Today we drove south to Valdez.
Here’s a picture of a glacier near Valdez.
It was tiny compared to this one:
Bridal Veil Falls.
We stopped at the site of Old Valdez and had a nice view of the bay.
View in the opposite direction.
We stopped at Horseshoe Falls for a bit.
Then we headed back towards Anchorage. Made it most of the way, only had a couple hours or so of driving the next morning. Thus ended our second Alaska Road Trip!
Anyone who’s watched Season 3 of Ice Road Truckers has seen the road we drove on to get to the Arctic Ocean. Yup, we drove about 414 miles (one-way) on the Dalton Highway, which is about 25% pavement and 75% gravel (the gravel sections were often in better shape than the paved sections).
Here’s a couple pictures we took along the way.
We made it to the Arctic Circle!
We stopped at Coldfoot Camp, filled up the RV, and ate at the truck stop. We continued on for a while until it started to get dark, then picked a spot to park for the night.
We started the day off with some donuts at The Moose is Loose. Figured it had to be good, they were pretty busy. Thomas liked his halibut cookie (not made with actual halibut), Jeannie liked what she picked, and my apple fritter was pretty good for the first few bites. Then we headed off to the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Looked around the visitor’s center for a bit, then hiked out to the lake.
Here’s Thomas trying to get a better view.
Catherine had to take a look too.
The sky looked really strange here.
We left and headed back to Girdwood to pan for gold at Crow Creek Mine. Here’s a picture Jeannie took of me along the way. I’m holding a bottle of Pepsi Natural that she bought.
My dad has used a similar refrigerator before.
Thomas is digging while I pan for gold.
Yay, I found four flakes of gold!
We all found gold, but only when using the ziplock bags of dirt that you were guaranteed to find gold in. At least we tried! After this we headed back to Anchorage, ate at Golden Coral, then set back up at the school we’re camper hosts at. I thought the day was done, until I had to take Thomas to the playground late at night. I think it was past 11PM when we got back to the RV.
Here’s some more pictures from the Alaska Highway.
Just hangin’ around.
There are turnouts everywhere, and many have great views. Every night except for one we’d simply pull over, get some sleep, and head out in the morning.
Wish we could have overnighted here, but we were heading for a proper RV park a bit up the road (they had a playground, which Thomas really needed).
Here’s a buffalo that was grazing next to the road.
We’re in the Yukon!
One of the turnouts that we overnighted at. This picture was taken at around 12:25AM Pacific Time (we weren’t quite in Alaska yet).
The view from the turnout.
In the past week or so I’ve taken Thomas to the zoo and back to the Space Center. We went on the tram tour and were able to see part of the Johnson Space Center. We saw what I think was a mockup of the control center (maybe it used to be the official one, or it was made just to be looked at by visitors, I don’t know). Had to leave the room soon after we arrived due to Thomas not wanting to sit still and be quiet. He made friends with the tram driver named Amber. He kept touching her legs and even sat in her lap. I really thought I had another ten or so years before he started hitting on girls. Afterward we were dropped off at an outdoor area with some rockets on display. They had a big building that had an actual Saturn V rocket inside. Thomas really enjoyed his trip to the Space Center again, and even sat through a short movie about space exploration (there were lots of rockets blasting off, he loves those parts).
Jeannie’s been working quite a bit, but we’ve still managed to go out and do some activities together. Went back to Lupe Tortilla (the one with the nice outdoor sand area for kids). Everyone enjoyed it except Jeannie, and her only complaint were the mosquitoes (they love her, but hardly bother the rest of us). We did try a couple new restaurants. The Black-eye Pea has ok food, but the black-eyed peas didn’t taste that great too me (too fancy I guess). Aunt Bea’s Restaurant was like the small home-town restaurants we’re used to back home, their black-eyed peas were ok (as was the rest of the food). We also got in on the free KFC meals before the riots started everywhere (cashier wasn’t even sure what to do with the coupon, and no one else in line had any).
Jeannie has also received the official contract to start in Anchorage, Alaska on June 22nd. They finally worked out that she could start on an off-orientation week, but not before she went ahead and extended a week at her current assignment here in Houston, TX. We compromised and said she could start June 18th. That still gives us time to spend at home, have Thomas’s birthday party, and well over a week to get there. We won’t be taking the RV though. It’ll be parked at Dad’s, where my sister and two youngest brothers will get to play in it, watch TV, and take care of our three cats. At least the RV still has its benefits (we can’t get anyone to take care of our cats back home, but we can take the RV to someone who can).
I promise to take more pictures of everyone soon. In the meantime, please enjoy this picture of Thomas helping Grandpa work on the RV (they’re working in the area where the bunk beds are now).
First post, might as well describe what we’re doing. We’re currently living in a bus. It actually used to be a bookmobile for Nashville until they discontinued the bookmobile service (we bought it at an auction). We’ve converted it to a proper RV, it has the following:
Master bedroom with queen bed and co-sleeper for baby. Has spot ready for 19″ TV, not installed yet. Decent amount of storage space for clothes, plus extra storage under the bed.
Bunk beds with storage underneath each. Top bed is attached to ceiling by chains, helping its “cool” factor.
Full bath with sink, toilet, and full-size shower.
Regular size fridge with convection microwave on top (takes place of oven).
Regular kitchen countertop with full-size kitchen sink.
32″ LCD TV with DVD and media card reader built-in.
Fold-down couch next to captain’s chair.
Table that’s full of electronics for the moment.
DirecTV HD DVR
Washer/Dryer Combo (not a stacker, but an all-in-one) installed where the passenger seat was.
Cat food and water next to driver’s seat, and litter box behind driver’s seat.
Currently the passengers are my wife and myself along with our two kids (one toddler, one infant) and four cats.
The current reason we’re staying in the converted bookmobile is so my wife can try her hand at being a travel nurse. We haven’t given up our “normal” home, we plan to use the RV on these travel assignments, and possibly the occasional vacation.