May 26-28, 2009 – The “Big” One

  

 

Yes, that is Denali, the big one!  We are told that since it is so high that it makes its own weather and is usually (70% of the time) in clouds and seen 30% of the time!!  And today was so clear and beautiful that we decided to take a ride to see if we could see the mountain -    And I just had to start this post with pictures of the mountain!

Initially we were going to take a one day round trip on the train to Denali National Park since we had a 2 for 1 coupon.  But when I called them I was told that the coupon was only good for an overnight.  So we decided to take a ride down to the park. 

We first stopped at the town of Nenana.  This is where they do the Alaska Ice Classic lottery.  A tripod is set up on the ice of the Tanana River with a string attached to a clock.  People buy lottery tickets with a guess of date and time when the ice is going to “break up” marking the beginning of spring.  Here is the Tanana River where the tripod is put:

 

When we came into the state, the ice here was 42” thick – WOW!!   It is flowing pretty good now.

This is the railroad bridge over the river.  This bridge is one of the longest single spans in the United States and built to withstand the extreme temperatures of this area.  The bridge expands and contracts on rollers with the changes in temperature.  There are also no supports in the water so no damages in the spring with the huge icebergs that go floating down.

And embedded in this rock is the Golden Spike (see the printing above the spike):

This is a really cute town with many log cabins – we may spend more time here in the future.  From there we went to Denali National Park, took the road in for 16 miles (as far as we could by passenger car.  The road is actually 90 miles but only park buses are allowed past the 16 mile point.)  We could see the Alaskan Range but not Denali so we decided to go further south.  Right below the town of Cantwell, there she was….

On the way back we stopped here:

This was once a resort that is now closed…  Check out the mountains in the background.

Here are some other pictures along the way:

 

 

On the way back we stopped at Skinny Dicks Halfway Inn for a drink – What an INTERESTING place – LOL!!   And then we stopped to eat at the Blue Loon – good food.

What a wonderful Tuesday!

On Wednesday, we did some grocery shopping. In the afternoon, I did some bead shopping downtown and then met Andy at the Legion.  There were three bead stores in town and in two of them I met the owners and had some great chats.  And we had a great time at the Legion, meeting and chatting with more people.

Today we were going to do some of the museums at the University but….we felt the costs of EACH one was a little too high.  I know it is probably a personal priority thing but….  So we came back and just hung out….

Please keep my friend, Rosann and her family in your prayers – her father passed away on Tuesday morning.  As many of you know, it is very hard to lose a loved one.   Rosann, sending you lots of hugs.

I will leave you with pictures of our neighbors (who are really neat to watch – :-)):