For Kari: Delta Junction

My freshman year of college I was blessed with the world's greatest roommate! Her name, Kari. Kari is from Delta Junction, Alaska, which a small town in the middle of the state. 

Freshman year I lived with four girls. Our dorm was a suite, which meant, four girls, shared two rooms, and one bathroom. When you are assigned roommates you are given their email addresses. The first e-mail I received from a roommate was from Kari. She told me she was from Alaska and that she liked Metallica. So naturally, I thought she was going to be a Gothic Eskimo. As it turns out she was the exact opposite! She was tall, funny and gorgeous! 

Over the last five years Kari has become one of my best friends. I have been telling her for years that I would visit her home in Delta Junction. Finally, three weeks ago, I was able to make this happen! 

It was the perfect time of year. The tundra of the interior started to turn red and the mountains had been dusted delicately with snow. I was lucky enough to make the trip with a couple of great gals. Kayla, one of Kari's childhood friend's from Delta, (that I have gotten to know over the years) and Katie, one of Kayla's friends from college. The only thing missing from this Rockin' Road Trip was Kari. Since Colorado and Alaska aren't exactly the close to each other, she wasn't able to make the trip! 

While in Delta we did the typical sightseeing. We visited Kayla's old house. A beautiful log cabin that her parents built when they first moved to Alaska. We also visited Kari's family at Misty Mountain Farms. She has spent so much time over these last five years with my family at my parents house that it was great to finally visit Kari's house and see where she grew up! We ate at the Drive In where Kari and all of her friends used to work. If you ever visit Delta Junction, YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE DRIVE IN! It has great food and even better shakes! We stopped at the visitors center, the Saturday farmers market, the grocery store (to get Munchers... Amazing little pieces of fried food heaven) and we even took the time to visit the local saloon, The Clearwater! 

The trip to Delta was a short one. We left midday on Friday and headed back early Sunday morning. It didn't take long to see the town but it was a blast visit all of the places that I had heard Kari talk about over the years. 

Love you Kari, No Homo! 

The Drive In - Best Food in Delta!

Official End of the Alaska Highway

Record Lows in Delta Junction

Kitchen in an old homesteader's cabin

CHEERS TO KARI!!!!

Kayla, Katie and I.

All of Kari's friends from back home!

Mount Hayes in the Alaska Mountain Range

Alaskan Travels: Russian River, Matanuska Glacier, and Seward

When I decided that I was going to move to Alaska, I also decided that I was going to do everything in my power to be a Yes Man (or Woman)! This means saying yes to all the opportunities that present themselves. I know a couple Alaskans that have made this a way of life and let me tell you, THEY ARE ALWAYS DOING THE COOLEST THINGS! I am lucky enough to have been apart of several of their adventures and even though, it might have cost a lot of money, or it was a hassle...(or I really needed to do my homework instead)... I have never regretted saying yes to anything! Thank you Millers!

Many of you have seen the pictures that I have been posting on Facebook, so some of these pictures will be a repeat but wanted to share more information on the amazing places I have been lucky enough to visit in the last month. 

The best thing about Anchorage is that it is surrounded by beauty. No matter which direction you head out of town, you are guaranteed a beautiful drive. The first adventure I went on was a fishing trip to the Russian River. The river is about two hours south of Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula. The highway from Anchorage south to the Kenai Peninsula is one of the top ten most beautiful drives in the US. It is officially known as the Seward highway (LOOK IT UP!). If you have ever been lucky enough to travel on this highway, you certainly will agree that it is incredible! 

View of the Seward Highway Near Anchorage

View of the Seward Highway Further Inland

The Russian River is thirteen miles long. It starts from the Upper Russian Lake and flows down to the Kenai river. When we first got to the river we could see spots of red everywhere in the water. These spots were sockeye salmon swimming up river to die. When sockeyes turn red their meat turns to mush and they are not good to eat. Mixed in with the red sockeye salmon were silver sockeyes. These are the salmon that are edible. This means that they are heading up river to spawn but haven't started yet. Fishing for sockeye salmon is quite difficult. Since the salmon are swimming up stream they are not moving very fast, in fact they look as if they are swimming in one place. By the time the salmon have reached the Russian River they have traveled 80 miles up stream. 

During this trip I was also shown that Alaska truly is the last frontier. It is as if certain rules of the lower 48 just don't quite apply in Alaska. It is not unusual for hikers to carry pistols or shotguns in case of a bear encounter. Being from Colorado, the fear of bumping into a bear while backpacking or hiking is a possibility but it is rare. In Alaska, especially during a salmon run, it is the opposite. It is rare that you won't see a bear! As we were fishing that day we heard talk of a brown bear a mile or so upstream from where we were fishing. Luckily the bear did NOT grace us with his presence! 

We end up taking home eight sockeye salmon! It is nice to have the freezer stocked with fish for a couple months! 

The next place I was fortunate enough to visit was the Matanuska Glacier. This glacier is about 100 miles (102 miles to be exact) northeast of Anchorage on the Glenn Highway. The glacier is 26 miles long and 4 miles wide. You can see the mouth of the glacier from the Glenn Highway. The Matanuska Glacier is the largest glacier in Alaska that you can reach with a vehicle. The best thing about this glacier is that there aren't any rules. It is a slippery free for all. You can climb where ever you would like. At the entrance to the glacier they have you pay a fee, sign a waiver and take your phone number so that if you fall into a crevice they can hopefully call you! Ha! It was very nice to have the freedom to explore! If you have the equipment and the knowledge you can feel free to ice climb, as well as, repel down into the crevices in the ice. I certainly was not going to go climbing! I did however, take a slippery walk on to the glacier! 

It is unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. It is the most incredibly beautiful place I have ever been. If you visit Alaska this place is a MUST SEE! In fact it is #2 on the "49 PLACES TO GO IN THE 49th STATE"!

  The next weekend Paul and I decided that we would take a drive down to Seward. We heard that it was a cute coastal town that we HAD to visit! Ideally, we would have ordered a charter and gone halibut fishing... But since we are both incredibly poor after the drive through Canada, that didn't happen! So instead we spend the day drinking coffee and walking the beach. Seward is situated at the head of Resurrection Bay on the Kenai Peninsula. It is surrounded by mountains and is a gateway to the Kenai Fjords. 

My personal favorite part of the trip was visiting the beach. In Anchorage, the cook inlet is a mud flat and the beach isn't nearly as beautiful as the one in Seward. The contrast of the black rocks and the bright blue water is an incredible sight to see. Unfortunately we visited on a cloudy day so we didn't get to see the peaks of hardly any of the mountains. However, at one point during the day the clouds broke just enough to see one of the peaks. Here are some of the pictures from the Seward visit. 

I feel lucky every day that I get to visit these beautiful places in Alaska. The only thing that would make Alaska better, would be if all of you were able to see these places with me! COME VISIT! 

Canada, Eh?

Well, we made it! 

The drive from Denver to Anchorage was beautiful, long and something I don't plan on doing again for a long time (Driving 3,216 miles in a Volkswagen Jetta is not as fun as it sounds, believe me)! 

Paul and I started out our trip early morning on Saturday, July 28th. I, of course, was not ready to go so we didn't leave until around 8:00am. Saying goodbye was just as difficult as I thought it was going to be. Even three weeks later, thinking of how long it will be until I see my family again, tears sneak up on me. Anyway, the goal for day one was to make it from Denver to Great Falls, Montana. We almost made it the whole way but grew tired and stopped in Helena, Montana for the night instead. The drive through northern Wyoming and southern Montana was a beautiful one. 

A peek at the Rocky Mountains in Montana

Starting out day two in Montana, our next stop was Whitecourt, Alberta. As much as I would love to tell you that the drive in to Canada was just as beautiful as Montana, it wasn't. It looked just like the drive on I-80 across Nebraska. It was a long day looking at amber waves of grain and what not.

The first thing I noticed in Canada, is that miles turn to kilometers. Many of you are probably thinking, WELL DUH, but it was the last thing on my mind. Needless to say, the metric system snuck up on me. Luckily, most cars have the kilometers on the speedometer so no conversions necessary. However, I did have to go back to middle school math, when pumping gas by converting liters to gallons (it was better to look at the liters because after the conversions you wanted to cry! Almost $7.00 a gallon in some parts of Canada!).

Going into Canada, I knew I wasn't going to be able to use my phone so Paul and I used Walkie Talkies to keep in contact. Needless to say, the walkie talkies became our only source of entertainment. It was fun for a couple hours... Then they were just annoying. 

We didn't stop in any of the "cool" places in Alberta, like Calgary or Edmonton. We were on a roll and didn't want to slow down for anything. We made it to Whitecourt, Alberta around 10:00pm. 

On day three, our goal was to get as far as possible. The drive from Whitecourt through British Columbia was incredible. I had never seen so many trees in my life. We were surrounded massive forests! We also hit the ALASKA HIGHWAY on this day. If you haven't looked at a map of Canada lately, once you hit the Alaska highway, there isn't much in the way of towns so we had to make sure we filled up on gas on a regular basis. 

Even though we were driving through the most beautiful landscapes the most exciting part of the day for me, was driving through the town of... TAYLOR! Yes, Dad, It is all about me! 

We drove through the late hours of the night and watched the sun go down. It was in British Columbia that we started to really notice the longer days. The sun did not completely set until 11:00pm! 

That night we slept in our cars some where near the entrance of the stone mountain provincial park in British Columbia. With how incredibly packed our cars were, this was not a comfortable experience. 

We stopped driving while it was dark out so we had no idea where we were. When we woke up we ended up being in the stone mountain provincial park. It was a beautiful place to wake up to! Here are some pictures of the park! 

    

WE SAW A BEAR!!!!!!

These next pictures are from Muncho Lake in British Columbia. If you ever want to visit northern BC. I would highly suggest visiting this lake. There are float plan tours and fishing charters. Definitely a place I would love to spend time at! 

Soon we were in YuKoN!!! At this point it really felt like we were getting close to our destination. Now, do me a favor and look at the Yukon Territory on a map. You will notice that it is a gigantic providence! We were no where near Alaska! 

Since there really aren't many towns in the Yukon Territory. If you're traveling the Alaska highway, you can't miss Watson Lake. It is a town right off the highway. There isn't much to see in Watson Lake and even less places to eat... but there is a really cool sign forest! People from all over the world have brought signs to the forest. Very cool place to visit!!

After Lake Watson our next stop was Whitehorse, YT. It was going to be our last major stop before Alaska. We ended up stopping there for the night and taking some time to relax before the big drive through Alaska the next day. We thought we would get Subway, a six pack and watch the Olympics in the hotel. The subway idea was shut down because what would be $5.00 footlong sandwich, ended up being a $13.00 footlong. The six pack idea was shut down because what would be a $7.99 six pack of beer, ended up being $16.00! So instead we found a restaurant, had a warm meal, a tall beer and watched the Olympics on the big screen! It was a much better choice I might add! 

The next morning we woke up early and hit the road to Alaska! Up until this point of the drive the roads were in great shape and there wasn't any road construction. After Whitehorse, we hit a rough patch of the Al-Can highway. There were gravel roads, potholes, animals, and construction stops every 50 miles. Needless to say, it was a LONG day! However, we did pass a beautiful section of the Yukon call the southern lakes. Massive lakes miles and miles long. Here are some pictures! 

After hours of driving we made it to the Alaska boarder! 

Another seven hours and we made it to Anchorage around midnight. It was a wonderful drive through Canada, we made it through safe and sound but I do not want to make that drive again ANY time soon! All is well! Anchorage is a place surrounded by beauty and I look forward to the many things I will get to experience during my time here.