Homer, Alaska (revisited)

Kachemak Bay, Homer, Alaska

Let me take you back to Homer, one of our favorite spot in Alaska, this is the capital fishing for halibut in all U.S. territory. There are so many charter boats that will take you for a deep-sea fishing. I believe in the summer time there is a fishing competition and the person caught the biggest fish will bring some serious dollars. As for us, just being there and make observation and seeing the view is more than make up the distance miles that we had to endure to get here. We stayed two nights at an RV park with the view. I will never forget that.

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

Denali (Revisited)

Denali (the Great one)

Maybe I am too nostalgic in creating our trip nine years ago, but like I said before when you lived your life well, you can relive it again and again. This is the most expensive plane trip in our overall journey to Alaska some nine years ago, but the experience is exhilarating to say the least. To compound to that, only 16 percent of people visiting Denali could actually see it since it creates its own weather. We were very lucky indeed at that time.

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

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

Joan's Ornaments

Joan's Ornaments

January has been a tough month when it comes to keeping healthy. At the beginning of the year we had to visit “Urgent Care” for Pokie then two weeks later I had the cold that has been lingering for weeks. The flu shot this season is only effective 23 percent. On a brighter note, I started taking pictures again, the first one for 2015 is Joan’s Ornaments which she will have a show in September of this year in Boise, Idaho.

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