As I expect most of you know my vacation was kind of a working one. I left on July 30 and spent almost three weeks in Alaska. Besides fulfilling a lifelong dream by visiting our 49th state, I did some preliminary research and feasibility study on a writing project that has moved to front and center in my life this year. I’m doing a book about the ladies who train and race sled dogs in the super endurance musher events like the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest, both about 1000 miles long.  It is a pretty phenomenal thing when you think about it. One gal and up to sixteen dogs hitched to her sled out there in the “frozen northland” racing over some very rugged country, maybe encountering a moose or wolves, and dealing with whatever weather may happen in February and March!  I met some of them on my trip and was wowed even more than I had been just following the races through their web sites.

I’ve got a new blog about the trip and the book-to-be and if you are interested you can certainly go check it out. It’s at http://gwynnmorganalaska.blogspot.com and there are pictures, posts and ‘stuff’ to see. Today as my side job–I always try to have a project going in the other window on my computer as I monitor and post here–will be starting pages on the Alaska trip on my Facebook and Pinterest. You can find both of them using my azwriter427 email or gwynn morgan for the Facebook. I can get the exact URLs if anyone wants them.

In summary, Alaska in the summer is gorgeous–flowers everywhere and the mountains are amazing. I saw McKinley/Denali from the air flying from Anchorage to Fairbanks and next time–yes, I am going back!–will visit the park and get a closer look. It is awesome, really. Huge!! I am not sure I could deal with the cold and lack of sunshine through the long winter but otherwise I would be trying to find a way to move up there or at least stay for six months at a time! I really fell in love.