A love letter to Alaska

Dear Alaska,

I love you.

I love your beauty, your wildness, your sense of adventure and your people. I love that I don't have to be anyone but myself here.  You don't care what kind of car I drive, what kind of shoes I wear, or whether my hair is in a ponytail.  Because of you I stopped trying to hide behind makeup and found contentment with how I really look.

Holi Festival, Bugges Beach

You have shown my children so many amazing things that they might never have seen. The beauty of this place is awe-inspiring, but equally awesome is the sense of community. There are so many events, classes, clubs and things-to-do that one can only be bored if they choose to be.

Christmas Tree Hunting, Tongass National Forest

Log-rolling Boys, Alaskan Lumber Jack Show

Blueberry Pie Eating Contest, Blueberry Festival

99 Nails Earthday Beach Clean Up, Bugges Beach

You have spoiled me for all others. I learned from you that I should bask in the beauty of nature every single day.  I learned from you that when there is nothing to do your trees, rocks and sea provide all the fun we could need.

Black Sands Beach

I will never forget you, even if I never see you again...though I hope that isn't the case.  My heart is always yours.

Love,
Me

Answering the BIG Questions

I do get asked some basic questions over and over about our travel plans, so for the sake of clearing things up (and maybe help others along the same path) I will answer them here.

What are we doing?

Why are we doing it?

How did we manage it?

Each question deserves it's own post, so I will focus on the easy one first.

What are we doing?  

We are going to travel full time, across the country, in a camper.

A family of four in a camper may sound cramped...but considering most campers have MORE square footage than our boat did...it's gonna feel pretty spacious to us. (Jon and I get our own bedroom again! Yaaayyyy!) Originally the plan was to travel for one year, until we find some place that we want to settle down for good.  But over the last couple of years of planning we have altered our goals...realizing that maybe we won't be done traveling after a year. Maybe we won't be done for two years...and maybe we might love it so much we hop the pond and do some international travel as well.

One step at a time.

We saved a certain amount of money, and budgeted it out for a year of travel.  Our plan is to travel slowly, staying at most places for a least few days, but possibly even up to a few weeks if we love it. The purpose of the trip is about slowing down; enjoying our time, connecting with each other and communing with nature. While we have no specific plans or timelines, we will be under a budget...that means hopefully we will be able to boondock at least a third of the time. That also means cooking instead of going out, and trying to stay away from the normal pitfalls of "vacation" spending.  This isn't a vacation, it's our life...so we can't buy fudge, ice cream and post cards from every city we visit.  (However, being donut lovers, we do have a small fund for the nations best donut joints...purely for educational purposes of course!)

If we find that we love travel and want to continue...we will. However, if we find that one amazing place that we want to put down roots again, then we will. There is no plan beyond exploring the world, connecting with each other and learning to LOVE this one life we have.