Am I the only one just itching for summer? Must be the weather: sunny skies, melting snow, and oodles of kidlets outside on their bikes. The most glorious sound to AK Dad and I has to be the shouts of kids playing outside, riding through mud puddles, and generally making merry during an Alaskan springtime. […]
Not one to recuperate in the traditional fashion, AK Dad continues to surprise us with interesting and sometimes scary new diagnoses that keep me running around like a crazy woman. Last Friday he decided to allow his blood to stop flowing freely through his veins and landed himself in the hospital with a pulmonary embolism. […]
Japan’s tragic earthquake and tsunami in 2011 created a shift of thinking in my mind about safer family travel, and that Yes, it can happen to anyone, anywhere. Friends in Japan, hundreds of miles away from the quake’s actual location lost power all day on Friday, March 11; Alaskans vacationing in Hawaii spent the night […]
This morning I’m sitting in full view of the gorgeous Willamette River, watching ducks and geese and the occasional osprey make the most of this gorgeous morning. AK Fam decided late last night that we needed to make a trip to Hood River, about 80 miles east of Portland along the mighty Columbia River. The […]
Click. Snap. Thump. Hear that? It’s the sound of a thousand or more suitcases being closed with an air of anticipation all across Alaska. The time of year has arrived when 49th state residents, winter-weary and anxious for something other than shades of gray and beige, stampede to warmer climates. It’s called Spring Break, but […]
My cohort in travelocity, Scott McMurren, is adamant about vacations being more for parents than kids, and to a certain level I believe he’s on to something. Change of scenery, release from work-a-day grinds, experiences far from the home front’s usual schedule of activities; all that. Take road trips, for example. Our family schlepped a […]
Is it my imagination, or are weekends getting shorter? Perhaps I am merely recovering slower than in my 30’s. Either way, both AK Kid and I were sluggish commuters to the Higher Halls of German Learning this morning. Busy, busy, busy was the AK Fam mantra Saturday as we paid a visit to the House […]
After a fabulous Alaska Travelgram Show last week at which Kristi Schneider of the Alaska Railroad gave listeners a hundred and one reasons to take the train around the state, I promised to post details for those who either missed the show or needed a bit more info. Well, too, I wanted to revisit the […]
Whether your family is heading over the river and through the woods to Grandma’s or across the country to old Uncle Joe’s, helping kids understand expectations for holiday behavior pays off. With millions of children and parents flying, driving, or riding the rails to see loved ones this Christmas, there is no better time to […]
Vail, Breckenridge, Park City, Mammoth Mountain. The great names in ski resorts are practically engraved on the tongues of die hard skiers and riders around the world. Alaska? Not so much. Why the reluctance to ski some of the steepest and deepest powder known to man, with views to rival those of the Alps?Is it […]
What’s a parent to do? Tickets are purchased, bags are packed, and kids are all fired up to board the sardine can in the sky for a Thanksgiving trip to Grandmas. Now the Transportation Security Administration starts announcing something called an “Enhanced Pat-Down” for travelers who refuse to enter the scary-looking metal Borg Box for […]