A Cozy Cabin

This winter I am staying in a very cozy, small 14x14 cabin with a loft. It's a dry cabin. Which means it doesn't have any indoor plumbing (meaning no water or toilet). It's very common in frigid cold places in Alaska for the cabins and homes to be dry. This is because 1) it's easier and cheaper to heat 2) no worry of pipes freezing as the temperatures drop down to below zero.  Here is a little tour of my lovely cabin:

Through the front door

Since the cabin is so small, all the space utilized is valuable. Luckily I don't own that much stuff!

The kitchen

Luckily I am not that much of a cook. Although if you note the cans on the top of the shelf, I love canning! The kitchen is nothing to write home about. Small is an understatement. :)  Notice the mini sink and tub behind it. For dishes, I have to boil water on the stovetop or in my electric tea kettle. I have soapy water in the sink and rinse water in the small tub. Then I dry the dishes on the counter. I fill up two 5 gallon jugs each week from the spring for cooking, washing, drinking, and dishes. You may ask where I take showers and do my laundry. Luckily, the office I work at (2 miles away) has showers and a washer and dryer. 

My "cabinets"

Behind the curtain: food, pots, pans, and the slop bucket. 

Any cabin that doesn't have plumbing has a slop bucket below the drain. This bucket collects any water you drain for dishes, washing hands, brushing teeth, etc. When it is full, you take it outside and dump it. :)

I have a mini fridge and another shelf for other food items. The ladder goes up to the loft. 

The views are amazing!

Going into the "living room"

The "living room"

The cabin is heated by a small monitor heater. I have a futon (for any guests who want to visit in winter) :).

My bed in the loft. 

The loft is a cool space. There are 3 windows where I have views of the surrounding mountains. It is a small space, I can't even stand up, but it works and stays warm.

The windows.

View from loft window #1

View from loft window #2.

Another view from loft window #2

I'll take photos of the outhouse sometime and the sauna! But that's all for now. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, I need to get outside!

Wrangell St. Elias

A few weeks ago I drove across Alaska to visit Wrangell St. Elias National Park. Wrangell St. Elias is the largest of all the US national parks at 13.2 million acres. I drove down one of two roads in the park to the town of McCarthy and then walked the road to the abandoned mining site at Kennicott. Since I visited at the end of summer, after everything had closed, there was barely a soul to be seen. 

The scenery on the drive in was beautiful. The Copper river flows throughout. For about 60 miles, the road is unpaved, one lane, and very curvy/bumpy/pothole filled. But I saw some swans a swimming (four...not quite seven) and a couple of moose. 

The weather was pretty overcast, cloudy, rainy, and windy.

But the fall colors were at their peak! They were beautiful!

The mining sight is right in front of the glacier.

A walk up to a glacier? Don't mind if I do!

The abandoned buildings were pretty cool. Trees and bushes were starting to grow in and around the buildings and machinery.

A moose was wishing me farewell on the way out. 

It was a quick trip. I wanted to take a flight-seeing trip, but sadly there was a serious wind storm coming in (100 miles per hour winds!). Maybe next time.....

Summer In A Flash

It's been a while, I know. Needless to say summer was BUSY. At some point I kept thinking "Boy, I should update my blog." But with so little time in summer, there were always better things to do. Sorry.

Get ready though. I am about to make up for it! What's in store you might ask? To start with winter life in Alaska just got more interesting. I'm living in a small 12x12 dry cabin. That means no water, an outhouse, and plenty of stories regarding my second Alaskan winter! Next up: traveling! Just went to Wrangell St. Elias (posting soon). Headed to East coast in October and southeast Asia in December. Many exciting things to come. Until then, here are a few photos (phone, since that is what i'm typing on) from the summer!