Valdez - Alaska's Switzerland (revisited)

A boat tour out of Valdez

I once read or heard that if you lived your life well, you can “relive” the memory again and again and again. A week ago, I received my Trailer Life magazine of April 2015 edition. Inside it was an article about Valdez, Alaska named as Alaska’s Switzerland.

That article prompted me to “relive” our adventure to Valdez, Alaska some nine years ago in the beginning of summer 2006. We drove six thousand plus miles in forty-three days, covering most of Alaska interior.

We took a cruise to Alaska (Inside Passage) in 2005, but it feels that we have seen part of Alaska but we have not been there. If I have one yearning, I wish I had a much sharper lens in capturing Alaska beauty.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/alaska/valdez

CampLite 6.8 DE MINIMIS

CampLite 6.8

We are in the process to find the next Wanderlust II. This is our next chapter as Yongkie is closer and closer to retirement. We are looking for a small unit that is “self contained” meaning it can do a dry camping for a day or two and first of all the need of a bathroom in case the RV park or a state park does not have a clean bathroom, it is becoming a more necessary requirement than anything else.

So, today we look at the Camplite 6.8 after waiting for more than half a year, we finally can see the actual truck camper, we can climb, see and tough and see what it feels like to be inside and imagine living in it.

I asked Pokie for her comments of what this truck camper can do for us if we decide to get it. It meets her requirements in term of a convection oven, a small sink, a small refrigerator and an air conditioning and the small bathroom. So it meets “DE MINIMIS” of what we require of such a small unit.

Pokie brought a very good observation at the end of the tour of this unit; we need to be able to “LIVE” in such unit, because of the small size, that is almost impossible to do so. We will feel claustrophobic living in that unit for a few days and we will not be able to bring “junks” and camping tools along the way.

So we conclude that the unit meets “DE MINIMIS” (bare essential) but the living requirements are not met. The search continues, I think it will be a small class C or class B+. See you next time!

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2015/camplite

Trees

Trees in Black and White

I always wanted to take some pictures of these trees; I think I have waited one too many years. I imagine that I will convert the images to a simple black and white photograph. The relentless two days rain follow by a strong wind did not dampen my spirit to go out and capture the images before the leaves come back in the spring time. It is mysterious and eerie and I imagine that I lost in the woods somewhere in the wilderness, the fact it was just less than two miles from home. It is an empty lot, waiting to be developed into more housing in the near future.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2015/trees

Cherry Blossom at night

Cherry Blossom at night

Well, I hope you like night photography, below is my attempt to combine cherry blossom and night photography as suggested by my friend from Singapore. So, before the rain destroyed the blossom, I decided to take night time shots, it has its uniqueness as compare to the daytime, I included last year shots since this year we won’t have time, also because of the warm winter here in the Northwest area, the bloom came in one week earlier than last year.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2015/cherry

Last year during the daytime:

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2014/spring.html