Summer Roadtrip: Seattle to Deadhorse, Alaska

Hellooo!

We just got back from a two week road trip up to Alaska. We splashed around in the Arctic Ocean and then spent a few days with Chris' family.

Here is our route:

Seattle to Deadhorse (c) and then back down to Anchorage (d). Our grand total: 3,700 miles.

Basically, it's like driving from Seattle to Miami, with a detour to Chicago, and then adding on a few hundred additional miles. 

The kids were fantastic road trippers. We swam in hot springs, saw a bunch of cool wildlife, and drove to the top of the world. nbd.

One of the highlights for me was seeing a wild wolf in Canada:

Alaska Fish & Game has allowed the big packs of Denali to be shot by trophy hunters so I'd pretty much given up hope on seeing our largest native wild canine.

Until this guy loped across the road in Kluane National Park in the Yukon.  My background is in environmental science and wildlife biology; seeing this guy made me giddy.

Other favorites:

Liard Hot Springs in BC.

And the Arctic Circle in the very, very far north:

The is only one reason that there is a road north from Fairbanks across the arctic tundra: the pipeline. Love it or hate it, this big 'ole pipe gave us access to scenery rarely seen by the casual tourist.

Don't let anyone convince you that the arctic is a flat, boring place. It is spectacular.

But when they say that Deadhorse is a dump...well, they weren't lying. :) The sweet ladies at the general store were thrilled to see kids, however. 

The road stops here: Beaufort Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean. Temperature: a freezing 38 degrees fahrenheit.

And then we headed south to spend a desperately needed week of relaxation with my in-laws. After two weeks of roughing it in the truck camper, we were ready for showers, clean laundry, and a bed that wasn't on wheels.

Observe: the laziest fisherman that ever lived. 

And now, time to start school. We have a KINDERGARTENER this year!! Eek.

xo,

Sonja


Two more favorites:

Mama Moose.

Kluane Lake in the Yukon (Canada).

Trips: Camping on Vancouver Island

Hello!

It's been a while.


I go through phases with the blog....sometimes I'm johnny-on-the-spot when it comes to posting, other times it's like I've fallen off the face of the earth.

In other words, it's been a bit of a blogging dry spell.

We've been outside taking advantage of this beautiful Spring weather and trying to keep our lives only moderately crazy.

We went camping up in Tofino, British Columbia this weekend. Tofino is located about halfway up Vancouver Island on the western (Pacific) coast. We drove up to Canada and then hopped aboard a ferry over to the island. Upon landing in Nanaimo, it was a three hour drive across the island to the small towns of Tofino and Ucluelet. Vancouver Island is huge; it's the largest island in the Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand.

We stayed at the Green Point Campground at the Pacific Rim National Park and it quickly became one of my favorite campgrounds due to the secluded spots and proximity to both hiking trails and beaches. Also, Canadians seem to be a bit more respectful of personal space and noise. There wasn't a single night in which fellow campers were playing their music too loudly or causing disturbances.

 Chris and I are still figuring out our perfect camping situation. We'd love to have a location where the kids can run absolutely wild. Ben and Emma, at 5 and 2, are loud rambunctious kids and there are very few places that they are allowed to be completely free. Even at the campground we are constantly setting rules in regards to noise, destruction of vegetation, and Ben's yearning to visit all the other campsites and have a fireside chat with the occupants.

That said, we're still deciding if we're entirely comfortable striking off into the wilderness by ourselves and wild camping. It seems lovely....but also a bit risky, considering that we have two very young children. Perhaps Chris and I have seen too many horror movies about crazies lurking in the woods. You know, ax murders and shady folk intent on defending their illicit pot grow operations. 

What do you think? Would you go camping off the grid with your little ones? Would you do it if you had friends (ie additional adults) with you? If so, any recommendations for spots in Washington State? I'm of two minds on this one. 

Ben is avidly interested in wildlife and we need to start keeping notes so he can record all his critters. He's careful to list the lowly slug right next to the bears and whales. That's my boy. 

The highlight of the weekend for me was the whale watching trip that we took amongst the islands. It ended up just being the captain, our family, and another family that had two boys, ages 4 and 6. All three boys had an absolute hoot running around the boat, nagging the pilot, and playing wildly. I still can't believe that nobody went overboard.

In total, we were lucky to see 4 humpbacks feeding in a shallow cove. Ben was enthralled.

Ack. Sorry for the blurry pictures. Still haven't pulled the trigger on a new camera and my old lens is suffering.

Here was a larger crustacean, farther out in the bay.

Bottoms up!

Emma did her best to hang with the big kids but she was having a rough day, as her nap schedule was thrown into disarray. We definitely struggled this trip to get a good routine set up for Emma. A month ago we took a similar camping trip down to Central Oregon and she seemed to do just fine. But she hasn't been napping well in the car during the long hours on the road and that, combined with the late nights around the campfire, were hard for our littlest babe. So we'll have to work on that for future trips.

After the whales it was time for a visit to the local Stellar sea lion colony.

Playing? Fighting? Who knows.

If you're planning a visit, we especially enjoyed the inland Rainforest Trail and the Lighthouse Loop near Ucluelet. Long Beach (as accessed via Green Point Campground) also had nice tide pools where we spotted fish, anemones, and jellyfish. 

We went to Chesterman Beach to watch the surfers, but decided that a game of soccer was more entertaining (and warmer). Those surfers were hard core; I was freezing just watching them paddling about in the frigid waters.

The tide pools at Long Beach. I nearly dipped my phone in the water trying to get this picture. 

Ben and his dead sea lion. "Whoa Mama, check out all the flies!!!"

And to top it all off, we ran into this guy. Love them bears. 

And that, my dears, was our trip to Tofino. Definitely worth a visit.

xo,
Sonja

Summer Camp 2015

Whoa nelly, peeps. We just got back from a crazy camping weekend with friends up on the Mountain Loop Highway.

Here are the stats:

-12 adults.
-10 kids (ranging in age from 1 - 4).
-One group campground on the Stillaguamish River in the North Cascades.


Sounds like a recipe for chaotic trip, yes?

Heck yeah.

But in a fantastic, crazy, hilarious way. It was pure, unadulterated chaos. 

I have such fond memories of going camping with my family and friends when I was a little one and am thus determined to recreate this experience for my own children. So we persuaded family friends  to join us on a group camping trip at the end of July.

I was a little bit nervous prior to the trip. We were the common hub amongst all the families; what if not everyone jelled? Six four-year-olds (plus younger siblings) could very well be a recipe for disaster.

What if the bugs were horrible and it rained the entire time?

How many kids were going to fall in the river?

I shouldn’t have worried.

The big kids turned into a roving pack that tumbled through the camp like tasmanian devils.  They laughed, they bounced, they fought, they made up, and then they did it all over again.

And loved it. Wee ones are perfectly suited to grubby camping.

And the adults traded off on kid duties, cooked up group meals, and discussed the finer points of campfire building. 

Another happy little grubber. 

I am a new convert to group meals. Each family was responsible for providing one meal for the trip for the entire crew. You know me, peeps, I’ll do anything I can to get out of cooking three meals a day while on vacation (or at home, for that matter). 

Our camper build-out is 95% complete. We now have shades on the windows, which means I don’t have an audience when using the pot. Yessss.

Emma rolled out of bed the first night, which wasn’t great, but we made a few modifications for Night #2 and she slept like a champ. Which made this mama happy because I didn’t have a kicking, squirming baby that came into my sleeping area in the wee hours of the morning. Definitely a win.

This was our 4th camping trip this summer and I’m finally feeling like we’re getting the hang of it. Baby steps, peeps!

On Saturday, the whole crew did a 4 mile hike, and the kiddos spent most of it running up the trail. Our family did this hike back in March and practically had to drag Ben up the last quarter mile. Not the case this time around. Friends are good for keeping the enthusiasm levels high. Especially for my fiercely competitive son.

I love this picture of K. She’s a glorious little forest nymph. 

Classic four year old boy, right?!

At last, our lake!

The awkwardly named but beautiful Beaver Plant Lake. Still one my most favorite hikes on the Mountain Loop Highway.

Another perk of this camping trip? Having a professional photographer along for the ride!! Bronwen Houck is a fellow mom, friend, and fantastically talented photographer. These photos were all taken by her and you may remember her work from our holiday card last year. That’s her daughter K, down below, striking a pose with Ben and E.

This little baby girl is rocking those shades. Looking good, Em!

A rest break for some wild blueberry picking.

Back at camp the kids hung out and relaxed after the big hike. Two year old C, below, kept everyone entertained as comedian of the group. Emma was enthralled by his antics.

I am now convinced that a hammock is the most import piece of camp gear ever. This thing is like a non-human babysitter. Good for hours of fun.

And then it was time for a little swimming.  Coal Creek campsite has a fantastic water hole. The water was freezing but weirdly bearable after a while. Perhaps we were just numb.

These brave kiddos were totally killing it. Cowabunga!

Everyone was moving slowly on Sunday morning. We had a gradual wake-up, which included copious quantities of hot cocoa and story time. For both the kids and the story-teller (me). 

Emma got milk drunk and fell in the (cold, not lit) fire pit. E is admiring her bravery. Or the fact that the palms of her hands are solidly black from the soot.

I think that Coal Creek might just be my favorite group campground ever. The small stream was perfect for the kids, it was private, there was nearby hiking, and the swimming hole was a nice perk after a sweaty day spent on the trails. 

Love this crazy family of mine. Two days of grubby camping, poor sleep, and way too many smores, yet we’re still having the time of our lives.

The whole gang.

Can’t wait for next year.

xo,

Sonja

PS: By my count, there were at least four accidental river dunkings. :)