Alaska is going to be expensive.  It is hard to believe we are going to spend this much money for the pleasure of sleeping on the ground, being eaten by mosquitos, getting rained on, being hot, freezing & eating substandard meals.

Shawn chooses his meals as if every one could be his last.  He loves food!  I’ve already warned him that we’ll likely be in a culinary wasteland for the 3 week journey.  We have to stick to the budget.  I am soooo excited!

In exchange for the lack of comfort, Shawn & I will spend 552 hours together.  This will also be the first time I have spent more than a couple of days in a row with Daddy in over 20 years.  Our last full week of family vacation was probably in 1992.  It’s going to be fabulous!  We’ll see gorgeous mountains, the Arctic Ocean, tons of wildlife & a tiny slice of the world that hasn’t been completely commercialized.

A couple of weeks ago I spent the night with Grandma.  We had a great evening together!  We looked through her pictures from the trip she took with my Grandpa to Alaska in the 1980’s.  They spent a summer touring in their camper & it looked like an amazing adventure!  One of my favorite pictures was of a sign outside of a campground.  Anyone needing to leave a message for someone simply wrote it on the back of a paper plate, or whatever was handy & attached it to the sign at the entrance.  No cell phones back then!  Grandma hung a note for a friend they were meeting.  He found their note & it lead him to their campsite.  We are planning to see some of the same landmarks.  Maybe we can re-create some of their old pictures.  What fun!

Below is a glimpse into our budget.  Fortunately we already had a nice tent, and we received some of our gear for Christmas from Mom & Daddy so this doesn’t include any items that we didn’t have to purchase.  I suppose I can look at our gear as an investment.  We’ll use it again for future adventures!

Last night Shawn asked me where we will go next year.  I am thinking a trip to Europe & perhaps include some time watching the Isle of Man TT race.  But – who knows.  I really want to see Africa, but unfortunately I think it falls on Shawn’s ‘Never’ list.  I’ll need to find a different travel partner for that one & it certainly won’t be a bike trip.  There are still so many places I want to ride in the US as well.  We haven’t been to the North West, and we haven’t ridden in the South East.  Right now I need to focus on Alaska & realistically next year will probably be someplace closer & cheaper.  🙂

So, here is the budget: