Adventure of a Lifetime

Our family vacation to Alaska was amazing! Hopefully it won't be just a "once-in-a-lifetime" adventure because there is so much more to see/do/explore...

What is still on your Alaska bucket list?

All:  Seeing Denali and the aurora borealis

R:  Taking the Alaska Railroad

Me:  Visiting the rest of the Alaska NPS units, including the remote fly-in parks

Exiting Alaska

Our cruise yesterday didn't actually take us within the boundaries of Kenai Fjords National Park, but our first stop today would remedy that. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and headed over to the Seward Chamber of Commerce to get the passport stamp for the park. The Exit Glacier Area is about 10 miles outside of town and is the only part of Kenai Fjords NP that is accessible by car.

☑ Unit #211 for me, #205 for R, and #156 for M/J

Cruising the Fjords

Our big adventure for today was the 6-hour Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise with Major Marine Tours. Since the tour didn't depart until 11:30AM, we headed out after breakfast for a look around Seward. 

At the southern end of town is the beginning of the Iditarod National Historic Trail. Established by Congress in 1978, the trail celebrates the route that first connected Native Alaskan villages and later served mining camps, trading posts, and other settlements founded during the Alaskan Gold Rush Era (1880-1920). Sled dog teams were the only reliable means to transport goods and people along the route in winter. Most notably, when a diphtheria outbreak threatened the residents of Nome in 1925, the only way to get them enough serum for inoculations was by train from Anchorage to Nenana, and then mushers and their sled dog teams (have you heard the story of Balto?) relayed the precious cargo the final 674 miles in less than 5.5 days.

 

938 miles from Seward to Nome

Roll Tide

We had breakfast in the lodge before checking out this morning. Since we had a little bit of time before our float plane was scheduled to depart, we went out for one last look at the bears from the lower river platforms.

Monsters of the Midway

For our last full day in Katmai National Park, we spent most of our time hanging out with the bears. I had asked the lodge about the possibility of a flightseeing tour to visit Alagnak Wild River, Aniakchak National Monument & Preserve, and the preserve portion of Katmai, but nothing could be arranged for today. Guess we'll have to come back to Alaska another time to check those units off my bucket list!

Another sign pic

Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes

When making our reservations for Brooks Lodge back in January 2024, I also booked us on the day-long bus tour out to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes to ensure that we had spots. Good thing I didn't wait until we got here because the tour was full, and there were several people at the check-in spot this morning hoping to take the place of any no-shows. 

Here are a few foggy bear pics that I took while we were waiting for the tour to start at 9:00AM...

Now that's a fat bear!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

After checking out of the hotel and returning the rental car this morning, we started the second leg of our trip with a one-hour Alaska Airlines flight from Anchorage to King Salmon. 

Cook Inlet

Northern Exposure

As we were getting ready to check out of our room at the Denali Lakeview Inn this morning, we watched a moose stroll across the yard.

"Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat..."

Into the Wild

Because our Tundra Wilderness Tour wasn't scheduled to depart until 3:00PM, we had more than half a day to explore Denali National Park on our own. So, we took our time getting out the door this morning.

Another view of Otto Lake from our room at the inn

On the Trail of Manny, Sid, and Diego

Yesterday was Easter Sunday, so we went to the church we attended when we lived here in Chicago. Easter breakfast has been a long-standing tradition, so it was nice to have a chance to chat with many old friends and family before the service.

After church, we went back to R's aunties' to pack our bags for a quick trip up to Wisconsin. Then we headed over in the late afternoon to crash the gathering at R's cousin's son's house. (This is his dad's side of the family that we usually see when we come back to Chicago, as well as in Vegas at our reunions.) Most of the cousins' kids now have littles of their own, so it was fun to watch them scramble around the backyard to hunt for Easter eggs! We hung out for a bit after dinner (so much good food!) and then hit the road straight from there. Once on I-90 west, it took us about 2 hours to reach our hotel in Madison, WI.

Around the Beltway

For our penultimate day in the DMV, we planned to visit four parks in both Maryland and DC proper. Two of them are official units in the National Park System, and two are managed as part of the National Capital Parks unit. Because our first stop was in Maryland on the opposite side of DC, we decided to drive a clockwise loop around the Beltway (I-495), getting a little later start than usual to avoid morning commuter traffic.

80 miles, 2 hours

Sunday Drive

This morning we checked out of our hotel in downtown DC and took I-395 S to I-695 E across the Anacostia River to I-295 S. Once we entered Maryland, we continued south on MD-210 to our first destination of the day, Fort Washington Park. This checks off my 200th park visited, and it just so happens to be celebrating its 200th anniversary this year. How cool is that?!

200th for #200!

By George

The first stop on our tour of the DMV was Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, VA. Although the performance season ended in September, we were still able to access the park and hike the grounds this morning.

☑ Unit #191

Trail of Tears

Three units in the southeastern part of Colorado were on today's itinerary. In prototypical Saiki-delic fashion, we gobbled down a quick breakfast in the hotel and were on the road by 7:15AM. We arrived in Eads, CO around 9:00AM, just as the ranger was raising the flag and opening up the Visitor and Education Center for Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site.

360 miles, 6 hours

Stuck in the Middle with You

When we road trip, we are usually sleeping in a different place each night. Throw in exhaustion from the previous day's activities on top of disorientation from only being semi-conscious, and it's almost guaranteed that I will narrowly miss bashing my face into a wall as I try to find my way to the bathroom in the dark without my glasses. Today I woke up in the middle of the night especially confused, thinking that we were home because the winds were howling outside just like the Santa Anas in Southern California. 

And they were still gusting at about 30 mph(!) this morning at Fort Larned National Historic Site when we arrived around 8:30AM. After getting our obligatory pic of the entrance sign, we drove in to the parking lot and walked about a quarter-mile to the visitor center. 

Hang on!

On the Prairie

After eating a quick breakfast in the hotel this morning, we checked out and headed south on US-69, arriving at Fort Scott National Historic Site just before 9:00AM. From the alert on their website, I knew that the park buildings were temporarily closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but it didn't occur to me that it also meant the visitor center would not be staffed. Oof. 🤦🏻‍♀️ 

☑ Unit #182

A Journey of a Thousand Miles...

...begins with a single step.  -Lao Tzu

Or, in this case, a journey of *three* thousand miles begins with a single *park*!

In order to get to our last two stops in Independence, MO before closing time, we had to stick to a tight schedule today. So we said our goodbyes to my parents and were on the road by 7:45AM. 

An hour later, we arrived at Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield. Since we have been here many times before, this was just going to be a "stamp-and-run" stop. But because the visitor center wasn't open yet, we walked over for a selfie in front of the house while we waited.

Wagons Ho!

Our main purpose for this trip was to box up the last of R's family mementos and bring them back with us to CA. I guess we could have shipped most of the stuff, but how exactly do you pack antique samurai swords? That's not exactly something that we'd trust in a checked bag either... 🤔

So, since we had to drive cross-country, I was very excited to map out a route to visit several national park units on our one-way trek, especially because the ones in the middle of the U.S. require some intentional effort for us to get there. For the most part, we will be following the Santa Fe National Historic Trail from Kansas City, MO to Santa Fe, NM, with a few detours in Kansas over the next week. 

Head 'em up! Move 'em out! 

Ten Crucial Days

When R and I received an invite to the wedding of our close friends' daughter, we decided to tack on some extra days and make a vacation out of it! Working son (M) and college son (J) didn't come with, so just us two empty-nesters flew into Newark yesterday. 

The air quality is so much better than it was a week ago!

Travel tip: Seats 48A/B on a Boeing 777-200 are great because there is no third seat in the row = extra room for economy price!

Animal Kingdom

The last time I attended this scientific conference in person was four years ago in Atlanta. Due to the pandemic, the next three were virtual. However, this year we are back to "normal" along with thousands of other attendees in Orlando. 

My colleagues and I flew in yesterday, but instead of going with them to check into our hotel next to the convention center, I rented a car and headed about 45 minutes east to Titusville. I was a little nervous about driving and staying overnight solo, but when chasing national park units, you gotta do what you gotta do...