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This morning we took our time getting the coach ready to leave. It was less than 2 hours to our destination. I had made reservations at the Portage Cabins and RV Park and we didn’t want to arrive too early. We had a leisurely breakfast at McDonalds, with lots of Diet Coke of course. We dumped tanks, topped off propane, and filled up with diesel on the way out. The drive is very urban until you get through Anchorage. Between Anchorage and Portage the drive is beautiful next to the bay and with the mountains dropping steeply down to the bay. The RV park is another gravel parking lot with electric and water but no sewer. The park is set in a beautiful mountain and forest setting. It started raining as we got close to Portage and much colder. It is about 55 deg F with crazy wind and intermittent rain.
After a quick setup we headed to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC). The AWCC has Moose, Elk, Reindeer, Black Tail Deer, Bison, Musk Ox, Black Bear, Brown Bears, Fox, and Lynx, Wolves, and a shy porcupine. I’m sure I’m leaving someone out. It costs $15 per person and most of the park is accessible from your car, which is good considering the rain. First thing we saw were three large bull Moose right next to the fence. They were magnificent. We didn’t see the Black Bear but two fantastic Brown Bear were pacing next to the fence providing very close-up views. There was a baby Elk born while we were there. We saw the baby at about 10 minutes old. By the way, there are some Elk in Alaska but they are not native. Most of the wildlife provided very close viewing. We really enjoyed our time there.
After the AWCC we drove to Girdwood/Aleyska which is a ski resort area. Very pretty, but not much going on. After Girdwood we drove to the Portage Glacier visitor center. It was interesting and even had some large ice glacier chunks in the lake up against the shore at the visitor center. The wind and rain were awful. After the glacier we were ready for dinner and retired to the coach.

Today it is a little rainy today and quite a bit cooler. We headed first to the Iditarod Headquarters. The “headquarters” is a gift shop, a sled team, and best of all, sled dog puppies. When we arrived there was a bus just unloading and we thought about leaving and coming back. We decided to stay and immediately headed for the puppies. They were great, as puppies always are. Next to the puppies was a sled dog team with a wheeled cart where you could get rides for $10 per person. We’ve had plenty of sled dog adventures so we decided to pass. Next was the actual headquarters. The headquarters was half gift shop and half theater. As leaving, two more buses arrived so it would have been bad if we had waited for later. The theater continuously showed a movie on the history of the Iditarod. We didn’t care to watch the movie.
We had lunch at the Last Frontier Brewery. This didn’t seem much like a brew pub and more just a restaurant. It was OK but not great and kind of pricey. After lunch Donna took me by Sports Clips to get my hair cut. After that, we dropped by a movie theater and bought tickets for Jurassic Park, then went back to the coach for a while waiting for the movie to start. When we arrived for the movie we found the theater was VERY crowded. The movie was nearly sold out so it was good we had tickets. The movie was good. Afterwards we headed to Starbucks because I wanted some fast download time. I was disappointed, the place was crowded and the internet jammed up. After failing to get my downloads we just headed back to the coach.

Lake Hood is home to both  float planes and  bush planes. 9000 planes in all.

When we arrived in Wasillla we heard that Anchorage has a farmers market every Saturday. We took off this morning to check out the market and explore a little of Anchorage.  This market was similar to Palmer’s market but quite a bit larger.  The market was a really nice way to spend time downtown in beautiful weather but we didn’t buy anything. We were hungry leaving the market and I had already spied the 49th State Brewery Company. The brewery was a very nice brew pub with nice views of the bay. After lunch we wound our way over to Lake Hood. Lake Hood is home to a float base and bush plane land runway with 9000 airplanes. We wandered around the float plane base and the airplane parking areas enjoying the planes. Eventually we arrived at the Alaska Aviation Museum. We had come here 5 years ago and really enjoyed it. Back then it had the coolest aviation gift store we had seen. The museum was ok and this time the gift store was nothing special so it was kind of a let down. The museum contains aircraft that relate to the Alaska flying and also contains some really cool exhibits on the WW-2 Japanese invasion of, and expulsion from the Aleutian Islands. On returning to Wasilla we had the oil changed in the Jeep. I wish it was that easy for the coach. Technically the coach oil change was due in May but it will have to wait until I get home in September.

 

This morning we ran a few more errands and again had fast food for lunch. After a little while we decided to head up the road to Thunder Bird Falls. The trail to the falls is just a little ways off of highway AK-1. The trail to the falls is 1 mile with a gorge overview at ½ mile. The trail was very popular with both locals and tourists like us. It is pet friendly so Maverick drug us up the trail. The trail is pretty straight, nicely forested, and pretty steep in sections. The gorge overlook is pretty nice and the falls are pretty but not spectacular. We have become very spoiled by the many great falls we’ve seen in the last 6 months. There were also many mosquitoes and we forgot to apply any repellent before leaving the car. After the falls we felt like exploring so we took the nearby road into Palmer. Palmer is a small community not far from Wasilla. We discovered a local Farmers Market in progress so checked it out. It was small but nice. If it had been meal time we would have eaten there because one of the food trucks smelled amazing.

Today’s drive was pretty short at a little over 1 hour. This park is OK but the only reservations I could get were for a site without sewer. We are staying 4 nights. They have a dump station and 4 nights is just about the max before requiring a tank dump so it should work out. We got here early and our site wasn’t available so we headed back a little over a mile to the local Walmart Supercenter. We needed to stock up so we ate some fast food and did our “big” shopping. While in the store the campground called to tell us our site was ready. The park is a little further out of Anchorage than we would like, but the few parks in or near the city had pretty poor reviews. We were hungry for a good steak and knew that Anchorage had an Outback Steakhouse. After getting our shopping done, groceries put up, and the coach setup we headed into the biggest city in Alaska. The Outback was under renovation on the outside so it looked a little rough but our meal was good. After dinner Donna dropped me by Starbucks so I could use fast internet for some computer maintenance while she took Maverick to a dog park and got the car washed.  Sorry, no pictures for today.

Sounding like a broken record, this morning we hung out at Talkeetna Alaska Lodge again. We just can’t get enough of the unobstructed Denali view from their deck. After getting our mountain fix we drove into downtown just before start of Talkeetna’s 4th of July parade. The road into downtown was super crowded both with visitors and with the staging of the parade. We decided to park at the edge of downtown and eat lunch at Kahiltna Bistro. We were able to sit outside with Maverick on the patio with up close views of the parade. The food was quite good and this had location and easy on its side.

Maverick wants everyone to know he doesn’t like loud noises. These noises include, fire engine and ambulance sirens, truck horns, train horns, load truck exhaust, loud motorcycle exhaust, or fireworks. Of course we had lots of these noise where we sat during the parade. Poor Maverick was pretty miserable during the parade. The parade itself was pretty typical of a very small town. Lots of locals in their cars, on their bicycles, and on their 4-wheelers, a few classic cars, and a handful of local businesses. Of course the parade was ended by the volunteer fire department pump truck, ambulances, and emergency vehicles all honking and using their sirens.
After the parade we drove to Benko lake. Based on the signs we expected public access but it only had a small boat ramp and signs saying no parking. We did get out a little but it wasn’t the best location for us. We did get invited by a local couple to join them in the lake as they inflated multiple super sized lake floats that looked big enough to support the entire local population. They were nice but we politely declined.

Since we left Benko not truly satisfied, we headed to nearby Tigger Lake. Here we found actual parking, trails, and nice small lake. Maverick was in heaven on the trail off-leash and we took the short trail to the lake. We somewhat interrupted a young couple who we thought would probably rather be alone. Maverick did get some time to play in the water with their Golden Retriever and Australian Shepherd for a little before we left. About 4 or 5 cars arrived in the parking area as we left, so that couple wasn’t going to get any privacy after all.

 

Today is a big day for us. We have booked a Denali Flightseeing tour. We did this 5 years ago and it was the highlight of the trip. This time we are taking a longer flight that also lands on a glacier. We can’t wait. There are two major tour providers, Talkeetna Air Taxi and K2. We chose Talkeetna Air Taxi again this time though both offer essentially the same tours for the same prices. This isn’t cheap at about $400 per person but it is well worth it.

First thing today we hung out at Talkeetna Alaska Lodge again. This morning the mountain views are amazing. The weather is totally clear and about 75F for the high today. Perfect for our tour. We ate lunch again at the West Rib. This time we split a burger because it looked better than our Fish and Chips we had yesterday. It was awesome. After lunch we walked the river with Maverick again and just bummed around until it was time to be at the airport for our tour.

We had booked a 3pm tour (several days ago) and needed to arrive at about 2:15. We checked in and weighed in then got our GoreTex snow boots that fit over your street shoes/boots. These snow boots make it easier to walk on the glacier snow and keep the snow from getting in your shoes. Our flight consisted of 10 people. The pilot asked if anyone wanted to sit in the co-pilot seat and I immediately raised my hand. I knew from before that the co-pilot seat was by-far the best seat in the house. I wasn’t disappointed. The flight was absolutely spectacular and landing on the glacier was crazy cool. I highly recommend taking this tour if you visit this area. There are about 4 tours available both with and without the glacier landing. This tour was the 2nd longest “Grand Denali” tour that circles the mountain and includes the glacier landing. 5 years ago we tried to conserve money and took the shorter tour without the landing. It is very much worth the price difference to go with the longer tour and glacier landing. All of the tours take you VERY close to the mountain, through many passes fairly narrow clearances, and over the many glaciers flowing down the mountain. Pictures do not do it justice, nor do they show just how close to the mountains you get. I could continue raving on for a long time but I think you get the idea. After the tour we took Maverick to some trails to burn off some steam and then ate at the Mountain High Pizza Pie.

This morning we got our Diet Coke and headed into Talkeetna. Our RV park is about 20 miles outside of town. First we stopped at Fish Lake where a float plane base takes tourists on siteseeing and fishing trips. The lake and float plane base is very pretty. Next we headed for Talkeetna Alaska Lodge to enjoy the views from their wonderful deck. This was a favorite spot from 5 years ago. If I were going to stay in a hotel in this area, this would be the place. It is super nice, fairly close to town, and has spectacular views of Denali. After hanging out for an hour or so, we headed into downtown for lunch. We ate at West Rib. This was another favorite from our previous visit. Five years ago West Rib was featured on the TV show Man vs Food. We sat outside and had a super nice lunch. This time of year the Cottonwood Trees are blowing their “cotton” in unbelievable amounts. It looks like it is snowing everywhere downtown. It collects as drifts along buildings and curbs an inch or two deep. After lunch we walked along the river and Maverick got some off-leash time. Donna checked out a few more gift shops we missed yesterday while Maverick and I waited in the car. Before heading back to the coach we drove around the Talkeenta airport. We wanted to make sure where to be for our flightseeing tour tomorrow and I enjoy seeing all of the bush planes.
A note about DENALI VIEWING!

If this is your first time to Alaska be aware that they claim only 30% of people visiting Alaska get a clear view of the Mountain. This is because it is shrouded in clouds much of the time. While there are views of the mountain from Denali National Park, the views are mostly distant and only at certain gaps in the mountain ranges. I believe the views deeper in the park are better but we only committed to the 6 hour round trip and our pictures show the mountain as good as we could hope for. By far the best viewing is from the South either in the Denali State Park or in the town of Talkeetna. The mountain is much closer, visually bigger, and more prominent from this side of the Alaska Range. There are two official state park view points, Denali View North and Denali View South. Both on the road South of the actual mountain range. Our pictures from Mary Cary’s McKinley View Lodge is very close to the Denali View South park and from our campground. The mountain seems huge in real life and small in our pictures. It is the largest visual landmark I have ever seen in person. Not only is the mountain very tall at over 20,000 feet but it has the largest “prominence” or “relief” falling over 14,000 feet from the peak in a sheer face before reaching the smaller mountains/foot hills.

June was an EPIC travel month for us. We left May behind in Glacier National Park and headed back to Coeur d’Alene ID, on to Grand Coulee Dam, through North Cascades National Park, and back to Burlington WA to complete the RV repair at Camping World. June 10th we headed across the Canadian border at Sumas WA and trekked through Kamloops, Williams Lake, Tudyah Lake, and Dawson Creek BC to the start of the Alaskan Highway. From Dawson we traveled through Fort Nelson, Liard Hot Springs, Watson Lake, Whitehorse, Beaver Creek, and arrived in Delta Junction Alaska on June 20th. That is 9 stops in 10 days. That is a lot for us. Next we spent 5 days in Fairbanks, 3 days at Denali National Park, and 2 days in the Denali State Park. I think this was a pretty full travel experience by anyone’s standard. We were super fortunate to have spectacular views of Denali Mountain. All that and we aren’t even close to done yet. In July we expect to explore the rest of Alaska South of Denali with many more great adventures. Stay Tuned!!!!

This morning on the way out of the park we stopped for breakfast at Mary Carey’s McKinley Lodge. Lunch yesterday was great and the breakfast this morning was also very good. This morning Denali was very beautiful and tour buses were stopping for people to grab Denali pictures here at Mary Carys. The drive to Mat Su RV park was very short and only took a little less than an hour. We checked in and set up pretty quickly. We waited until about 1:30pm before heading into Talkeetna for lunch. Downtown Talkeetna was very crowded and we had a difficult time finding parking. We chose the Denali Brewery lunch and had to wait for about 20minutes to get a table. The food was good. After lunch we walked the downtown street and checked out a few shops. A really beautiful day and and the mountain looked spectacular.