a 25 minute song to make a trip go by faster. Anyway, as we are walking back from the store, our Nate, who was voted the family’s Most Likely to Join a Musical Theater Company seven years running, started singing “I Walk the Line” – in the voice of Spongebob Squarepants. I just about fell over on the side of the road. “I keep a close watch on this heart of mine…” That’s our Nate.

Back in the car, we noted that about 20 miles from Haines Junction was the last gas for 98 miles. We wanted to make sure to stop there to top off. One problem: we never saw that gas station. Yahoo, this is going to be close. After Haines Junction, the road goes up. Not a twisting mountain road, but a steady climb, for miles. And miles. As we go up we see lots of snow so we know we are getting pretty high up. The terrain changes to what looks to us like rolling, snow covered hills because we are now in the mountains and only seeing to top peaks.

Back to Alaska at the border crossing. They ask the usual questions and also ask if we were bringing any Canadian beef products with us. Ummm, no. As we pull away Steve wonders aloud about that question. It is then that I remember the Canadian mad cow scare a few years ago. Hmmm, sure wish I had remembered that before we ordered cheeseburgers for linner.

Almost immediately after re-entering Alaska the terrain changes. It looks very much like southeast Alaska, which looks very much like Kodiak. It is essentially a cold-weather rainforest with giant evergreens and lush green mountains and hillsides. It is beautiful, especially if you are only there for a few days and don’t have to put up with 350 days of rain a year.

As you may recall, we somehow missed the last gas for 98 miles about 90 miles ago and we are getting low! I hope Haines is open. We made it into town and the first gas station was closed. Great. I opted to find our motel rather than search for another gas station and run out of gas in the process. We found the Mountain View Motel and I had my first “Oh boy why did I just go by the ad” moment of the trip. It looked less than desirable on the outside. It was a small place of maybe 10 rooms with paint peeling all over the exterior. Now our boys have been on some wonderful vacations and we have stayed in some nice resorts, but for road trips we’re all about cheap and clean. Drew’s first reaction upon seeing the motel: “Umm, Mom, are we really going to stay here?” We were relieved to discover that the interior was in much better shape than the exterior. The room was a decent size with a kitchenette and very clean. The kitchenette had a nifty stove/fridge/sink. It was about the size or a typical range with the fridge where the oven would normally be, two burners, and a sink where the other two burners would typically be.

I jogged the dog while Steve unloaded the car & the boys had a chance to ride their bikes for a while. We ran out to the 24 hour gas station now that we had an exact location and I stopped into a liquor store to get ice. I love Alaska. The cashier looked at me with my bag of ice, asked if that was all I needed and when I said yes, she told me to just take it. I don’t know if it was Alaskan hospitality or a disgruntled employee, but I’ll take it.

24 June 2007 – day 2

Up at 0600. This ain’t no vacation. Steve and Drew went out to jog the dog. They actually did go running. During their adventure, they found the big track used by the Tok Mushing Club. How cool, a sled dog track for Malley! They all ran around the track a few times and came back tired.

Places to go, things to do, 490 miles to drive today. But first, sourdough pancakes and reindeer sausage. Yes, reindeer sausage. Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it. So we got ready for the day and decided to let Malley hang in the motel while we went to breakfast. Steve carried the kennel into the room, we locked her up and off we went.

Breakfast was at the café at the Sourdough Campground about a mile outside of Tok. We’ve been here before. Their sourdough starter dates back to 1956 – how cool is that? I can’t keep sourdough starter going for more than a few months. I’m a pretty good cook, but a lousy gardener, so I’ve deduced that sourdough started is much more like gardening than cooking. If you ever get the chance, try sourdough pancakes. YUM! We shared a side of reindeer sausage and some bacon, along with a bunch of fruit & coffee. The owner introduced us to the sausage as Dasher and Fred. It is much like smoked kielbasa and not game-y at all.

Here’s breakfast:


Here are the guys in the café:



Breakfast over, we headed back to the motel to pack up and check out. Much to our surprise, Malley greeted us at the door. This is not good. We were warned that huskies tend to chew and destroy when they are bored and being such social animals, they are pretty much bored any time they are alone. When we got Malley at 4 months, she was already crate trained so we kept it up. Luckily, all she did was chew up a roll of toilet paper and dance in the bathtub (muddy paw prints gave her away). So we loaded the car and headed to Haines.

About 5 minutes outside Tok, Steve said, “I wonder if we should have stopped for gas in Tok.” My response? “Well, you’re the one who’s going to walk when we run out.” We had about ½ a tank, but that doesn’t always mean you’ll make it to the next stop on the AlCan. Eventually we came upon the: Naabia Niign Gas Groceries Alaska Native Crafts Camper Park Laundry Showers. Unleaded fuel $3.51, 13 gallons set us back $48.03, OOMMFFFFF!

We stopped at the border for a few pictures. I have a great photo of us when we arrived at this sign 3 years ago, but it was packed and taken away by the lowest bidder last week, so we’ll just have to make due with the most recent one.

Can you tell how happy we are to leave?

All this and we would be back in Alaska before the end of the day. Imagine how thrilled we will be when we leave for several years…

The border crossing station is a good 30-45 minutes after we crossed the actual border. Up until Friday, we thought I might have to skip this leg of the trip and fly to Juneau to meet the guys on the ferry. You see, the Coast Guard told us that we needed passports to go through Canada. So we applied for no-fee passports that can’t be used for touring, but work with Steve’s orders to get us civilians into and out of the country. The boys’ passports came about 3 weeks ago, but not mine. It’s a Murphy’s Law thing. I have a spare copy of each of the boy’s birth certificates, but I only have one of mine. So last week, when they relaxed the border crossing regulations, I still didn’t have what I needed since my birth certificate was conveniently located with my passport application. It worked out OK, my passport made it to Steve’s office on Friday – 24 hours before we left. Look at me, I’m legal! Yay!

Shortly after entering Canada, we solved one of the great auto mysteries of all time. Well, not really, but it has been bugging us for 3 years. Canada apparently has a law that all vehicles must have their light on at all times. It has always bothered Steve that it is impossible to dim the lights on my Explorer. We thought it was a Ford thing. Now we aren’t so sure. What does one have to do with the other? I bought my car 1-year used from Canada. Even scraped a sticker off the window that read “Object’s du mirror blah-blah-blah” So now we know.

So, Canada roads are awful! Talk about frost heaves! Crazy, crazy, bumpy roads. Some of them are even paved. Remember those frost heaves from yesterday? They were much worse today. So we bounced our way through Canada. Steve did a pretty good job of slowing down or avoiding many of the bumps, but as we were trucking along we hit a series of them. They were spaced just right, so that we hit the second or third bump at about the point that the shocks were compressed from hitting the first bump, so it felt like we didn’t really have shocks at all. Of course, Malley sat up in her kennel on the first bump, only to have it come down and hit her in the head on the next one. This is an adventure, right?

About 2 minutes later, Steve thought to pull over to check on the boys bikes that are on a rock on the back of the car. It’s a good thing we checked, because here is what we found:


Let’s just say that I am sooooo glad, Steve was driving. That way it can be the road’s fault, not mine! It gets better. Drew’s bike as cool-guy trick pegs on it and the peg smashed into the back of the Explorer, leaving a lovely gouge. It took about 1/2 an hour to reset the bikes, so in the meantime, the boys walked the dog along the tree line near the road.

Then we set off again. Without getting into too many details about boys and the woods, I was the only one who needed to find a rest area after our roadside delay. I mentioned this to the driver and he slowed down a few minutes later at the next rest stop – right before he passed it up! I had flashbacks to road trips with my Dad when I was a kid. I once mentioned making a rest stop in Tennessee. We stopped in Cincinnati. Yes, there is an entire state in the middle there. (Kentucky for the geographically challenged.)

Not long later – BAM! We pulled over to check the bikes again. Again, good thing. They were tweaked and we came to the conclusion that we actually broke the bike rack during the first catastrophe. Steve reached for the duct tape and we jerry-rigged a quick fix. Looks like we’ll be buying a new rack in Seattle.

It’s not a move, it’s an adventure.

Tune in later, for day 2 part 2. I hope to get this done before we get onto the ferry. If not, it will most likely be Friday before you hear from us again.

23 June 2007 (part 2)

Road Turbulence.
So the road from Palmer to Tok is no place for a nap. Even if you are not driving. The early part of the trip is windy-twisty. No, not windy. I’ll go with windie. As we go up into the Chugach Mountains, past the remote Matanuska Glacier, Sheep Mountain and a bunch of other places that I can’t recall the names of... Much of the road parallels the Matanuska River valley which was cut by the remote Matanuska Glacier, way back when it was actually remote and the nearest Starbucks was several hundred miles away.

Steve and I had the opportunity to whitewater raft part of the Matanuska two years ago. It was my first time rafter and what a trip! It was great fun. I took an unexpected swim call, but managed to survive. Funny thing about glacier fed rivers, they are full of silt. Very fine, very powdery silt. Like black flour that doesn’t dissolve in water. If you go swimming, you are likely to end up with silt everywhere. For about three weeks. This is what I think about when I gaze upon the mighty Matanuska.

We stopped for gas and a quick dog jog in Glennallen. I was in charge of the dog jog and Nate was the Poop Manager. Nate is all time Poop Manager until he learns how to walk the dog. He likes to let go of the leash as soon as she pulls. And, well, she’s a husky. Pulling is what she does. She has 100 years of inbreeding telling her to pull. So in order to maintain a balance of responsibility Nate gets to carry the plastic bag and walk along with Malley and her designated walker to manage the poop. It is not a job he loves and he is much more motivated to learn how to walk the dog now.

After the gas stop, the road seemed to straighten and flatten out. Which you would think is a good thing. Notsomuch. The thing about flat long roads up here is that they aren’t flat for long. The frost heaves put speed bumps in the highway, so you’ll be driving along and all of a sudden hit a small roller coaster ride dip. Which is kind of fun the first time, but gets old after a few hours. It feels a lot like turbulence in an aircraft. Only you are in much greater danger of hitting the ground.

Interesting sight along the road: we saw a moose standing in a small pond about 300 yards from the road. His head was under the water. Not just taking a drink, but under the water. I thought maybe he was blowing bubbles. This led to a spirited rendition of “I Love My Lips” from a Moose Tunes CD the boys have.
I’m a moose and I love my lips
I’m a moose and I love my lips
I like my long legs and my big bony hips
But I really, really love my lips
Sing shoobedy doobedy doobie doobiedo.

See, this road trip stuff can be fun.

Shortly after the moose, we passed a place in the road where we think we saw chickens crossing three years ago. Incongruity reigns supreme in America’s last frontier. No chickens, but we did reminisce about the rare Arctic Chickens we almost ran over last time. It’s interesting, they go straight to the freezer case in the grocery store.

We arrived in Tok at about 10:15, Malley was especially interested to learn that Tok was named after a sled dog. We could tell because her right ear perked up. We found Young’s Motel and Fast Freddy’s Restaurant. I assume Freddy’s last name is Young, but I didn’t ask. The motel was Motel6ish, not a resort, but the small room was clean. Perfectly acceptable for a few hours of sleep on a road trip. The boys, the dog and our hotel:


Fast Freddy’s closed at 11 so we stopped for a smackeral before we moved into the room. I an attempt to be healthy, everyone but Nate had a salad. Nate had chicken dinosaurs. What 6 year old can resist chicken dinosaurs? The food was fine, but nothing to write home about. Which is a good thing considering that we don’t actually have a home right now.

This is beautiful downtown Tok. OK, so the most interesting thing is that I took this photo at 11:30 pm.

The moon over Tok.

We jogged the dog, settled into the room, I wrote some of this drivel and lights out was at about midnight. Well, the room lights were out, but it was bright and sunny outside.

23 June 2007 – 2345 (11:45 p.m.)

One the road again
Oh no wait, we need to pick up laundry
Just can’t wait
Hummm, we really need linner
To get on the road again
The rare Chugiak harmonics stop
Ugh, finally!

Greetings from Tok, Alaska (pronounced toke), population not a lot. It is late, but we are here. This is our third time in Tok since it is the logical stopping point one day drive from Anchorage. We’ve been here enough to know that sourdough pancakes at the log cabin in front of a campground will be calling our names in the morning.

We got a late start today. Call it too much to do. Call it we went out for margaritas with friends instead of finishing the new utility room floor last night. Call it not really being motivated to leave our home. Whatever you want to call it, we left Eagle River somewhere between 4 & 6 hours later than we planned to.

So, we finally piled into the car with enough stuff to put any pioneer family to shame and made the long trek 3 doors down the street. Then we got out to pick up the last of our laundry. It was pretty anti-climactic. Our friend Angela is away for the summer, so we took advantage of an open guest room and washer and dryer that weren’t loaded on a truck by the lowest bidder for the last 2 nights…thanks Ang!

So is it time to go yet? No… it was about 3 pm and we hadn’t eaten much today, which led to our first challenge. We needed food fast. Easy enough, right? Notsomuch. One of the goals of this adventure is to make it all the way to DC without eating in a national chain restaurant. Greasy spoon dining across America. This will also necessitate “Family PT” every morning. Mom will lead the sun salutation yoga practice and dad will lead calisthenics. It’s a plan & now that it is written for the entire world to see (or at least the 4 people who have made it this far), I’m sure you will all keep us honest about it. But I digress. Eagle River is not a thriving metropolis, but we have our share of fast food. We drove past all of them to hit the Fred Meyer. Freds is a big grocery store, household goods type of place. Think Super Wal-Mart with better stuff. And without the smilie face. Or the discriminating employment practices. Or the community destruction.

We had lunch at the deli counter. It was about 3:30, so it was more like linner. I was surprised that a sandwich for Steve and I, mac & cheese for Drew & two chicken legs for Nate was $24 bucks. This no-chain thing might not be cheap. Oh well.

We discovered during lunch that chickens have handle bones. That is apparently the bone that holds the chicken legs together so you can hold onto it and eat it. Drew’s theory, Nate’s lunch.

It is now 1600 (4 pm), which is ridiculous since we had planned to leave the house at around 1000 (knowing full well that we really wouldn’t be gone until noon-ish). We missed. But now we are finally on the road. About 30 seconds after entering the highway, we discovered Chugiak Harmonics. What’s that? Well, we were headed to Chugiak and our Explorer was humming. Loudly. The boys bikes are strapped to the back of the SUV and the belt was making a lovely noise. Also, the Alaska flag that Steve had taped to the top of the antenna was making an awful noise. So, we pulled off at the Chugiak exit – about 2 miles from Fred’s and a grand total of about 7 miles from our house. Maybe we’ll never get to DC. I’m not sure that is a bad thing.

Steve reset the bike rack & lowered the flag as we burst into a quasi-respectful rendition of the Alaska Flag Song. Yes we have a song about our flag. Alaskans have this thing about our flag. Any Alaskan over the age of about 5 can tell you that Benny Benson designed our flag when he was about 12 years old, and can sing at least the beginning of the flag song. That’s the kind of place Alaska is. We’re a young state, ol’ Benny is still walking around. I like it.

Steve then realized what the problem was. We are out of road trip practice. SAP ALERT! We hadn’t done our standby-the-car-hug-and-kiss thing yet. That is why it took us an hour to get 7 miles from home and nothing is going right. So we stood by the car pulled off an exit ramp and did the mooshy thing. Much to the Monkey’s disgust. EEEWWWWW.

Now we are really on the road. It is 4:00 and only 290 miles to Tok. Hummph.
We passed through the Palmer Hay Flats on our way to the “Remote” Matanuska Glacier. If you saw the TV show Treasure Hunters last year, one of the teams started on the glacier. We laughed at the “remote” description because it is about 30 minutes from a Starbucks and 45 minutes from a Wal-Mart. Which I guess in most parts of the country would make it remote.

Running out of time, so I’ll leave you with these cliff hangers…

Did they make it to Tok? (oh wait, that was in the first sentence)

Did Monkey-Doo make the trip?

Were they attacked by Arctic Chickens?

Will the mooshy-ness continue?

Tune if for more…
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The Goal:
Make it from Eagle River, AK to Washington, DC as an intact family (including the dog) & do it while avoiding national chain restaurants, not gaining a million pounds, and having fun along the way.

First a bit about us:


Dad/Steve/Bozo - currently a freakishly bearded CG officer on leave for 47 days


Mom/Michelle/M – currently unemployed non-profit guru, seriously considering not shaving her legs until the beard is gone


Drew/Monkeyboy/Jackson – almost 9yo freak of a boy with a more sophisticated sense of humor than most adults I know


Nate/Monkeyboy/Huckleberry – 6yo drama king & evil genius


Malley – 6 month old Alaskan Husky (our little souvenir)