Blogs

Hello, everyone.  Saint and Dusty here!  We know that you’ve been waiting eagerly for our next blog.  It’s been challenging because we have been on the go so much.  Also, we have been in some remote places and have not had the bandwidth to upload blogs. 

We want to share a very special time with you. On July 25, 2022, we went to Denali National Park and Preserve.  Denali is the highest peak in North America.  The park and preserve is nearly 10,000 square miles.  We drove down to it from Fairbanks.  There was no place closer where Mummy and Karma, her wheelchair, could stay. 

We had booked an accessible bus tour for the afternoon to learn about Denali’s natural history.  Aunt Kimmie was with us, so that made it extra special.  On the way down it was really windy.  Mummy had a hard time holding Miracle, our van, on the road.  We made it down safely, though. 

When it came time for us to board the bus for the last tour of the day, they had lost Mummy’s special information and did not have a wheelchair accessible bus there.  After some frantic calling, though, they got one with a very nice driver, Sarah.  We then got extra special treatment.

Sarah told us that because of the harshness of the climate and the shortness of the growing season, there is not a lot of wildlife in the preserve.  Just as she said that, one of the bus passengers called out that he saw some moose running.  We have a picture of them, if you look closely.  It appeared to be a female chasing another female and her calf.  Perhaps the mother and baby had intruded into the other moose’s territory.   

We could not see Denali itself from the park.  Because of some road erosion and such, you can’t drive closer than about 70 miles to the mountain and it was a rainy, cloudy day.  Don’t worry, though.  On several clear, sunny days, we were able to see Denali from where we were staying in Fairbanks: The Taste of Alaska Lodge. 

We hope to send you another update, soon.  In the meantime, take care.  Be well.  Hugs and wags.

Dusty and Saint

Hello, Everyone.  Saint and Dusty here!

We hope that we haven’t worried you by our silence.  We’ve been doing great.  We’ve seen so much and had so many adventures.  We’ve really been covering ground.  Since we set off a month ago, we’ve driven more than 8,000 miles.  Mummy sure has strong arms.

We wanted to share a really special time with you.  On Friday, July 22, we took a glacier cruise out of the port of Whittier, Alaska.  We drove down to Anchorage, from Fairbanks, the day before.  Whittier is about 90 minutes from Anchorage.  You used to be able to visit it only by boat or train.  There are mountains between it and everything else.  In the early 2000s, they decided to make the rail tunnel bimodal and have cars and trains both use it.  It is the longest such tunnel (2.5 miles) in North America and able to withstand -40 Fahrenheit temps and 150 mph winds. 

Once we got through the tunnel, we got to the cruise ship parking lot.  It was raining and cold, but we were hopeful for an amazing time.  Prince William Sound usually has some pretty foul weather.  It’s really calm, though.  Aunt Kimmy had joined us for part of our Alaska trip, so that made it even better.

The ship people were so nice.  They moved seats for Mummy.  We had a great table and view outside.  They served a delicious lunch.  And we saw amazing sights.  They even made it possible for us to go outside on the deck at some points. 

The weather cleared enough that we saw 26 glaciers!  It’s sad that in the 10 years that the captain has been doing these cruises, the glaciers have retreated so much.  We saw sea lions.  We saw a humpback whale.  We saw our favorites: sea otters.  And we went close by a rookery for black-legged kittiwakes, a type of gull.  We’ve included a photo of that.  Look closely.  It’s the largest such rookery on Prince William Sound.  Boy are those gulls loud!  

We would definitely give this an eight paw rating.  If you have the chance, don’t miss it. 

Take care.  Be well.  Hugs and wags.

Saint and Dusty

Hello, Everyone.  Saint and Dusty here! 

We know that we promised to be better about blogging.  Life sort of happened for us.  We set out on July 4, Independence Day.  How cool is that? 

We ran into computer problems right away.  Mummy’s been trying to get them resolved since. 

We’ve gone about 4,000 miles.  We have had some really neat adventures.  As we drove across the northern U.S., we were able to visit with some old friends along the way. 

Our rooms have mostly been very nice.  Mummy is documenting how accessible they are.  We want everything to be just right for Mummy. 

As we’ve gotten further west, the distance between our lodging stops has increased: lots of space out here. 

You might wonder what we do all day while Mummy is driving.  Uncle Al built a really neat dog couch for us that makes the backseat twice as deep as usual so that we can relax in style.  We feel very comfortable in Miracle, our van.  She is our home away from home.

We know that the days do get long for Mummy with all that driving.  So we are working extra hard to take care of her. 

Yesterday was a long day of driving.  So today is a rest day.  This morning we walked to a grocery store and got our favorites: carrots! You can’t conquer the world without carrots.  Now we’re just hanging out while Mummy does some writing. 

We have a few more provinces to go through before we reach Alaska.  So we better rest up.

Take care.  Be well. 

Saint and Dusty

Hello, Everyone.  Saint and Dusty here!  We’re sorry that we haven’t blogged in quite a while.  We promise to try to do better. 

We’ve been really busy getting ready for our big adventure.  Abi helped us a lot during this past academic year.  There was so much planning to be done.  Since school let out in May, we have been working hard to implement many of the plans.  We have to take most of our food and medicine with us.  We have been doing LOTS of packing.  Actually, Mummy does the packing.  But we help by watching her—we think that it encourages her. 

Last week we had the chance to do a little trial run for our big trip.  It was our first trip outside of Maine in a long time.  First we stopped and gave our van, Miracle, a spa day at Mobility Works.  She felt re-energized after that.  Then we went onto Boston. 

While we were in Boston, we went to see Mummy’s doctor at Mass General, Dr. Gomery.  During the pandemic, Mummy had only been able to meet with him through Zoom.  It was really great to see him again.  He’s a good doctor.  And he loves us: Saint and Dusty.  Mummy took a cute photo of us all to share.

Afterwards, we were able to go see Mummy’s sister, Aunt Sharon.  Because of the pandemic, we hadn’t been able to see her for a few years, either.  Aunt Sharon is really good to us.  She had a feeding station for us with lots of fresh water and plenty of carrots.  We even got to see Aunt Sharon’s daughter, Megan, her husband, Brian, and their little boys.  We loved playing with the little boys.  And wow, did Dusty ever run around like a wild critter in their fenced backyard! 

Things went so well and it was such good practice for the upcoming big trip.  Please stay tuned for more on that next week.

Hugs and wags and kisses.

Saint and Dusty

Hello, Everyone.  Saint and Dusty here.  We know—it’s been way too long since we blogged with you.  Like you, for the last few years, we’ve just been trying to chug along through the pandemic. 

But things are looking up!  Spring is coming to Aroostook County.  The grass is getting green and it’s lovely to be able to go out and lie in the sun.  That makes us feel like puppies.

Recently, UMPI had its first onsite graduation in two years.  It was wonderful to celebrate the hard work and success of so many students.  It did make us a little sad that they are now leaving the nest.  But that’s the way it should be.

We’re also super excited that we will be leaving on a big adventure in July.  It’s going to be, as Dusty would say, AMAZING!  We promise to do our best to blog along the way.  So please follow along with us in this space.

Take care.  Be well.

Saint, Dusty, Mummy