July 8 and 9 Denali and our journey to Valdez and the coast.

July 8th we kind of just knocked around.  We visited the village just outside the Park and took another walk down one of the parks trails.  One of the lodges at the village.



June 9th we head for Valdez



Mount McKinley

As we get closer to Wasilla, Sara Palin's home town, the views kept getting better.  When we picked up Highway 1 it turned out to be the most scenic to date. 

Our first Glacier sighting, Matanuska Glacier.  Pictures don't do it justice.

We are staying at Grand View Cafe & RV Campground.  View not bad here either.

July 6 through 7 Denali National Park and Preserve

July 6th we are inroute from Fairbanks to Denali.  As we get close to Denali the scenery begins to improve. We stayed at the Denali Motel and RV campground.  We had a nice view from our Camper.

Magie picked some of the wild flowers that are growing all over the place.  It's been a very wet spring this year and everything is still green.

The afternoon of the 6th we drove into the Park and took the highway 15 miles into the interior of the Park.

Just a sample of the wildlife we spotted on our drive into the park.

A chipmunk and a Caribou, thats it.  No Bear or Moose. 

The next day Margie wanted to go to the Dog sled demonstration and then we hiked the trails for a while.

 

The bells work.  We've seen no bears on any of the trails.  Next time I'm going to hide the bells.

June 29, 30 July 1 - 6

At Whitehorse we toured the Klondike Stream Paddle Wheel Freighter and Whitehorse Museum.

While in Whitehorse we had to replace the tires on the trailer before we could continue on the Klondike Loop. We dry camped at the Tatchum Creek Campground, Yukon.  We had the river at the rear of the campers.  The next morning we travel to the Klondike River Campground just outside Dawson City. 

At Dawson City we spotted a possible small vacation home investment on the Yukon River.  We had to take a ferry across the Yukon River so we could travel the Top of the World Highway.

The Canadian side of the highway was paved with section damaged by frost heave.  Once we got to the US Border the road turned to gravel and unmaintained dirt.  Of course it had to rain and we spent several hours getting part way down. 

A supply and stopping place for McCormack Transportation Company along the Top of the World Highway.

We decided to stay at a BLM camp ground before we continued down the Top of the World Hwy.

The next day we moved on and stopped at Chicken Alaska for fuel and a look around the town.  Chicken, Alaska has a population of 23 during the spring and summer and 6 the rest of the year.

We continued to Tok, Alaska. We took in the July 4th parade, consisting of three ambulances, a boy scout troop, a couple of vintage vehicles.  Passengers on a tour bus that happen to get stuck in the tail end of the parade decided to participate in the festivities and waved toilet paper out the windows .  We separated from our friends as they headed south and we headed for Fairbanks. From Tok, we headed for Delta Junction, where we got our first glimpse of Blue Ice.  We stopped at Delta Junction the end of the Alaska Highway at mile post 1422 for a little lunch and a visit to the Visitors Center.

Did we tell you how big the mosquitoes are?

While in Fairbanks we had to take a side trip to North Pole, Alaska and visit the Santa Claus House.

Picture taken at 11:00 PM and again at midnight.