August in Alaska

We've arrived! After only 6 weeks, almost 7,000 miles, and lots of conversations, we have arrived in Alaska. The last week here has been a whirlwind tour of beautiful scenery and attempting to sleep somewhere other than our tent. We were fortunate enough to get a campsite in a campground right near Anchorage, where we based out of to search for a place to stay. We spent one day driving north to Talkeetna in search of a cabin or some sort of lodging. A lot of things are not listed on the internet, so you actually have to drive to where you want to stay and check out the boards at the post offices and grocery stores and search diligently for "for rent" signs on the side of the road. Our drive to Talkeetna gave us a few leads, and the next day we headed down to the Kenai peninsula to search for other options. (btw...the Kenai peninsula is beatiful, but one should never attempt to drive a large part if it in one day.) Many, many miles and many phone calls later, we finally!
decided on a little cabin outside of Talkeetna. We felt incredibly blessed because when we drove up, the cabin was just becoming available in two days right when we needed it. (We had to be out of the campsite in Anchorage after four days, and we really didn't want to find another place.) The cabin was exactly our budget and available the exact day we needed it!
So far it has been delightful. We have really enjoyed getting to stay in one place and have lots of time to read and write and just recoup. We've also had a nice time checking out the amazing river that is right outside of Talkeetna. We were also treated to a fantastic view of Denali from the drive into Talkeetna. We happened to hit a day with almost no clouds and you could see the entire mountain. Amazing! From 65 air miles away, the mountain is absolutely enormous and beautiful. We're really looking forward to getting to go hiking up there later on this trip.
We're also really excited about our latest acquisition. After much deliberation and several trips to the Anchorage REI, we finally took the plunge and purchased a boat. It is a lovely bright orange inflatable kayak. In BC we passed so much water that we couldn't get on because we had no flotation devices except for our air mattress, so now I am really looking forward to getting to explore some of the local water. Should be interesting. :)
We hope you all are doing well and enjoying August...