Road Trip!

Our trip is happening! You may think it's funny I'm taking the time to write this now, as we sit in the wilderness in the Copper Valley... But let me give you an update of what we've seen so far, and in the end you'll realize why I'm writing this. 

Our trip out of Pilot Station was glorious, we had an hour delay due to fog which is pretty classic. The flight was beautiful, and on our Bethel to Anchorage we had our first drinks in 5 months. When we got into Anchorage we ate, ate some more, and enjoyed the significantly warmer weather. We got tired of the city fast though, and were itching to get into the mountains so we rented our car and headed south. 

This was our view the entire way down Turnagin Arm toward Girdwood and Portage Glacier. The photos do it no justice... 

After we finished that trip and left the city we headed up to Chugiak, where my new teacher mentor, Todd and his wife Jenny live. We climbed a mountain and when we pretty much got to the top, we found their house (which Todd built himself) and their view of the Alaska Range, and Denali. We all went adventuring and Todd took us to some of his favorite places around his house, like Hatchers Pass (an old mining ground way up in the mountains) and Eklutna Lake which is a beautiful lake that is the water supply for anchorage and it's surrounded by mountains. 

Todd and Jenny were fantastic hosts, their house felt like home, and we enjoyed great food, drinks, weather, and company the entire time we were there. We never wanted to leave, but adventure was still calling! 

When we left Todd's house we headed north on our trip toward Delta Junction. We stopped at some awesome view points of Denali and the Alaska range, went to the national park entrance (where I accessed internet to fill out a very important job application *fingers crossed*) and then continued on to Healy where Todd recommended we stop and have a beer at 49th state brewery. I don't regret that one bit, it was an awesome spot, and we ended up staying at the campground next door and sleeping in our hammocks.

The next day we woke up early, drove through Fairbanks, and got to Delta Junction where Max's uncle has a cabin right on the Delta River. We had an awesome view of the Alaska range, and we spent the rest of the day relaxing, napping, and building inuksuks down by the river. 

We left Delta this morning and have been driving along side the pipeline, and through some massive mountains. 

There haven't been many towns along the way, and thus no gas stations. So here we are, parked at milepost 187 on the Richardson Highway, with no gas. AAA is on their way, but they're coming from Glenallen which is nearly 2 hours away. 

So far on our trip we've seen 12 dall sheep, 10 moose, a caribou, a grey fox, a golden eagle and a few bald eagles, and tons of other birds and small animals.... And we just saw a wolf cross the road about 150 yards in front of where we ran out of gas. 

Tomorrow we fly from Anchorage to Juneau, we spend Memorial Day weekend exploring Juneau, and on Wednesday morning we board our ferry which will take us to Sitka, Wrangell, Petersburg, Ketchikan, and the Bellingham. From there, we fly back to Eugene and we'll be back in Oregon on May 30th!