So many friends and family, so little time!

After living in Alaska for half a lifetime, it's a feat of monumental proportions to try to see everyone, but I think we managed to see quite a few folks.  My "little brother" arrived from South Carolina to join my sisters and my mom in Anchorage.

Having a blast with Angie and Daniel

 Got to see my niece Angela and her seriously funny husband Daniel.  We may have violated the RV park' quiet hours that evening with all the laughing and storytelling going on:-) We also got to see some of my mom's old friends, Joan and Paul Bittner.  My parents have known them since the late '50s when they all moved to Alaska in the military.  What amazing old memories we shared about growing up with their boys, Tim and Mike, and living in Anchorage.  I also got to go to dinner with some of my friends from my teaching days at West High. Darla, Amy and I ran the Honolulu Marathon together in 2002 and we talked about doing some crazy thing like that again - maybe the San Antonio Rock-N-Roll marathon in 2014?  We are older but no wiser - lol!  Tina, Clay and I got to sit around one afternoon sharing old stories.  Mya was with us and she kept begging for more stories.  She even got to tell a few of her own. What fun!

The family at Glen Alps (Flattop) with Anchorage
in the background.

Friday we headed down to Homer with Mom and Clay.  Gorgeous day.  We stayed on the Homer Spit and were treated to three glorious days of blue skies, warm temps (60s), sunshine, and a fabulous view of Kachemak Bay.  There are few more beautiful places than Homer on a warm summer day. Jeff and I even got to go to lunch and walk the beach, just the two of us.  The girls spent the day with Granny and Uncle Clay doing their own beach exploring. The whole time I was down there I wished I could just make time stand still, just to be able to savor the moment a bit longer.

But as the saying goes, time waits for no one.  We headed back to Anchorage yesterday and met Susan, Jackie, and "Grandma Pat" (Susan's mom) for a reunion of sorts at our favorite Mexican restaurant, La Mex. So strange to see each other after such a long absence and we just pick up where we left off.  That's the beauty of long-time friendships - so fun to spend time getting caught up.

Stopped by to say hello to my niece, Violet who we hadn't gotten to see yet and say goodbye to my sister, Tina and her family.  The girls had a great time hanging out with cousin Violet before we had to hit the road.

This is the first time we have had a deadline to meet in terms of being somewhere on a particular date.  We (I?) decided to take the ferry back from Haines to Prince Rupert.  I couldn't bear the idea of driving through miles of trees in Canada again so this will cut off about 2 days of driving.  Plus, the girls have never been on the ferry and Jeff and I have never been through the Inside Passage of southeast Alaska so this, too, will be a new adventure for us.

We have to be in Haines by the 20th to catch the ferry so we hit the road early today.  Needed to get to Fairbanks by evening (358 miles from Anchorage) and we also wanted to stop by Denali National Park to get our stamps and stickers for our National Park passport books.  Didn't spend much time at Denali given our deadline, and unfortunately the clouds obscured the mountain, but we got to go through the exhibits in the visitor's center.  What an amazing display covering the history of the development of the park and the ongoing conservation of the area.  Amazing to see all the new development that has gone on in the area.  Jeff visited Denali his first year in Alaska (35 years ago!) and he was shocked at how things have changed.  It definitely looks like a tourist destination now.

So we are sitting here in River's Edge RV park in Fairbanks, Alaska alongside the Chena River.  The advertisement in the Milepost looked so beautiful and it is, but they should have named it Sardine RV park. Good Grief - it's like the airlines - how many spaces can you pack into one area.  Hopefully we can get out in the morning without ripping off anyone's front bumper or awning!!  And really, who can complain when the wi-fi works; plus the mosquitoes must be on vacation at the moment. We were able to walk outside without bug repellent:-)

Yesterday was our 5-year anniversary in Texas; a bit of irony in that we are in Alaska.  It's been 5 weeks since we left home.  Sometimes at night I wake up and have to lay there and think about where the heck we are. You also know you've been an RV too long when you try to flush a regular toilet with your foot!!!!   The other day we were at my mom's house and I had just used the "facilities" and I tried flushing the toilet with my foot (those of you who have stayed in an RV know you flush the toilet with the foot thingy).  I honestly had to stand there for a few seconds to think about how to flush the toilet!  Jade said the same thing happened to her - lol! Earlier in the trip Jade said she wanted to skip a year before we go "adventuring" again; yesterday it was 4 years.  And I do admit there are moments when I think how cozy it would be to be back home.  But we are still having fun and we still have lots of sights to see.

Tomorrow we head for the Alaska/Canada border, about 300 miles.  We are psyching ourselves up for the trip from the border to Haines Junction, the absolute worst part of the road on the whole trip.  But then we get to go "cruising" on the ferry.  Prince Rupert, here we come!

next day:  (sorry there aren't more pics - the wifi is very temperamental in uploading stuff so it's this or nothing!  We got to hit the road!)  Jeff woke up this morning and said "Jurassic Park woke up - lots of old people here!!!