We went camping! -- Part Two

The second day of camping we decided to try a couple of the trails that weren't completely covered in snow. The brothers biked ahead to see what trails were good and also to make sure there weren't any bears or moose around.







The really cool thing about campgrounds in Alaska is that a lot of them are connected by the trails. Last year my brothers and I biked along the trails for hours and went to tons of different campgrounds. It was one of the most amazing things I did that summer simply because the beauty of nature takes my breath away. (Man I just looked through that entire link and it made me so excited about this summer--I wonder what adventures are in store?)










The wildlife finally decided to come out a little bit. We had seen rabbits as well but I couldn't get any pictures, so I was excited when the birds decided to come out.





We know the person behind this license plate. He meant for it to stand for Love RVing, but it is usually mistaken for Lover Van. Hah!







And as you may or may not know, I just got back from another camping trip today. This was one of my favorite camping spots so I was excited to go back. There are a ton of pictures I can't wait to share with you guys, so in the upcoming days there will be many camping posts. Sweet!

We went camping! -- Part One

Two weekends ago my family went on our first camping trip of the summer, and man was it an adventure! Only five minutes on the road on the most dangerous highway in North America (or so my dad says), we hear a loud bang from the top of the car and see things flying behind our speeding vehicle. Cars behind us swerved to avoid the flying objects and while we all freaked out inside the car, my dad pulled over to investigate.




Turns out that little piece sheered off our overhead compartment, throwing the lid open and causing all our sleeping bags and tents to fly away. So my brothers, dad, and I all walked along the highway trying to gather our belongings while tour buses drove by with tourists most likely laughing at us and the tour guides saying, "And on our right we have some locals trying to go camping. They didn't book with Alaska Tours and are now suffering the consequences." Thankfully, we got all our stuff back and with a few bungee cords keeping everything down, we were back on the road to go camping!






But when we got to the campgrounds, everything was covered in snow. It was so weird. Seriously, it's summer. There shouldn't be snow. And yet, some of the lots were covered and a bathroom was blocked completely from the foot of snow. We talked to some of the other campers and they said that they came every year at the same time and snow has never been an issue. I guess it's just been a very long winter.







For this camping trip I completely overpacked. I had brought nearly every warm sweatshirt I owned, but ended up wearing the same thing the entire time. Yeah, I even wore the same clothes to bed too. Sometimes, it's just too cold outside to change into pajamas. And man, was it cold this time! Everyone was freezing and pretty miserable, but we tried to stay warm by the fire (and also by wearing a million layers of clothes). I'm hoping we get to come back to this campground though. Last time we came we got to hike to the glacier and bike to beautiful lakes, but this time we weren't able to due to the snow.







In the wild, you have to find ways to entertain yourself. Nicholas has this trick where he can squirt water through his teeth. William tried to replicate it but only succeeded in spewing water everywhere.








Part two shall be up tomorrow!