Alaska--By Sea Summer 2012

This post about our Alaskan cruise does not belong on our RV blog at all, but since Apple discontinued Mobile Me, I don't have a good place to post photos outside of Facebook, so I'm cheating. Big time.

In the meantime, I can say that this post relates to RV travel in that we INTEND to get there by RV, but need a long stretch of time where we aren't needed  in the Lower 48. And since it was a personal goal to reach 50 by 50 (50 states by age 50), we had to get to Alaska this summer to knock off #50. Yay!

So here is a small selection of our Alaskan photos--from the two gorgeous days we had (Tracy Arm glaciers, canoeing in Juneau to another glacier, and fishing in Ketchikan (Lisa) to seaplaning to see the bears (Julie) as well as the other 5 soggy and/or foggy days. The place is beautiful no matter what the weather.

Without further narration, I give you our Alaskan cruise on the Seven Seas Navigator (pictured here a few times):

Looking Forward

I realize we haven't posted in forever, but that's because we've been staying close to home or, in my case, using the #*$& airlines to visit my folks in Florida this summer (goodness, but I hate flying) and this blog is supposed to be reserved for our RV travel....

We were staying off the road this summer because (a) we aren't keen high-season campers and (b) our big trip to Africa this fall is where we're focusing our resources.

However, we've been invited to join a very nice group of gals on a camping trip to Mammoth Pools National Forest up in the Sierra Nevada over Labor Day. From the NFS:

We'll be boondocking as the sole RVers, while the rest of the gang will be tent camping. I'll finally get to test out my Dutch oven since there'll be a crowd to cook for AND someone handier than I to start and tend the fire. And we'll be traveling relatively lightly--no dog, just weekend provisions--so I can justify bringing the cast iron ;-)

Then, we are lining up the following trips:

Napa Valley for Halloween (Boethe State Park) with our friend from Chicago. We've never camped 3 to the coach, but we'll give it a shot. Think we'll drive up our Honda Element separately so we can do some mountainous touring/tasting.

Another visit to my parents' home in Florida, with a possible detour in Illinois for my 30th HS reunion, if they decide to hold it over Thanksgiving. Dicey weather, but what the heck. We haven't decided what we'll see on this trip (our 4th?) to the East Coast and back....

And, if the 3 to the coach trip goes well, we promised another friend (as her 50th birthday present) to take her to the Grand Canyon; it's on her bucket list. Thinking Feb/March....

And we keep looking at next spring/summer: Alaska or all the way over to New England/Maritime Provinces? So many considerations. An Alaskan cruise, with rental car/hotel extension to see Denali sure sounds easier. But then there's the 4th of July bash in D.C. we don't want to miss--our college buddy's returning from yet another tour of Iraq. Can't miss that.

So much to think about! In the meantime, we did take Rocksie on an exercise tour that got out of hand--just meant to make a little country Sunday drive, but we forgot that our road (Carmel Valley Road, or G16) takes many, many miles to reach Hwy 101. Our little loop was over 100 miles, but it was a beautiful drive,

we got to fill up Rocksie's tank (since we were recently reminded to store her full to avoid algae growth!), and we tried out driving around without Nick.

On that note, we are starting to investigate sources for a new German shepherd to come into our home around the first of the year....