Pick a Place – Wandering Dawgs

This week, Tina has challenged us to capture the spirit of a place that is vivid in you memory.

My husband and I have been fortunate to be able to travel to most of the United States, parts of Canada, and a few other foreign countries. The one place that I think of most often is the state of Alaska.

It’s been six years since we towed our fifth wheel over 14,000 miles to Alaska and back. There are so many things that make Alaska memorable. The people are friendly and proud of their state. The mountains and glaciers took my breath away every where we went. I was constantly on the lookout for wildlife and often saw bears or moose beside the road. Sometimes we would be the only vehicle on the road for miles.

One of our favorite towns was Haines. We loved all the great people, the Hammer Museum, eagles and bears, and fresh Dungeness Crab for dinner. Probably best of all was the waterfront view from the campground. We enjoyed our cocktail hour searching for whales and watching the ships go by.

It's only raining to the left — View from our campground in Haines

As we traveled around Alaska we would sometimes drive for miles without seeing another car. I was constantly on the looking for bears and moose.

Beautiful view along the highway — Gorgeous scenery every where we went

20130714Day-60Talkeetna-to-Wasilla-(5) — Moose cow and calf crossing the road

One of our most memorable days was the day we left the fifth wheel in the RV park in North Pole and drove north on the Dalton Highway. After stopping at the Arctic Circle we continued on to Coldfoot, the farthest north we have ever traveled. At Coldfoot we turned around and arrived back at the camper after 10:00 pm and it was still daylight.

We traveled behind the motorcycle as we followed behind a pilot truck — Behind a motorcycle on the Dalton Highway

On a wildlife cruise from Seward, the captain turned off the engines so we could hear the ice calving at Aialik Glacier.

Calving on Aialik Glacier — Ice calving on Aialik Glacier on the Kenai Fjords trip from Seward

One of my favorite things in Alaska was seeing wildlife.

I’ll never forget the Orcas cruising close by our boat on a wildlife cruise from Valdez.

Pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez — A pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez

The mama bear was too busy finding fish for her cub to pay attention to us.

Mama bear looking for more fish near Valdez

There were more bald eagles in Alaska than anywhere else I’ve ever been. As we rode close to the shoreline on one of the wildlife cruises there were too many eagles perched in the trees to count.