What clothing should we bring to Alaska?
Today we are working on setting clothing aside not to be packed in storage. What clothing do we bring to Alaska?
Obviously for much of the getting there part of our trip we will be dealing with regular summer temperatures, but driving through Yukon and arriving in Alaska in September I suspect temperatures will be much cooler the last half of the trip. We plan on spending the first month in the Fairbanks area (including a likely 14 day quarantine period) which is on the cooler side even in summer. Highs right now are in the 60s and will be in the 50s for September.
For now in the interest of car space everyone is given the following clothing allowance which should get us through to at least October:
- Two pairs of jeans
- One pair of quick dry hiking pants that convert to shorts
- One pair of shorts
- 3 quick dry t-shirts
- 3 longs sleeve quick dry t-shirts
- Two fleece sweatshirts
- 1 rain coat
- 1 light winter coat
- 1 nice outfit for mass (including shoes)
- Hiking boots
- Sneakers
- PJs
- Quick-dry work out outfit
- Lots of socks
- Lots of underwear
- Swimsuit
My girls are already balking at the limits, but we really had to cut down on “stuff” when we moved to DC and I just think that is plenty of clothing for a fall wardrobe. ES in particular likes to have lots of clothing options as I think most teenage girls do so I will likely let her bring a bit more. I think keeping things simple with a few high quality items is the best way to go and that needs to be learned. Pick a color scheme and mix and match. There is no need to have piles and piles of clothes. At the same time I’m flexible and reasonable to a point so we will see what the girls actually get away with. They know to pick a day when I am exhausted and overwhelmed to fight their battles lol. They are totally upfront about it too saving all their controversial requests for when I just don’t have the energy to say no. “Your resistance is low today mom so can I……” I have to give them points for strategy…..
We plan on getting the bulk of our winter gear in Alaska both to save on car space and to be sure we don’t buy the wrong type of clothing. DC really doesn’t get super cold in the winter and I don’t think it even snowed once last year so we really do need good winter stuff. I’m pretty sure we will heading to south central Alaska by November where it is a bit warmer than Fairbanks and Yukon, but I did find this amusing video on the Fairbanks tourism site which gives some good advice on winter clothing. I love the way they consider 25 degree mild. That’s like full-fledged freezing here in DC.
Next Reads:
