Category: travel
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Day Eleven Travel to Alaska Spring 2025

We have driven over 3200 miles and now are sitting back and relaxing while traveling the Alaska Marine Highway. We saw a whale spouting within the first hour. We splurged on a cabin rather than camping out in a tent (duct taped to the deck), or rolling a sleeping bag onto a deck chair or…
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Day Nine Travel to Alaska Spring 2025

Another 300 miles closer! This seems to be a good distance for us as we never need to rush, and we are done for the day shortly after we are eager to quit. We stopped at this same scenic viewpoint of the Columbia River when traveling to Alaska via the Alaska Ferry (Alaska Marine Highway)…
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Day Eight Travel to Alaska Spring 2025

We are 300 miles closer to Alaska. We also had 3 fun stops and one oil change stop. Montana has some great interstate rest areas which include trails. I enjoyed a nice stroll on the Copperway Regional Trail, which had views of the distant 585-foot copper smelting stack (higher than the Washington Monument). It was…
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Day 7 Travel to Alaska Spring 2025

We drove 400 miles today. We wouldn’t have made it so far if more attractions were open. Last night, most of the restaurants and attractions in Medora, ND, were closed until the summer season. Our fun nature stops in Montana today were closed (one opened May 1, the other late April). Even one of the…
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Day Six Travel to Alaska Spring 2025

While we traveled over 300 miles towards Alaska, today was so much more. We saw Greater Prairie Chickens AND Sharp-tailed Grouse performing on a lek. We were so close! If you have a chance to check C’s Facebook, the videos are so cool as they include the sounds and dance moves. An excerpt of the…
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Day Five Bluestem Prairie Spring 2025

We took the day off today to prepare for our Blind Date tomorrow morning. After lounging around all morning, we drove out to Bluestem Prairie. It was warm and sunny today, and the snow wasn’t bad. My knee did pretty well on the 0.5 mile hike to and from the blind. I took photos in…
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Day Four Travel to Alaska Spring 2025

We drove north over 350 miles today, from Clear Lake, IA to Dilworth, MN. The roads were clear all day, but not long after entering Minnesota, there was snow throughout the landscape. Many of the ponds and lakes were frozen as well. In some of the open water, we saw our first swans of the…
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Day Three Travel to Alaska Spring 2025

We had a great morning walking around our friend’s land in Iowa. C pointed out where he has hunted in the past, and he put up 2 game cameras. We both looked for wildlife, seeing and hearing deer, and many different species of birds. Later we talked with our friends and helped cut (C) and…
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Day Two Driving to Alaska Spring 2025

Knocked out over 400 miles again today. Unfortunately, most of the drive was in the rain. Fortunately, we ended the day with friends (and their critters) in Iowa. Rain on windshield treated with RainX. The lambs are adorable in every way. Love their high bleats and gamboling about. We have been to Costco’s from Virginia…
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Alaska Travel

As we are packing to return to Alaska, I am also planning our 2025 budget. It is much easier to anticipate what we might spend now that we are on our fourth season! Last year, I tracked the cost of all our mini-vacations, from 3 to 10 days. It cost us $2630 to drive our…
