Alaska Adventures: 29 Foot Beast

Ah, there she is, the 29 foot Beast. This is the rig the Wolter family scored when we called the RV rental place a little too late. It sleeps 8 adults. The Wolter fam = 4 adults. You do the math. I should've called MTV to film an episode of Cribs in this thing. Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Anyway, we rolled out of town (then back to get some stuff we forgot at my house, and then rolled out again) and made our way up to Denali. Denali itself (aka Mt. McKinley) is rarely visible since it's usually surrounded by a sea of clouds. But we managed to see it twice! Check it out (double click the pic - Denali looks like a massive cloud):

After a bit of hiking and bus-riding and backing the Beast into small campsites (well, small for a 29 foot Beast), we headed off to Valdez, via Thompson Pass. If you've not seen Thompson Pass, you MUST come visit me and we'll go. It's unbelievable. If you want pics, let me know and I'll send you the snapfish link to all the Wolter adventure pics, which include our ride through this heavenly pass. After arriving in Valdez, I conned the family into taking a kayak trip out to Columbia Glacier. I did not realize that this glacier, 3.5 miles wide and1900 feet tall (1000 feet above water, 900 feet below), is calving at the rate of 70 feet per day!! WHAT?! So we managed to get, oh...7 or 8 miles from the face of the glacier before getting totally stuck in house-sized icebergs (usually kayakers are to remain .25 miles from the face so they don't get squished by falling ice or massive waves resulting from falling ice). Not exactly what I'd had in mind, but how cool is this??! I think they're having fun: