Skagway (revisited)

Yukon & White Pass Railroad

This was the second time we have been to Skagway, the first one being in 2005 when we took a cruise line. I just love Skagway, the old look is still preserved and the Yukon & White Pass Railroad made me want to come back. During the winter month this town has a population of a mere 800 people, when the workers come in the summer, the population swells to about 2.000, but when the cruise ships dock, Skagway population jump five fold to about 10,000. By 8:00 PM, all the tourists are back to their cruise ships and Skagway becomes a ghost town. This cycle is repeated day after day during the summer and tourist’s season.

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

Haines, Alaska (revisited)

Haines, Alaska

We drove from Valdez to Haines in three days; it is just shy of 700 miles. We stayed overnight in Tok, Alaska and Haines Junction, Yukon Territory for the second night. It was indeed a long drive, and not to mention when we encountered the dirt and dusty road. We had to do two border crossings, once to Canada (Yukon Territory) and back to Alaska going to Haines. Haines is the home of the white bald eagles, the symbol of America. We stayed two nights in Haines, and the next adventure is Skagway.

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

Seward & Whittier (revisited)

On the way to Seward

Welcome to Seward, the home of Mile “0” of the famous winter dog sled races of Iditarod and Alaska Sealife Center. I decided to camp at the city RV Park, the view is magnificent but the bathroom facility is down right dirty, it was on the weekend and the park is full of kids as well. This prompt Pokie to require that the next Wanderlust has a decent bathroom. We also visited Whittier for the day before we head back to Anchorage to take a break.

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

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