The Great White North

Jose clued me in to a feature on Google Maps that I’d never noticed before — the ability to look at a map overlaid with snapshots of the place you’re looking at. (It’s under the “More” box at the top of the map.) This had led to me scrolling all over the city of Anchorage, looking at all the cool shots of mountains and wildlife and float planes. See, we suddenly realized the other day that our trip to Alaska is just over two months away and we had made zero plans, other than returning the RSVP card for the wedding in Anchorage that is serving as our excuse for spending 10 days in the land of the midnight sun.
But we have been nothing if not productive since that realization, and two days later we now have plane tickets, 7 nights of lodging secured in Anchorage and outside Denali, and tickets for the “backcountry adventure” all the way down and back the 95-mile long road through Denali National Park. We’re in the process of choosing and scheduling the rest of our activities now, like hiking to the top of Alaska’s “most-climbed mountain” (a 3,500 foot peak outside Anchorage), whitewater rafting in the shadow of the national park, and taking a floatplane to go bear viewing a few hours outside of Anchorage, and holy crap, is this going to be an expensive vacation. I may very well spend more money for 10 days in Alaska than I spent for a full month in Europe in 2001.
But I’ll eat ramen for the next two months if I have to, because I’m SO FREAKING EXCITED about going to Alaska.