Tuesday September 4, 2007 Today wasn’t as cold as yesterday and the sun was shining. We got on the bus for Wonder Lake around 9:00 am. We hadn’t been to the end of the shuttle bus road which goes to mile 87 so we thought today was our chance to do it. The bus was packed. The autumn colors on the mountains were beautiful. Here and there gold aspens would be scattered on the ridges, looking like gold dust. We saw wildlife; a sow and cubs and a single bear filling up on berries, a flock of dall sheep and a [View Full Entry]

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Monday, September 3, 2007 Today we came back to the National Park for a look at the autumn colors on the mountains and tundra. We left Denali State Park about 6:45 am. The day started out cloudy, but on the way the clouds broke up and the sun peaked through. The result was a great light show on the roadway scenery. The sun would stream down on the brown and yellow foliage in one place causing a spotlight effect. I tried to take photos, but it’s hard to capture exactly what you see. I hope I can file it away in [View Full Entry]

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Sunday, September 02, 2007 I got some cleaning done today. Yes the Cozy Turtle does need a vacuuming once in a while. I charge the hand held vac and shake out the little area rugs. It takes about 15 minutes. It’s amazing the little stones and crumbs that collect. It was another lazy day as we wait to go to Denali NP tomorrow. It was cloudy and cool. The campground is full and this morning you could smell the bacon frying and I thought I even smelled maple syrup; made me hungry. The smell of wood smoke is always in the [View Full Entry]

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Saturday, September 1, 2007 It rained during the night so we took our time getting up and didn’t hurry to go out. During the morning we read and relaxed. After lunch the sun came out and we decided to take a walk around the lake. The temperature was comfortable and I enjoyed taking photos of the colorful foliage. Frank looked for birds. We did get a close=up look at a spruce grouse on the trail. We expected to take a stroll and ended up walking 4 miles. It was a pleasant walk around the lake; then we took a spur trail [View Full Entry]

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Friday August 31, 2007 Today we left Fairbanks and went south to Denali State Park. The state park borders the national park and was recommended to us. It was a pretty ride, about 4 hours from Fairbanks and 2 hours south of the national park. The tundra is turning brown and red and the aspens yellow in many places. It’s Labor Day weekend and we weren’t sure how the crowds would be. We arrived in mid afternoon and basically had the pick of campsites. We’re staying at Byer’s Lake, a very large lake which we’ll hike around tomorrow. The leaves haven’t [View Full Entry]

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Thursday, August 30, 3007 In the morning we visited the wildlife refuge to check on the bird banding station. In the fall and spring they band songbirds migrating through the area. There weren’t many birds migrating this morning, evidently. One of the men working with the program said it was a slow day. Usually they band 100 birds a day and by 9:00 am this morning they had only tagged 11 birds. We walked around the fields and I enjoyed taking photos. I love the birch and aspen woods.I also took time to use my telephoto lens with the Sandhill Cranes. [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday August 29, 2007 The clouds were too thick to see the northern lights last night so we didn’t stay up to watch. The morning, however, was bright and sunny. We went to the University of Alaska’s Museum of the North; a nice museum, interesting and contemporary. We enjoyed the video presentation on the Aurora. It was scientific, but well done. Fairbanks is actually one of the best locations to see the northern lights and September and the spring are some of the best times. It doesn’t have to be cold, just clear. The storms that cause the auroras have 12 [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday August 28, 2007 We stayed up until 1:00 am for the northern lights, but there wasn’t a show. The clouds were thick and we gave up. We were so happy we saw them the night before. I also found a photo of the aurora that I hadn’t realized showed some color. It’s not the best, but will give you an idea. So anyway, we slept in and got on the road about 10:30 am. We headed out to Fox which was close by the route we were on. Frank wanted to visit a permafrost tunnel he had read about. However, [View Full Entry]

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Monday, August 27, 2007 This morning we slept in later because of our late night aurora watching. We stayed at North Pole, AK in the Santaland RV Park., which actually was a nice facility. We got free WiFi and there was a good Laundromat so I got caught up on the dirty clothes today. We headed out to Chena Hot Springs around 1:30 pm. The resort is northeast of Fairbanks and the road is paved the entire 60 miles! It goes through a state recreation area that is lakes, rivers, bogs and marshland. Good moose territory, but we didn’t see any. [View Full Entry]

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Sunday August 26, 2007 We wanted to take our time driving back through the park. We got up early and were on the road by 7:00 am. The temperature was about 41 degrees. It was clear and sunny. I was able to stop along the way and take photos of the early morning light on the land. As we made our way down the road, Mt. McKinley finally showed itself. It looked magnificent. It dwarfs the other peaks. What a great departing gift! We didn’t see any animals. The park is so huge seeing animals is really a hit or miss [View Full Entry]

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