Wow, this has been a year for travel.  A trip to France, England, Knoxville, Tennessee and Cuba all in one year. David and I are taking the advice of our financial adviser to travel while we are still healthy.   And …as a friend says “tell the kids, the last check is going to bounce”

So having never been to Alaska, I am embarking on an Alaska adventure with my longest and dearest friend Georgeanne Brown.  Georgeanne has been celebrating

Georgeanne in the Grand Canyon

her 80^thbirthday for two years and as the January date actually comes closer, we decided that one more road trip was in our future. This is my “on the road” friend who loves to drive and with whom I have taken many trips.  We met in 1978 when we had both moved to the northwest and ended up teaching at the same school in Everett.  Through her divorce, our swinging single years and my having a child at 38 we have been each other’s rock.  Oh the stories I could tell…..

With many road trips in our past we move through the next 10 days with a sense of adventure in our hearts and knowing that the creaky joints and aches and pains of aging will visit us along the way.

We will begin in Anchorage for one night, pick up a rental car and head to Denali for two days. Following that, we have plans to drive down to Seward and the Kenaii peninsula where we will take an excursion into the Kenaii fiords.  We have hopes of getting close to some glaciers, if they haven’t all melted.  Then on to Homer for a couple more days to soak up the local Alaskan culture.  Back to Anchorage for a short tour before heading home.

Georgeanne is a birder so I presume I will be learning the names of certain terns, gulls etc.  We will take our walking sticks for some light hiking.

Yellowstone

But most of all we know we will enjoy; nature rain or shine, each other’s company, and the opportunity to be able to take this one more trip.