Hele On with Joe and Dawn: July 2013

Denali National Park

July 21 Byers Lake to Denali National Park 93 miles 1 hr 50 mins

We went to check out Byers Lake this morning before leaving the area. Beautiful, quiet lake. No motors allowed on this lake so very peaceful.

Then we headed out to Denali National Park. We were here about 2 weeks ago with the family but we didn't do everything I wanted to, so we're going back. On the way, we kept stopping to get a good picture of Denali but most of the time there were clouds covering the mountain. We checked into Riley Creek Campground and this time I said our RV was under 30 feet, so the price was less, $22 per night. We'll be staying here for 2 nights. We got a really nice site so I'm pretty happy about that.

July 22 This morning we went on the bus shuttle to Toklat. This bus travels 53 miles one way and it takes approximately 6 1/2 hours round trip. Our drivers name was Greg, or maybe Craig, but anyway, he was very good. He gave us a lot of history and information on Denali. He had some

interesting stories on animals. He's been charged at by a bear 6 times so far, so he had some tips on how to react to a bear charging you. And yes...according to Greg, bear spray works. He shared a story of a wolf pack in 2010, that was on National Geographic and he was interviewed for that. This is supposed to be a shuttle to Toklat but we felt like we were on an actual tour. Taking this shuttle for $26.75 was a lot less than a 4-5 hour narrated tour which costs over $100. I don't know if all the shuttle drivers talk as much as ours did, but I guess we lucked out. We saw some wildlife, a mama grizzly with 2 cubs, 2 caribou, and another grizzly going over a hill.

Mama Grizzly with her 2 cubs

Caribou in a field

Another Caribou sitting in the water

Today was such a nice, clear day the scenery was absolutely gorgeous. Only 30% of people actually see Denali and we were fortunate enough to be a part of that. The name of this mountain started as Denali, then got changed to Mt. McKinley, then got changed back to Denali. So people refer to it by both names.

Later in the afternoon, we went for a hike in the area. We took a wrong path but it turned out ok.We went for a little over an hour, probably around 3 miles. We're trying to get more physical activity going because we both have gained weight....lots!

The sky at 8pm during our hike

On the road again...Talkeetna

We had a nice time in Anchorage. It was great to spend some time with Raschad & Tracy, they really took care of us. It's time to move on so here we go.....

July 19 Anchorage to Talkeetna 110 miles 2 hr 15 min
This morning we left Anchorage and drove to Talkeetna. It's a sleepy old town with a lot of tourist. Kind of like Haleiwa. We're staying at the Talkeetna Camper Park. It's the only full service park here, $32 for water and electric. They're pretty busy, we took the last site for the night. This place is kind of small, very noisy, right next to the train tracks, and we're pretty crammed into this park. We went for a drive to town then went to look for the Talkeetna Alaska RV Park &Boat Launch (ADF&G). We should have camped here. It's dry camping for I think $20 but seems quiet.
Oh well...too late now.

Joe eating his ice cream in front of Nagley's Store

We took a walk to town in the early evening. There were a lot of people because there was a band playing in the park. I guess it was a big thing for Talkeetna because everybody was out...tourists, locals, bums, drunks, dogs....everybody.
I wanted to look in some shops in town but everything closed up at 6pm. We took a walk to the river, then had some ice cream and watched the people in the park for a while. The band finished around 8pm so we walked back to our camp site and had to listen to someone's dog bark for the next hour or so.

Talkeetna river

July 20 Talkeetna to Byers Lake 64 miles 1 hr 15 min

Main street,Talkeetna

We got up this morning and went into town to have breakfast at the Roadhouse. This is supposed to be the place to eat. We tried the sourdough pancake. Was ok...not that great.
One big pancake for $8.95, but it included juice and hot cocoa. Oh well...at least we can say we ate there.

Today we drove up Parks Highway for a little over an hour. We're staying at Byers Lake Campground. It's a state campground, $10 per night for dry camping. It's a really nice campground but there's a lot of potholes to get to the campsite. We took a ride out to a scenic lookout and took some pictures of the mountains.

I thought I was looking at Denali (Mt. McKinley) but it turns out it wasn't. Then we went to the Alaska Veterans Memorial. It consists of an alcove and a semicircle of five 20-foot tall concrete panels, one for each branch of service. From this site we could see the top of Denali. The clouds kept covering it up but we could see the top of it.

The top of Denali peeking thru the clouds

Golden Nugget RV Park

July 15 Today we moved to the Golden Nugget RV Park in Anchorage. The good sam rate is $43.20 per night for full hook ups. It's a pretty nice park, very busy. We'll stay here for 4 nights and get things ready to head north to Fairbanks.

July 17 We had dinner at the Double Musky. We picked Danny up and headed to Girdwood. This place is real popular. We got there about 7pm and had to wait an hour so ended up having drinks in the bar. For dinner Joe had the pork steak, Danny had lamb, and I had the pepper steak. Everything was real good, was worth the 45 minute drive.

July 18 Tomorrow we're leaving Anchorage and plan to drive towards Fairbanks. We spent the day getting everything ready. Joe replaced the control module for the electronic steps on our RV. For lunch we went to Kansha Restaurant. This place has real ono local food. Too bad this is our last day in Anchorage, I wouldn't mind eating there again. We took a drive to Ship Creek to check out the fishermen, no one caught anything while we were there but there were a lot of people fishing. Then we went to the Salmon Hatchery. That was a sight to see. All the salmon swimming against the current then trying to jump up this waterfall.

Aloha to our family

July 13 Our family left at noon today. We had an awesome 2 weeks together, was sad to see them go...especially Miki. We ended up with a lot of leftover food so I took what I wanted and gave the rest to Tracy. She could use some at her house and whatever was left went to her workplace, the Covenant House. They teach the kids life skills and cook there so they will make use of everything we gave them.

We're back at Raschad & Tracy's tonight, will probably be here for the next couple of nights.

July 14 Joe & Raschad decided to smoke some salmon today. Joe wanted to learn the process of canning salmon. They went to Sagaya's to buy the fish and started smoking. It took all day.

Joe called Danny earlier in the day so he stopped by after work. We sat outside by the fire, ate and drank, and finished canning the salmon. Such a nice, relaxing day in Anchorage.

Joe, Danny, Tracy, Raschad

Anchorage

July 12 Today is the last full day for the family in Anchorage. Everybody's pretty much doing whatever they want. Kirby & Branden woke up early and went to the mall. Breezy dropped Randy & Ruthy off at the Alaska Heritage Center, then she and Taylor went to the Alaska Zoo.

Joe, Papa Rudy, Miki and myself went for a drive to Girdwood.

We rode the Alyeska Aerial Tramway.

Papa & Miki getting off the tram

It goes up to the 2,300 foot level of Mt. Alyeska. It was absolutely beautiful up there. We used the 2 for 1 coupon again, so $10 per person, good deal.

Beautiful view of Turnagain Arm

Still had some snow

That's the gondola

View of Alyeska Resort

Then we took a drive up to the Flat Top Mountain trail head. There is an amazing view of Anchorage from there.

View of Flat Top Mountain

Whittier

July 10 We returned the RV's today. Randy had to pay $250 deductible for a dent in Breezy's bumper. She backed into a tree at Denali. We moved into our vacation rental today. We'll be there for 3 nights. When we emptied the 3 RV's, there was so much stuff. There's so much food, no need to buy anything else for the rest of the family vacation. Our friend Danny Saragosa is in Anchorage working for FEMA. Joe gave him a call and he came over for a visit. Was nice to see him, it's been a long time.

Papa Rudy & Randy ready to board

July 11 Today we got on the train from Anchorage to Whittier. The train left at 945am and got to Whittier at 1215pm. In Whittier, we got on the Phillips 26 Glacier Cruise. It started at 1230pm and ended at 530pm. The cruise was kind of long but the glaciers and the wildlife we saw was really amazing. We saw two humpback whales, lots of sea otters, sea lions, seals, eagles, and a colony of more than 10,000 black-legged kittiwake birds. After the cruise, we had an hour before the train left Whittier. We finally left Whittier at 630pm and arrived in Anchorage at 915pm. What a long day...but we enjoyed ourselves, it's something you need to do at least once.