After our bad experience last year with Europe, we have decided to stay in north America this summer. In June, we plan a trip to Chicago, partly to review family history.
In September, I am planning a bit more adventure in Denali National Park.
I have been there before and we had a family trip 20 years ago with all my kids. We rented a motorhome.
This worked well and we spent almost two weeks with time in Denali Park and in the towns of Seward and Valdez.
My youngest was 13 and the other three were all adults. My older daughter had just taken her bar exams in Washington State.
We drove from Anchorage to Palmer where there was a nice RV park with water and power at each site. There we parked for a couple of days and did a couple of local tours.
The dinners were prepared in the motorhome and we would often be having dinner at 10 PM or later because the sun did not set until 1 AM at that time of year. It was easy to forget how late it was but we weren’t getting up early anyway.
The kids got to walk on glaciers. My younger daughter, Claire, is wearing my wool shirt for the glacier jaunt. She had to sleep in the folded down dinette and her brother got her up early every morning so everyone could have breakfast.
The kids got to see few bears and the rest stops had big warning signs to never take food with you out of the bus.
This year we are going to do something different.
We are going to fly to Anchorage and take a Princess tour that includes a bus to Denali Park and a three day stay at the Backcountry Lodge in the park. It is 50 miles into the park and surrounded by wilderness. The lodge is not roughing it.
It is located on a creek that flows past and there is a lake nearby. There are day tours for those more energetic.
Anyway, I have made reservations for early September which is after most of the tourist season. I’m looking forward to it. I tried to interest our English friends in coming over to go with us but they have other things to do.
I can’t think of a much better way to spend a week. After the lodge, we will go back to Anchorage and then to one of my favorite places, Homer Spit.
It doesn’t get much better then this although the hotels are a bit basic. Some of the kids who work on fishing boats just camp on the beach. They got out for days at a time and no one bothers their stuff.
Life is good. Some of these kids can make $50,000 in a summer with no expenses.
Tags: Travel