The Great Alaskan Adventure

By the time we got ready to leave it was starting to get cloudy but it wasn’t raining. We headed out in the truck to drive up Hatcher Pass. By the time we got there it was raining again. This road winds more than 30 miles through the mountains and along the Little Susitna River. It reaches an elevation of over 3800 ft. We drove to the Independence Gold mine along the way and toured through the remains of the operation there. We then continued along the pass. The first part of the road was paved with guard rails and large pullouts for stopping to take pictures. ........The second half was another story all together. No guard rails, no pavement, barely enough room to pass another vehicle and pot holes big enough to lose the truck in, all on a switch back, steep trail through the mountains! Lots of nice scenery though. We drove the whole road and then headed into Willow and then back to Wasila. We stopped to pick up a pole from Home Depot for Colin and then back to the trailer for dinner.

Okay I’m growing skin between my toes and when I talk it’s starting to sound like quacking! It was raining when we got up this morning and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop. We sat around for most of the morning and then Frances came over to ask me to help her dye her hair. Frances has gone red!! Looks very nice too! The rest of the day was spent sitting inside watching it rain.......

We decided to stop in Palmer for 3 days as we are waiting for something to arrive by UPS. We parked in the Fox Run RV Park, a small park just outside of Palmer. After landing the trailer we took the truck into Palmer to check out the town. We were very impressed with the cleanliness of the town and the care that was taken in grass cutting and gardening. We went to the Farmers Market downtown and bought fresh Peas, and Zucchini. We then walked over to the Information centre where they had a beautiful garden. There were flowers around the outside of the beds and vegetables in the middle. Huge cabbages, lettuce, red and black currents, raspberries and potatoes. A truly neat thing to find downtown. Splash had fun smelling all the flowers.

Back at the campsite we made deep fried Salmon, Halibut and chips and of course our fresh peas from the market.

We decided that we just had too much to do to leave Anchorage today so we planned to stay another night. Frances and I had laundry to do so we took the truck and did that, while the guys went and got propane and did some other stuff. We met for lunch and then Colin and I took off to do some stuff we had to do. When we got back we had dinner and then headed out to the Movies to see War of the Worlds. (Can’t fall asleep through this one!!)

We were late leaving because Ed was having some issues with his camera.......serious issues!! We ended up leaving about 1 ½ hour later than discussed. We drove to Ninilchik where we bought some more fresh Salmon. Along the way we did get some sunshine so we decided to stop at a wood carving place. We all got rather silly and took lots of pictures posing with the various statues. Splash got stalked by this cute little cream kitten.......with an attitude!! She was not going to back down no matter what. She even had Zaphod cornered on a large chair!

We pulled into the Sam’s Club parking lot for the night. We went in and stocked up on a few things and then called it a night.






















Another Spontaneous pose by Zaphod

Another kind of miserable day but so far it’s not raining. I wanted to take some pictures of the downtown area as I didn’t take my camera the day before. Some of the buildings have rather unique architecture. The Salty Dawg Saloon is actually 4 different buildings that have been joined together. The part that is now a lighthouse was actually an old water tower, part is the old post office, part is an old fish packing companies office and part is the old school house. The interior is a bit chlosterphobic as the ceilings are very low and everywhere you look, there are signed dollar bill hanging. There is also the occasional t-shirt, pairs of boxer shorts and ball caps hanging from the rafters. The outside has all kinds of beautiful flowers. A very popular spot on the Spit. We also checked out the “Seafarer’s Memorial, a structure built in memory of all those who have lost their lives at sea. Unfortunately, while we were there the man who was a driving force in having this memorial built and who the statue was modelled after, lost his battle with cancer. There were many floral tributes and pictures left at the statue while we were there.
The rest of the day was spent packing everything up to leave in the morning.

It’s cold and damp and generally not a very nice day. Splash and I went for a long walk this morning and when we came back I decided it was time for her to have a trim. I set up underneath the awning and away we went. One hour later she was looking much better. A bath, blow dry and brushing finished her off and she looks respectable again.

The boys were going fishing so Frances and I decided to do the shops along the Spit. We saw lots of beautiful things as most of the gift items are done by natives. Ivory, Antler and wood carvings, art work and crafts. I saw a few things that I would really like but space and price dictate a lot.

When we got back we all went out for dinner a “Don Jose’s” Mexican Restaurant. After dinner we drove along the road at the top of the bluff that over looks Kachemak Bay........amazing views!!

It didn’t look like a very good day for fishing, kind of cold and dreary, so opted for a drive into the countryside around Homer. We checked out the salmon fishing along the coast in Anchor Point and drove to the farthest point West which you can drive to by road in North America.










We then carried on to Nanilchik and had lunch at the Board Walk Café.....fresh razor clams and Halibut. We also found out that it is possible to buy fish directly from the people catching them. We ended up buying some Salmon from a Packer which was $3.50 a lb. Much cheaper than the $7.00 we would have to pay in the grocery store.
After lunch we drove back towards Homer and took a side road to a small Russian community called Nikolaevsk. There is a very pretty little Russian Orthodox church there call St. Nicholas church.
Unfortunately it was closed so we could not go inside.





On the way back to Homer we took the back road and saw some amazing hillsides covered with Fireweed, the whole hill was purple.






We also stopped to watch some Salmon swim upstream in the Anchor River. To bad you weren’t allowed to catch them there.





We went back to the trailer and had a wonderful dinner of fresh Salmon!

If I don’t say so myself, I just looked all that in my red and black rubber boots. But now for the serious stuff. It was amazing all the neat little things we saw in the tide pools. Several varieties of Sea Stars, Sea Cucumbers, baby Flounders, Hermit Crabs, Decorator Crabs and so much more. Once you know what your looking for your afraid to step for fear that you might step on something alive. Once it started it was amazing how quickly the tide came in. One minute you were standing in an inch of water and the next minute it was halfway up your boot!

On the way back we stopped at the Farmers Market and then went down on the Spit for Fish and Chips.

We walked around a bit and then headed back to the trailer. Colin has been whining since we left that he can’t find butter tarts in the stores so I broke down and made him some when we got back.

Good low tide this morning, so since the boys got all their gear yesterday they were ready to go out clamming this morning! Colin honestly looked like puss and boot with his waders down around his knees.

They were gone for a long time but came back with something.....not much but something. They were going fishing for the rest of the afternoon so Frances and I took the truck and went into town. We bought some cute “Puffin”fabric to make bandanas for the dogs and some grocery items. Then we went to the “Islands and Oceans “ Visitors centre. We took part in a clam and shellfish lab and found out all kinds of neat stuff.......including that half the clams the boys had caught in the morning were more than likely toxic. We also watched a slide show about all the various invertebrates that were to be found in Kachemak Bay. Very Interesting! We also found out about a “Tide Pool” walk that was taking place the next morning at 10:00 Low tide. Uh-Oh! I don’t have rubber boots and Frances says I have to have rubber boots to do the walk. I figure it’s necessary for me to have the proper ensemble......so off we went to find me boots! $19.95 later I too have a pair of stylish red and black rubber boots.
On the way home we bought some smoked salmon bellies......delicious!

Just a relaxing day, well sort of, Colin and Ed have been out all day shopping for just the right stuff for their Salmon fishing. Frances and I went to the Laundromat which just so happens to have internet as well.....how convenient is that!

Tonight we are having homemade Clam Chowder made with the clams the boys got yesterday.....yum!

First Ed and Colin had to get their fishing/clamming licences, so with that out of the way off they went with their pail and shovel to get clams. They came back with about 15 nice sized ones.......guess who got to clean them.......that’s right.....me! After they were cleaned we packed up and headed for Homer. The privately owned campground here with services was $50.00 a night!! We opted for the $95.00 a week municipal campground with an ocean front spot. Colin and Ed are going to catch some Salmon here ...(so I’m told anyway) so we plan to stay put for a week. We are right in the middle of the holiday season now so it makes life a lot simpler if we land somewhere before the week-ends.

Colin went out fishing last night but didn’t catch anything, he says he needs to go out and buy some proper gear for here.

We arrived at the Clam Gulch Recreation Area and considering how busy the rest of the campgrounds were this was relatively quiet. We found a spot and parked for the night. Colin and I walked down to the ocean front to check things out. There were several commercial fisherman set up down there so we talked to one fellow and he gave us the low down on the clamming. Colin Ed and Frances drove down later to watch them bringing their nets in.

Colin was determined he was going clamming the next morning.

Ed and Colin took Ed’s truck into town to get some internet stuff done and Frances and I took our truck to do the laundry. Seward needs a new Laundromat!! The current one is the only one so prices are crazy.....$4.00 for one load of laundry and then .25 for every 4 minutes of drying time. Now add into the mix a very small building crammed with too many machines, half of which are out of order. And now don’t forget to add in the tourist factor.....a very shovy impolite bunch at best.......the poor locals have to put up with this all summer. We did manage to elbow our way through and got everything clean again. We stopped to see how the boys were doing and they were just about done so we went and had fish and chips for lunch......very good.

We got back to the campground and scurried around to pack everything up and hitch the trucks, then it was on the road on our way to Soldotna.....home to Combat Salmon Fishing. We ended up staying in the Fred Meyers (equivalent to Walmart) parking lot. Actually this is better than Wal-Mart because they supply drinking water and a dump station.....how cool is that.

And now about Combat Fishing....hundreds of fishermen line the shores of rivers and the ocean to catch the salmon making their run back home to spawn. More hip waders than you can shake a fishing pole at, god help you if you get in someones way!!

It was iffy but the gruesome threesome headed out around 9:30 to climb the trail to the Harding Ice Fields. This left me a day all to myself. Of course mine was not quite as exciting as theirs, some sewing, baking, cooking and cleaning, reading and dog sitting since I was in charge of the dogs. Zaphod decided he was going for a walk and he was taking not one ball but two with him. I tried to get one from him but that was not happening.

Shortly after 8:00 Ed’s truck rolled in with the weary hikers.......mainly Colin. I knew I had a problem when they drove right up to our trailer and Colin didn’t get out. He was totally exhausted and very stiff and sore......go figure......55 year old man..... doing an 8 mile hike........ when all he ever does is walks????? I was quite proud of him. He manage to get some pretty amazing pictures of the ice fields and some animals so I guess it was worth listening to him whine the rest of the night.

Headline “Colin claims championship for most weight carried to Harding Icefields On July 18th”
Well I completed a once in a lifetime hike (I call it mountain climb). The reason I’m calling it once in a lifetime is I am “never!!!!!” doing it again. The trip was about 14KM return and over 3000 Feet up (felt like straight up). I figure I carried about 290 lbs (I like to round it up to 300 lbs) to the top including my pack and me minus about 10 litres of sweat and water I did not have to carry down. On the way up over about 5 hours (minus the 5 minute breaks Frances gave me although she claims they were 10 minutes) I was passed by many young kids and a few old kids but no fat old stupid kids like me. The way I figure it it was like Frances carrying Frances on her back with her pack and my pack on her back. No wonder she was running up the hill like a goat. Ed was more like an old Billy Goat on Speed (looks like one too, check the pictures)

Anyhow enough of the fat people Olympics. The scenery and the animals were outstanding but you can see that in the pictures when I get around to uploading them

Colin, Ed and Frances were suppose to hike up to the Harding Ice Fields today but we awoke to a downpour. Scratch that, regroup, okay lets go to the Alaska Sea Life Centre......inside and dry. This is an active Sea Life research facility which also does rehabilitation and education. The idea for the world class marine laboratory was conceived and brought to Seward in 1960 and opened its doors in 1998. Today it represents a very impressive centre with a large focus on educating the public about the Alaska Marine ecosystem.

There was an excellent Sea Birds habitat where you could watch Puffins “Fly” under water. Very neat!

On the way back to the trailer we found a spot to download our email and went home for dinner.

Quiet day.......

WE didn’t book the night before because we wanted to be sure we would have a clear day.
We woke up to another perfect day! At about 7:30 Ed called the tour company and they said the tour was half booked. We immediately signed on for todays tour.

We were at the dock by 8:00 but the captian was a wee bit late getting there. There were 13 plus 2 crew on board and we headed out into Resurrection Bayd to see what there was to see! Breakfast was provided, tea, coffee and juice. Immediately on pulling out of the harbour we spotted a Sea Otter and 2 Bald eagles......looks like it’s going to be a good day!

The tour continued on around the Aialik Cape and into the bay to view the Aialik Glacier. By the time lunch rolled around we had seen Whales, Puffins and some more eagles. Lunch was also provided, a Subway Sandwich, Apple, Cookie and chips as well as tea, coffee or soft drinks.

Before the day was out we saw several Hump Back Whales, Porpoises, two kinds of Puffins (tufted and horned) as well as Steller Sea Lions, Harbor Seals and more otters. We also drove right up to the bottom of a huge Glacier known as the Holgate Glacier which came right down to the waters. This is a Tidal Glacier. There would be these thunderous crashes and huge hunks of ice would brake off and fall into the water. This process is know as calving. We were surrounded by huge hunks of ice all around the boat. The cruise was well worth what we paid and I would highly recommend it. Just as we were getting back I was sitting on the back deck in the sun kind of dozing off........YIKES.........did someone just dump a bucket....or two of sea water on me????? No the captain slowed down a bit and a wave washed over the side of the boat and me! I was soaked right down to my skin.....the part under the rain jacket stayed dry.......thank goodness it was the end of the day and I had just put the movie camera and binoculars away.

Back to the trailer with a sun burnt face and soggy drawers!!

It’s a fabulous sunny day.....don’t get a whole lot of these in Alaska! We had breakfast, did a few chores and then headed out in the truck to drive up to Exit Glacier. The road leading up to it is a excellent paved 2 lane road, one of the best I’ve seen in all Alaska. It dead ends at the parking lot for the Kenai Fjords National Park. The Exit Glaciers is 3 miles long and descends some 2,500 ft from the much larger Harding Ice Fields which covers some 500 sq. miles.

WE took park in the ranger led hick to the base of the Glaciers and the outwash plains. It was very informative and gave us some of the history of the Glaciers and it’s recession to where it is today. (It is moving back each year.) We saw hunks of ice from the Glacier floating by in the river. At the end of the hike we continued on to the side of the Glacier. It was quite a bit cooler up there.

After our hike we drove around the area to see if we could spot any wildlife, but were not very successful.

Back to the trailer, dinner and an early night as if the weather is good we want to do a cruise tomorrow.

We left the park by about 10:00 and headed for the Glen highway and then onto the Seward Highway. The second highway is amazing. It runs mostly along the shore of Turnagain Bay with beautiful mountain views and breathtaking vistas all around. This is probably one of the second most scenic drives of this trip. We stopped part way and made some lunch and then carried on to Seward. The first two campgrounds we checked were full. The third was a Municipal Park with no services. Colin and Ed parked the trucks on the road and walked in to see how it looked. They seemed pleased so I radioed Colin to see if he wanted me to bring the truck in........sure he said.
I not only drove the truck in but docked the trailer and unhooked it from the truck and levelled it. And get this.......Frances did the same with their trailer. I don’t know but I think we might have these guys running scared!!

After settling in we drove down town to check it out and have some dinner.......Frances and I figured we deserved it after all that hard work we did.

Today is finish up everything that we need to do before we leave Anchorage. Load all the laundry in the truck is first. We headed out and while I did laundry Colin updated the Website. We did a bit of miscellaneous shopping and then headed for the Anchorage Zoo.

The is small but has a good variety of animals. The standards, elephants, tigers and camels and then they also have arctic animals such as a Polar Bear, Musk Ox, Caribou, Dall Sheep, Brown Bears and Black Bears. After seeing a lot of these animals in the wild it seems sad to see them in cages.

After the zoo Colin had to look for one more thing and fuel the truck and then we went home and had dinner

Colin spent the morning working on some stuff on the computer and then we headed out to a parking lot where he had found internet the night before. We sat there till 4:30 and answered mail and updated our web page.

We headed downtown to see if we could find a strap and lense case for Colin’s camera. I had been interested in going to the Alaska Mint which happened to be right near the camera store so I walked over........Ya....right! It’s really a commemorative coin and jewellery store and they do make the stuff there but it was a self guided tour and nobody was doing anything. There was however lots to BUY! Okay I have been had!

The downtown is very neat with huge hanging basket of flowers on all the street lights and lots of interesting statues and stuff on the side walks. There was a guy making homemade ice cream with a little gas powered contraption which was rather interesting.

I also found this ad for dinner in a gold mine (here fishy, fishy) . After driving around we finally found the Sour Dough Mining Company......very, very big tourist trap! You can always tell how bad these places are by the number of cruise busses that are parked out front. Lot of people but they all came on a cruise ship bus. No thanks!

The fridge is pretty much bare so we needed to get groceries. By the time we got back and put everything away it was after midnight......time to go to bed.

We were on the road just shortly after 11:00 after packing up and filling the fresh water tank. It’s a beautiful sunny day and a great day for a drive. It is around 100 miles to Anchorage and if we can stay in the Wal-Mart parking lot part way there in Wasila we will. Not so fast the Wal-mart parking lot is post about every 10 feet “NO OVER NIGHT PARKING”!!! We made some calls to the other campgrounds in Anchorage and discovered, two were full up, one had spaces so small we might not be able to open our slide. There was a Municipal campground which had space but no services and no internet.....oh well beggars can’t be choosers.
Centennial Park is quite nice but the spaces are very short, so it took us a few turns around before we found a space that would work.

We got into the truck and headed downtown to see if we could turn up a WiFi connection, which we finally found in front of a Midas Muffler Shop. Just long enough to download our email. By this time it was getting late so we decided to go out for a burger. Colin went back and got ready what he needed to for answering email and then drove back downtown. He managed to find a place a little closer this time.

Well today is the day of the Moose Dropping Festival and I think we plan to stay away from the downtown. Ed and Frances Walked down and took in the parade and aside from the police cars and fire trucks with sirens there wasn’t too much to see.

In the afternoon we took the dogs for a swim at Benka Lake and Splash had a bath at the same time.

Everyone is kind of tired today because there was a very unruly small child running around the camp ground screaming his head off till well after midnight.....I think they were trying to skin him alive .....his parents needed some training!!!!

No rain yet today, but then it seems like we get that right around the time that dinner is to be cooked.

We have decided to stay here for 3 nights so today we took the truck filled up with fuel and did some touring around. We went off on some of the side roads and I use that term lightly. We found a lake where we could take the dogs for a swim and a beautiful clear river. Unlike all the advertising you see for around here, the rivers are full of silt washed down from their sources in the glaciers. Apparently they clear up when it starts to get cold and cloud up again in the spring.

We also stopped at the library again to use the internet and then went back to town to mail some letters. It was a rather lazy day.

We decided to head toward Anchorage and detour off onto the Talkeetna Spur Road. It is 14 miles off the main road and takes you to a town on the confluence of 3 rivers. Most climbing expeditions that climb mount McKinley leave from here. Boy we hit it lucky though......this weekend is the “Annual Moose Droppings Festival” And What is that you ask???......well as far as I can figure they shellac a bunch of moose turds and they throw them, at what or from where I am not certain but everyone wants to be here. It’s HUGE!

Anyway we get to the camp ground and we are parked right alone the river bank, quite a nice spot. So here I am minding my own business standing in the kitchen when suddenly it feels like someone backed into the trailer, everything is shaking and shuddering......for like 6 or 7 seconds. Colin runs out ready to tear a strip off someone......only there’s no one there. We find out later that it was a 4.0 earth quake.....okay that definitely turned my legs to Jell-O!! Not big on those!

We drove into town and while I did some laundry Colin went to the library to use the internet. When we got back we dog sat Ed and Frances’ dog while they went on a 1 ½ hour flight seeing tour over Mount McKinley. Some people will do anything to see that mountain.

When they got back we went out for dinner at a little Swiss restaurant which was really good. We went back to the campsite and enjoyed the fire. It just seems a little weird sitting outside around a fire at 11:00 with the sun still out.

There was no rush to get up and get ready this morning and by 11:00 we pulled out of our site and headed for the dump station to dump grey water and take on fresh water. With that done we had time to kill as we were planning to take in the Dog Sled demonstration at 2:00. We wondered down to the train station and watched the train come in and then headed back to the parking lot to put the dog in the trailer (she wasn’t allowed to come to the Sled Dog Demo) We boarded the bus which would take us to the dog kennel. The dogs each have their own little log cabin which they tend to sleep on top of rather than in. They are not the Husky type dogs that you would expect, but rather a lean, long legged dog. Some are white, black and white, brown and white or just black. When they see the harness being laid out they get all excited as they love to work. These dogs are not recreational mushing dogs as they are used in the winter to patrol the park so they are truly working dogs. After the demo we got to see the two new puppies.....very cute!







Well we have spent two full days in the park and have not seen Mount
McKinley. We are told that in the summer there is only a 30 to 40 % chance of seeing the elusive mountain. It seems to be socked into the clouds and mist most days. According to our bus driver yesterday, no one has seen the mountain for three weeks. Oh well we tried!

We headed onto the highway by about 3:30 to continue our trip. We landed in a wayside park, paved sites, fire pits, picnic tables and bathrooms............that’s right........FREE! You can stay here for up to 7 days. How great is that. We have to wait for this evenings travel meeting, before we decide where we are going tomorrow.

Very early start this morning, up a t 5:00AM sandwiches and coffee made, get dressed, take dog for a walk, pack up and leave for the bus stop by 25 to 6:00. We are taking a bus trip 4 hours in and 4 hours back into the Denali Park back country to Fish Creek. The weather is wet and dreary but away we go anyway. Apparently it was not a stellar day for spotting wildlife along the road but we did see a Grizzly bear, a small herd of White Dall Sheep, some Caribou and a Woolly Marmot. The road we travelled on made our Top of the World hwy. Trip seem glamorous. This road was little better than 1 lane in most places, gravel and I’m talking shear drops down rock cliff of 1000 feet. .....Okay so then you meet another bus!! One stops and pulls as far over to one side of the road as possible and then the other goes by.....heart in throat....life passing before your eyes!!












































When we got back we took in a movie at the Information Centre and also checked out the displays they had.

Just before dinner a Park Ranger came around to let us know that she was conducting a talk at the amphitheatre about Grizzly Bear and Wolf interaction. We were not going to go but at the last minute the sun came out and it stopped raining so off we went. On the way we discovered a Cow Moose and her calf grazing right beside a camp site. We later find out that this moose has charged several people.....one of them being a Park Ranger. He came in and interrupted the talk to let everyone know that he was going to try and frighten the Moose away with his siren and wanted to make sure that everyone was safely in their RV’s before doing so.





I think we will probably have an early night after all that excitement.

We left the Park we were in this morning and headed for the Denali Nation Park and Preserve, only 8 miles away. The park was established in 1917 and known then as Mount McKinley National Park. Mount McKinley which is located in the confines of the park is the tallest mountain in North America, reaching a height of 20,320 ft. The park itself encompasses six million acres surrounding the mountain on all sides and protecting the habitat of local wildlife.

The campsites are dry (no services) and very well kept and offering a lot of privacy. We pulled into our spots and set up. Nobody was feeling great this morning so we all decided to have a nap.

We later took the truck and drove around the roads in the park that are open to the public. Some amazing views. While waiting in the truck for Colin Splash and I spotted a mommy Ptarmigan and her 5 babies, where is the guy with the camera when you need him.



















On return to the campsite I did some baking for tomorrows day long bus trip into the interior of the park and then made dinner. An early night for all as we have to be up by 5:30 in order to catch the bus at 6:30.

We awoke to bright sun shine and a temperature of 59 degrees, a good day by Alaska standards. We got the trailer tidied up and ready to move. We headed to the trailer wash to clean the trailer, it was high time as there was a lot of dirt and bugs on it. We pulled out of the parking lot shortly after 12:00 and started towards Denali. .......Well, the truck and trailer stayed clean for about 10 minutes after we left, there were long gravel section on the road which they very nicely sprayed with water to keep the dust down. There was mud spray all over everything. Oh well we tried.

We stopped at a little town called Nenana and parked the trailers. We walked into the town to see what there was to see.
There was a gift shop and train museum and then further along there was a restaurant. There were all these people outside and a huge B-B-Q going on. As we walked by, a lady approached me and told us to grab a plate and get in line and help ourselves. I asked her if there was a special occasion and was it a fund raiser. No, she said, “My parents are here for a visit and I decided to have a B-B-Q, there is lots of food so help yourself.” How nice was that??
We all enjoyed salads, hamburgers and desert and then thanked our hostess and walked back to the trailers.


Picture courtesy of Edward Agnew who I stole it from

We did get a nice downpour on the rest of the way to the park so that helped with the mud removal.

We pulled into the Denali RV Park and then had dinner. After dinner we decided to for a walk up the mountain side behind the trailer. I made it about 3/4's of the way and Colin Ed and Frances made it almost to the top. (Our pictures for this update may be a little spars as Colin was taking pictures all day without a card in the digital camera....)

Today was a lazy day. Colin worked most of the day getting pictures ready for all of you reading this. I did what laundry I had so we would be ready for our wilderness week away from services.

Late in the afternoon we went and got our propane filled, picked up some groceries and filled the truck with diesel. I put everything away and Colin cooked dinner.

Ed had called a few days before to organize a tour through the Air force base......Tours run every Friday at 10:30, be in the parking lot across from the entrance and a bus will pick you up for the free tour. We left in our own vehicle as we had things to do afterwards. We get there, park in the appointed spot and there is no one there???? We drive across to the entrance to talk to someone thinking that maybe we got the time wrong???? No I’m sorry sir, the tour today is cancelled due to the Fourth of July holiday. Well so much for phone calls and planning things.

We had to drive into the North Pole to find a Notary to witness our signatures on Cort’s paper work. We decided to stop at an insurance office to see if they could direct us. As luck would have it they had a notary on staff.....perfect. Angela Thomson was very helpful and we spent a delightful ½ hour talking to her about the area. She witnessed all our papers and the best part was there was no charge.....imagine that all that helpful friendly service and it was free!

We express posted the papers back to Cort from the North Pole Post Office. Very cool. Then we stopped and had a quick look through Santa’s House and gift shop.....Believe it or not....me, Margaret (I Love Christmas) Werner did not buy a thing, of course the threat of having to sit on Santás knee if I did might have had something to do with it.

When we returned to the trailer Ed and Frances were gone but on their arrival back we decided to go out for dinner at the Alaska Salmon back at the Pioneer Park. Very good....ate way too much, dragged our sorry selves back to the trailer. We decided we needed some physical exercise so we took the truck over the wash area and washed it down. All that Top of The World Highway Dust down the drain.

Colin was checking something on the hitch and Ed came over to have a look....Long story short, they never installed a part on the hitch and this whole time we have been in danger of losing our trailer. Scary.....Fix that immediately!!!!!