Day 4-6

We're still alive! We've survived the wilderness!
In Fairbanks we went to the University of Alaska and visited their museum. The building looks like an ice burg or the northern lights. Inside the museum was history of Alaska. Very interesting! The we went to Pioneer Park. There we went into a building where it was 40 below. I have enclosed a picture of us. We got to throw a cup of hot water into the air and watched it freeze before it hit the ground. Then we headed for Denali. Beautiful ride. Once we arrived into Denali we had to travel 1hour and 20 minutes into the park to our site. We saw the biggest moose ever! We stayed at a site with no electricity or water. Almost like real camping. It was very cold and I slept with a hat and mittens on. The next day we took a 11 hour round trip bus into the park. It was scary( to mom the girls said,again) The road was very narrow and winds around very high cliffs. (auntie shell would hate this)! We were lucky to see some incrediable scenery and animals. We saw grizzly bears, moose, caribou, golden eagles, dall sheep, cute ground squirrels, snow hares, trumpet swan, beaver, and other ducks and birds. We couldn't see Mt. McKinley because it was cloudy and drizzling. We even saw beautiful rainbows. Look at some of our pictures, could you tell that some were taken at 10pm. The one of Mike and his shadow was at around 10:30pm.
Today we drove to Wasilla, didn't see Sarah Palin! We did meet Ray Redington Jr and his father at the Iditarod Headquaters. It was a wonderful experience. Olivia has been following Ray Redington since she had to do a project in school on him 3 years ago. We contacted him prior to our visit. He was so generous. He met us at the headquaters and gave us a tour, sled ride with the dogs, played with some cute puppies and got autographs. Great day! Afterwards we traveled to Palmer and we are staying in a campground. Our neighbors are a great couple traveling from Germany. It was fun for all of us to learn about each other. We have met many nice people.
In the morning we have to return the RV. We really enjoyed having it. We will pick up a rental car for the day in Anchorage tomorrow. The next morning we will take the train to Seward. We will be staying at a beautiful Sheraton in Anchorage tomorrow, which means long, hot showers. Yipee! Hope you enjoy our pictures.

Day 3

Hi Everyone, Today was a driving day. We saw so many wonderful sights! We drove approx. 8 hours. Saw beautiful mountain ranges, the alaskan pipe line and moose with twins. The girls are doing well. Watch their video ( thanks to my class for this great new flip video). We stopped and had lunch at a small diner. Food is very expensive here. In major towns markets not so bad. Small town milk is around $8.00 a gallon. Sarah asked about the RV, It's not bad at all. The kids love it. They want to buy one. The only problem is the lack of storage and we are always asking "where did we put....? If the Pond Family is still viewing telling grampa Alaska really needs a Honey Dew. I make the worst coffee ever. No coffee chains! Hey mom & dad hope all is well. I have been getting your posts. Your can view them under comments. Pepere we saw some big fish today in the rivers. You would love the fishing here. We stopped at the North Pole today. The girls got to see Santa. He freaked them out when he asked where they were from and the said North Attleboro. He than said, Oh yes, I know you two you live near Lasalette(not sure if I spelt that right).They have beautiful lights, he stated. We are staying at a state camp in Fairbanks tonight. It's almost 10pm and it seems like 10am, the sun will set around 12:24 for 4 hours. Crazy! In the morning we will explore Fairbanks and than head to Denali National Park. Unsure if we will have any internet connection at the park. So you may not get a posting for a few days. We will spend two night there. If you are posting a comment and didn't leave a name at sign up, we don't know who you are. Can you try to give us a hint. Take care, miss you all

Day 2 pictures snow and glacier

Day 2 pictures

sorry having trouble adding pictures tonight because of low service. Will try again

Day 2

Have you ever woken up on a cold winter morning and went outside and had your breath taken away? This is the only way I can express my feeling when I woke this morning to the fresh snowfall on the mountain tops. It took our breathe away with it's beauty. The first set of pictures are what we woke up to. We were cold last night in the RV, thought we wouldn't need the heat. It actually snowed last night on the mountains around us. We just had heavy rain. When we woke the sun was stating to come out but it was cool.
After breakfast we set out for Matanuska Glacier. It was amazing! We had to walk about 40 minutes to the glacier. It was rocky. The Glacier was so cool to walk on. It was huge. The water from the glacier was a pretty blue color. On our drive into the glacier we saw a mother moose with her baby. So cute. Didn't get a good picture because we scared her away. We walked the glacier for about 3 hours.
We ate lunch and hit the road for Glen Allen. We saw some unbelievable mountain ranges. It is hard to believe how beautiful our country is. We ended our day at Wrangell St. Elias National Park, It's larger than Switzerland and its glacier is larger than Rhode Island. We went through the visitor center and watch a cool movie about the park.
We drove to the RV park. Have a nice site by a river. Lots of mosquitoes! Everyone is tired tonight. The girls have been very good . We have an eight hour drive tomorrow to Fairbanks and the North Pole. Hope you enjoy the picture.
p.s. We love reading your comments every morning!

Day 1

"Where's the potatoes?" Oh yeah, in the shower. RV living takes a little to get used to. We picked up the RV at around 11:00. The people of Alaska are very nice but, love to talk. Didn't get out of the Rv place for almost 2 hours. Shopped at something like super walmart. Bought all our food and rv camping gear. Went to Wendy's after spending $300.00 in food. Livy threw her retainer in the trash, AGAIN! Had to fish it out. Gross! We drove through some of the most beautiful country. Visited a Musk Ox farm and we even got to feed them. Learned about how they use the hair from the ox to give to local artist to spin and knit with. Each region is only aloud to knit a specific pattern. Alex found this very cool. The yarn is extremely expensive. A blanket will go for $6,000-$8,000. Alex T (from Jeopardy) is a support of this farm (non-profit) and he was there only two days prior. The driving is a little scary (Only to Mom the girls added). One of those dig your finger nails into the car door drives. High mountains with beautiful mountain ranges. Even saw a glacier today. Staying at a Rv park tonight between palmer and glen allen. It is after 10:00 and completely light outside. The inside of the RV is so bright, hard to sleep. The girls brought eye masks to help. It started raining early this evening, other wise the day was nice around 68 degrees. Started raining around 8:00pm ( guess we brought it with us). Down to the low 40's tonight.

We Made It!

We arrived safely! It was a long journey to Anchorage. We arrived at the airport in Boston with no troubles..thanks Sarah. We only met one grumpy security worker. All went well through security except the fact that I lost my balance standing in line trying to wear a backpack and take off my sneaker and I fell on my butt in public. The girls and Mike thought it was funny. Our plane took off 3o minutes late due to weather but made up the time in the air. We arrived in Phoenix at 7:25 (10:25pm) and it was 106 degrees. We just made our connecting flight and arrived in Anchorage safely12:35 am (4:35 our time) and it was full day light and 43 degrees. Weird! The views flying in were amazing. I took some pictures I will try to post tonight. We stayed at a Sheraton. It's about 5:30 am here and I can't sleep so I came down to use the free Internet. The girls and Mike are sleeping. Off to get the RV soon. The girls have been looking forward to this part. Stay tuned for our day 1 adventure.
Love ya.
Brenda

We're Off!

Watch out Alaska here comes the Doucette Family.

  We are getting ready to leave.  Our flight leaves at 4:30. First we go to Phoenix, then to Anchorage.  We will arrive at 12:30 am their time ( 4:30am our time).  Remember there is a 4 hour difference.  Alex wanted to say Ahhhh!!!  We're leaving!  Livy says, she hopes to see a baby bear!  Happy Birthday Mike...Post soon. "Miles and Smiles"

Alaska Trip June 2009

Count down has begun!  Looking forward to our trip.  Stay tuned.