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2020... There's your sign.

8/7/2020

I think we've all been thinking a lot lately. Sometimes, I think we may be thinking too much. But as we went for our last hurrah of summer on a day hike this week before the return to school and the grind of a fast paced life, I was already in a particularly reflective state of mind....

Windsong Wilderness Retreat

7/26/2020

Windsong Wilderness Retreat, Twin Lakes, Lake Clark National Park Alaska

Of everything we did in the Kenai Penninsula area of Alaska over 18 days, Windsong Wilderness Retreat was by far our best decision. If you are looking for the true Alaskan experience away from the hustle and bustle of society, then this is the real deal. Gary Titus has worked hard to keep his cabin on Twin Lakes a singular experience for his guests, where they can truly connect with the beauty of Twin Lakes and experience it in the way it is intended. It's does not feel like a tourist lodge, but rather a personal visit...

Driving the Seward Highway, Alaska

7/26/2020

Moose Pass

The drive down the Seward Highway through the Kenai Peninsula is known as the prettiest drive in Alaska. The beginning of the drive takes you along the Turnagain Arm which is flanked by a fast moving tidal system on one side and steep mountain peaks on the other....

For the ones you love...

7/22/2020

Happy 18th anniversary to my husband, who in the midst of "peak fever" convinced me to climb Falls Mountain.... the very, tippy top...

Read more about this epic (mis)adventure below!

Orca Islands

7/20/2020

Before I begin... I have to admit this is glamping, which is very unlike us..... please continue....

Traveling to Alaska during Covid...

7/20/2020

72 hours before my plane was set to touch off, I was an anxious ball of worry. After submitting the grant in August and the anticipation of a once in a lifetime adventure, I had really gotten my heart set on Alaska. Since March, our whole lives had been put into jeopardy, including the dreams of Alaska.

Flights had been cancelled, reservations had been pulled, and visitors to Alaska had been quarantined, then required to test negative within 72 hours of arrival. Just hours before, my whole family had endured the infamous nasal swab tests where a masked and robbed hero was willing to reach into the recessed of our brains and tell us whether we carried this evil illness....

What I learned in Alaska...

7/20/2020

Alaska is such an abstract concept to people in the lower 48. It holds dreams of epic landscapes, freedom and independence, and grit and challenge. It embodies all that you dream of being able to do, all you dream you might be capable of fulfilling. It holds a revered place in our hearts and minds....

Being lower on the food chain...

7/20/2020

In the outhouse overlooking Twin Lakes, Gary TItus has put a series of comic strips depicting various Alaskan backcountry humor, mostly about bears. Gary has been bluff charged over ten times and survived an attack by a grizzly about a 10 minute walk from where I sit now....

Reflections on Alaska

7/20/2020

When I think I on my time in the true wild of Alaska- 28 miles by float plane to the next signs of civilization- I ask myself what it was I was looking for and whether or not I found it. What was it I was seeking exactly? I think it is what Dick Proenneke and all of those called to Alaska are searching for.

The best way I have to explain it is to use what I found here....

2nd Best Campsites

5/3/2020

Last weekend was a big reminder of one of the most frequent backpacker experiences out there…. Rounding the corner after slogging all day only to discover that that primo, dreamed about, fantasized about all day site has been settled into by another backpacker. (Cue the let down sounds: whaaannt…whannnnt…whaannnnnt.)
Ugh! Immediately the second guessing begins. If only we hadn’t stopped for donuts. If we had left earlier. If we had hiked faster. If we had gone Friday instead of Saturday… and on and on and on. And it never fails that the sun is setting pristinely over the horizon and the glow off their tent is just right....