Headed to Alaska?

Jimmy and I are planning to visit Alaska. Jimmy watches a lot of Alaska shows on television which has gotten him interested in several areas of the state. Some may be accessible on an excursion from a cruise boat, and some definitely are not.

We know people who have rented a camper and driven through the wilderness and have seen Alaska up close and personal. We want to learn more about their trip. But Jimmy was sick most of January, so we had no opportunity to invite them over and learn from them.

If we followed in their footsteps, it would mean Jimmy driving a rented camper over the roads of Alaska. And it would mean a lot of meal preparation. But, what we’ve learned from them is we would have the opportunity to also take a boat ride to see the sights that can only be seen from the sea.

I say Jimmy would drive, cause he generally does all the driving when we’re together. I’ve complained lately that living here has spoiled me. I rarely, if ever, need to drive to a bigger city, and often if I go to a bigger city, one of the children is driving if Jimmy’s not. But then, I also have my best friend, Roxie Cargile, who generally prefers to drive. So, I don’t get much opportunity, and I don’t mind at all. Until I realize how inexperienced a driver I am now. (Yes I drive to town every day, but let’s face it, other than traffic jams on the Square in the afternoons, there’s not a lot of negotiating traffic around here.

But if we try to drive through Alaska, there could be unexpected tall bridges. Jimmy doesn’t like bridges…the taller and longer, the worse the bridge is. It used to be I could drive over bridges. But now I’m so out of practice driving in traffic, I’m not comfortable suddenly getting behind the wheel and driving across the bridge after I’ve been resting in the passenger seat.

I talked to a travel agent. She planned us a land/sea adventure that would have been wonderful. But we decided 15 days and the price tag to go with it were too much. So we’re looking at just cruises now, although like I said, I want to talk further to our friends.

And, as was bound to happen, there is a conflict with our initial dates. Emily hasn’t asked me yet, but she needs me to babysit the weekend of September 9, cause she’s going to a wedding in Colorado. It’s a weekend turnaround trip so she doesn’t want to take the two-year-old. It makes more sense to leave her with grandma. (I’ve not yet ever kept her overnight, and my initiation may be the whole weekend.)

And, Emily wants to go to Alaska. So we’re going to back up. That may make the cost go up cause we were at the tail-end of the Alaska sight-seeeing season. You see, it gets too cold after early September.

Anyway, several other people have expressed interest in joining us. So I’m not sure who may go on this cruise. If we get five more cabins worth of people, we would qualify for a discount. We aren’t sure who we would prefer to be boating with us, but it’s a big boat…we’ll all manage.

Speaking of big boat, some in the party prefer a smaller boat. And when it comes to cruise ships…what is big or small?

I’ve ordered a guide to Alaska that should be here this week. I’m hoping we’ll have a better idea of what we want to see once we get the guide, and can then choose our itinerary. Then, we’ll have to find a boat. Then we’ll have to try to get the best deal.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from any of you who has been to Alaska. Tell me what I don’t want to miss. Tell me what may be considered a waste of time. I’m talking to my older sister, but I want lots of advice. I’d love to hear from you. Call or text me, 706-318-7396, or call The News office, 706-468-6511, or email editor@themonticellonews.com. I look forward to hearing from you.