Planning for the summer adventures

It may seem a bit early for summer adventure planning with it only being January, but if you have been in Alaska very long you realize that by mid-winter cabin fever is starting to set in and people start planning what they want to do come spring & summer.

And if you don't get going, you will be left behind with your first couple of choices of what & when to do it.

Although there is a bit of uncertainty as to what the rest of 2013 holds for the Hecks (ie: whether we will be here this coming summer or not), I figured we better start brainstorming our summer adventures if we want to make the most of the Great Alaskan Outdoors.

 

With the kids now just a little bit older, I'm feeling much better about taking some of these adventures that we have put on our "must do" list for living in Alaska.  There are so many places in SouthCentral Alaska that we would love to get to... are there even enough weeks/weekends in the summer to do it all?

Let the brainstorming begin!
 And yes, I'm hoping one of our roadtrips involves renting a RV for us to "camp" in ...

Longer trips
These are all potential go-to places for a long weekend/week long trip, but my first choice is to get down to Homer, "At the End of the Road," where we can enjoy the fishing & artsy coastal town that is nestled on the shore of the glistening Kachemak Bay with glaciers & mountains rimming the shoreline.

Homer

Talkeetna

Soldotna

Kodiak Island
I'm pretty sure that Brian is planning on sneeking off to Kodiak via a Coast Guard hopper so he can enjoy some real-deal fishing on Kodiak!  Who can blame him, right?

Short/One day trips

Cabin camping up at Lake Otter
Last summer, we had a chance to go paddle boating here and we loved it.  It's hard to believe that this camp ground is located right here on base just 15 minutes away from the house.  The way I see it, it's far enough away that we have to pack for an overnight stay but close enough to run home for a shower if need be.  Plenty of fishing, boating, fire pits and nature right out our back door.  Oh, and 4 solid walls to protect us from bears & moose (which is a must right now with 3 little ones)!

Hiking at Lake Eklutna

 

Hatcher's Pass and Winner Creek Trail.

Perhaps, I'll have enough guts to cross the gorge on this hand tram. Eeeek!

BackYard Camping

More biking

More ATVing

 

 And if we can squeeze it in, I would love to...
Halibut Fishing 

Glacier/Wildlife Cruise 

Float Plane tour
 

 We aren't promised another summer (or two), and the chances of us ever living up here in Alaska are next to 0%... the bottom line is we need to continue to take full advantage of what Alaska's outdoors has to offer!