Meeting friends

One of the great joys we have traveling is staying in touch with folks.  Once in awhile we get to meet up with friends from our lives before hitting the road.  That was the case in Denali.  Thru Facebook Diana learned that some friends of ours from the Brandermill Church in Midlothian, VA were going to be in Denali on a tour.  We adjusted our schedule by a few days and were able to meet up and have dinner with them.  We love our road life but do miss the church community and our friends.

Diana, Linda, Sarah, Martin, Elizabeth and Bob

If you are traveling, keep us posted we may be able to meet up somewhere we never expected.

Denali NP and area

We did not stay in Denali NP.  Instead we stayed about 30 miles south on the Denali Highway.  Don't be mislead by the name, it is a very rough gravel road connecting Cantwell to Paxson.  One morning outside I looked out and saw a moose just outside the RV.  By the time we got a camera she was in the bushes.

She's in there, trust me.












A few days later we moved north of the park to mile post 244.  Again we just pulled off the road and parked for a few days.  While there we took a 12 hour bus ride into Denali.  But not just into it, all the way to the end of the road.  we saw tons of wild life including moose, grizzlies, caribou, dahl sheep and plenty of birds.  A long but wonderful day.

The flight

While in Talkeetna we took a flight on to Ruth glacier which is on Denali.  It was fantastic!  Ruth Glacier is one of many glaciers on Denali.  So now we have seen the mountain and walked on it.

Glacier path with Denali in background

Glacial path

Our shadow as we landed on Ruth Glacier

 

Not dead, just making a snow angel.

It is just overwhelming how vast this area is and how spectacular the mountains are.

Talkeetna

Talkeetna is located off of AK 3. We did not stay in a campground but found a nice pullout along the Talkeetna spur road.  We were at mile 12.3.

  The town is located near the confluence of 3 rivers and is basically a tourist town but also a great spot for fishing. While it is some 130 mile from Denali, which means "Great One","Tall One", "mountain Big"or other interpretations of several Athabaskan languages. You can get a spectacular view of the mountain if she decides to unwrap herself of clouds.  Over the 4 days we were there we got several views.

We took a hike one day and kept finding these cool looking mushrooms.  No we did not try them.

While hiking we also managed to find some gooseberries, and some blueberries.  We did try those and they were tasty! 

Talkeetna is also home to Denali Brewing Company.  We tried that, too.

Anchorage area

We spent about 2 weeks in the Anchorage area.  This included time in Wasilla and Palmer.  Wasilla is home to Sarah Palin.  We had lunch with Sarah on her porch and waved over to Putin in Russia...maybe not.
We did have dinner one evening with Gil and Jeanine Lulay who live in Anchorage.  They winter in Mesa, AZ at the same place we do.  It was very nice to see them.  They gave us some insight as to things to do in Anchorage.  The weather was rainy a lot so we don't have many pics to share.  We did enjoy the farmers market and a walk thru Anchorage.

Love the grass and flower roof on the visitor center.

We did make it to the Iditarod headquarters.  This is not where the race starts, it is just the headquarters, museum and gift shop.  There were some great displays and information here.

Credited as Father of the Iditarod

We took several drives just to see the scenery.  On one of them we stopped at a musk ox farm.  These guys are really cute!

There are no native musk ox in Alaska.  They were hunted to extinction here.  Several herds were reintroduced into the state from Canada but they are very remote.

Barrow and the summer solstice

We got to Anchorage and the plan was to spend a day or two catching up then fly to Barrow on the north slope for solstice.  Barrow is about 320 miles north of the arctic circle.  It is also about 1200 miles from the north pole.  Barrow has about 11 weeks in the spring and summer that the sun does not set.  We wanted to see and experience 24 hours with no sunset.  It is the northernmost city in the USA. and there are no roads into Barrow.  The only way in is by air or water.  About 65% of the residents are native to the area.  Evidence shows the Inupiat people have lived here since about 500 AD.  Most live by hunting  and fishing including whales, seals, walrus, caribou, polar bears and what ever else is in season.  There are treaties and agreements that allow them to maintain their historic subsistence living.  I was very impressed with Barrow.  No paved streets, minimal services and what seemed to be a very close community.  We walked all over town over 2 days.

Out the plane window

The airport has one gate.  Ticketing, security and the gate are all one area.  We think there is one

flight each day.

One picture you often see of Barrow is the whale bone arch.  It was about a 2 minute walk from our hotel.

As far as solstice was concerned Diana took pictures periodically out our hotel window.  Other than cloud cover we were unable to tell any difference from day to night.  The sun just did not rise or fall but stayed at the same elevation as it moved around the sky.

All the dumpsters in town had art work or writing on them.  Given the life style of the locals we liked this one.

Kenai Peninsula - Homer

We had no campground reservations for Homer but planned on staying down on the spit.  The first night  we were back off the water but had no view.  That was OK because the next day we could move to a water front view.  We took the car and drove off the spit and went to the Elks.  We had heard it is a beautiful lodge.  It was and what a great view it had over the water.  The view was amazing, but we got no pics.  While at the Elks we were doing our usual information gathering about the area from the bartender and other folks.  Then we met John.  He owns the campground we were staying at and we had a great conversation.  Another Elks with very friendly people.

The view from our campsite.

That is me enjoying "the view".

One day we just took a ride on some less traveled roads.  We were up on the ridge overlooking Homer.  And we found some wild life.

Also on a different part of the ride we found this cool spot.  We did not stay at this campground but it was cool to be on this road.

Near this sign was a park where we discovered hundred of seagulls and 50+ bald eagles.

Overall it was another great day!

Kenai Peninsula - Soldotna

On the way to Homer we stopped in Soldotna and stayed at the Elks lodge.  We stay at Elks lodges periodically and like them for several reasons.  One is they are less expensive than campgrounds.  Another is the people.  We get to talk with local folks and find out what to do that is not in the AAA book.  Also the booze is cheap and the food is good.  In Soldotna we parked in the middle of the big empty parking lot and headed in to pay for the site.  Before we even got to the bar to pay someone had bought us each a drink.  Met some great folks, had our drink then went out to set up.  It was a great reception.

We ended up going to a local bar that evening to hear one of the guys we met play.  The music was good and we met more locals.  Man these folks are friendly!  We also learned of a local blues legend who would be playing the next night at another local bar.  We went and the music was great.

We also managed to find a couple of local breweries, a great bakery and several other nice spots.  One evening we drove up to Kenai about 20 minutes from Soldotna and went to see the Peninsula Oilers play the Glacier Pilots in a baseball game.  Turns out there is an excellent summer Alaska Baseball League.  It is made up of about 6 teams of college players who are prospects for the big leagues.  We hope to see several more games as we travel the state.

Seward - Exit Glacier

We hiked up as close to the glacier as the park allows.  Long the path/trail are signs indicating where the glacier was in certain years.  This glacier is melting fast and has increased its retreat significantly in the last 50 years.

Not sure if you'll be able to see this but the lines are where the glacier was in certain years.

Similar to the recession of the glaciers in Glacier NP and anywhere we have seen glaciers these glaciers are disappearing quickly.