Alcan Drive

I went on an adventure a couple weeks ago and it was pretty great.

I drove down the Alcan Highway (the highway that runs from Alaska and down the majority of Canada), and continued south until I arrived home in Utah.

It was cool. I really enjoyed the first three days of the trip in particular. I took six days to do it--not too fast and not too slow, and I was able to get some writing done on a lot of days as well--and my stops included the following awesomely named places: Destruction Bay, Toad River, Grand Prairie, Red Deer. Also Helena, Montana.

I listened to the audio version of Ready Player One, which I have many opinions about, but will save them for later. I also listened to various episodes of The Adventure Zone podcast, Bossypants by Tina Fey, Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick, and the Graphic Audio version of The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett (it was like a 50 hour drive so I had a lot of listening time, and it was actually pretty cool).

If you ever have the opportunity to make the drive, I recommend it. It's definitely an adventure (especially in late March/early April, which is definitely still Winter in AK and Canada), and I enjoyed it.

The following are a series of selfies and other photos I took on the trip that are surprisingly boring but constitute the majority of my documentation from the thing.

Prepping for the trip. Northern Canada doesn't have wifi or cellular service for hundreds of miles at a time, so I had to tackle it old school.

Departing from my parents' home in Eagle River, AK.

Getting gas in Glennallen. Hey, I warned you these wouldn't be exciting.

Where I stayed in Destruction Bay.

Notice my incredibly versatile selfie expressions. Also sunrise as I left Destruction Bay. Also, Edward M. Kovel accompanied me on my quest.

Hot Springs in Liard River.

The roads were usually much better than this. The views were typically this awesome.

On rare occasion, the roads were like this. What road, you ask? That sheet of ice. Yeah. That sheet of ice is the road.

Biggest mall in North America in Edmonton. My fuzzy black sweatshirt was my constant companion, if you couldn't tell. Other than in the hot springs, clearly.

Adventures in Alaska

So the other week Rachel and I went up to Alaska to raft the Gulkana river. It was a blast. I floated that river three or four times as a boy scout, and it was fun to go back with Rachel and the rest of my family.

My parents can count on one hand the times it's gotten above 80 degrees in AK since they moved up there almost twenty years ago, and--lucky us--it was in the mid-eighties the whole week we were on this rafting trip. We seriously couldn't have asked for better weather, and the river was perfect temperature for cooling off with a quick dip.

Anyway, check out the photos!

Meet 0.5 of the 2.5 places to eat in Glennallen (population: 493 persons): this Thai food truck.

Mmmmm. Thai food is delicious. You can tell by the way my eyes are closed in food-induced bliss.

The river was totes gorge.

I told stories in a writerly fashion around camp while wearing this very fine hat. Actually I didn't, but this photo makes it look like I did. That hat is very fine, though.

Our campsites along the river were F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S.

The Very Fine Hat makes another appearance, this time enhancing my rowing skills. You can see my brothers agree.

The Very Fine Hat strikes again, this time with an accomplice: the Very Fancy Hat.

Ah, life on the river. Also, the Very Fine Hat enjoys photobombing.

Me taking a break from rowing--not oaring, as I was wont to call it for some reason--probably because, by removing the Very Fine Hat (as seen in the lower left corner), I lost my rowing power.

The Very Fancy Hat on a solo op. Also, my wife and brother.

The "other raft." Quotation marks intended. Also pictured: Very Dandy Hat, Very Posh Hat, Very Snazzy Hat, and The-Hat-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named. 

My sister taking a turn at oaring. ROWING. I mean rowing. Also, notice the lethargic state of my brothers (slumped on the bow and stern of the raft, respectively)--that's due to their lack of Hats. obviously.

We camped along the river. Twice. (Which further proves that my wife is a total boss, considering she's preggo and all.) Also, if you look closely, you can just barely see the shadow of The-Hat-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named... #ominous

The whole fam. Eight, +1 on the way. (This is at Portage Glacier, days after the river trip. We did not raft through iceberg-infested waters.) Notice the stark lack of Hats--their souls were not meant to be bound up in these coils of mortality. But they will always return to us, in an hour of need. Because they are the Hats we deserve, not the ones we need right now.

'Twas a great trip.

Wait, it's almost July?

And suddenly a month has passed. Yikes.

I've been busy. First of all, what should, *hopefully* be the final-ish revision of Duskfall (you can tell how confident I am about them already, can't you?) has taken more time and effort than I'd hoped. Ain't that always the way. I'm happy to be wrapping them up, though.

I've also joined a writing group, so that has been cool. I'm sure I'll talk more about that later, but I'm very happy about it so far.

Oh, and I went to Alaska. Had an adventure or two. Because, you know, that's where I'm from and such.

Between those things, which are for the most part very awesome, and some decidedly not-awesome other things like Hugo award controversies and the recent murders in Charleston, I've been avoiding saying much on the internet of late. But I think I've collected myself a bit and I'm ready to jump back into blogger-ness, which means continuing my How I Got Published and #FIF Series (Serieses? Serieses'ses''''? Stupid english...), checking in more with general updates on my writing (including writing group stuff) and life in general (including Alaska stuff), and maybe even sharing some thoughts I have about recent events. So, that's that.