The Plan

I'm going to Alaska for 9 days, starting Friday. I'll be traveling 5000 miles by air, 1000 miles by land, and even a few miles by sea. I'll be posting photos to my Facebook page during the trip if you want to follow along.

My company is sponsoring the trip. I'll be going there with two other coworkers (all of us BYU grads). My company awards groups with a stipend every quarter to follow their dreams. They call it a "Dream Grant". Ours is to find gold in Alaska. Here's the plan.

The route

We start in (A) Anchorage, then ice climb at (B) Glacier view, go off-roading in (C) Denali, hike at the foot of (D) Mt McKinley, and then kayak in (E) Kenai.

A. Fly into Anchorage

We land in beautiful Anchorage on Friday night. Time change: 4 hours. Weather has been in the 50's for the past several weeks, but it has also been wet. I have a lot of rain gear -- all synthetic materials.

B. Ice Climbing in Glacier View

Our first day will be ice climbing. It's all top roped, so expect it to be very safe. They provide all the gear as well. It's been a few years since I went out ice climbing in Utah with my pal Toby, but I think I'll remember the essentials: go up, not down.

C. ATV in Denali

Our next day will be on ATV's around Denali National Park. Lots of mud and lots of fun.

D. Visit Mt McKinley

Then we head out to the foot of Mt McKinley. A breathtakingly monstrous mountain. It will be a dream come true to see this place.

E. Sea Kayak in Seward

Our last stop will be kayaking in the Kanai Fjords. This is the place where the ice falls off the glaciers and the wales breach. We will kayak all day, sleep overnight on the shore, and then come back. You can see our tour guides at Liquid Adventures.

Western Maryland Scenic Railroad

One thing we do well around here is search out cool train sites. Recently we took a ride on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. This is another train that we discovered on our own. Nate was looking for something fun to do over the 4th of July weekend, and stumbled upon this gem. We drove up to Cumberland, Maryland in the Allegheny Mountains and caught this train. We ridden a couple of real, steam trains now. They are pretty cool. This one is a 1916 Baldwin Steam engine.

The boys had a good time. Beckett was thrilled.

Felix liked looking out the window for a while too. Then he settled in to eat the pretzels he picked out at the snack bar.

The train has a snack bar, a dining car, and plenty of seats for everyone. We also enjoyed taking turns going to the observation deck.

The train rides last about an hour and ends in Frostburg, Maryland. Everyone gets off the train for about two hours, enough time to see a little bit of the town and eat lunch. But the best part was watching the train turn on the turntable. The turntable moves fast. We had never seen a turntable in action. It was completely worth the wait.

The station in Frostburg.

If you go take a ride on this train, I strongly recommend getting a seat on the right side of the train if you are going from Cumberland to Frostburg or the left side of the train on the return trip. All the great views are on that side of the train.

 Felix wasn't quite as thrilled about the ride back.

The city of Cumberland is pretty charming as well. Look at all those spires. We drove around a little looked at all the Victorian architecture.

We also saw this claim to fame and some pre-Revolutionary history: George Washington's headquarters during the French and Indian War.

 

If you go to Cumberland you need to go to the creamery. Probably the best ice cream I've had in my entire life, and I am not exaggerating. The Queen City Creamery is only a couple of blocks from the train station, but it was probably the hottest walk of our lives, but I swear that is not the only reason the ice cream tasted so good.

The Western Maryland Scenic Railroad is most famous for its winter rides, which I think could be really beautiful. Maybe we'll have to go back.

Beckett sings "Moon, Moon, Moon" by The Laurie Berkner Band

This video is a little long. Stick with it. Your patience will pay off in the end. Just as funny as this video is watching Beckett watch this video.

The Laurie Berkner Band's version: