7-4-2013 Happy 4th of July!!! Looking for Mt. McKinley

Yes, they do celebrate the 4^th of July in Alaska!  The biggest difference is that we won’t have fireworks up here.  Since sundown won’t be until 12:20 am, we wouldn’t be able to see them very well.  They do fireworks up here for New Years when there’s only 4 hours of daylight.

We decided to take a road trip to the Alaska State Park, in hopes of seeing Mount McKinley. Our weather conditions were not favorable, but we decided to give it a shot. Our temperature at the RV site was hovering around 55 degrees with overcast skies. The State Park is approx 150 miles to the south.  When we arrived at the Park the temp was 42 and rain, so our chances of a sighting were little to none. We visited the Park visitor’s information office which is quite quaint. The folks there were very helpful and shared some interesting information about the park and other places we might like to see along the way.

At the visitors center they have a memorial for all the armed services that participated in the efforts to defend the United States during WWII.  It is quite touching.  The United States has sacrificed many a good man to defend our freedom and the freedom of others around the world. We are indebted to them and their families.  I’m not sure how I would handle that if it was one of my kids.  It’s something I’ve often thought about but I am thankful that I’ve never had to deal with that.

One of the places they suggested was a place call Mary’s McKinley View Lodge.  Mary Carey homesteaded this piece of property all by her lonesome.  She came up to Alaska from Texas to teach school in Talkeetna.  Somewhere in the mist of all this, she decided to petition the governor to construct a road from Anchorage to Fairbanks along the south side of Denali, so everyone could have an opportunity to observe Mount McKinley.  When you see how the park is laid out you will see why her idea made a lot of since.  The park must have been initially designed by a bunch of hunters.  All they were concerned about was how do we get to hunting grounds the quickest way, not the viewing of the mountains.  It took some doing, but she finally won the battle and the road was built.  For those of you that are interested in the story, she wrote a book titled  “Alaska- Not for a Woman!”.  It was on the best sellers list in Alaska for 17 years.  Sharon is smack dab in the middle of it as I write this blog.  Mary died in 2004, but her daughter still operates the facility. She is a very nice person and enjoyable to talk to. On most days you have a wonderful view of Mount McKinley from Mary’s place, but not today.  It as raining so bad at the time we didn't even take a picture of her place.

We made our return trip back to the north side of Denali, went to the visitor’s center and purchased tickets for Saturday to ride the bus 90 miles into the park.  It’s a 12-hour round trip, good thing that we do not have to do it by horse.  The weather forecast is favorable so maybe we’ll get lucky.  As we have mentioned in previous writings, chances is actually seeing Mount McKinley are less than 40%.  We are patience and determined to be in the 60% club.

We did not get skunked today and saw a couple of moose alongside the road. Come to think of it there was one in the road. When the animals decide to stay in the road, they have the right of way and however long it takes you’re there until they decide they’ve aggravated you enough. Sharon did get some video of one such moose today.  Hopefully we can share it with you.

We celebrated the 4th with good old American grilled hot dogs and hamburgers  and topped it off with vanilla ice cream, blueberries and strawberries.  We watched the celebration in Washington on PBS, one of the 2 TV channels we can receive here.

During this trip we have had to negotiate a couple of business deals and it has been somewhat of a challenge.  Phones and internet is questionable a lot of the time and business centers are non existence.  So today may be one of those days where we run around like chickens with our heads cut off (that’s not a good visual).  How about chickens with their feathers on fire, trying to get things accomplished.  But we will get her done, whatever it takes. Opportunity knocks once and bill collectors knock twice.

If it does not all come together I have found a 9 hole golf course to occupy my time today. When you hit a golf ball into the deep woods up here, you just let it go. You never know what may be lurking behind a tree.  A golf club would not have a chance against a grizzly.  Maybe a rattlesnake in Texas, but not bears in Alaska.

Hopefully the weather will be nice today and winds will lay down. But then again when you are living your dream you take what you get and be happy.