I have a Dream

For over 20 years, I have dreamed of going to Alaska.



My dream is to load up my boys and gear and take off to Alaska in a van. A month or so on the road. Stopping at many National Parks, National Monuments, and Points of interest along the way.



In my perfect dream world, I would be driving an eco-friendly vehicle.



I would load up my camping gear, camera gear, tons of tunes, movies, art supplies, food, and computer. I would document all of our adventures on the way to Alaska, and back to Kansas City. I am sure my sons would contribute to documenting the journey on a blog.



The places we would visit and see would be amazing learning experiences for my family. My sons would learn about history, geography, geology, meterology, astronomy, and many more important lessons.



The route would be something like this:

Leave Kansas City.

Badlands, South Dakota

Black Hills. (spending a day or two exploring Pine Ridge, Black Hills, Wind Cave, Crazy Horse Monument...)



West to Battle of Little Big Horn (aka Custer's Last Stand) and Devil's Tower

towards YellowStone, NP.



Spend a few days in Yellowstone/Tetons. (I would love to go backpacking there, and see some wolves in their natural habitat, among many other amazing creatures.)



From there, we would head North to Glacier National Park, Montana.

(again, a few more days there to explore)



Then we would cross the Canadian Border to Banff/Jasper National Parks in Alberta, Canada.

(we can spend a few more days exploring the turquoise lakes, and jagged mountains of the Candian Rockies.)



From Banff, we would head west to Vancouver, BC.



Take a Farry ride up the Inside Passage from Vancouver, BC to Alaska. Ideally, we could take a farry to Homer or Anchorage, Alaska. (I need to research this part.)



I would love to see Alaska from the boat! see the glaciers. Visit Glacier Bay.



Once in Homer, I'd like to take a day trip to Kodiak Island to see the Grizzly Bears. Then head north to Anchorage, and then to Denali National Park.



We would probably spend at LEAST a week in Denali and area before we start the journey back homeward.



HOMEWARD BOUND would start with Fairbanks, Dawson City, White Horse to Skagway.



Skagway, load onto a Farry South to Vancouver.



From Vancouver, we would go to Seattle and Olympic National Park. (again, a few days to explore) Mt. Rainier



South through Oregon, Mt. Hood.



Mt. Shasta (california) Redwoods, Tahoe, Yosemite, Mammoth, Sequoias, BristleCone Pines, Mount Whitney, Death Valley towards the GRAND CANYON.



Grand Canyon/Page/canyon Lands to Moab, Utah.



Arches, Utah to COLORADO.



Across Colorado to Kansas and back home.

The trip is roughly 10,000 miles of driving. phew! that's a lot! Now, if i could get sponsered by Coleman, The North Face, REI, Family Fun magazine or some places like that, it would make funding the trip a lot easier. :) Until then, the boys and I have set up a "vacation fund", change jar. Any change or spare dollar we have, we put it in the Vacation Fund. Sometimes it's called the Alaska fund.....

sigh, someday... a girl can dream, right? :)