Alaska Road Trip 2012

We did it.  And survived.  A 1350+ mile, 9 day, 8 night road trip around Alaska.  And to top it off, we camped 5 nights straight.  All those recent weekend camping trips were just test runs for Alaska. 

A Quick Rundown

We arrived in Anchorage Thursday night, just in time to eat a nice meal and head to our B&B.  The next day we bought groceries and headed to Denali National Park.  Along the way, we stopped at Eklutna Lake and Wasilla for photo ops.  We spent two nights at the Riley Creek Campgrounds just inside the park. Then we headed north through Fairbanks to Chena Hot Springs for a night.  After a nice soak in the hot springs, we drove 6.5+ hours south to Chitina where we camped by a waterfall.  The next morning we flew into McCarthy, took the shuttle to Kennecott, and hiked about 1.5 miles into Wrangell-St. Elias National Park to set up camp.  The next day we hiked 6.5 miles before flying back to Chitina and driving to Valdez.  We spent our last two nights at a B&B in Valdez, before conquering the 6 hour drive back to Anchorage.

So, to sum up, it was a whirlwind of a trip.  A sampler platter of Alaska if you will. 

And it was awesome.  Spectacular.  Great.

More pics and stories to come, but for those of you who might be skeptical that Jason and I actually camped 5 of the 8 nights, there are pictures…

Denali National Park

Chena Hot Springs

Liberty Falls Campground outside Chitina

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park

For a sneak peak of the pictures from our trip, click here.

Guest Bedroom Curtains

We really haven't done much to our guest room since we moved it.  It hadn't changed since we showed it to you two years ago here.  It had become a catchall for the bikes, Jason's school stuff, and most recently, his beer brewing equipment.

However, a few weeks ago I saw some curtains at World Market that I really liked.  I thought they were a bit expensive so I didn't buy them.   I just waited.  Sure enough, last week they went on sale 20%.  Plus, I got an extra 15% off for being a World Market Explorer.  Score.  I bought them, the curtain rod, and the two throw pillows you see below.

I also ditched the rug since Radar had peed on it one to many times and moved the bed to the corner since I was tired of seeing only the bikes every time I opened the door.  I really like how much it opened up the room.

New curtains, corner bed, sans rug.

A little closer.

Cozy little corner, isn't it?

Yesterday Jason and I tried to hang floating shelves on the wall opposite the bed.  We failed.  Big time.  As in broken shelves, broken new vases and picture frames, beat up drywall and scratched wood floors.  :(  Oh well, lesson learned.  Next time use drywall augers. 

I wasn't a huge fan of the shelves anyways.  They looked better in my head.  I think we might eventually try to make our own out of wood and metal brackets.

McKinney Falls State Park

What?  Camping again?  Crazy, I know.  Yesterday, I met Jason and his brothers at McKinney Falls State Park just outside of Austin. 

Swimming was a ton of fun, but now I have water deep in my ear that I can't get out.   You'll have to excuse me if I keep going, "Huh?" this week. 

I wish we had somewhere like this place in Houston. 

Upper Falls.



Jordan and Jared swimming.



Jason jumping in.



Joel visited for awhile.  The boys stayed at the primitive sites which were right along the creek.



Jason and I all matchy match.



Jordan being a creepster during Clue.



Butterflies and moths kept landing on me.  I guess it could have been worse.