(This is a long post, but it's mostly pictures! Elk, musk oxen, brown bears, and much more! It takes me many nap times pieced together to get a blog post up, so here are all the photos in one post!)

I try to visit the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center once a year or so, and I am grateful to live less than an hour and a half from it! It feels like a mixture of a wildlife safari and zoo, but set in a beautiful expanse of land at the end of a body of water and between towering mountains.

​According to their website, "AWCC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Alaska’s wildlife through public education. AWCC takes in injured and orphaned animals year-round and provides spacious enclosures and quality animal care. Animals that cannot be released into the wild are given a permanent home at the center."

For instance, this porcupine was found with a back leg missing and is now being trained as an educational animal at AWCC. They are training him to follow this target, which means he'll get a food reward, and then they'll be able to take him for walks (no leash!) around the property where people can see him and learn about him up close.

The setting of AWCC is GORGEOUS! Even the moose appreciate the scenery!

As we are in rutting season, all the older male elk but one had been removed from the enclosure that houses the females and young ones and had been put in their own. (Elk are not native to Alaska but have been introduced.)

This elk was putting on a show for us as he stripped the velvet off his antlers. It looks painful and messy, but my husband assures me it does not cause them pain. They are, however, bothered by an itchy sensation, which is what compels them to scrape against trees and branches to rub the velvet off.

Musk oxen are amazing animals with a protective herd instinct. I have been told since living in Alaska that in the presence of a predator, the strong, able-bodied musk oxen will circle up around the weaker ones of their group and defend them. I mean, would you really want to mess with those horns? I have also seen these creatures run, and they are FAST!

You can walk or drive (or a bit of both) the two miles on the property. It is such a scenic place to stroll.

And the bears!! What an amazing opportunity to get so close to these fearsome, incredible animals. The organization currently has three brown bears and at least one black bear. Here are some interesting facts about brown bears (sometimes known as grizzly bears) in Alaska.

These wolves were beautiful. I have only seen one wolf in the wild, and it's a thrill to see.

The AWCC helped Alaska Fish and Game to reintroduce a herd of wood bison into the interior of Alaska to help establish a wood bison presence in Alaska for the first time in over 100 years. AWCC has a neat timeline of the process here.

Education, wildlife, and breathtaking views! Sounds like the recipe for a great adventure!

My wonderful sister-in-law and fellow twin mama came up for a quick visit by herself to meet the girls and help out. We went on our adventure on the one sunny day between rainy days, and we each wore one of my babies in a carrier and trekked around for two miles, having a wonderful time. I was so grateful for her company and her visit!

And lastly, my favorite picture from the day. As a nursing mama of twins, I felt a special connection to this moment and bond and was so glad to capture it on camera.

Well, hello! If moose could talk, I imagine them being quite friendly creatures. They roam our woods and neighborhoods, generally minding their own business and creating a wonderful sense of, quite literally, the wild in our backyards.

This pair (twins everywhere in my life!) and their mama paid us a visit recently, and watching the young ones right on the other side of our windows was a treat! I couldn't get a picture of all three together, sadly.

They didn't know quite what to think about us being so close to them. I would never purposefully get this close without being safely inside, especially when a mama has her young ones with her, as I have a healthy respect for these large animals we share Alaska with and know the safety recommendations for being around them. On this occasion, it was wonderful to get to see them so up close and personal.

We minimized our movements to not scare them, and they definitely saw us, but the roses and other plants were (unfortunately for the flowers) more alluring than we were interesting. I didn't know moose munched on rose bushes . . . or perhaps that was a juvenile mistake made only once.

All is well when mama is nearby. These young moose kept an eye on her so as not to stray too far from safety. We tried to get a picture of our twins with the moose twins in the background through the window, but we just couldn't get set up fast enough by the time we thought of it.

My, what large ears you have! Until next time, our long-legged neighbors!

Some of our other "neighbors" are sweet, juicy, plentiful raspberries! We haven't been able to get out to pick berries this year with the little ones, so we were grateful our landlords let us pick from their abundance! I made a delicious baked oatmeal modified from a recipe I found online. (I am a use-what-you-have and make-it-your-own kind of cook. I rarely follow a recipe exactly; I'm always lessening the amount of sweetener, swapping ingredients for those I have on hand, etc., and the result turns out more "me"!)

I don't know WHY I've never made baked oatmeal before! It was DELICIOUS, and eating it cold for a few mornings in a row was a filling, easy breakfast, which is essential for me these days with three-month-old twins!

Alas, nap time is almost over and two sweet girls are needing me. I'll be putting up my next post soon about my recent visit to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center! It will be full of lots of awesome pictures of Alaska wildlife (I am loving having a nice camera again!). Stay tuned! :)

Twins!!

Between my previous blog post and now, we went from this . . .

. . . to this!

As you may have read in previous posts, we have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of our twin girls. They arrived in May, and what an adventurous summer this has been . . . in a very different sort of way. Last summer we were traveling to places like Chena Hot Springs, Kennecott Mines, the Kenai Peninsula, and the Matanuska Glacier.

This summer we're changing diapers, snuggling sweet babies "E" and "F," and growing greatly in love with our little family. Oh, and walks! Lots of walks. This is my M.O. these days:

We've had family visit at various times since the girls' debut, and while my dad was here he smoked some of last year's red salmon we caught dipnetting! So delicious and pretty simple to do! Everyone seems to have a recipe for smoked salmon brine that they will take to the grave with them, but we used a simple store-bought one and it turned out pretty tasty.

My outdoor adventures have consisted of drives nearby and walks in Anchorage, but even for those simple things it's been wonderful to get out of the house and get some fresh air and change of scenery. We've been having a gorgeous, warm summer for the most part! Last night we took a walk on the track at a nearby middle school and it was nearly 80 degrees at 7pm!

Above was my view from Beluga Point when I went for a drive and then fed the girls in the car. Normally there are never watercraft in the Turnagain Arm because the tides are extremely powerful and the bottom is silty and shallow. But that day the fire department was practicing water rescues, probably due to the many people who daringly try to surf the Bore Tide or windsurf in the Arm.

Last week I went for a walk around Lake Hood, which many sources say is the world's busiest floatplane hub. I love seeing small aircraft flying right over my head and taking off or landing on the small gravel runway or the lake itself. I wonder who is in them and where they're going. Many companies run sightseeing tours, hunting trips, etc., but a surprisingly large percentage of Alaskans own their own small planes and have the luxury of flying to gorgeous places on a whim in rugged, beautiful Alaska.

These adventures are different, but last year we packed in many out-of-town trips knowing it might be our last summer as a kidless couple. While we want to explore Alaska just as much with our little ones, we're staying close to home for these early months and settling into life with twins. These girls are the most amazing gifts from God. We love getting to know them and seeing their personalities emerge! They're two months already, and we are so excited for all that lies ahead!

It's a time for little discoveries.

It's a time for window gazing.

It's a time for being entertained by nature (I can't help but laugh at the looks on some of these faces).

And it is most definitely a time to celebrate new life.

Over the last year+ of blogging about Alaska, I've received many questions about life in this great state. Today I'm taking on one of those questions and sharing my perspective on it!

Q. What are the best RV routes to Alaska? (This answer will work just as well for car travelers) *Question submitted by Janet of Seize the Day RV Adventure*

​A. (I'm including important TIPS for the trip in the next section, below the wildlife pictures.) Both times I've driven from the Lower 48 (once with a camp trailer for sleep and once in a small car, utilizing motels along the way), I've used the same route: Oregon to Bellingham via I-5, B'ham to Abbotsford across the Canadian border, Abbotsford to Hope, Hope to Dawson Creek via BC-1 and BC-97. This is a gorgeous mountainous route. There are a few other ways you can start out, depending on what part of the States you're beginning from. But whatever route you start out on heading toward Alaska, you'll join the Alaska Highway (AKA the Alcan or Alaska-Canadian Highway) in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and from there you just have one highway northwest.

The whole trip is BEAUTIFUL and well worth the time! My trips north took 5-6 days each from Oregon to Fairbanks or Anchorage, and that was going at a pretty good pace and not making long stops. I dream of having a couple weeks to do the trip someday . . . maybe we'll purchase an RV in the Lower 48 and drive it back home to Alaska and take our time. Hard to find vacation time for that long of a trip at this stage in life, though. :)

The wildlife along the way is plentiful. I've seen bears, foxes, moose, bison, dall sheep, a wolf, bald eagles, hawks, and more on my trips. Here are a few photos I've snapped along the way.

The scenery in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory is breathtaking at every dip and turn. Farther north, you'll drive through some stretches of swamp spruce trees in every direction for miles and miles, but even that vast openness is beautiful in its own wild way. Each town (sometimes no more than a seasonal motel or gas station) has its own charm and is worth a little exploring. Most of the larger towns have really neat historic and cultural things to see or experience.

TIPS FOR THE TRIP!
1) Buy the current year's MILEPOST book! You will NOT REGRET IT!! It is full of resources you might not even know you'd need until you're in the middle of nowhere, wondering where you can sleep, get food or gas, or see the best sights.

2) Driving the mountain passes is not for the faint of heart. If you're driving a big rig like an RV, make sure you have good brakes and you're confident on steep inclines/declines with little to no guard rails and a fair amount of twists and turns. People do it all the time, but be forewarned so you aren't taken by surprise, especially if you're not fond of heights!

3) Time your trip well. My first time was in June and the weather was fair with some rain. My second was in late September and the weather was pretty good (albeit colder), but we did encounter snow flurries crossing the Rocky Mountains. I can't speak for July or August, but you might find a stretch of warmth in there. The trip is beautiful no matter what, just know what types of weather your car can handle! I know people who have driven it in the winter, but those trips have been out of necessity and not sightseeing.

4) Be prepared for a LOT of construction! Don't be surprised by delays stretching to an hour or more. Tune in to local radio stations for some unique listening if you get stuck! Or bring audio books! With such a huge road trip, sometimes you may talk with your carmates, sometimes you may want silence to take in the scenery, sometimes you may want music, and sometimes you just need something a little different.

5) Any road trip is not complete without emergency supplies and extra food and water for everyone in your party. You don't want to be in the middle of nowhere with a flat tire, an empty fuel tank, or no water to drink. The roads are pretty good overall, except for frost heaves (much better conditions than the beautiful McCarthy Road!), but being prepared and equipped is of utmost importance.

6) If you don't have an RV/trailer/tent to sleep in (tenting would be my last resort with all the bears), try to think ahead for accommodations. Part of the fun of the trip is not knowing how far you're going to drive each day, but I've found that arriving late at night into a town for the night is NOT a good idea. A friend and I got into one northern BC town late in the evening and ALMOST couldn't get a room due to every hotel being booked up by construction workers. Campgrounds probably aren't going to fill up with job crews, but it's good to leave yourself some time to backtrack or move on to another close town if you need to. If you really want to be planned out, you could make reservations ahead of time, but I never did for the reason below:

7) Plan to be flexible. You won't know if you really take a liking to a certain town or campground until you've been there! If you have the time in your schedule, leave room for staying longer at certain places or cutting driving time short for the day if you find a place you want to spend time in earlier in the day.

Driving the Alaska highway (and whatever route you take to get there) should be on everybody's list of road trips, in my opinion! It is a completely unique experience and will provide some of the most picturesque scenery you can imagine. See below for some of the shots I've taken on the trip.