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All Kinds of Parties: Billings & Bozeman, MT

As October neared its end, we found ourselves back in Bozeman, MT to visit my family as we continued our journey south. It’s still beautiful there!

The weekend before Halloween, we drove over to Billings to spend the weekend with our good friends Blake and Martha. (Martha is taking this photo, so she is not pictured. Sorry Martha.)

We were excited to have time this year to make Halloween costumes, and while we stayed with Blake and Martha we’d planned to dress up and go out with some friends. Andy was a steampunk mad scientist, and after he put the outfit on I realized that this isn’t too far a cry from his real persona.

I was a steampunk mechanic, and the moment I put on the bustle I’d made (from curtains at Goodwill) I decided it was the one thing that’s always been missing from my daily wardrobe.

Once the group arrived at Blake and Martha’s, Martha unveiled the snacks that she had prepared (with some help from Andy and Blake, they’ll want you to know). Aren’t they adorable?

And isn’t the group adorable?

Off we went to a local pub downtown, where the Halloween party was just beginning. (Wonder Woman did not join us on this portion of the outing.)

We had a blast! It was a fun night, and a super-fun weekend hanging out with good friends. We watched a couple World Series games, ate some Chalet Market sandwiches (my favorite), Blake, Andy and Harper carved pumpkins. . .

And then suddenly Blake had to go back to work. BOOOOO!

He was probably relieved.

It was still sunny in Billings when we pulled away.

And no sooner were we in Bozeman than the snow began to fall.

Though Gracie enjoys snow as much as any adventure cat, she preferred my mom’s warm bed. And when it wasn’t available, she’d wait outside the door for her turn.

The rest of us enjoyed playing outside.

Then we’d come back inside to visit Gracie.

The last time we visited Bozeman, we made good use of my mom’s kitchen and cooked up a number of tasty feasts for the three of us. Andy and I both love to cook, and do quite well with our three small burners, two pots, one small pan, and limited counter space in the Turtle. (We had authentic Pho while cozied up inside our tiny house in Deadhorse! It was pretty fancy.) But a complete kitchen with lots of space and a full sized oven is a treat we can’t resist. Andy had his heart set on cooking a turkey, and if you’re going to cook a turkey, you may as well make stuffing, and if you’re going to make stuffing, you ought to make mashed potatoes and gravy and also bake a pie, right?

It was weeks until Thanksgiving, but it seemed like the plan was shaping up into a real party. We christened it Fall Feastival, and invited my sister’s family and a few friends over, and Andy spent all day carefully preparing the turkey.

Meanwhile, Clive and Scout and I played in the snow. That boy can really throw a frisbee, even with winter gloves on. Scout was very impressed.

My sister and I contributed to the meal a bit, but mainly it was Andy’s show and he was happy to have full reign over the kitchen. He made stuffing and gravy so good we all considered drinking it straight out of mugs.

It was a genuine feast! The turkey was without a doubt the best I’d ever had. Andy really knocked it out of the park! I made a pumpkin pie cheesecake and hot chocolate for dessert, just in case we didn’t feel we’d spoiled ourselves enough already.

Afterwards we played a little Pin the Tail on the Turkey, which Liam, Clive, and Bella all helped put together.

It was a wonderful celebration! Maybe the First Annual? Any excuse for a feast.

The Fall Feastival marked the end of our visit to Bozeman, so on we traveled toward our next stop: Spearfish, South Dakota. It’s always so hard to leave my people, but we’re grateful to see them as often as we do these days.

I mean, if we didn’t live in the Turtle, I may have never seen this work of art:

Liam made The Eye of Sauron’s girlfriend.

Like I said—my people.

Disc Golf, Hot Springs, Board Games, & Animal Photos: The Nelsons Come to Missoula!

Guess who came to visit us in Montana last month:

Kona!

And she brought our good friends and long-time-ago neighbors, Lisa and Rhema!

We were super excited when we heard that they would be coming out to Montana around the same time we were dropping in from Canada, so we made plans to meet up for a week in my beloved old stomping grounds—Missoula.

Fall was in full swing when they arrived, and despite the fact that the forecast said we’d have mostly rainy and cold weather, it was crisp and sunny for almost the entire trip. Since we’d anticipated the October-in-Montana weather, though, Rhema and Lisa had planned on staying in the Jeep, and they made a super-cool bed platform and suction cup curtains so that they could sleep inside. They did an awesome job, and had lots of room for storage under the platform and so much overhead clearance that Andy and I commented numerous times about how luxurious it was! Lisa even strung up tiny lights across the inside making it incredibly cozy.

(I forgot to get a picture of that, probably because we’re all animal people and mostly took photos of the pets having fun. So brace yourself for copious animal photos!)

Since both parties were mobile, we’d planned on visiting a few camp sites around the Missoula and Lolo areas. It’s the winter season so we had only a few options for open campgrounds, but the ones available were some of my old favorites, so it worked out brilliantly.

The first site we visited was Chief Looking Glass, just south of Lolo. We like this spot because there is a great site on the edge of a huge field, so Gracie can roam and the dogs (and their people) can run around and play frisbee.

Both Rhema and Lisa are incredible disc golfers, so we told them before they came to bring their discs because Missoula is a big “folf” town and has two great courses nearby. (For Rhema’s sake, that’s the last time I’ll use the term, but for accuracy I have to acknowledge that it’s what Missoulians call the sport.)

On our first full day of the trip, we went up to the Blue Mountain course and Andy and I got a lesson in disc golf from the pros. They were so professional in fact that they didn’t once complain about having to walk slowly beside me as I threw 5 times before my disc reached where their first throw landed.

We all agreed that this was a great way to get a taste of the Montana scenery while catching up and playing a game. And aside from a few minutes of rain and later a few minutes of hail, the weather held up quite nicely.

Kona also tagged along and sniffed her way through the course, though Scout did not, for obvious reasons. For a frisbee-obsessed dog, it would have been pure torture watching us throw discs and making him leave them alone.

Toward the end of the course, Kona’s sniffing led her to a very wild and wonderful smell which she loved so much she couldn’t resist rubbing her face and body all over it. It turned out to be some wild animal scat, which was so potent and foul that she required a soapy shower when we got back to the parking lot!

She was pretty sheepish about it, but a good sport.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that we had to walk down to the river to rinse her soap off, we wouldn’t have seen the tiny fuzzy bear cub that walked across our path on the way back! We waited a bit to make sure his mom wasn’t right behind, then quickly got back to the cars and drove back to Chief Looking Glass.

The next morning was another sunny one, and we had our coffee by the river near our site.

Then we took advantage of the sunshine and drove out to Pattee Canyon to try out the disc golf course there. It’s a very densely wooded course, so the soundtrack to this outing was the constant cracking of plastic against trees.

We kept score this time, and it will surprise no one that Rhema and Lisa did very very well, Andy did well, and everyone acknowledged that I participated.

Whether or not you’re a first-rate disc golfer, it’s a beautiful walk through the woods and we had a great time. Afterwards we took our sore arms (it truly is a work-out on the old triceps) to Tamarack Brewing to try lifting some beers, and also ordered their Keg Of Nachos that is as delicious as it is enormous. Between the four of us we couldn’t finish the thing!

We decided to switch things up and go to another site for the night, a favorite of mine when I lived in Missoula—Thibodeau Campground. It’s open all year, right on the Blackfoot River and far away from civilization, so you can hear the river while you watch the myriad stars at night. It’s a great spot.

Rhema and Lisa have a great camera and when paired with Rhema’s equally great camera skills, we got a bunch of gorgeous photos of the animals!

Just a few minutes from the campground is a local-favorite day-use spot called Red Rocks. It’s just a short walk from the parking area. . .

And then you’re right on the river with a stunning backdrop across the water!

It was another beautiful day, and Scout wasted no time getting in the water to swim, fetch sticks, and watch us skip stones. Rhema caught his tail in mid-swish as Andy skipped a stone.

We spent a few hours at Red Rocks, enjoying the weather and making some sweet cairns.

The water was so lovely and appealing that after some time considering it, Rhema finally couldn’t help himself and had to jump in!

As he dried off, he and Andy built a very charming stone man.

Scout just pretty much tried to get us to throw sticks the whole time.

And Kona practiced her camouflage skills.

On the way back into Missoula, Kona rode along with us in the Turtle. She loved it and sat up front the entire time like it was her usual spot!

Scout sat in the front-middle for the first part of the trip, and then in the back for the last bit.

When we got back to town, we stoped for a beer and a few games of shuffleboard at Kettle House Brewery.

Scout and Kona watched us from the Turtle when we came out to the patio to play a game of Rummikub.

The next day we drove into Lolo National Forest to stay a night at Lolo Hot Springs. We got a nice spot at their campground and paid entry to the hot springs so we could soak before dinner, after dinner, and then before bed. We got our money’s worth for sure!

The next morning we had coffee at the restaurant and discussed plans for the day. Should we drive farther into the forest and find a dispersed camping spot, stay another night, or camp somewhere else on the other side of Missoula? As we thought it over, we noticed that since we’d been at the restaurant the night before they’d added a bunch of balloons hanging over the bar. We asked what they were, and the bartender said they were full of coupons and cost $2 each to pop one and see what’s inside. Well of course we had to!

We each popped one, and the bartender bought us two additional balloons, so we ended up with six coupons, one for a free tent site and one for a free cabin site! Plus free soaks and free drinks. . . and the decision was made. We stayed another night!

The cabin was tiny and adorable, and made for a great spot to dry our swim suits in between soaks.

That night we spent a few hours in the restaurant eating dinner, playing Catan, having some drinks, and laughing about how we basically got a free day of fun at Lolo Hot Springs!

When we woke up the next morning, it had snowed a little bit.

But as we drove back toward Missoula, the snow eventually melted and we had beautiful views of the bright yellow larches covering the mountains.

When we got back to town, we stopped at Rockin’ Rudy’s to browse for souveniers, Andy got a fancy new pair of sunglasses, and then we took the dogs down to Bark Park, a great dog park right on the river near the university.

As the day neared its end, so did our visit with Rhema and Lisa. We went back to Chief Looking Glass for one last night of fun and games and animal friend snuggles. Gracie adopted Rhema early on in the trip, and every game session in the Turtle looked much like this:

Also this:

We realized after the sun had gone down that we hadn’t taken a group shot yet! So Rhema set up the camera and we gave it our best attempt.

Perfect.

We were very sad when it was time to say goodbye the next day, as we always are after a visit from Lisa, Rhema and Kona.

We miss you guys! But especially now that you have that sweet setup in the back of the Jeep, we know we’ll see you down the road. Thanks so much for coming our way and spending your week off with us! We’ll keep you posted on our progress toward Baja, so you can start driving that way too. . .

Wildlife Safari on the Alaska Highway

Remember that time I said we loved spotting wildlife? Well we really loved the drive down through British Columbia into Alberta.

As we pulled away from Liard Hot Springs, we made it about 100 feet before spotting this darling lineup of wood bison.

We read in one of our travel pamphlets that while wood bison are a subspecies of the American bison, they differ slightly from the plains bison that are more common in the States. The most obvious difference is in size: these guys are much larger than the bison we’d seen before, and when we looked it up we learned that they are the largest land mammal in North America. Large males can weigh over 2,000 lbs!

I found this handy visual online which compares the two:

As I read this information aloud to Andy as we drove, he tapped my arm and pointed up ahead.

There, on both sides of the road, were about 60 or more wood bison! They ranged in size from hulking males to darling little fuzzy babies.

We pulled over to watch them graze and nap in the tall grass, while others crossed the road right in front of us to meet their group on the other side.

It was very, very exciting—for us, not the wood bison. They seemed pretty nonplussed by the whole encounter.

After a while we decided to move along, and the landscape along the Alaska Highway was just as incredible to watch as the wildlife.

It wasn’t long before we came across another neat animal: a female rock sheep. She was the only one we saw during that portion of the drive, despite the signs all along the road telling us to watch out for rock sheep.

After we passed rock sheep country, we stopped to take a picture of the beautiful rainbow of fall colors on the hill, and this time I was the wildlife being observed from someone inside the Turtle.

The drive took us up into the mountains and then back down again as we approached Fort St. John, B.C.

Once we’d left the mountains we thought the wildlife spotting was over, but just outside of town we came across this handsome couple:

We hadn’t seen as many caribou as Andy had hoped, so this close-up view was just perfect.

There’s a great rocky beach just south of Fort St. John that lots of locals go to launch boats and spend the day, and we saw other boondockers there for the night as well. That night we watched the Northern Lights while Scout and Gracie sniffed around on their leashes, and in the morning we played outside for a while before getting back in the Turtle and driving some more.

Typically we prefer to move really slowly and drive a maximum of two hours a day when we’re not camped out. We’re not in any hurry, it’s cheaper and uses less gas, and we get to see so much more of the world and have more impromptu adventures that way. But since we were trying to stay ahead of the weather, we’d been driving much more frequently than usual, and it was starting to catch up with us. Being in a van all day is not why we’re living in a van!

So when we finally reached Whitecourt, naps were in order. Gracie is the best nap buddy a person could ask for.

Waking people up to interact and play is much more in Scout’s wheelhouse.

We pushed on, and within about 20 minutes of each other we watched a black bear cross the road in front of us, and then a lynx. I speculated that British Columbia wanted to make sure we left satisfied and was quickly sending animals out for us to have one last treat before we crossed over into Alberta.

Alberta felt very metropolitan compared to the rural areas we’d gotten used to, but it was exciting to have cell service and reasonable gas prices again. We decided to take a trip to the West Edmonton Mall to get our wave pool and waterslides on at the World Waterpark. It was a great way to spend a blustery day, and as full-time travelers we always appreciate a fun activity that ends in free showers.

The next day we returned to check out Galaxyland in the mall and went on the “largest indoor triple-loop roller coaster,” the Mindbender, which is very aptly named. Holy moly.

After a few days in town, we escaped back to nature. We had plans to meet up on the road with some friends we met at Diablo Canyon in New Mexico last year, Eric and his PBD (plain black dog), Willow.

We stayed for the weekend at a dispersed campsite outside of Hinton, AB. It was a great spot to catch up on the past year’s travels, have a few beers, enjoy a nice fire in the pit Andy built, and watch some animal playtime.

Now that we were moving away from the land of many predators, we let Gracie have a little supervised off-leash time, and she chose to use her freedom to revisit her favorite sun porch and oversee everyone else’s activities.

While we’re on the subject of wildlife, there are three pets in this picture. Can you spot them all?

Eric is a 5-star animal lover and was a patient and accommodating friend to Scout, throwing toys for him almost every time Scout asked. That meant he was busy from morning to night. Willow loves a cozy chair and a sunbeam, so she didn’t mind watching her human play with another dog.

In case you were wondering, this is what the aftermath of two days of being totally spoiled looks like:

The next day, he was back to his old self and ready to go again!

Of all the wildlife we’ve gotten to see along the way, these two are the strangest and sweetest.

Hmm . . . make that “these three.” Wild beasts, all. I think I’ll keep them.

On Top of the World: Deadhorse, AK + The Arctic Ocean + An Arctic Fox

Here is what you need to know about Deadhorse, AK. It’s a small town in northernmost Alaska near the Arctic Ocean with a population that is often listed at 25-50 permanent residents. The town’s primary function is to house the workers at the Prudhoe Bay oil field, which when including the temporary workers brings the population to around 3,000. In order to house the workers, “pre-fabricated modules” (cozy!) were shipped up and put on man-made gravel pads on top of the tundra, where the workers live for the duration of their employment.

Most people work 12-hour shifts daily for two weeks straight, and then have a week off. The town has a very small airport for transporting workers at no charge, so most people fly home and back in that week. Each work camp has its own building, with different amenities from camp to camp. Some have theaters or gyms or basketball courts, but these are all housed right in the work camp building.

It’s not as if anyone would want to pass the time outside their camp anyway; the mean annual temperature is 12 degrees Fahrenheit, and even the warmest month—July—sees an average temperature of only 47 degrees! Lows in the winter are generally below -40 degrees. It’s freakin’ cold up there. Almost every parking spot in town comes with a power cord.

What this means for tourists is that after being shaken around in your vehicle like dice in a Yahtzee cup for somewhere around 18 hours, there’s not a lot going on up there to do! Well, that’s not necessarily true, but the accomodations for tourists are limited to a gas station, general store, Napa store, a handful of buffet-style cafeterias for the workers that are open to the public during limited hours, and a hotel with a little snack shop and coffee counter inside. So we did all those things on our first full day there.

The white building up there is the hotel. It didn’t look any different than the housing, General Store, or gas station and the town really doesn’t waste good money on signage.

We also came across one of my favorite wildlife sightings to date: a little arctic fox! He was just the sweetest little thing and stayed close enough for us to watch him scamper around for about 5 minutes.

There is also a tour bus that you can book 24-hours in advance (to run a security check), which will take you past the security checkpoint and up to the Arctic Ocean! They charge $70 per person, but once you get that far, you really have to go all the way, right?

We thought so. So on our third day in Deadhorse, we took the early tour through the oil fields and saw the sights on our way to the beach. There were five others on our tour: a French couple who had flown in, and a couple from upstate New York and their tour guide who had driven them up in a tricked out Ford Escape set up by the tour company specifically for the Dalton Highway drive. Their guide jokingly asked if we’d remembered our swimsuits, to which I replied, “Actually, yes!” He laughed good-naturedly, as it was the first day of September, and said he’d be amazed if we went through with it. Challenge accepted!

The beach access we were able to explore was a nice long stretch that jutted out into the ocean. When we got there, our view was especially lovely under a hazy rainbow.

The guide volunteered to take pictures for us, and got a nice play-by-play of our walk out, and Andy’s sudden and shocking dive below the water.

What a beast! That boy knows how to have an adventure. I take longer than Andy does when it comes to decisions involving plunging my bare skin into frigid arctic water on a 30-degree day. But of course I eventually got the job done.

Ok . . . half done. But I’m telling you; it was so cold that not even my five layers on top could save me from that icy shock, or the subsequent half hour of numb legs and toes! It was awesome. We are very proud new members of the Polar Bear Club, and have a pure white rock from the beach as our memento of the day we took the plunge.

By the time we got back to the Turtle, we’d warmed up under the blanket Andy had brought along and felt ready to take on the Dalton Highway again. We decided to break the drive up into three days this time, because we wanted to check another National Park off our list by hiking into Gates of the Arctic.

We turned southward and said farewell to Deadhorse. We were so glad we made the trip, but are fairly certain we won’t be returning unless Andy will agree with my brilliant idea to build a summer home there. And so far he’s not budging. Oh well . . . goodbye, Deadhorse!

On Top of the World: North on The Dalton Highway to Deadhorse, AK

Andy loves maps. So when we got our Milepost to plan our trip up to Alaska and it had a big Alaska map included, he was super excited. He unfolded it and we started pointing at places we would visit, and finding new places we didn’t know existed, like Chicken, Alaska. I noticed the Deadhorse dot way at the top of the state and said, “So are we going to the top of Alaska too, then?” Immediately I could see Andy’s wheels turning. We did a little quick research. And thus began our two-month-long back-and-forth decision/indecision about making the drive up the Dalton High to Deadhorse, Alaska.

The reason the decision wasn’t obvious is that the Dalton Highway has a bit of a reputation. It’s been featured on BBC’s World’s Most Dangerous Roads, America’s Toughest Jobs, and was the focus of four seasons of Ice Road Truckers. It’s a beast.

Here’s the rundown:

It’s a 414-mile road between Livengood and Deadhorse.
Nearly the whole route is dirt and gravel and in rough condition, with grades up to 12%.
It is one of the most isolated roads in the US, with only three towns along the route: Coldfoot (pop. 10), Wiseman (pop. 14), and Deadhorse (permanent pop. 25-50 but there are several thousand workers living there at any given time).
As the longest stretch of unserviced road on the North American continent, the Dalton is totally remote and has no cell service along the entire route until Deadhorse.
There is one gas station in Coldfoot and one in Deadhorse.
It gets cold up there. In 1971 it was the location of the coldest temperature ever recorded in North America at -82 degrees.
Atigun Pass through the Brooks Range is at elevation 4,739 feet and is considered quite treacherous, especially in unfavorable conditions.
It was built as a service road during the construction of the Alaska pipeline and is still used primarily by supply trucks—about 160 daily in the summer and 250 daily in winter and they’re all driving at top speed and have the right of way.
Travel tips on various sites include bringing two spare tires, plenty of extra fuel, survival gear, and your own surgical supplies.
The road ends at Deadhorse, which is not a town in the traditional sense but an industrial camp in the Prudhoe Bay oil fields. So there’s not much to do once you get there.

According to a NY Times article, “In addition to these numerous privations, there is also no good reason for a nonprofessional driver to drive the Dalton Highway.” When we asked around, most Alaskans and fellow travelers we talked to about making the drive told us emphatically that it was a bad idea and just don’t do it.

So there was that.

You’d think that would be enough to make the decision quick and easy. Buuuuuut. . . we were also feeling compelled by the other characteristics of that most remote wilderness. For example:

Just south of Coldfoot you pass into the Arctic Circle!
We’d get to see arctic tundra and (hopefully) arctic wildlife.
The Arctic Ocean is just beyond Deadhorse, and though the area is blocked by security, there is a tour company that will take you right to the ocean, after you pass a security check and pay them $70 a person.
Gates of the Arctic National Park sits on the west side of the highway, and though you can’t access the park by car, you can hike in on foot from a few parking areas.
The terminus at Deadhorse is the farthest north you can drive in North America. And we have plans to drive to Chile one day, so it would be pretty freakin’ cool to have driven the continents from top to bottom.
Apparently it’s really, really beautiful up there.
It’s almost completely wild.
Adventure calls!

I think by now you have a pretty good idea of where we landed on this one, especially if you read the title of this post. (We decided to go.) A few final pushes in that direction came from our friend Sam, who is a native Alaskan and knows all the information contained in both above lists and said that he wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone, but he knows the Turtle is capable and so are we, and that we should definitely do it. That’s all Andy needed to hear, so he was locked in. I was at 98% until my friend Lexie sent me a video by a pair of overlanders who had made the trip just a week earlier in their truck camper, and the scenery was more beautiful than I’d even imagined, and also they saw a baby grizzly bear. So I was locked in.

We got to Fairbanks, got all our supplies in order and bought a CB radio so we could communicate with the truckers as an added safety measure. We got up early the next morning and began our northward journey to the top of Alaska.

The first thing we noticed was the Alaska Pipeline, which was to be our one constant over the next few days, as it parallels the Dalton all the way to Deadhorse.

Also notable was how much more it felt like fall! It was much colder and the colors were gorgeous.

The pavement soon ended and we began the brain-rattling portion of the journey across the pitted, wash-boarded and pot-holed dirt road that would continue all the way to Deadhorse. It was a really beautiful drive, and we still felt pretty fresh when we saw the Arctic Circle sign and pulled over to take a few pictures.

The Turtle still looked blue at this point, too! We continued on to Coldfoot, watching the lovely scenery as well as the gas gauge.

We weren’t sure what to expect when we finally reached Coldfoot after 8 long hours, and were pleasantly surprised to discover the Arctic Interagency Visitor Center tucked away on the west side of the highway. The facility is a cozy spot to learn about the Northern Lights and the flora and fauna of the area, and they have maps available and flyers with information about Coldfoot, Wiseman, and Deadhorse since there’s no cell service all along the highway.

They also print out the weather forecast for the towns and the Atigun Pass, which on our visit showed snowflakes in the next day’s box. We’d already made it halfway there, so there was no turning back. We filled up with gas across the road and had a surprisingly top-notch dinner buffet at the restaurant/bar/gift shop/one building in the town that felt kind of like a church basement but really served up a mean meal. Then we drove just a bit north of town to a nice little turnout for the night.

As predicted, the next day was super cold and foggy and the snow loomed on the horizon.

We could barely see the scenery behind all that fog!

There were huge mountains on all sides but after a while we couldn’t see them even a little. It was just a blank white backdrop in every direction.

As we gained elevation approaching the Atigun Pass, the snow set in so suddenly that we were climbing the pass before we realized it and it was too late to chain up. If there were any turnouts we couldn’t see them at all, and there was barely enough room for two cars to pass one another, much less to pull off enough to not get hit by other passing vehicles.

We climbed and climbed, following the guard rails since that’s all we could see, and hoping against hope that the speedy ice road truckers wouldn’t blast by us.

At least we could read the road signs. . . what does that one say? Avalance Area? Oh good.

Andy handled that Turtle brilliantly, and I alternated between nervous picture taking and looking at the sky so I wouldn’t have to look over the dropoff into the white abyss. We finally made it through, and amazingly encountered no trucks. But even after the pass, the roads were so slippery that we pulled over on the road that leads to Galbraith Campground to chain up as a precaution.

On the return drive, we noted this spot was where we’d pulled over and were shocked to discover that there had been mountains surrounding us the whole time, but we had no idea.

Scout loved this stop. He’s a real snow hound, and he bounded through the snow and grazed on it and tried to get me to run with him, but it was too slippery. We did get an arctic frisbee session in though.

Soon the snow lessened, so we asked a driver on the CB if there was any more snow between us and Deadhorse. He said it was nothing but mud, so we removed the chains and bumped lurched down the road the rest of the way through the arctic tundra. It felt like being on another planet. It’s completely flat as far as the eye can see!

From the literature we took from the Visitor Center, I learned that because the ground is all permafrost beneath the top layer, there is a lot of standing water in the tundra because it has nowhere to go. Seeing little puddles and lakes everywhere wasn’t at all what I expected, but it was really interesting and beautiful.

After 10 exhausting, jarring hours, we made it to Deadhorse!

We really felt like we were on top of the world. I put on 10 layers and Andy put on his one extra layer so we could examine the Turtle and let the animals out. Gracie hopped out, felt the cold, and jumped right back in. Scout was unfazed and just wanted to play frisbee again.

We were thrilled and amazed that the only part that had come off the Turtle had been removed intentionally—as we drove with the chains on, they were slapping into the corner of the running board on Andy’s side, so he just took it off. Otherwise, we’d made it in one piece!

We were worn out by the drive, so we hopped back in to cozy up for the evening and admire the view out our living room windows.

We’re all good at getting cozy, but Gracie is the professional. She zonked out so hard that when I jokingly put my hat on her head, she just slept right through it. We all could relate, and the whole gang slept like logs that night, excited to explore the northiest north the next day!

The Road to Alaska – Part 8: Feelin’ Fall-y in Denali

Our adventure of a lifetime was in full swing by the time we left Anchorage for Denali National Park, which was our second park in Alaska so far.

Alaska has 8 National Parks:

Denali
Wrangell St. Elias
Gates of the Arctic
Kenai Fjords
Glacier Bay
Katmai
Kobuk Valley
Lake Clark

Due to the terrain and undeveloped nature of the state, however, only two are accessible by car: Denali and Wrangell St. Elias. We’d stopped at Wrangell St. Elias on our way to Valdez, but didn’t spend much time there since we were working with a bit of a deadline and the park is so huge that it could take hours just to see a small portion anyway. We did take a little walk through the park and saw both the namesake Wrangell and St. Elias ranges, and had even camped out with a beautiful view of the mountains the previous night.

Denali was the next on our list, and we couldn’t wait to get in there and see some wildlife and hopefully Denali (a.k.a. Mount McKinley) itself. They say on average only 1 in 3 visitors gets to see the mountain, as it’s often socked in by clouds or fog, and we had a cloudy forecast. So we arrived with fingers crossed and bought our tickets for a bus tour the following day. I didn’t know this before we went, but Denali National Park is only accessible to the public for 15 miles of the 92-mile road into the park. You can drive in as far as Savage River, but after that all tourists—other than those staying at Teklanika Campground—must pay for a bus tour in order to access the remainder. Some of the tours can last as long as 12 hours, but we went for an 8-hour ride since we had a doggy at home who would need to go out. It was a chilly morning, and the windows were steamed up for the beginning of the trip, but soon they cleared and we could all sit back and watch the fall colors roll by.

It’s been startling how quickly the season has advanced as we travel north! It has accelerated the timeline, but luckily I love fall and I’m exactly in the mood for it.

On the way to the Visitors Center that would be our turnaround point, we stopped a few times and got to hike around, use bathrooms, and take pictures.

Along the drive we saw ptarmigan, Dall sheep, moose, Arctic ground squirrel, and a mama grizzly bear and two little cubs in the distance running along fast! There was much speculation as to why they were running, since they’re so close to hibernation that they should be conserving calories. Our guide guessed that the mama could smell a male grizzly nearby and she was trying to protect her cubs. We stayed and watched for a long time, and still they ran and ran until we lost sight of them.

We continued on to the Visitors Center, and had a little time to walk to the lookout and admire the view.

Then back onto the bus, where we had fewer people since many had started hikes and would take another bus down later. So for the whole trip back we had great views on both sides of the bus, which really came in handy when a big male grizzly was sighted on the opposite side of the bus. We hopped over and I took some pictures that are grainy, but still fun to see.

We’d found a nice spot to park for the few nights we’d be in town, so we went back and settled in for the evening, taking the animals on a nice walk and even snapped our first 4-person selfie with the pets.

The next day we went back to the park and took a walk around Savage River, which was moody and cozy in the drizzle and fog.

During the summer the park has three daily demonstrations with their sled dog team, which we had timed our hike’s end to attend. I was so excited to see the dogs. They are actual working dogs who spend the winter helping the rangers get around and haul supplies to the cabins and outposts around the grounds. Since the park is a designated wilderness area motorized vehicles aren’t allowed anyway, but additionally the dogs are part of the history of the park and actually much more reliable than vehicles.

They are bred not for appearance in any way, but for their athleticism, double coat, closeness of paw pads (so ice doesn’t pack between them), bushy tail (to keep them warm when they sleep outside with tail over face, creating a warm pocket of air), and a trait where their arteries and veins are very close together which helps keep their blood warm as it travels around their bodies. But their appearance is still pretty darn cute too.

They were so sweet and eager to run. The trainer told us that they harness two fewer dogs to the summer “sled” for the demonstration than they do for the winter sleds, because if they didn’t she’d end up in the ditch!

Andy of course loved the sled.

We would have loved to stay extra days to climb all the mountains and watch fall continue to move in, but we’d planned a trip up to the Arctic Ocean and every degree counts when you get close to freezing. So we pressed on Northward for what was to become one of the greatest adventures yet!

The Road to Alaska – Part 6: Anchorage, AK with Friends

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times (I may have actually said it a thousand times): one of the best things about Turtle Life is the flexibility and freedom to visit our friends and family. And during our time in Anchorage, we were lucky enough to be able to spend quality time with both friends and family!

First we spent a week with Andy’s longtime buddy Sam and his wife Sara. Sam is a professor and has the summer off, so we took full advantage of his schedule by having a full week of fun.

Andy and I had caught some salmon in Valdez and kept two to bring along, which Andy prepared in his famous marinade and Sam grilled up for us.

*A tip if you like delicious things: Sam also BBQ’s up frozen seasoned hashbrowns as a side dish, which were so good I just got jealous of myself when I saw this picture of the hashbrowns I was about to eat when I took the photo.

Sam took us on a field trip to the fish hatchery, where we saw loads of spawning salmon! Pictured are only two, so please just take my word for it that there were a bunch.

Sam, Sara, and their son Oliver took us for a crisp and refreshing rainy-day walk up to Portage Glacier.

We hadn’t seen snow in a while, so we had to take advantage of the wintery playground and make ourselves a slide. I paved the way with the classic bum slide, and Andy immediately took it to the next level, as he is wont to do.

On the way home, all our dreams came true when we spotted a moose grazing right by the road in town!

We were really beginning to believe the area moose were a rumor created by the Alaska Chamber of Commerce.

And luck was really on our side—or else the COC had gotten wind that we were on to them and planted that moose in two spots so we wouldn’t spread the conspiracy theory around—because a day later we saw another one!

This one was on a walk through a beautiful park on the way to the beach. She had been grazing on the trail blocking hikers, and the locals who warned us about her presence smiled curiously when I threw up my hands and cheered about a moose on the trail. Somehow they could tell right away that we weren’t from around there.

We stood up the hill from her to admire her moose-y cuteness, then walked on to the ocean since it’s weird to stare at a moose all day. And what a day for the beach!

Another highlight of the trip was the delivery we had waiting for us at Sam and Sara’s place! After catching so many fish in Haines and Valdez, we decided we should spring for a vacuum sealer so we can pack more of our fresh fish and berry picking surpluses into the freezer and keep them for even longer. I was super happy about our newest purchase, and Andy was even a little more so. (Sam and Sara, I’m aware that I’m grossly underselling Andy’s excitement about this purchase, but if I did his joy any justice everyone would think I was exaggerating.)

Well of course we had to test the thing out. An hour and 50 vacuum bags later, Andy had made it as far as testing out vacuum sealing tortilla chips just to see what would happen, and suddenly it was bedtime.

When we got back to the Turtle for the night, we found that someone had caused a little trouble back at home. The culprit still remains at large as we try to gather more conclusive evidence.

On Monday Sara was back at work, so Sam took Andy and me on a beautifully sunny and very fun walking tour of Anchorage.

I’ll have you know that we had way more than a week’s worth of fun that week. Sam and Andy are two peas in a pod, and it’s awesome to see your sweetheart having fun like the old days with his buddy.

Although we tried our best to convince Sam to blow off another week’s commitments to goof off with us some more, he somehow decided to take the responsible road. Go figure!

Before we moved onto the next leg of the Anchorage Adventure, we needed a little battery-recharge, at which point it became apparent which of our friends are helpful when it comes to naps . . .

And which aren’t so much.

Oh, and in case you’re still wondering what happened to the vacuum-sealed tortilla chips . . . they were all ground to corn crumbles, except for one, which stayed completely intact!

Weird and worth the suspense, right?

The Road to Alaska – Part 5: Yukon! Valdez! Gracie Cleans Her Tail!

Everything you’ve heard about the drive to Alaska is true.

Ok, wait.

I guess I don’t know what you’ve heard about the drive to Alaska. Let’s go with this instead: if you’ve heard that the drive to Alaska is mile after mile of astonishingly beautiful scenery that seems too enormous and perfect to exist in real life, then what you’ve heard is true.

Especially once you hit Yukon. I have so many photos of this drive that I promise you’re hoping I never show up at your house for a slide show. Because it would take longer to show you all the gorgeous scenery and tell the stories than it took to drive through it. But here are a few of my favorites.

Right??

If you make the drive, be sure to multiply your estimated drive time by 2 to account for all the stoping and staring you’ll be doing.

The beauty didn’t stop once we hit Alaska, of course. We went to Valdez, where we’d been told the best fishing awaited us. You’ll just have to believe me when I tell you that I caught a fish on my very first cast, and then caught two more before Andy had even finished attaching his lure! (In all fairness, he’d gallantly put mine on first, which is why I was fishing already. But it just goes to show you how good the fishing is in Valdez!) We estimate that we caught 25 fish—dollys and humpys. We kept two to bring with us and released the rest, not because we didn’t want them, but we just didn’t have any room left in the fridge after all the fish we caught in Haines. A fine problem to have, it’s true.

From Valdez, we took a very early ferry over to Whittier. As we drank our coffee and admired the ocean, the fog made the horizon completely disappear, which was lovely.

As the sun rose, a chubby little porcupine came out of the bushes and delighted everyone in the ferry line.

The Valdez-Whittier trip is about 4.5 hours, and so beautiful that even though it got chilly we stayed posted up on the deck under our blankets for most of the ride.

Once we arrived in Whittier, we drove straight on to Anchorage. We had so much fun visiting friends while we were there that I’ll make a separate post to cover all those adventures.

For now, I’ll make the title of the post accurate with the following pictures of Gracie cleaning her tail.

We Love NPS: Carlsbad Caverns, Guadalupe Mountains, White Sands & Gila Cliff Dwellings

It’s no secret that we love the National Parks System. In fact, part of our five-year plan (or as close as full-time wanderers get to a plan) involves taking occasional breaks from the road to work at National Parks and Monuments as we travel around. Not only will it be soooo fun to live at a park, but we can also make a little extra travel money while giving back to the Parks System that has basically been our landlord for a good portion of the last year and a half. We’ve boondocked on NPS land at National Parks, campgrounds, and dispersed camping areas. And not only to we get access to astonishingly beautiful and unique gems around the United States, we’ve also been provided at many sites with potable water, RV dump stations, showers, bathrooms, and garbage services. Oh, and a surprise favorite—ranger talks around campfires under the stars! At Wind Cave the fireflies were flying around us as we walked to the amphitheater to hear a ranger tell us all about the history of bison in South Dakota, and another ranger sang us a song on her ukulele that she wrote about Native American folklore. Pretty fancy, right?

Immediately after hitting the road, we got our NPS annual Interagency Pass and it’s no surprise that we’ve gotten our $80 worth and feel pretty happy about it! The last few weeks have been especially National Parks-y.

We began the streak at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, hiking down to the Big Room from the Natural Entrance.

There were some beautiful intricate formations on the way down, but the real thrill was the 1.25 mile loop around the Big Room at the bottom. We’ve been in a bunch of caves, but never anything like this! The photos do it no justice, but the scale of these stalactites and stalagmites is staggering.

We were thankful for the railings along the path, which made it possible to just stare upward with our mouths hanging open, pinballing our way down the walkway. It’s Andy’s Favorite Cave To Date, and for me it’s Tied For First with all the other caves I’ve explored. (I just really like being in caves.)

We stayed the night somewhere outside the park, and then the following day—Easter Sunday!—we arrived at Guadalupe Mountains National Park for a holiday hike.

Of course we had to investigate the potable water situation, and they had a nice spigot near the RV camping area, so we made a note of it and hiked on into the hills. This park is home to El Capitan, which is a celebrity rock, and Guadalupe Peak, which is the highest mountain in Texas. We didn’t hike either of them; it was 90 degrees with full sunshine, so neither of us felt bad about choosing a less strenuous trail.

After the hike and a water fill, we proceeded to El Paso for a Costco run and then on to Alamogordo and saw. . . well, look.

That’s right; it’s the World’s Largest Pistachio! It’s a sculpture at the McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch, which is a really fun stop if you’re in the area. There’s a lot to see and eat there. We sampled dozens of flavored pistachios and pistachio candy, bought some bags to take home, and got some pistachio ice cream to eat under a pistachio tree by the huge pistachio sculpture.

I’ve never written the word “pistachio” so many times in my life combined.

Then another stop in Alamogordo at the Alameda Park Zoo, recommended to me by my buddy Daren who used to live in the area. And I’m so glad he did; we wouldn’t have thought to stop by this tiny zoo in a park in the middle of town, but it was one of the coolest zoos either of us has ever visited! It’s only $2.50 to get in, the grounds are lovely and nicely manicured, and the animals are happy and well-cared for in their clean and green enclosures.

We left the zoo while we still had plenty of light so that we could make the big climb up to Cloudcroft, an adorable town 19 miles outside of and 4,000 feet higher than Alamogordo. And our little Turtle made it! We may have been going 2 mph, but we made it! We stopped at the scenic train trestle outside of Cloudcroft, and then found a cool dispersed campsite nearby to stay for the night.

We stayed two days, and drove back down.

. . .Don’t get me wrong, lots of fun things happened in Cloudcroft, but I promised you a National Parks post so I’m going to try to stay on topic here. 🙂

A lot of National Parks that we go to feel like being on another planet, which is a shared characteristic of all the parks I’ve liked best. So you can probably guess my approval rating for White Sands National Monument! This place was bizarre in the very best way.

It was magical. Hills and hills as far as the eye can see of gypsum sand.

It played tricks on our minds, as hills of white usually mean snow and winter, but it was 85 degrees and we were roasting! I made a sand angel anyway. Also strange was the sensation that we were walking on sand in that heat, but it wasn’t hot on our feet at all.

Before we began walking back to the Turtle, Andy joked that we should fill our bucket with water and make a white sand castle. We both got quiet and looked at each other, and then went to get the bucket.

The next day we went to Hatch, NM to get ourselves the epic green chile cheeseburger at Sparky’s that some hot springs friends had told us about a few months ago.

It was legitimately one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. Thanks for the recommendation, guys! On our way out of Hatch, we got some green chiles from a roadside market, Andy hassled one of the locals, and then we hit the road for Spaceport America.

Spaceport America is incredible to see, even though it’s not open to the public right now. We’d read that there was a visitor’s center, but it’s in nearby Truth or Consequences (actual town name) so we just got a long-distance view of “the world’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport” and some really neat info from the hospitable guard at the gate. The sci-fi nerd in me was already picturing the next time I drive out there, this time with my flight ticket in hand. To infinity and beyond!

That night and the next we stayed at Elephant Butte Dam in Truth or Consequences. We swam, read by the water, got some sun, and threw Scout’s frisbee into the water a thousand times before continuing onto the next leg of our journey.

Which was Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument! Another new favorite, and another great NPS spot to visit at the top of a very windy road that tops out at about 8,300 ft. The Turtle was wheezing, but we made it up this one too! And the reward was worth it.

There are free campsites all around the monument, as well as an oasis just right outside—a privately-owned hot springs with three pools and camping available. If they hadn’t been booked up, we would have gladly stayed the night too!

But we already had a site we’d found the night before that we loved, so we were happy to return to our little house by the river.

It was a great place to relax and catch our breath before moving on to the next National Park! It was also a great place for catching other things too.

After returning our new friend to his home by the river, we returned to the road—the Turtle’s natural habitat! And on to the next National Park—the Turtle’s second home.

A Month-Long Detour: Oklahoma City, OK

In our last post, I alluded to a detour we were embarking upon to visit some friends in OKC. I couldn’t have imagined that when I finally had time to write about it, we’d have also moved the party to Texas and extended the trip by two weeks! But with old friends, it’s hard not to want the good times to keep rolling, and by the end of it both Beth and I were convinced that we’d talked the other into prolonging the fun. So it was a win-win.

A quick history: Beth and I were randomly-assigned roommates our freshman year of college at University of Montana in Missoula. Because all of our pictures are in storage right now, the best I can give you is this little gem that I found slipped between the pages of a sketch book while organizing the Turtle one day. Please note the high-res quality of a photo taken on a first generation web cam and printed on a 90’s era printer. Also, that we were as cheesy then as we are now.

After moving into that tiny shoebox together, Beth and I gradually became friends, cracked each other up, invented games, stayed up until the sun came up, moved to Juneau, and caused some trouble together in the years to follow. Now, just a few short years later (Right? That’s what it’s been, right?) we still see each other every year, but still that’s not enough. So when Beth pointed out to me that we were only 7 hours from Oklahoma City, much closer than I’d realized, we put a pin in the New Mexico plans and turned that steering wheel east to go hang out with her and her family for a week or two.

Needless to say, we had all the fun. Unfortunately Beth and Johnny still had to do real life in the meantime, so we hung out with them while we could and then explored the city on our own while they worked.

Highlights of the trip included:

The Thunder game! They were playing the Portland Trailblazers, coincidentally. So after living over a decade in Portland, I saw my second Blazers game in OKC. I’m a baseball fan, all right? 😉

The Horse Thief show at the newly-renovated and super-cool Tower Theater.

Taking Scout to the field near their house to play frisbee in the middle of the city.

Taking our picture in front of the wall of their building, which Beth says everybody does, so we had to do it too. We like to fit in with the locals. 🙂

Playing with Asher, then continuing to play with his toys long after he lost interest.

Beth’s top-tier crown-making skills.

Going to the Oklahoma City bombing memorial and museum. (If you’re in town, GO to this remarkably well-curated museum, but be prepared to be emotionally fried afterward. It was extremely moving and we were spent by the time we left.)

Exploring Brick Town, Deep Deuce, Midtown, the Plaza District, and Automobile Alley on our bikes. Again, we like to feel like locals so I’m showing off our OKC knowledge here.

Riding our bikes by the baseball field and seeing that there was a free high school baseball game going on! We’d admired the stadium from outside a few days prior, so we were thrilled to get to see it inside.

Taking a walking tour of all of Beth and Johnny’s favorite spots with their friends Mike and Sandy (taking the pictures).

Watching Andy reach peak stress levels playing PacMan.

This.

We had SO MUCH FUN. Beth and Johnny were great hosts, and great sports. 🙂 Oklahoma City has changed a lot since the last time I visited about 5 years ago. We were going nonstop and still didn’t see everything!

One weekend, we decided to go camping at a wildlife refuge a few hours outside of town. We saw bison and wild turkeys.

Scout and Gracie had to be leashed, but were just happy to be outside smelling all those great animal smells.

Gracie’s a pro at tangling that leash up.

One day it was so windy that we drove into a little town nearby to go get huge hamburgers at a place that Beth and Johnny often frequent when they’re in the area, and still don’t know whether they love the spot or despise it. On this trip, we all agreed it was awesome, but we could also see that it had the potential to swing wildly from charming to exasperating.

Beth and I attempted a Boxcar Children photo.

Here is Asher’s recreation of the trip, including the Turtle, him in his tent, the fire, and the lines on the top left show the howling of the coyotes we heard in the distance. It’s perfect.

When our planned two weeks were up, we still weren’t ready to stop having fun. So we decided to get a week’s head start on Beth and Johnny while they worked through the week, and then we’d all meet up at Lake Meredith, north of Amarillo. It’s a free NPS site with lots of fishing, boat and swimming access, plus spectacular views of the lake from the camp sites perched on top of the cliffs.

The first night, Andy and I stayed on the Cedar Canyon beach.

The next day, we scouted out the myriad sites surrounding the lake. Many of them have bathrooms, potable water, and even hot clean showers. We still can’t believe this place is free! It’s better maintained than some sites where we’ve paid to stay.

We decided on a site at the Sanford-Yake campground.

Because we had no neighbors and the sites were so far apart, the animals got some freedom. Scout still loves his stuffed worm, so thank you again Eric and Willow! 🙂

Beth and Johnny arrived a few days later, and we continued the fun! We had a few gorgeous days and a few windy/chilly days.

There aren’t enough superlatives to express how much fun it was to spend so much time with Beth and her family, for the boys to get to know each other better, and to create new memories and inside jokes like we did in the old days.

After they left, I sat by the fire for a little bit and tried not to mourn too hard.

We went back down to the beach to lift our spirits, and the weather was so perfect we both got a little bit tan. Scout swam while Gracie watched Scout swim, perplexed.

We had another fire that evening and cooked up some hot dogs, knowing that the forecast was going to change drastically the next day!

Aaaaaaaaand, it did. We woke up to blasting wind rocking the Turtle and rain pounding the roof. When I opened the door to let Scout out, he jumped down into a river rushing under us!

After all the fun we had over the last month, we decided that we were ok with a stormy day and that it would actually be quite cozy to cuddle up in the turtle, have some coffee, read some books, write this post. . .

But first, we had to take advantage of the rainfall and give the Turtle a bath! (When you live on the road, you’ve got to take advantage of opportunities when they arise.)

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