June 7

As we left the campground this morning, we saw this little guy and his mother.

Today we spent the day hiking at Savage River and Mountain Vista Rest Area.  We drove the RV to each location.  It was nice to spend the morning hiking and return back to the RV to make lunch.  During our afternoon hiking, we were showered with a BB size hail storm for a few minutes.

We also took in the late afternoon Sled Dog Demonstration.

We saw another or perhaps the same baby moose when we returned to the campground.  In any event, the Moose count is at 8.

June 6

We went for about a 45 minute walk this morning in the rain with a Streamoligest from the Salmon Research Center in Talkeetna.  It was a very interesting walk and we learned a lot.  There were only the three of us and an intern in training.

We got back to the RV about 10:15 and we're on the road by about 10:30 am.  We are getting pretty good at flushing the tanks and preparing the RV for travel.  Of course we had to stop at the Flying Squirrel Bakery as we passed by it on the Spur getting back to the highway.  We stopped a little later for groceries, gas and lunch and headed for Denali.

We saw two moose along the drive and checked in at the visitor center and the campground to get a site and info on the park shuttles.  On our way to the camp site, we saw this guy.  That makes three so far!!

June 5

Today we took the Hurricane train from Talkeetna to Hurricane Gulch, about 57 miles each way.  We started about 365 feet and got to about 1300 feet at the gulch. This train is the last "flag stop train" running in the US. That means the train will stop anywhere people want to get off or it will stop anywhere people are waving a flag to let the Engineer know that they want to get on.  Also, it is a tourist train and it will stop anywhere a passenger wants to take a picture of the scenery or wildlife.  Greg spotted a black bear and her 2 cubs and called out and the train stopped and backed up so everyone on the train could go to the open baggage car doors and take pictires of the bears.  We stopped at the middle of the Hurricane Gulch bridge,  296 feet above the Gulch Stream, so everyone could take pictures before the train started back to Talkeetna.

On our return trip , we stopped along the way at the home of one of the local authors, Shannon Cartwright.  She has authored many children's books and is living alone in the Alaskan wilderness.  The only way to get to her home is via the train.  Several of us got off the train and hiked a hundred yards to her home and she gave us a tour of her place. (More to follow on our website when we get home).

June 4

We left Wasilla and continued our journey North toward Denali.  We took a little detour on the Talkeetna Spur Road to visit Talkeetna.  A little South of Talkeetna we came upon the Denali Brewing Company.  It was a little early in the morning to be sampling beer but we forced a couple down anyway.

We continued on towards Talkeetna and had lunch at the Flying Squirrel Bakery and Cafe.  We spent the afternoon exploring Talkeetna.

June 3

We picked up Pat's brother Greg from the Anchorage airport and started heading North.  After lunch, our first stop was Independence Historical Mine.  The entrance road was closed so we had about a 1.5 mile hike up to the Visitor Center which was also closed.  We hiked around the site for an hour or so and returned to the RV.  We stopped for the night near Wasilla.

June 2

Today  we spent 1/3rd of the day going through orientation and the process to pickup our Winnebago Minnie Winnie 25B (pic below), 1/3rd of the day touring Walmart to stock the RV and 1/3rd of a day at an RV Park in Anchorage learning how to operate all the stuff in it.

We will have the RV for 3 weeks.  Pat's brother Greg will be joining us for most of the time.  We will pick Greg up from the airport tomorrow.  Sandy, Greg's wife, will join us in about a week.

June 1

1:30 pm -- We were going to use Uber to get to the airport but we got everything together quicker than we thought we would so we had a couple extra hours so we decided to take public transit to the airport.  After a 4 block walk, two buses and the light rail, we made it to the airport in 2.5 hours.  Total cost for the both of us.... $1.50.  Contrary to all the hype about long lines for security, it took us about 5 minutes.  We now have 3 hours to kill before our flight. ..... More to follow.

11:07 pm (Alaska time--- 2:07 am MN time) -- Our flights to Seattle and then on to Anchorage were on time but long and tiring.  Find below a picture out the plane window as we approached Anchorage.