Our Second RV Trip for Spring Break Went North

We enjoyed the first trip so much to Turnagin Pass that we decided to go north, still with the idea of checking things out - gas mileage (not good news!), dishes etc. needed, where to store things, and so on. Plus we had so much fun we wanted to do it again and for longer! We were also hoping for Northern Lights, which we didn't get.

We thought we'd be able to pull into Denaliview South, but the parking lot wasn't plowed out, so we continued on and ended up in the new state park just north of there on the east side of the road - probably not supposed to be there overnight, but there were people there for the cabins, and no one challenged us. We had a great snowshoe there up a "Curry Ridge" with spectacular views of the Alaska Range and Denali all of the way up and down, about 6 miles round trip.

What a Day - Denali out the entire time! 

"Moose Steps" - you don't want to mis-step into one of these! 

We had a nice snowshoe the next day too from Troublesome Creek, and then a visit on the way home with our good friends Klaus and Laura in Trapper Creek. What a great week, and a beginning of having the RV become our "home away from home." We plan to live in it for 3 months June - Sept!

Early Spring Fun!

We began spring break fun with a fat tire bike ride under the full moon after I had a writing retreat with 10 women and a wonderful weekend of writing together.

Chester Creek Trail under the Full Moon 

Thank you Patti Clayton and everyone who attended the retreat for a weekend of inspiration!



Brian and I took our "newest" RV out for some winter camping and to try it out for our longer stay coming up this summer. We went south for one night staying in our favorite big parking area at Turnagin Pass - we had company - another skier overnighting just in his car! We snowshoed the first day, then skied on our backcountry skis the next.

Someone had left a very nice snow cave but we chose the RV overnight! 

Fresh baked muffins in the RV the next morning! Just like home! 

The next day we were skiing/exploring the area, which was
just beautiful and pristine - instead of going up like we did snowshoeing, we stayed lower, but still with some ups and downs.




When we finished, we moved the RV up to Portage and skied out to the glacier - unfortunately, it had gotten cold and windy, and Portage Lake was quite icy out to the glacier.   We didn't wait around long, and the entire way back was into the wind (whine, whine, whine!)

Fur Rondy Time and the Iditarod

We didn't do a lot of Fur Rondy events this year, but we did do the Fat Tire Bike ride with about 500 other bikes, and watched some of the sprint dog races. And of course, the beginning of the Iditarod Ceremonial Start!

We found Marilyn & Steve at the Finish Line - Marilyn is a traveling nurse that we met last year, and we've enjoyed spending time with them - they're back again this year! 

Fat Tire Bikes Heading Down the Trail! 

We missed the fireworks this year though we heard they were wonderful - we had tickets to the Anchorage Symphony, and we had already given our tickets away once this season. And we have really good seats! The sprint dog races are always fun to watch and take place the Saturday before the Iditarod start.



It's always fun to watch the ceremonial start of the Iditarod, and several people from the university have parties along the trail - which is right in back of their houses! It was cooooolllllld, but we were ready for it! We're complete with mink and beaver hats here!