The Babcocks

When you first drive into Hope, Alaska you almost miss it. Town consists of only a few buildings, one being the famous Cafe. We skipped town the first day and headed straight up the mountain to a spot we remember from last year with the #chasingbears14 squad. We camped at the primitive campground and planned to explore the road beyond in the morning. Before settling in for the night we made an interesting friend, a local named Paul. Paul mines goal in the area, Caleb spent hours chatting with him about gold in the area and the mining process. We planned to meet Paul again in the morning for him to show us where the wild blueberries were. Paul knew the area well and we were off the trial and had us bush waking our way up the knolls to find the blueberries. We spent a good time in the blueberry patches chatting and getting our fill until Paul left us and we continued our climb to the top. The trail eventually lead us to an alpine lake where Caleb and I took a quick and freezing swim in the clear blue water. On they way down we spotted the most inviting pool of aqua water nestled in the rolling hills. We made plans to bring everyone back with the following day for a swim. Back down in town we met up with the Mali-Mish and Bodswell crews again. Hope is a small town with a lot of character. The bar is lively and crowded on the weekends but the week days offered us some good fishing and beautiful sunsets!

When my computers hard drive crashed we had now idea the awesome adventures it would bring us. When we arrived at the Anchorage Apple store to have it looked at and the first person we saw when we walk in the door was a familiar face. Jeremy, an old friend for our year in Australia back in 2009 was there to greet us at the door. We knew Jeremy lived in Anchorage but had no idea he worked at Apple. Jeremy quickly took care of us and we had everything sorted and being fixed overnight. We made plans to meet up with Jeremy the following weekend down in Seward where he would be visiting his Girlfriend. Jeremy's girlfriend Julie works as a deck hand for Kenai Fjords Tours. We hadn’t previously planned to do any kind of water tour but jumped at the idea to join them in a 9 hour excursion to Northwestern Glacier. We are so grateful to have reconnected with Jeremy when we did and had an awesome time out on the water with he and Julie. We saw just about everything there is to see on the water, Whales, Orcas, Puffins, Proposes, Sea Lions, Otters, tide water glaciers and many many different types of birds. We couldn’t have had a better viewing day or better company. We found another great spot to stay that evening down on the river, set up camp and enjoyed the peace of the wild.

Quick video update from the road! 

We have met some amazing people on the road, If you do not follow the @Malimish_Airstream family, you need to. Dan and Marlene have been on the road with there three kids for 7 years now. We have been following them for some time and finally crossed paths in Homer, AK. We spent 4 days camping on the beach with some good company. Jason, Angela and son Bodey live in a 71’ VW bus and have driven the pan-american highway in its entireity reaching the norther most point just weeks before we met them. It is so nice to stop and spend a few days in one place. 4 nights on the beach was relaxing and very sandy! Homer is such a fun little town, best known for the place they call “the Spit”. We left homer feeling rested and excited to see our new friends down the road.

I think if we had to pick a favorite place in Alaska so far it would be Seward. We have absolutely loved the time we have spent here. Seward is a main stop for the cruise ships which makes it busy during the day but also allows it to have more amenities then some of the smaller towns on the Kenai. We found some amazing places to camp off of the Exit Glacier road, Caleb even got to do a little river crossing to get to one one them. We spent celebs birthday out there, he got to skate because Seward has a skatepark, we showered and were able to do laundry. I made him homemade pizza pockets using our pie iron, they were good but this is a recipe we will be perfecting over time. We took our time here and enjoyed our morning to the fullest. We appreciate a town with a great view, a grocery store and a clean shower. We will be back.

Our first stop in Alaska was McCarthy. We drove in too late in the day to explore much so we hit the local Pizza Bus and chatted with some locals about the area. We ended up meeting one of the rafting guides (Ben) who offered to hike with us the following day. We took the shuttle into McCarthy and then a little farther into Kennecott where the old mines are. Kennecott is an old copper mining town, they mined some of the richest copper ore ever found. We hiked up to the old Bonanza mining site, a grueling 9 mile 3,800ft elevation gain leg burner. Shawn did great and the view was totally worth it. We found our way inside and sifted though some incredible history. People built this huge site on top of a mountain 100 years ago, through the winters they continued to mine in freezing temperatures. Its crazy to imagine while standing up there what life must have been like back then.  

We are in Alaska and actually have been for almost a week. Internet has been hard to find and we had a minor set back with my computer. The HD has failed us, but we are choosing to stay positive and be thankful that we were able to recover these photos. Sometimes things don’t go according to plan and things need to be fixed. But they are just things and we are grateful to have the means to fix them and move on. Today we are in Anchorage after spending the night in the Walmart parking lot (again), ha, life is funny but its the only free option we have in town. Today we will head south down the Kenai, making our way toward Homer. Sometimes we are jealous of the self contained campers that park anywhere and don't require the effort our set up does, but we are learning a lesson of downsizing and loving what we have. Keith is perfect for us, he fits us well and he goes everywhere we need him to go, which we cannot say is true of a camper....unless it’s a Unimog :) 

Today we found the perfect cabin

It’s only our second week on the road and we’ve already experience some incredible things. We helped a group of 5 friends stranded on a backroad and they offered us a free night stay in their vacation house (thanks guys!). We took another “backroad” too late in the evening, almost ran out of gas and ended up taking a single car ferry across the Fraiser river and into town. We met an awesome couple on there second year traveling from Argentina to Alaska and spent two nights relaxing and chatting about life on the road. We’re currently in Fort Nelson, Northern B.C. In three days we hope to be in Alaska, but first we must finish the Alaskan highway and hit some Hot Springs everyone has told us are a “must”. We’ve settled into a routine and we all have our respected roles, Driver (Caleb), picture taker (Ariana) and sleeper (Shawn) by day, Set up King (Caleb), Chef (Ariana) and wanderer (Shawn) by night. 

Everything is so exciting when you start something new. The thrill of the unknown, the wonder of what lies ahead. We began planning for this trip a year ago. What started as a silly thought about moving into our car and driving to Alaska became a full blown plan in no time. Bought an old Land Cruiser thinking it would look awesome and quickly sold it because practicality always beats looks when it comes to actually living out of your car. Bought a newer one and began the process of outfitting it to withstand the journey. The plan is to have no plan besides getting to Alaska, we are free to stop anywhere and as often as we want. We left home July 6th and will be gone until the end of September. B.C., the Yukon, Alaska and back again. Our first night out we found ourselves in the North Cascades at a place called Twin Lakes, If you live in the area GO because its beautiful! We had a rough few days following, some not so wise decisions regarding direction and a cracked tube from changing the air filter literally one moment from the Canadian boarder. Wild fires have caused some incredible lighting but some changes in plan as well. We will continue North to Dawson Creek to meed the Alaskan Highway. Currently in Pemberton B.C. July 10, 2015 - Ariana

In 40 days we hit the road, heading north until the snow brings us back home.