this is where the girls and i will stop to access our cabin during the non-snow-covered months.
here's the deal: the train tracks are about 5 miles in from the parks highway. during late spring, summer and fall months, we cannot access from the highway because it is located within denali national park limits; no four-wheelers allowed - it is walk-in access or float plane only.
it was pretty surreal to watch others with their "luggage" consisting of milk crates, duffle bags, a gun (or two) in their scabbard, frame packs, 50-gallon drums filled with who-knows-what, just to name a few... that will be us this winter! ben waiting at the track on a snowmachine, jb on his own. it's been overwhelming all these months prior, but now, seeing this - it's quite exciting and thrilling.
ok, maybe you didn't grow up on her books, like i did. i have read her books. memorized her stories. read them some more. copied (at times, literally tracing) her illustrations. admired her illustrations. heck, i want to write my own children's books, likely because of her. i seem to buy her stories for my friends and family far away because that's how much i love them - i want you to love them, too!
maybe you've never had the privilege of meeting an idol of yours. i have faith that one day you will. because - i just did.
we had told the conductor we wanted to stop in chulitna. ben didn't even finish his sentence before the conductor interrupted him to say, oh, we all know shannon! and what would you know - the train comes to a halt and there she is, handing the conductor a rubber band-wrapped stack of letters for the mail.
we jump off and wave good-bye to the train (see ya in 2 hours!) and begin our walk to her place. she remembers ben - of course, how could you forget him! her significant other is a family friend of ben's. we were heading this way, anyway.
this is off-the-grid and living off the land, at its fullest. potatoes, carrots, peas, rhubarb, strawberries - rainwater nourishing it all. truly. i admire this way of life. it's motivation to get my own garden and greenhouse up and running.
shannon is not just an illustrator, she's an artist in its truest sense. she made this calendar (and one for every month) out of clay. carved the letters and numbers and then burned it for depth, color and texture. wow. this is also her outhouse. the box that holds her toilet seat is painted the bluest of blues. also, wind chimes keep you company as you do your duty.
cairns.
her backyard. her inspiration.
our property is on the other side of those mountains. (so, we're neighbors!)
when ben first met her, she had given him two signed copies of her new book, ol' 556, one for his granddad, who once worked on this very railroad, and one for our family. it's become a favorite, obviously.
hoping to see her out here, i packed my stack of books. she was completely tickled. one of her books, the loop train, isn't even in print anymore! and, she said my copy of alaska ABCs is one of the first editions. how dang cool.
i bought 6 more books from her, most of them i had never even seen before. she signed them to the kiddos, even baby tess got her own train board book. ohmygoodness, can you tell i'm still reeling, still on cloud 9?!
railroad stuff.
hey, mom - it's a J!
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