Lunch Break for the hikers and the caribou


Mt. McKinley from the Denali Bus

Ketchup

July will be here tomorrow....for some of you it may already be Friday. We have packed and unpacked so many times that are socks are all mismatched.

We drove up to Denali last Friday which took about 7 hours. After setting up camp, we toasted the upcoming adventure with drinks and appetizers. We rented a motor home and Barb’s sister has a trailer. Wolves and bears were in the area so they did not allow any tents---only “hard sides”. So the lush motor home was really for protection. There were no hook ups for the ladies room or for electricity.

Saturday morning, we took a converted school bus for the day to ride deeper into the area to see the flora and fauna of the park. The roads were very narrow and winding. Every so often someone would yell “animal at ___o’clock” and the other side of the bus would run over with their binoculars and cameras (usually to the side of the deep crevice!). We saw wolves, moose, grizzlies, caribou, fox, several species of birds and mosquitos the size of maccaroni.

We signed up for a "discovery hike" on Sunday. That was because it was never discovered before. The rule is to spread out to not trample the ground. It was a classified as "moderately" difficult with a 600' elevation and brush "knee high". This meant "arm pit" height to some of us and ankle high for Nancy. I thought I was nearly a bears breakfast by the time we finished. It was about a 5 hr. hike.

The drive home Monday was long and beautiful. Mt. McKinley was cooperating and pointed it's nose out of the clouds. I hope that we can attach a clear picture. Tuesday we cleaned up the motor home and went to the zoo to see the animals a little more up close and personal.

Wednesday we took a jet boat into the wilderness by river and flew over the McKinley summet. That was over 21,000 feet and required oxygen. We saw two mountain climbing parties--one was about 1/2 day from the summit. We landed in Talkeetna which is close to Northern Exposure type town.

Thursday we went to the Anchorage museum to review the history and art of the natives of Alaska. It is not politically correct to use the term "Eskimo". Then to Walmart to get Gail another camera--her third.

Tomorrow we are driving down the Seward highway to Seward and points in between. We will have the trailer to use as a base for three days....whales, seals, and falling glaciers--here we come! Leave your comments and let us know that you are getting the blog.

couple more "salmon on parade"

One of the "salmon on parade

Denali...ho!

It's getting Fishy around here! There are "Salmon on Parade" all over downtown.....('member Orlando's Lizards.....We took in the Anchorage sites and hit a few souvenier shops to get y'all's nuggets. Tomorrow we are off to Denali and will return in three days. The supplies are sparse...wine, tacos, sangria, salmon, prime rib and whatever Bob, our gourmet cook, can whip up. More to come .....keep checking for pictures of the wild animals in the untamed trundra surrounding Mt. McKinley!

We started our vacation at the Breakers in New Smyrna on Monday and celebrated their reopening following the hurricanes. . At Barb’s, on the river, we watched two manatees spar over the hose for fresh water. They would roll on their backs with the hose in their mouth holding it with their front flippers just like an infant. We left from Daytona Beach the next day on route to Atlanta. That airport was wonderful…..didn’t have the hassle that you normally get at OIA. The small plane we were on let us off outside the terminal in Atlanta which was timed with a torrential rainstorm. We got soaked and we found out later that most of our suitcases got wet too. After lunch in the airport, Barb and Gail went for a chocolate chip cookie from the Atlanta Bread Company. In order to make the search speedy, they left all but their phones and the change in their pockets with Nancy and Patty. The search took them to the “Atrium” which was out of the security section of the Atlanta airport. There was no getting back in...Finally a sympathetic agent ran to the gate to get their picture ID’s and boarding passes ….if the plane were not late…..they would still be in Atlanta!

We arrived in Alaska to a “beautiful and bright night” at 11:00 p.m. and toasted the Summer Solstice with the setting sun set at 11:45. Sunrise was 4:20 this morning with the night never getting to more than “twilight”. We will be having 19 or more hrs of light every day. We are staying at Paula’s house (Barb’s sister) near the airport. Nancy and Patty walked around Lake Hood and Spenard this morning. This is the largest airport for float planes in the world. Between the planes at the airport, float planes and planes with wheels, there were planes taking off and landing every minute. Patty and Nancy found their first evidence of a “Moose on the Loose” in the neighborhood----A pile of Moose Poop! They describe it looking like pecan nuts…but the odor confirmed their find. This is a valuable resource in Alaska. They sell nugget jewelry in the souvenir shops. Guess what we are bringing you all back.

We spent the rest of the day with Paula having lunch and then driving us around town to orient us with the layout of Anchorage.

According to Barb's latest email....and written in her famous purple text....
"Here is the week's forecast for Anchorage--as you can see it is supposed to be in the mid 60s to lower 70s every day and nights are mid 40s to lower 50s. So the days aren't too bad. Denali had the same forecast. Also--in Denali, today sun rise is at 3:38 a.m. and sunset is at 12:12 a.m. which makes the length of day 20 hours, 34 minutes long!!!! (and tomorrow will be 2 minutes, 25 seconds longer!!) In Anchorage the day is 19 hours, 15 minutes." ......I'm sure glad that it isn't a workday!