June in Alaska

The saying midnight sun has a whole new meaning to us. WOW! We celebrated the Summer Solstice which is the longest day of the year and truly felt it with the 22 hours of sunlight. We have been observing the days growing longer but have become use to it. It seems like nothing to be sitting around at 11:30pm and it still looks like 7pm. The sun sets just after midnight now, but there’s still enough light to see across the street to the park when it finally does set. We have hit the hottest temps so far (79 degrees) and we were sweating like pigs. We got a pleasant surprise that Ashley and Michele’s first flight to AK would be covered by the PCS move paid for by the military. Their trip left much to be desired by the airline company. They were to have a non-stop flight from Phoenix to Anchorage. Julie agreed to drive them to Phoenix from Tucson to ensure a straight flight. When they arrived at the airport they were greeted by extremely rude staff as they tried checking in Ashley’s Yorkshire terrier. The dog got checked in but the girls were not seated together on the plane. Then they board the non-stop flight to Anchorage. Well I guess the flight had a change of plans as they stopped over in Vegas. The girls were asked to exit the plane and were told by the staff they were not sure if there would be seating available for them. WHAT???? Two teenagers, in Las Vegas, tickets paid for straight flight to Anchorage, Mom in Arizona, and Dad in Alaska. Yes, we have begun the grievance with the airline company. We are just ecstatic the girls made it safely and can now experience Alaska with us.

They made it just in time for Fathers day. Brad could not have asked for a better gift than to have all 5 kids with him. He also received some wanted CD’s and a new bottle of cologne. Before we even arrived in AK we were told we HAD to eat at the Moose’s tooth pizza restaurant. They also have a brewery so for father’s day we headed to the Moose’s Tooth and dined on some delicious pizza and Brad sampled some of the most popular brews.

The base has many activities for families. We are getting familiar with the Artic oasis which is a huge indoor activity area. Inside there is a miniature golf, a climbing wall, a skate park, a teen center, a game room to include pool table, air hockey and fooze ball, a computer lab, TV area, park equipment, and full gym with teenager equipment too. They offer many different classes for families too. I can see we will be spending a lot of time here in the winter. We attended a base picnic with live entertainment, free food, games and a bald eagle release. A local bird rehabilitation center worked to rehabilitate a bald eagle that had an abscess on its wing. We have been taught by a Lakota tribesman that eagles carry prayers on the wings to the creator. The kids and I took a minute to share our prayers with the eagle to ask that he carry them away. It was amazing to see a wild animal that had been unable to fly for a year and a half gracefully fly into the horizon.

I have been visiting the local scrapbooking stores in the area. I have been asked to teach so I will begin teaching at the arts and crafts center on base and also a local scrapbooking store in Wasilla. I am super excited! I miss working at Archivers. That has defiantly been my most favorite job. I learned SOOO much that I hope I will be able to inspire scrappers here.

We got to attend a fun family show. The Severy Iditarod dog show is a slap stick hour long skit that teaches the history, hard work and dedication needed for the Famous Iditarod race. When even meet a famous star from the movie 8 below.

The girls have started an Irish dance class. They love it and caught on really quick. We have even borrowed River Dance from the local library and have watched it A LOT.

We got to participate in another homeschool event. This time it was an out of this world fair. Men in Black, Harry Potter, Gilligan’s Island, The Hobbit, Star Wars and Legend of Zelda were some of the favorite booths.

We have been biking about 25 miles a night. We like to ride our bikes to the base movie theater (very cheap) to see current releases. We also were recommended to a Chinese restaurant called China Town just out side one of the gates so we ride to that for dinner.

We love to go for drives. No matter where you are going the views are drop dead gorgeous. There are mountains in the distance and the ocean on the edge of town with lakes scattered everywhere. The wildflowers are crowding the curbs and sidewalks. I mean the Fireweed is eye popping magenta and the Lupines are a deep blue. On our many drives we have seen hillsides that are overtaken by daisies. We even were able to find a patch of wild Iris growing, my moms fav flower. The trees are very beautiful but also very sappy. Every morning you can see the sticky coating across the trucks. While talking to other RVers you can literally see the honey drops falling from the trees.

We were asked to volunteer as assistant host. This is an awesome opportunity to us. This is our dream once Brad retires so getting some experience under our belt is nice. We also get to stay free which is my favorite stay. Roy is the camp host and has been doing it for many years. He retired from the Air Force during the Vietnam War. He also heads to the lower 48 for the winter. We just do as he tells us too and help people when needed. Some funny stories and some really stupid Girl Scout leaders keep us entertained. The leaders decided to ignore the NO OPEN FIRE base wide ban and started a fire on the ground. They didn’t even clear the 1” of dead leaves from last year before setting the logs a blaze on the ground. Seeing how I am a Natural Resources student, Girl Scout leader, Boy Scout leader and common sense camp host, I about lost it when they got attitude that we asked them to extinguish the fire

Brad has many opportunities to volunteer here. He signed us up for a cancer relay for life event. The kids helped sell candy and glow sticks to the runner/walkers. Then they decorated several paper bags to place a candle inside to remember our family members who have lost their lives to cancer. My maternal grandmother died of breast cancer, my godfather and paternal uncle to pancreatic cancer, Brad’s maternal grandfather to cancer and Zac and Kenzie’s paternal uncle to childhood leukemia. They were also hosting a midnight crop to scrapbook too. Anyone who knows me knows my truck is a storage unit for my scrapbooking supplies, so of course I had to go and play too.

We have been taking advantage of the 2 pools on the Air Force base and Army post. Both of them are free and a lot of fun. Again, this is another activity that will be great in the winter.

We are still seeing alot of wildlife. We have a little black bear that stays in the RV park. Photo was taken about 11:30pm and you can still see the sun peeking through the trees. Also a few moose that visit daily too.

May in Alaska

Our dream has come true. We have only lived in Alaska for one month and we’re SOLD!! When we got here the ground was still frozen and trees were bare. The grass was dead and the mountains were brown. In the short time we have been here there has been an explosion of color. Slowly we saw the Birch trees sprout green buds and by the end of the month they began to unfold and fill the bare trees. We observed the grass piercing up through the soil in little sporadic clumps to say hello to the sky which has been stunning blue with white fluffy clouds. Dandelions are bursting up in groves and adding bright yellow patches on the ground. The mountains are now velvety green with the contrast of the lime green Birch leaves and the deep forest green of the Spruce and Black Spruce. The days are getting longer so for a night owl like me it allows me to stay outside longer than normal. The downside to that is nothing stays open longer even though it is light out until 11pm now.

We picked up Bullwinkle, my truck, from the shippers just after we arrived in Anchorage. The grill was damaged but everything else looked good. I am relived. I was told some gruesome stories about broken windshields and excessive body damage. I have a sentimental attachment to vehicles so it is nice to have him home :)

We are now in the market for a home (without wheels under it) so the search is on. We have been driving around looking at land and houses and we have come to a conclusion. Alaska is not like any other state we have lived in. You’ll be driving along looking at $500,000 homes with a meth lab trailer right next door that has been collecting trash (no lie) for YEARS!! We are looking outside of Anchorage in Wasilla, which is about 45 miles away. We knew it was our kind of town because you can ride 4 wheelers and snow machines to the store. Ya can’t get any better than that!

We have been getting together with our friends Kari and Lawrence and catching up while doing some barbequing. They have introduced us to some food joints they have found and fun activities to do. Lawrence is in the Army and just made Sgt. He asked Brad to pin him at the ceremony. This is a great honor and Brad was more than willing to do this.

We even got to go on a vacation 3 weeks after arriving in AK. The base gives out free tickets to ride the local train so we got 5 round trip tickets to Seward, AK. We made reservations at the Army resort down there for the evening. The ride was really awesome and we all enjoyed it. None of the kids had ever been on a train before so this was huge ordeal. The train cut between the mountains and followed the coast for about 120 miles. We passed a glacier and miles and miles of untouched land. Seward is a beautiful little town where LOTS of fishing takes place. It is nestled in between snow-capped mountains that are sterling grey. The weekend was 65 degrees and clear blue skies. We hiked all around after getting a Starbuck’s coffee. We practiced skipping rocks and all improved our skills. We hiked back to our room and Barbequed dinner. The next day we hiked down to the Aquatic sea life center. The kids had a blast touching the star fish and they finally got to see the puffins. The ride home was just a beautiful and relaxing as the ride there.

For Mother’s day we met up with Kari and Lawrence again and ate at Garcia’s. We used to go to one in Tucson so we were familiar with the restaurant. The food was delicious and the margaritas were great. So was the company.

About a week after we got here I picked up Brad from work to run some errands and I got pulled over on base. Not for speeding either. Guess I spent too much time in California as I was told I stopped like they do. The SP was really nice and just gave me a warning.

Late one night after leaving our friends about 1:30am I was driving back to the RV and noticed a weird glare on the windshield. I asked Brad what it was and we soon figured out we were experiencing the Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights. The show was only about 5 minutes but the unexpected change of colors and the gliding movement through the sky was breath taking. The pictures and postcards do not do it justice.

Our wildlife viewing has been exciting. There are moose every where to include just outside our RV door. Thor was out on his run frozen in fear when the moose came looking for the down trees in the site next to ours. Brad saw the first black bear across the street from FamCamp at one of the lakes on base. The next day the kids and I saw a mama and her cub playing in a grassy area. Bald eagles, porcupines and fox are sighted daily.

I love when Brad is on vacation as he can let his beard grow out. He looks like a mountain man as Kari calls it. I am saddened cuz I know it is going bye –bye because he starts work soon.

We found a homeschool group and attended their World Fair event. It was pretty cool. You got a passport and traveled to different booths that represented different countries and learned about the culture, language, yadda, yadda and for ten cents you could sample the food. Jeovaun and Diego (Kari’s homeschooled sons) went with us so the kids had a blast. The only downer was when Kaela and Diego popped whole chunks of brie into their mouths. They were not expecting such a unique flavor.

We have been riding our bikes all over base. No hills and low elevation compared to CO makes us feel like athletes.

We will be staying at FamCamp and volunteering as the assistant host for now. We are more than excited and hope we can stay here until we find our home. Brad is able to ride his bike to work as it is literally across the street. It takes him longer to drive and park than to ride his bike.

Life in Alaska is wonderful

We have been here 1 month and still cannot believe how lucky we are to live somewhere so beautiful. We will be posting once a month from here on out about life in Alaska. I was finally able to post the last leg of the trip on the blog and will be posting the 1st month here by the end of the week. We miss you all and look forward to seeing you here in Alaska soon. If you would like to see the other photos from the trip just let me know and I can burn a cd and mail it off. We want to thank everyone for their best wishes and heartfelt prayers as we journeyed 6000 miles to our new home. We had a fun and safe trip thanks to your positive energy and supportive comments. With our hearts we thank you. The Becker Bunch

DAY 26

We made it!!!

We awoke about 100 miles from Elmendorf A.F.B. We opened the blinds and ate breakfast over looking a beautiful mountain range with a gorgeous lake and trees and even ice glaciers in the distance. After we cleaned up from breakfast we began heading towards the base. The excitement is building. The drive is amazing, trees and lakes just along the side of the road.

We pull on base and drive around looking for FamCamp (in our book it says follow the signs, right by the hospital). It was slow driving as it was lunch time and traffic was heavy. It didn’t help we are on a new base and pulling a 32’ trailer. I call base info to ask for directions which was a waste of time. They say to call the visitor center. We found the fitness center first so showers here we come. It was nice to take a long shower after being on the road. We found FamCamp and pulled in. We found out the water is turned off so the lines won’t freeze. It’s all good. We can handle boon docking we just need to dump our tanks.

They have a dump station but no water to flush our tanks. So we begin looking for the dump station on Lambert Street. The camp host gives us directions and we are off. We circle around for another ½ hour before calling the information again to ask for Lambert as we can not find it. They don’t know where that is either and tell me to call the visitor center again. I call the visitor center and get an airmen whom when I ask for the location of Lambert Street tells me she doesn’t know where that is. I ask her to look on the base map to see if she can locate it as we are still circling with our 32’ trailer. She informs me that it is NOT her job. She tells me to call the information desk, which is the place that referred me to her. So to the visitor center we go to get a base map. We make it off base, through the zig-zag barricades to meet her and get a base map and then back through the barricades to find it ourselves. We looked a little longer and said forget it and headed back to famcamp. The host asked how it went and we filled him in with the details of our excursion. The only thing we could think was with all the construction going on, they removed the signs.

I take Thor out for a walk and start talking to a fellow RVer. He and his wife are PCSing to Travis and will RV fulltime there too. We begin swapping tips for the trip down and RVing here. He even gives Brad some fresh Halibut fish.

We drop the house and go to get our 1st Starbucks in Alaska at the BX on base. Then we head over to see our long time friends Kari and Lawrence. They are stationed at FT. Richardson and said next time they see us they want Brad to do his famous Sprinkler dance. We pulled up to the back of their house and Brad hopped out and rang the doorbell. As soon as Kari comes to the door Brad breaks into his dance. She was surprised because she didn’t think we would be there that soon.

We had a great time hanging out, as if we had never been apart. They barbequed quite a spread and we didn’t leave until 12:30pm because they work in the morning. We are home and loving it.

DAY 25

If things go well we will be in Alaska today. We woke to a beautiful setting of snow covered mountains with trees as far as the eye can see.

The scrap booker in me HAD to take photos of us crossing into Alaska. Smart me thought ahead just for this photo op and bought extra batteries before we left Colorado. I put them some where safe to keep them from getting lost. When I needed more juice for the digital camera I would have them on hand and know just where to find them. Guess what?? Those bad boys are really safe cuz I have no idea where I put them. So I had to buy $9 batteries (4 AA) as I have missed place the ones I set aside for the trip and the low battery sign is on.

The worst part of the road has been the last 150 miles to the border. There are A LOT of frost heaves with no break. We have seen more orange flags than we can count. We averaged about 30mph during this stretch. Brad was more then ready to get through this area.

I think the Yukon is the prettiest area I have ever seen in all my travels. There are about 30k people in the entire providence and 20k of them reside in Whitehorse. Look at a map of the Yukon to understand the size of land and you’ll realize how sparsely populated it is. There was a stretch for 108 miles that did not have any services. We even passed a sign that said we were leaving the 911 service area.

The bathrooms along the highway were a big disappointment and are disgusting. We’re hoping it is due to winter weather and will be kept better in summer months. There is a lot of trash everywhere especially at the rest stops. Thank God for the RV.

We made it to Tok, AK by 3pm. This was a good thing for a few reasons. We had phone service again and our internet air card picked up service too. We crossed our final time zone and lost an hour. Kissed the Alaska ground and stepped in 2 countries at once. And most importantly we found diesel for $2.96/gallon…and we were happy about it!! We stopped and talked to our horse trailer friends again and exchanged phone numbers. We will have to get together with them when we get settled.

We left out of Tok with about 300 miles to Anchorage. We knew we were right where we belong when we saw ATVs driving around the town to run errands. We kept driving until Brad noticed it was already 10pm and it was just starting to get dark. We decided to stop about 115 miles North of Anchorage and called it day.

A feeling of home has come over us. The kids are even remarking the beauty and it doesn’t have anything to do with video games! We knew our trip was a success when Zac called daddy Jason saying, “It doesn’t even feel like we have been traveling for a month.”

Wildlife count for bald eagles, moose, and caribou increases each day. Today we added a new animal to the count. We saw a load of bunnies in the trees right along side the road.

We will try to get some sleep but we are beyond excited!!

DAY 24

Happy Earth Day! I couldn’t have chosen a better way to spend it than traveling through Canada. We had a relaxing evening talking with the owner of the Downtown RV park and horse trailer guy, Jim. Jim and his wife, Pip, purchased a deluxe horse trailer in Idaho and were bringing it home to Anchorage.

We paid $23 for a camp site which was the most we had paid on our trip so far but it turned out to be well worth it. The owner had cable and even turned on the Speed channel so we could watch the race in the RV, GO JR!!! The bathroom and laundry facilities were the cleanest we had seen for quite some time.

Morning came and we began our never ending climb up mount laundry. We pulled out just before lunch with a quick stop at sign post forest. The last official count was over 600,000 signs from all over the world. We even added a sign for friends of ours, Kari wuz here, as an inside joke.

We filled up with diesel but only because we had to. It really hurt at an eye gouging price of $3.78/gallon. OUCH!!! We only filled up enough to get us to Whitehorse where we were relieved to fill up at a mere $3.39/gallon.

Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon providence with the largest in population in the Yukon, 20,000. We were relieved to find another Starbucks. I could smell it even before we knew if there was one in town. I ran while Brad waited in the truck. An elderly gentleman approached him while he waited and started asking questions about our Wildcat trailer. He was pretty sure that he had just purchased one or one like it. He was very friendly and talked for quite a while. The only negative thing he had to say was he really liked us Americans, but informing us that Canadians are not so happy about the war and will never forgive us (Americans).

We are beginning to see moose on a regular basis now. It reminds of Colorado Springs and seeing mule deer every day. Other favorites and frequently seen animals include caribou and red tail hawks.

Zac noticed there were no houses along the foothills of the mountains. This was unusual as every town we have lived in had houses up the side of the mountain. It was a nice change.

We are beginning to see the effects of extended sunlight. It is 10pm and it was still light enough to see clearly. When June comes around we will only have about 2 hours of “twilight” and the rest of the day will be full of sunlight.

We have seen more lakes than I have ever seen and the scenery is still breathtaking. On the other side of the coin the rest areas are . I am hoping it is because of the season and they will be tended to on a regular basis now for the summer.

We passed Jim and Pipe again and honked as we drove past. We pulled into a large rest area over looking a beautiful sunset, 10:30pm.

DAY 23

Last night we spent the night in a serene mom and pop camp ground. They have a general store on site to buy any last minute or forgotten items. The wife also makes homemade breads and cinnamon rolls daily to sell in the store, smelled yummy. During the summer months they offer horse back riding guides, fishing guides, cabins and RV hook ups and it all is nestled in between a mountain pass. It was still very early in the season so every thing is still covered in snow. But you could feel the hominess feeling this place has. We got to talking to the owners and they are putting it up for sale. They are into their 60’s and ready to relax so if you’re looking for an investment and some hard work we have found the deal for you.

We are driving through the mountain range so there are still areas with lots of snow and ice. As we drove on we found areas with break up happening. We found one of the many perfect spots and stopped. The river was clear teal blue (due to minerals from the mountains) with thick ice banks along the side of the quickly moving river. The river is bordered by crisp green pine trees that lead your eye up towards the snow capped mountains. The sky is bright baby blue with light whispy clouds suspended in the air. As we stood there taking photos and breathing in the fresh air, the music of the rapids rolling over the rocks, the moaning creek of the ice shifting along the banks and birds rustling the trees reminded me of a relaxation sound track.

We saw a young Caribou early in the day. He refused to face us once I got the camera out. We also saw a lot of Stone Mountain sheep. They are indigenous to this area and they have wiry fur and curly horns. We came up to one that would not move out of the road. The Stone sheep are licking the salt off the road so they do not want to move for nothing. It’s the equivalent of for sheep. A little further up the road we came across a hidden treasure. We turned in the Lirard natural hot springs. We were going to pay admission only to find out they don’t start to charge until May 1st. It was only $10 a car load but free is always better.

We hiked the mile to the hot springs. During spring and summer months rare orchids grow along the dock path towards the hot springs, again we were too early in the season. We were surprised to find only a handful of people in the springs. The water was anywhere from 108-120 degrees depending on where you were and if you were stirring the water. As we were relaxing we got to talking to others in the water. We found a home schooling family of 8 from Fairbanks, AK. Home schoolers kind of stand out so we instantly began conversation with them. We also started talking to a young woman on her way to Fairbanks and Denali to work for the summer at a bird observatory. She is a biologist so of course my ears perked right up and I had many questions for her. We then met John and Mary. They are another couple that RV full time and work as camp host and such. They were a wealth of information as they have been traveling this way for years. They were very impressed with our decision to RV full time with children. They wish some one would have told them about it when they were younger. After about an hour of talking, they gave us some frozen salmon they had caught on the Kenai. It is so nice meeting others with the same idea for life. I wish we were staying at the same park as they are. We could have talked to them for days. We know where they will be this summer so I think we will be paying them a visit. We had always said we wanted to visit the hot springs in Colorado before leaving but we never made the time. We all loved the hot spring and a decision was made by all today, we NEED a hot tub when we buy a house.

Once we pried ourselves out of the hot springs we made lunch and started back down the road. Not more than 5 miles away we saw our first buffalo in the wild. What beautiful animals they are. We learned from the ranger that there are several herds the largest being 400 in the area. This could be a problem for smaller vehicles as they like to lay in the road and lick the salt off the road. How would you convince a herd of buffalo to move out of your way??

We stopped in for the night at Downtown RV Park in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory. The owner was very entertaining. He had a heavy Irish accent and a quirky sense of humor. In the office, mounted on the wall is a deers rear end, sun glasses perched on the tail, the nose, and you can guess what the mouth was. The owner called it his cousin, making the kids laugh hysterically. We talked with him for over an hour and that was just while we were checking in. He kept trying to get the kids to shovel snow for him. They didn’t want any part of that. Another gentleman (horse trailer guy) walked up so we began talking with him as well. We had passed each other several times earlier in the day and day before. We did it enough that we started waving each time we passed. We will defiantly stop back in there next time we travel through the Yukon, even at $23 a night.

We plan on stopping at the Signpost Forest in the morning.