Gov. Sarah Palin has spent much of her time traveling statewide since announcing on July 3 her plan to resign from office. Palin fished a day with her family in Bristol Bay, visited the McNeil River bear sanctuary and signed bills in Kotzebue, McGrath and Unalakleet in between stops in Homer, Juneau, Fairbanks and, briefly, Anchorage. Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow on Friday said it's not a farewell tour, nor is it the "lame duck" junketing Palin decried in her resignation announcement. The events were planned before Palin decided to step down effective July 26, Leighow said.

Palin will be leaving with a year and a half remaining in her four-year term.

"Gov. Palin is still the governor of Alaska. Signing legislation is what a governor does. Public bill signings are one way of connecting people to the laws that affect them," Leighow said. Palin has spoken to local people and conducted some media interviews in recent days but has most consistently communicated with the outside world through the Internet social media Twitter. Interest in her "tweets" has exploded since she announced her plan to resign. Now more than 100,000 people have signed up to follow messages like the one about "mama bears" she sent after her visit to the McNeil River bear sanctuary.

"Protect & provide for her young; She sees danger? She brazenly rises up on strong hind legs, growls Don't Touch My Cubs & the species survives," it said.

Leighow said Palin traveled to the bear sanctuary this week with state Fish and Game Commissioner Denby Lloyd. She was going to go last year but postponed the trip because of the birth of her son, Trig. Her parents accompanied her on this trip, traveling at their own expense, Leighow said. Usually people enter a lottery for a permit to view the bears at McNeil River, but Lloyd issued the permits the governor and her parents used, Leighow said, following guidelines for how many people can be there at once.

Palin on Friday traveled to the Bering Sea village of Unalakleet. She received a warm welcome there, according to the Associated Press, saying that "it's not farewell, it's more like thanks for letting me be here and I'll see you soon."

She signed a bill there regarding the expansion of the Power Cost Equalization program, which subsidizes rural electric rates, then flew to the state capital of Juneau.

Fairbanks Republican Rep. Jay Ramras, who has frequently feuded with the governor and her supporters, argued that this is the wrong way for her to leave office.

"It's wonderful for her to go pursue adulation in the far corners of Alaska and do precisely what she said she wasn't going to stay in office for -- which is to spend state money to go around and be a lame duck," Ramras said. "Go to work, go sit behind a desk and help with the transition of office."

State Senate President Gary Stevens did not agree, saying he wishes Palin well and it is good for a governor to get out to more remote parts of the state.

Leighow said it's normal. "The governor has always enjoyed getting out and meeting Alaskans. It's customary for governors to sign bills in various parts of the state during the summer months," she said.

Palin hasn't done a series of rural bill signings like this in her previous two years as governor. But Leighow said past summer special sessions made it harder and the governor did go to smaller communities like Homer and Kenai. She also conducted bill signings in Southeast Alaska this spring and traveled to Interior villages after May flooding.

Palin's full schedule for next week -- her final week in office -- isn't clear. But on July 26 in Fairbanks she's scheduled to hand power to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell.

One thing is clear: Palin plans to keep communicating by Twitter even after stepping down. She wrote that she plans to create a new Twitter site less "politically correct" than her current one.

"Elected is replaceable; Ak WILL progress! + side benefit=10 dys til less politically correct twitters fly frm my fingertps outside State site," the governor wrote Friday on her Twitter account.