Toking in Tok

Ok, not really “toking”, but we are taking a break for a few days.  “WHAT?”, some of you are saying…”thought you were in Anchorage!”  Well, that was three days ago…things change.

Technically we were in Wasilla, where we got our oil changed and stayed the night at Walmart…a fairly peaceful night I might add.

    

As we are leaving Walmart, we see this 1916 Model T sitting out there…when suddenly out of nowhere…

…comes this Radio Flyer!  Guess they were both getting ready for a weekend auto show…but we were headed north.

At Willow Lake Denali was uncovered again, but clouds were moving in quickly…I knew we would not see her again on this day.

It does not take long for this mountain to hide once again behind its cloak of clouds…by the time we got to the South View of Denali State Park (yes, there is a State Park too), everything is behind the clouds…I didn’t even bother taking a picture.

Between the South and North view of Denali at Denali State Park there is a rest area which is also the Alaska Veterans Memorial, a memorial to those Alaskan’s who fought for America in any of its wars…which for Alaska is pretty much WW2 and the wars since.  But Alaska even played a part in the American Civil War!

If you click on the above image, you should be able to read most of the information about how the north was using the Whaling Industry to help fund the war, and how the south sent a war ship into the Bering Sea to try and stop it…which was the only confederate ship to circumnavigate the world.  The monument had no fewer than a dozen of these information boards, along with many plaques, including four which featured the Alaskan’s who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor.

   

The rest area is part of the Beyer’s Lake Campground, and you can only stay overnight “legally” if the campground is full and you pay the $15 fee to camp.  We drove down into the campground to try and find a suitable site…having found a couple, as we were driving around to come back to the one we liked…well we came across a flooded road, and both of us did not feel like going over that patch of road again.  So I proclaimed that the park was full since it did not have a ADA acceptable campsite…paid for a site, and we went up to the rest area and camped for the night.  Needless to say, no one bothered us…not sure if putting the paid receipt on the passenger window and the ADA placard up on the mirror helped, or if frankly, no one cared to even check.  In the morning  saw one trailer down the way, and during the night it was so quiet and peaceful…a wonderful place to stay.

As we head north the next morning, the skies are not “clear”, but clear enough that I knew we would get some more pictures of Mt. Denali (such as the first picture in this post).

It does not take long before we get to the North View of the Denali State Park.  The view here is not nearly as good as the view one gets from the south view…if the mountain is not hidden behind clouds.  As I was pulling out of the memorial rest area I thought “maybe I should drive back to the south view this morning…”.  Well, I regret not doing that, the view would have been outstanding.

Not that the view from the north area is bad…it does give you a good look at this mighty mountain…the tallest in all of the Americas.  Was told by another passerby that around 30 climbers were trying to reach the summit on this day.  They were told that at the visitor’s center in Denali National Park.

As you continue north there is this pullout where you can get an even better picture of the mountain than at North View…that is where the first picture in this post was taken, and where the picture above was taken.  But I still wish I would have gone back to the South View Point…

In my next post, the trip to Denali National Park, and up to Fairbanks and on to Tok

Headed to Fairbanks

Friday was the day to say goodbye to the Kenai Peninsula, which includes Seward, Homer, Kenai, Soldotna, and places we never made it to where we would have loved to spend some time, such as Cooper Landing (drove through it a number of times) and the Captain Cook State Recreation Area just north of Soldotna.  But the season was upon us, ready to gobble us and everything and everyone in its way…it is called, “Dip Net Season”.  This is where Alaskans are able to use nets which are dipped into the river to catch loads of Salmon to help them (Alaskans) to get through the winter.  As we were leaving, we can see the signs of RVs and many cars headed toward Soldotna and Kenai…you can see their nets in the back of trucks, through windows of SUVs.  Just getting gas and propane and water was a challenge, especially when not everyone wants to wait in line for it.

     

      

It was sure a pretty day for a drive back to Anchorage, but our hearts were a bit heavy because we really liked the Soldotna area…the people have been great, the Soldotna Animal Hospital was just the best, and we had a good stay at the   Diamond M Ranch Resort/RV Park.  The owners, the whole family, their work campers, and those who stay there for months each summer…they were all wonderful.  And the best part…we got to leave with our little Skruffy who is 80-90% herself again!

    

And when we got to Tern Lake, the Trumpeter Swan was there…but a bit far for great pictures.

 

But the great weather sure made a great picture of Tern Lake looking Southeast towards Seward.

One thing I wanted to point out is that there are many pullouts like this in all of Alaska.  Some are this size, many much smaller.  For those who are traveling in motorhomes, it makes nice places to have a meal, sit and relax, or for some, to camp all night at.  The bad thing is that most don’t have any type of cell phone, or very weak cell phone service…which you find in towns.  If the town has a Walmart, a Fred Meyer, a Cabelas…well, you can park in their parking lot all night long.  Some even have waste dump stations and allow you to fill your tanks with water.  Many of the Tesoro Gas Stations (and others) have waste stations too.  Essentially, you can park in many places as long as there are no signs telling you not to park all night.

    

    

Friday night we made it to Anchorage, and decided to park in the Cabelas Sporting Goods Store lot for the night.  It is a great place to park in Anchorage, away from the noise of the city.  We were there with about twenty other motorhomes, and a few vehicles which people were sleeping in.   Saturday we headed over to Wasilla to get the oil changed in both the motorhome and the HHR at Wasilla Lube Express, ($92 combined total, in and out in under a half hour, not bad for Alaska -- they don't do Class A's) then we hung out near a skateboard park for most of the afternoon, and moved over to Walmart for the night.  Tomorrow we will head up towards Denali, find a place where we can stop and try and catch another view of the mountain.  By Tuesday we should be in Fairbanks for a few days.

Note:  I heard a few did not read the last post titled: "Skruffy's Last Bark?" because the title indicated that she might have died...please read it, she is alive and fine and doing well.  I did initially start writing it a couple of weeks ago because I was pretty sure she was dying and it was very therapeutic for me in handling the near loss of this faithful dog.  However, the miracle of good medicine, the fine work of the "Fisherman Vet" who I called the "Fisherman of Dogs", and by the Grace of God, Skruffy is doing fine.