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.