Anchorage and Denali Park

July 2 – 7 (Anchorage)

Ok, so we’re sort of bunching a whole week together since we’re sitting in one place all the time.  Well, almost.  Friday and Saturday we took a road trip to Denali National Park – formerly known as Mt. McKinley National Park.  Travis & Alana wanted to do one last thing with their friends Katie & Dustin, so we got to get in on that trip too.  We stayed with them when we visited last January and Katie visited us at PA so we knew them somewhat before.  Dustin is in Fairbanks for a couple of months, so we all drove up in Katie’s car and met him at the park.  He had taken the train from Fairbanks.  It was about a four and a half hour trip, and soon after we got there we got on a bus for the ride into the park.  They don’t let individual automobiles go in anymore, only buses, which is a good thing cause a LOT of people go through the park.  It was a six hour bus ride from the entrance to where we turned around and went back.  A lot of it was on really windy mountain roads with hairpin turns and huge drop offs, and the buses had to take turns waiting for an oncoming bus a lot of places.  We could see the mountain (Denali) on our drive up to the park, but in the park there were clouds covering the top so we didn’t get a good view then.  We saw six grizzly bears, several caribou, and several dall sheep up high on a mountain, and lots of gorgeous scenery of course.   Our first bus driver was a great guide and gave us lots of facts about the animals and the mountain that we wouldn’t have known otherwise.  At the end, we got off the bus and took a hike, and then got on another bus to go back. 

We camped just outside the park, along a river.  It was a beautiful setting, and fun to camp again.  Saturday was pretty cloudy and cool, and by about noon it started raining.  It cleared off long enough for Katie and Dustin to set up their tent at another campground since they were staying another night, and for us to have lunch, then it rained again.  We left about 6:15 pm to head back to Anchorage and got here after  11.  Travis had driven up to Wasilla (yes, Palin’s hometown – oh shucks, she wasn’t there!) early in the morning to meet friends of his that had been in Maun, Botswana when he was there and are from Alaska and have just moved back, so we had to pick up his vehicle on the way back through. 

Other than that trip, we’ve been hanging around Anchorage helping where we can.  Thursday was Travis’ last day of work and Roger got to go with him on flights three days, which he was thrilled about.  I got to go along once too, so that was special.  His last day they had a BBQ for him and he brought some carrot cake home from the party.  He was pretty sad to be leaving, and they were sorry to see him go.  A couple evenings Roger & I walked downtown and did some souvenir shopping and on July 3 there were fireworks that started at midnight.  Roger went, I didn’t!  It is just not dark enough before then – and isn’t really dark then either, but they still had them.   It was pretty cloudy which made it more like dusk – their big fireworks displays are always at New Year’s when it is plenty dark J.  A lot of the stores downtown are open until midnight in the summer, and it’s amazing how many people are shopping really late.  At home I’d never think of going places so late, but here it’s nothing.  The earliest I’ve gotten to bed here was maybe 10:45, and many times later than that. JOLENE