Saturday, August 18, 2007

On the Road Again!

We are on the road again! Summer is winding down in the Denali area and the number of RV’ers visiting has dropped enough that we are able to leave and do some sightseeing in other parts of Alaska.

Our last few days in Denali were spectacular. We had a very wet July and early August; then we had a string of beautiful clear days. We were able to get a reservation for a campsite at Wonder Lake on Saturday the 11th, which was one of the best days all summer. Most days people can only see Mt McKinley early in the morning, if at all. On Saturday, we were able to see the mountain from the time we go on the bus to ride out to Wonder lake until we finally went to sleep in our tent. Wonder Lake is only 26 miles from Denali, so the view is spectacular.
Bear on the side of the park road - 8/11/2007

View of Denali from our tent - 8/11/2007
The blueberries were real good!

Other interesting sights during the last few couple of weeks at Denali:
- A trip to Fairbanks to see the Ice Museum and the rest of the Museum of the North at University of Alaska Fairbanks
- Sally got to take a second flightseeing tour.; The day was pretty cloudy, but it was still very exciting
- Sally & Karin hiked the Mt Healy Overlook Trail in Denali park. It has about a 1700 foot elevation gain in less than 2 miles and has been described by one of our co-workers as “brutal”

Our first destination after leaving Denali was Wasilla, a town just north of Anchorage. We did routine stuff (oil change, grocery shopping), then hit the Seward Highway headed for Portage Valley where we stayed last night and for Seward where we will spend the next three days.

Our plans include walking up to the toe of the Exit Glacier and taking a boat tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park – more glaciers, whales (hopefully) and seabirds.

After Seward, we’ll move to Homer to visit our friends who have been working there this summer. Next week, we’ll retrace our steps towards Anchorage where we plan on spending some time at the Alaska State Fair and then on to Valdez.

We’ll be in Alaska till around Labor Day and then head back through British Columbia to Vancouver.

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