Year: 2023
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South Lake to Long Lake
Anticipation Excitement builds. Daphney and Jayden can’t wait. Last year’s backpacking trip felt like a proud accomplishment. This will be a trip bigger than the last, and this will be Myles’s first such trip. It’s Friday evening of Labor Day weekend. Yan and I are doing some final packing. “We’re going to wake up at…
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To Anchorage and Home
This morning, the kids gather sticks and cones during breakfast, anticipating another fire. We don’t have much time for a real one, so I douse everything with some leftover sanitizer and introduce them to the brief but huge flames of ignited alcohol. Down the road, we see a moose running in the brush. Yan and…
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Denali National Park
We have a hearty breakfast at Prey again, then we pack up everything to head into the park. Tonight, we’ll be camping. Arriving at the bus depot, we learn that the next bus availability is at 12:30, and it only goes to mile 43, since the rest of Park Road is closed due to mudslides.…
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The Interior
I’m the first to get up, just before sunrise, while the northerly summer pre-dawn sky glows orange and the distant mountains look purple. Breakfast is a combination of oatmeal with toppings and scrambled eggs for protein. Jayden devours the eggs, but Daphney laments that the eggs don’t taste as good as the free-range ones from…
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Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
To save driving time, this day is planned around the Whittier-Valdez ferry. We line up then make it through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel and arrive in town. I check in with the ferry, and after queuing up, we grab lunch at Varly’s Swiftwater Seafood Café. All they have is fried food: zucchini, onion rings,…
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The Kenai Peninsula
Early in the morning, we get breakfast at the lodge and pack up for departure. While no doubt the bear viewing and scenery are highlights of the trip, we are happy to leave this place infested with mosquitoes and white sock flies. After breakfast, we pack up and take the water taxi to King Salmon.…
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Katmai
We disembark onto a private bus. There are a few others with us. Making our way through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, we soon arrive at the Anchorage airport. I check the car seats and bags for city travel at the storage facility, then board our flight to King Salmon. There is no reception in…
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The Grand Princess
We are really rushed this morning: we swallow breakfast, pack, get to the light rail station, ride to International District/Chinatown, and transit to the King Street train station. The elevator is out of service, so we haul all of our luggage down the stairs to make it with only 3 minutes to spare. The Amtrak…
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ABJS Meeting in Seattle
This trip’s idea began a year ago, as 2023 has a milestone birthday for me, and Yan will finish all her training and begin work as an attending. Our calendars align the best in July and August. I started booking everything in the fall. On January 5, Yan and I both got on our computers…
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Kayak Day Trip in the Black Canyon
Six buddies on a river kayak trip,Embarking from Hoover Dam with a skip.Paddling down the mighty Colorado,Excited for the adventures that lay below.Stopping at Sauna Cave, their first break,Hot springs for soaking, sore muscles to shake.Relaxing and rejuvenating, their spirits renewed,Ready to face whatever the river threw.The gale force winds howl, but they brave the…