I am jumbling up the last four days. Christy and Leeman and the kids left us on Thursday–well technically we said our goodbyes Wednesday night. John and I got up with no real plans. We decided to go to Whittier because we did not get an opportunity to take the tunnel that is shared by the train and automobiles. We got so lucky we hit the tunnel exactly on time to go through on the way there and just 2 minutes to wait on the return. It doesn’t get any better than that. Whittier is a small fishing village–as is most all the coastal towns along the Kenai. Whittier can only be accessed through that tunnel or by boat or air. Only one road in and one road out. There are only about 272 residents who mostly live in one large apartment building that was once used as Army barracks. The remaining, I think about 10% of the residents reside in another apartment building. They do have a school which actually has an underground tunnel for use during the cold winter months.

We headed back to Palmer and prepared to head to Denali. We knew we would be headed back after the kids left to do some more hiking. On the way there we could see Denali in all her glory and we are proud to be 30%’s. They say only 30% of the people who come to Denali get to see Denali–because of the weather. But this day was beautiful!

That is her behind us!!

We were still 100+ miles from Denali National Park. We got there around noon and decided to take the 43 mile bus ride–as far as you could go into Denali. Originally we thought we would get off the bus and walk some and then catch another bus but it took almost 3 hours to go 43 miles. We stopped for some animal sightings but even with a long lens it wasn’t worth the shot. I still took some- of course but they are really bad. Imagine all those people with their phones taking this shot. This is with a 600mm lens.

But we did see some Dall sheep, caribou and a black wolf–no shots of that. It was on the other side of the bus and no one wanted to open their window so you not only are trying to take a picture of this running object that is a mile away but everyone was shooting through a dirty window. We left Denali to head for a place on the side of the road that we saw on the way in. We got a great spot along the Nenana River along with several other campers.

It was a beautiful spot and one of John’s favorite because it was FREE. That’s right no charge. John made some burgers on the grill and we sat out there on the river just enjoying the quiet. I asked John if we had to worry about bears smelling the food and he said, “I hope not. The van people cooked out.”

I told John I thought the easiest access to our camper was probably through the plexiglass he had used to replace our broken window. I sleep by the window, btw. He asked if I was worried and I said, “well, I would feel better if we didn’t have plastic between me and a bear.” Then he asked if I wanted to change places in bed but I thought, what if a bear uses the door? I have seen videos. After a while I reconsidered because we never disconnected from the truck so I told John, “I think because we are still connected to the truck it might make it more difficult for a bear to get up through the window.” Which he responded, “Unless it is a circus Bear.” Well, shit! So I thought, “Maybe it will be easier for a bear to access a van–like the one in front of us.” John said, “Don’t worry, we have tenters here too.” So I slept peacefully and I still prayed no bears ate the people in the tent.

The next morning I asked John if we were one of the last ones to leave. He said the camper in front of us left. And I asked if the van people were still there. He then told me the camper he was referring to is the van people. So I asked why he called them campers and he told me because the van is a camper too. But last night he referred to them as the van people. When I questioned him his reply was, “I was differentiating who they were.” I said, “Yeah, you differentiated them as van people so why wouldn’t you continue to differentiate them as the van people so I know who you are talking about?

I think he is starting to get on my nerves. It has been a while and we are with each other 24/7. In all honesty he isn’t bothering me that much–just a few little things like his communication skills. Oh and maybe is driving. He has become the Sunday driver and I am sure people behind him are experiencing road rage. I know I am, and I am sitting next to him. Just step on the gas pedal PLEASE. I asked him if I was getting on his nerves and he said no, so we’re good.

Our next day or should I say 1/2 day in Denali was strickly to do one more hike. I picked on that was moderate but only about 1 1/2 miles. UGH! I don’t know who decides what moderate is but that was not moderate. Well, it probably was but I didn’t want a lot of hills and there were long ones. I know when you start a hike going down hill you have to come up that hill when you have completed the hike. I don’t like those. In fact I hate those. I just like downhill all the time. It’s easier that way. The hike was nothing to brag about but I finished it and that is something to brag about. We made it back and set out for Fairbanks.

We were boondocking at someone’s house in Fairbanks and I notified him that we would be arriving between 2:00 and 3:00. He said to find a place to park as he would be in town at the Golden Days Festivities. So I looked it up and saw they have a duck race. It started at 3:00. I tried to buy a duck but you could only purchase on line if you were a resident. We made it in time for the race but not enough time to buy a duck. They drop 8,000 ducks into the Chena River at Wendall Street Bridge. The first 40 to make it to Cushman Street Bridge are winners. This is the dropping of the rubber duckies.

After that exciting start in Fairbanks we set off to do some gold panning. We went to Felix Pedro’s monument on Pedro’s Creek and the next day we went to Nome Creek. No luck but still fun. Then we visited a friend of John’s who lives here and then did some laundre. Tomorrow we head out to Chicken where we should meet up with Judy and Mike again. Then we will be heading to Tuktoyaktuk to the Arctic Ocean. I am sure we will have no service for at least a week–so talk to y’all later.

After such an exciting day with helicopter rides and dog sledding and Glaciers we took a ride to Hatcher Pass where we drove to the top and walked out to see the rest. Then we went back down to Independence Mines. The kids were having a ball running up and down the trail and playing in the snow. Hatcher pass is in the Talkeetna mountains between Palmer and Willow. We were camping in Palmer so it was a natural stop not to mention we really wanted to go to Talkeetna. The road to Hatcher Pass is all gravel and not maintained though I have to admit for a road that is not maintained it really wasn’t that bad. But, it was cold and rainy. Right below the road to Hatcher Pass is the Independence Mine. Independence Mine is an abandoned gold mine where you can walk a trail that takes you through the village that once held 204 workers at its peak.

After having so much fun playing in the rain and snow, running around on trails and visiting the mining town we headed for Talkeetna. Talkeetna is one of the “must sees” on a trip to Alaska. On the way there we spotted the Kahiltna Birch Works Birch Syrup–it was one of the places we wanted to go but, we almost forgot about. We made a quick turn into their parking lot to try birch syrup. Though it is really good it is also really expensive. See John’s face? He paid $20 for that itty bitty bottle of syrup. I can promise you, he did not ant to buy it.

It took almost 2 hours to get to Talkeetna so we did not have a lot of choices in restaurants. You would think with the longer hours of day light places would stay open but not in Alaska. One of the restaurants in Talkeetna actually closed at 4:00 in the afternoon? Most closed by 8:00. Luckily we arrived about 6:00 and managed to get a table at the Homestead Kitchen. Christy and I told the guys our order so we could make a quick run to the nearby quilt store Patchwork Moose. It’s a really cute little shop but it is limited in fabric. They have a lot of souvenirs and touristy items to attract the non quilters. No problem–I did find fabric–oh and some more yarn. Christy and I also ran to the Spinach Bread food truck to grab some snacks for later. John and I froze ours to be eaten at a later date.

This was the end of the line for our trip with the kids. We said our goodbyes and went off to our camper. It was really sad to see them go but we had so much fun with them for the past week. In the meantime our travel companions had remained in the Kenai Peninsula to take an excursion to Katmai National Park to see the brown bear. I know they had a great time but they ended up sick with Covid so they were stuck down there for a few days. John and I were headed back to Denali for a few days then back to Fairbanks and we will meet up with them later in Chicken, Alaska where we will leave Alaska and head to the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Ocean.

We left the Kenai this morning to get to Palmer Alaska for one of our most exciting days. We left early enough to stop at a Best Buy to purchase a lens for me. Even though their website showed that they had this lens at their store–they did not. OMG, I thought I was going to die. We were going to order one and have it delivered but I just knew this would be there. I only had to wait 3 days. The guy at Best Buy did tell me about a camera store in Anchorage. For all you photographers out there–is that not just music to your ears? We found the store but parking a truck with a trailer on the back in a city–that wasn’t going to happen. John dropped me off on a corner and I ran in the store. They only had one lens that would work–it wasn’t exactly what I wanted but it was going to fill in some of the gaps so I bought it and didn’t get to experience the thrill of being in a camera store. If you go to Alaska and need anything photography related, check out Stewart’s Photo. Thank you Stewart’s for being there for me!!

This was the highlight of this trip. Our first ride on a helicopter. I was still a bit nervous so I let John sit up front. Here is the video from our take off taken by John. I got a video of the Leclairs taking off after our first excursion. Our first stop was to go dog sledding on a glacier. We met our driver and he gave quick instructions for anyone who wanted a chance at driving the dogs. I did not. I could just see everyone tipping over because I did not do something right. There was another couple with me and John so they took turns and then John took a turn. I might have tried driving if it was just me and John–tipping him over wouldn’t be too embarassing. I never changed seats but you never saw me try to get up off the ground and that seat was that low. Getting out of the helicopter was difficult enough. My feet are so big, I have to turn them side ways before I can step out. Not easy. John laughed. I should have taken the front seat with all the “foot” room. Then I could laugh as he tried to get out of the helicopter. Anyway back to the dogsledding. With John in the front–we are off. The kids had a ball. They just loved playing in the snow. Making angels, throwing snowballs.