Denali, June 2023. Back to our favorite place on earth.

We just got back from our first trip of 2023 to Denali National Park & Preserve. We spent five days camped at the Teklanika campground inside the park and mountain biked the road for 4 days. We got to the park on Monday afternoon, set up camp and jumped on our bikes to head up towards Sable Pass, where we ran into a road closure in Igloo Canyon because of a bear kill right next to the road. That’s going to put a damper on our biking plans, but not for long. Details in the pictures.

We were very apprehensive about what we’d find this year with a big construction camp located very near the Tek campground as they begin a multi-year contruction project of a bridge across the Pretty Rocks landslide. We were also worried about how much contruction traffic would impact our biking and enjoyment of the road. Thankfully, these concerns were unjustified—at least for this trip. You can’t see the construction camp from the road, and there was little construction traffic on this trip, only a couple of extra pickup trucks.

We had a wonderful trip, with the first warm temperatures of the summer. Our neighbors, Tyson, Brandy and their 4 year old, Eva, joined us and camped next to us. We had a blast.

So come along. Pictures and captions tell the story.

Alaska Geographic Fundraising cruise 2023

We went on the 2nd annual Alaska Geographic fundraising cruise out of Seward on Saturday afternoon. Major Marine donates the cruise and there are lots of silent auctions for artwork, merchandise and trips to raise funds that support educational and support programs for the National Parks in Alaska. A dear friend is chairman of the board of Alaska Geographic, so how could we resist? Plus it’s a very fun cruise. Come along.

Back in Alaska. First bear of the year.

We had our first boo-boo of the year come through the yard tonight. A very healthy looking boar. Low light, so the photos aren’t the best, but it’s always fun to see the first one.

France 2023, Day 11. And that's a wrap on the canal boat portion of the trip.

Woke to an absolutely gorgeous day in Lumes so we took advantage of the weather and did a long bike ride along the river up to Charleville-Mezieres and then back to the boat for one final stretch back to the rental base at Pont-à-Bar. We will turn in the boat in the morning and then hop the train to Paris for a couple of days visiting old haunts. Thanks for coming along with us.

France 2023, Day 10. Mouzon to Lumes. The sun, and warmth, are back!

We woke up in Lumes to fog coming off the canal after a chilly night, but the sun is out and there’s no rain in the forecast! It ended up being a beautiful day, only interrupted by a couple of locks that weren’t working correctly, but the canal tech was jumping ahead of us in his car and we didn’t have any major delays. We pulled into the village dock at Lumes around 3pm and took the opportunity for a long bike ride along the canal in the sun and warmth.