Day 33 - Anchorage, Alaska

Marlene and Nelson Cahill Rig#15                                         July 11, 2010

Our day, in Anchorage, began with cool temperatures and cloudy skies. An optional trip to the Anchorage Market And Festival was suggested by our Wagon Master and many of us went downtown to examine the crafts and sample the various foods. Items offered ranged from Ulu knives (pronounced “oo-loo”) and jewelry to craft items and leather goods. Food items included reindeer and buffalo meats to giant cookies and corn – on the cob or from a kettle.

Nelson and I purchased an original, hand-signed, spray-paint whale picture, created while we waited, by artist, Chaz, for only $10. The spray paints he uses for his art are obtained from the Anchorage land fill. When cans are disposed of and still have paint in them, the cans are removed from the dump and offered for free to anyone who will agree to use and dispose of them in an “Earth friendly” manner. More of Chaz’ art can be seen at http://www.billikenstudios.com/.

In the later afternoon, we gathered and boarded our elegant bus for a downtown tour in which we saw many significant buildings and learned much Anchorage history. We saw the area where the earthquake on Good Friday in 1964 occurred and the measures that have been taken to help ensure that buildings and areas will be better protected in the future from such disasters.

We spent time at the Ulu Factory and some of our group walked over to the river to see salmon spawning.

We visited Lake Hood Float Plane Base, the busiest float planes base in the world. We watched and photographed two planes landing before we had to return to our bus and continue our tour.

 Our next stop was Wild Berry Farm where we watched a magnificent movie about Alaska and had a wonderful buffet dinner.

After dinner, we stepped outside to meet an eagle and his handler. The eagle, injured at age five, had been with his handler for four years. Due to his injuries, he had part of his right wing removed and was no longer able to fend for himself in the wild. He is now used for educational purposes.

We then went over to the reindeer pen to meet and feed three reindeer before heading to the gift shop to do some shopping and view the world’s largest chocolate fountain. The sign by the fountain requested that we not sample the chocolate there. In the adjacent candy store, samples of chocolate could be obtained. Our day in Anchorage was both full and memorable.

Day 32 - Denali Nat. Park to Anchorage, Alaska

- Bob & Peri Bobbitt Rig#14                                                                      Saturday, July 10, 2010

It appeared that everyone was up early today for one of our longer drives. We will be traveling 244 miles from Denali to Anchorage. There are several opportunities to see Mt. McKinley along the way but the clouds are low with intermittent rain. After our glorious views of the mountain on our bus trip, we can’t complain at all. We left Denali about 8:00 a.m. and traveled with Marlene & Nelson as we have done most travel days.

Midday we went into Talkeetna to take in the atmosphere and had lunch. We ate at West Rib Pub & Grill. On the menu they had a 4 lb bacon cheeseburger they called Seward’s Folly. A young man of maybe 11 ordered it and it did look like 4 lbs. At a cost of $25.95 it has:
     4 lbs of gooey meaty goodness
     3 layers of potato bread
     2- 1 lb Arctic Caribou patties
     ½ lb smoked ham 
     10 strips of bacon
     6 oz Swiss cheese
     6 oz American cheese
     grilled onion
     fresh tomatoes
     lettuce
     and Fat Ass Sauce
     with 1 lb of fries

Our only other stop was the Iditarod Race Headquarters. They had 2 pups and about 20 dogs you could pet. There were also many of the Iditarod trophies to see. The musher told us most Alaska Huskies are a mixed breed. It was a fun stop.

We are now the proud owners of a Fred Myers card so we can get a discount on our gas even though we have no Fred Myer in Flagstaff.

About 5:00 p.m. we finally pulled into our campground and just sat back and relaxed after a fun but busy day.

P.S.   Ira Miller was at it again, playing bass guitar with the local entertainers that were here at the campground. 

Day 31 - Denali National Park (free day) optional river rafting

Day 31 - Ivan and Shirley Yurtin Rig #12                                                                        July 9, 2010

After a jam packed day on Thursday visiting Denali National Park we slept in on Friday. After a leisurely breakfast, we moseyed down to meet the river rafting bus at 11:30. It was another beautiful blue sky and sunshine awaiting for our river rafting adventure. The bus drove us to the Denali Outdoor Center. At that point, we all had to sign all our rights away on waviers, get fitted for our rubber suits, rubber shoes, life vests and helmets. Our group were divided into the Scenic Wilderness; a 2 Hour Mildwater Float and the Nenana Half Day; a 4 Hour Combination.

As we moved to another area we sat on benches to pull on these “Drysuits” which took a little bit of tugging. However, some of us were laughing so hard at each other we couldn’t make much progress without assistance. The young men working there were very helpful and joked with us.

Once we had our suits on for the most part we had our life jackets in hand and headed back on a bus for the short trip to the Nenana River. At the river, Becky gathered all the groups together for a safety talk and instruction. She briefed us on what happens if you fall into the cold, glacier fed river, how they would attempt to get you in the raft if you were able to grasp it and what they would have to do if you were too far from the raft. After listening to all these safety instructions, we were wondering if we made the right decision to embark on this experience, if it was going to be our last one! However, having just returned from Point Barrow, we said, “If we made it through that experience we can do this”.

Our rafting adventure included, Spence, Madi, Noreene, Jeff, Dee, Marvin, Ivan and Shirley. The young guide, JT, was very informative telling us about the glaciers, mountains, wild life, animals and various stories on the trip down river. The weather could not have been more beautiful and floating down the river was very tranquil until our guide decided to give us a thrill and hit some of the white water at different points. He was good at maneuvering the raft so that everyone was a victim of the icy cold water rolling over the raft. Plus, every time Marvin told him a joke he would make a turn with the oars and catch a rapid. Unfortunately, Noreene was more of a cold water victim of Marvin’s jokes than Marvin was. We were fortunate to finally land and get our “land legs” without anyone falling out of the raft or flipping it. We boarded the bus back to the Outdoor Center to wiggle out of the rubber suits and get our normal shoes back on. We were then bused back to the RV Park. On the way back some of us decided that we were hungry from this trying trip and would meet at the Salmon Bake Restaurant.

We met at the restaurant and ran into Bob, Sheryl and Monique. We invited them to join us and most of us enjoyed the special of the house …Halibut Tacos. The tacos were so large that you couldn’t get them into your mouth. We had to use a fork and knife to eat them. They were also served with rice & beans……..too much food, but delicious!

After dinner we went through some of the shops in the area to help the local economy and then had to have some ice cream because the temperatures started to soar into the 80’s.

We concluded our day by returning to our RV, turning the air conditioning on and relaxing……….until we turned on our computer to write this blog and it CRASHED. The disk drive was damaged and caused this blog article to be delayed until we purchased a new computer in Anchorage.

While we were on the river rafting trip, Gary, Sally and Jenks took a private flight over 20,300’ Mt. McKinley that turned out to be amazing. Their plane landed on the glacier of the mountain and they were able to get out and walk around the glacier. Gary said that the views looking down on the mountain and from other angles, provided a fantastic view that you don’t see from the ground. They had an exciting trip.

So we have spent our evening trying to learn a new computer and wishing we weren’t so set in our ways. But, by the time we return to San Jose we probably will be old pros on this new computer.

Day 31 - Denali National Park, AK (free day) Optional plane trip to Denali

Gary and Sally Johnson #17                                 July 9, 2010

We had such a great bus trip yesterday, viewing Denali and other mountains all the way to Kantishna and back. We knew from experience what a rare event that was. So when today was cloudless and crystal clear, we decided to put our plans into action – a trip by plane to Denali. We paired up with Jenks Jenkins (#16) on a noon flight from the Healy, AK airport on Fly Denali, Inc. We really didn’t know what to expect from this flight. They told us we’d be landing on a glacier on Mt. McKinley, something that sounded dangerous and odd. But we were all game. The final passenger on the flight was a hotel management intern who was given a free flight. Our pilot was Rob.

Up in the air we went. It was a smooth ride looking down on the shopping area of the community of Denali Park and then over the roads we’d taken the day before and the Polychrome Mountains. Quickly the terrain became extremely rugged. At first the glaciers were dark gray, covered with silt and ash from the latest Aleutian volcano. Soon, however, they were snowy white, and the glacial movement was plain to see. We flew within 4 ½ miles of the Denali summit, although we were flying at 10,500 ft, well below the summit height. Distance was very hard to judge, everything looking so close. We flew over many glaciers and finally the Ruth Glacier and the Great Gorge, which, if drained of its snow and ice, would be deeper than the Grand Canyon (it is the world’s deepest gorge). The pilot told us we were going to land and Gary asked where. He pointed to a tiny dot below and said, “right next to that plane.”

Our landing was on skids and relatively smooth. We all got out of the plane and posed for pictures and stood in awe of the landscape. It was very comfortable with light jackets. Our intern passenger was in shorts and a t-shirt! The pilot pointed out landmarks and told us the impossible distances they were from us. We were on Denali, but 12 miles from the south summit that seemed so close. The pilot showed us an outhouse and rooftop on the ridge above us and told us a pilot had homesteaded way up here in the 1950’s. His family still retains the homestead, and to spite the Park Service, rents it out. It is rented through 2012.

All too quickly it was time to go back. We got the same great views on the return trip. What an experience. We’ll never forget.

Day 30 - Denali

Jeff & Noreene Totten Rig #11 Thursday, July 8,2010

29 days ago, at the beginning of this trip, Ken Adams, our wagonmaster , advised us to be flexible in that Adventure Caravans deals with numerous independent contractors and agencies in arranging events and with numerous people involved, some things, on occasion, might get a little out of whack.

We assembled for a bus pick up at 5:45 A.M. The bus, having mixed up communication, arrived at 6:50. Being flexible, we hung in and had a good day with a tour of Denali National Park. Twenty minutes into our 14 hour, 240 mile bus trip, we left the last significant building other than a hotel at our furthest reach into the park 93 miles away and headed out into beautiful country to observe wild life and hopefully see a view of Mount McKinley which is obstructed 80% of the time by clouds.

Denali was established as a national park in 1917 and is a refuge for numerous wild animals. Our 14 hour trip was expected to take that amount of time because we expected to stop and view wild life of many species. We were rewarded in this endeavor with sightings of male and female moose, fox, wolves, sheep, bear, caribou, swans, ducks, eagles, rock ptarmigan and northern harrier. There may have been more but this writer could not jot them down fast enough. A lot of these sightings and photo opportunities were from inside the bus. With 36 of us in the bus and most of us with cameras, each sighting had us jumping in and out of the bus isle and leaning over seats for that perfect shot that seems to elude the snapshot camera. Many animals were a good distance away so even though they were visible, the snapshots in many cases don’t do justice.

 

 

As we began our day we wondered if we would be able to see Mount McKinley. The mountain is not visible 80% of the time due to clouds and only partially visible for about another 8% or 9% of the time. We caught the 1% day and at numerous spots along the way and about 30 miles from the mountain, we were able to see and photograph spectacular views of Mount McKinley. Once again the snapshot camera does not do justice to the scenery; nor do superlative comments. It is an incredible thing to see.

At 93 miles into the park and a little over 100 miles of our overall journey, we arrived at the Denali Back Country Lodge in Camp Kantishna. We came up a packed gravel road with nothing around but trees, mountains and streams, and there it was. It was quite a sight and a very nice place for a lunch of soup, salads, sandwiches and beverages along with desert. We had some extra time for relaxation before our return trip so we explored and relaxed; even found a bird house with a baby bird inside.

We then left the lodge, and set out on our return to the RV camp. This return trip gave us more views of Mount McKinley and wildlife sightings including a sighting of a Grizzly Bear and twin cubs in the park and a large moose just outside our RV camp. All in all, it was a long, long, tiring, great day!