I’ve know Michele for years and years but never had a great opportunity to get to know her until this past winter when we were down south.  We took a detour from my brother’s house in Tennessee and stopped in to visit Michele and Zefen in their new hometown of Ashville, NC.  We had a wonderful time in a wonderful town and I tried to figure out why in the world I never got to spend more time with her!

Luckily for us, they came on an extended trip home to Alaska to visit their family this summer.  Time was still short but we snuck in a few good visits and Zefen and my boys had a great time throwing toys around and wreaking all sorts of “little boy” havoc!  We also had the good fortune of meeting Zephen’s grandmother and her beautiful and tiny dog, Bijou.

Michele, we are already looking forward to seeing you again next summer!

We made it!  After driving about eight days straight for a ridiculous amount of hours, we finally pulled into the driveway in Anchorage around the first of July.  We are halfway unpacked and I am gearing up and getting super excited about wedding season!  

We flew from Alabama to Idaho and so we didn’t technically start driving until we already hit the northwest.  We hooked a left into Washington and drove up through Rossland, BC to visit some friends.  What a great start to the trip!  We slept inside instead of in the tent, saw beautiful gardens, climbed a crazy steep hill and got a glimpse of a Raccoon.  After that we headed to Banff and experienced non-stop wildlife viewings.  Banff was stunning and from there things begin to blur together.  

We drove the Cassiar highway which was in wonderful shape.  We were the only ones on the road and it was smooth and fast.  The highlight of the Cassiar was our night camping at the Deese River Crossing.  Beautiful location, incredible hosts and sparklingly clean facilities! 

After a bumpy ride on the AlCan, we hit Whitehorse in the Yukon and enjoyed a great evening at the Takhini Hotsprings. The water was perfect for little boys and swimming!  The next day we stopped into Muktuk Adventures to see the sled dogs and the boys were hooked.  Solomon even started crying when we left.  It turns out that Dave had already met some of these dogs four years earlier during the Yukon Quest when a blizzard prompted the race directors to call in the helicopters.  Gorgeous dogs, great hosts and another wonderful day.

Now we are just looking for the next family adventure.