The Next Big Adventure is About to Begin!

It has been 18 months since Dave and I enjoyed our last big adventure to New Zealand. Now we are days away from heading North on our next journey to the Last Frontier: Alaska! We have been planning the details of this trip for the last few months -- pouring over guide books, travel sites, hiking forums and grilling friends for information. We have pieced together an incredible itinerary that spans most of the major wilderness areas of the state. There is no way that we'll be able to see everything we want to, but I'm confident that the greatest hits are all covered. It's been a complicated trip to plan with many different towns, hikes and modes of transportation. But at this point, we're down to the last tiny details and we're ready to pack our bags and get out there!

Here is our grand (and complicated) schedule. It does't cover the details, but just the general locations:

Saturday, May 24: Flight to Ketchikan
Sunday, May 25: In Ketchikan, Flight to Sitka
Monday, May 26: In Sitka, Flight to Juneau
Tuesday, May 27: In Juneau
Wednesday, May 28: In Juneau (Glacier Bay)
Thursday, May 29: Flight to Anchorage, Drive to Seward
Friday, May 30: In Seward
Saturday, May 31: Boat to Kenai Lodge
Sunday, June 1: In Kenai
Monday, June 2: In Kenai
Tuesday, June 3: Boat to Seward, Drive to Anchorage
Wednesday, June 4: In Anchorage
Thursday, June 5: Drive to Talkeetna
Friday, June 6: Drive to Denali
Saturday, June 7: In Denali
Sunday, June 8: In Denali
Monday, June 9: In Denali, Drive to Anchorage
Tuesday, June 10: In Anchorage, Flight home
Wednesday, June 11: Arrive home

We've also been frequenting R.E.I. and buying all of the extra supplies that we'll need for this trip. Rain gear! Base layers! Bug sprays (for our skin and to treat our clothes)! Yaktrax to give us grip on snowy hikes! And even a bear bell, in case our singing voices aren't enough to scare them away on the trails! We'll buy some bear spray once we get up to Alaska, since we can't travel with it. Hopefully it'll be a $50 purchase that we'll never need to use.

This week, we'll be busy finishing everything up at work and with life - and the packing will begin. On the morning of Saturday, May 24, we'll be boarding our plane to the wilderness.

To those of you who have followed my travel blogs in the past, this one will be a little different. We will not have internet access in many of the places we are traveling. I'll still try to write entries most days (mostly to act as my own trip journal) but I may not be able to post them often. I highly recommend that you sign up on the top right corner of the page to receive e-mail notifications for when I post, since they won't be regular.

Check back soon. Dave and I are thrilled that we'll be able to take this amazing trip and share it with all of you. We can't wait to have you join us on another epic adventure!