Uh Oh, Friday the 13th

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August 14th 2021

Published: August 14th 2021

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Our little lodge we stayed in last night

Day 4

Mileage 161

Oh, no, Friday the 13^th??? We started out with Pam driving for the first time in Alaska (Yikes) We were afraid the day would go downhill quickly. More rain had been forecasted, but it looked like the skies were beginning to clear so we headed back to the restaurant on top the mountain to give Denali another chance to show herself. Was she there? In true Friday the 13^th style, she wasn’t, but, hey, the weather was improving and we were happy anyway. Susan and Claire were getting nervous because Pam got lost in the parking lot and it wasn’t even a big one??? Then, with the sensitive brakes, Pam tried to make Susan go through the windshield. After a little practice though Pam was good to go. Leaving out of Talkeetna we stopped at the “Brown Bear” and shared a Reindeer croissant (just so we could say we had eaten Reindeer). Our consensus was it tasted like fried bologna/salami.

Our first stop on the way to Anchorage was “Swan Lake” – we saw a swan in a lake so, of course, we pulled over. We went to Wasilla to find Sara Palin’s house

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Back to the Lodge to try to catch Denali. Nope

and went on a wild goose chase as Dorothy (Claire’s Google Maps) had a panic attack, suddenly went quiet and gave us all sorts of weird directions. But we managed to find our way to our next stop at the Iditarod Park where the Iditarod Race starts and boy did we have a good time!!! We even went on a dog sled ride – it was so cool! The dogs are itching to run and get their energy out and the ones not running wanted to be. Our next stop was the Eklutna Historical Village where we learned all about the differences in the Eastern and Western Orthodox Churches in addition to the history behind the “Spirit Houses” there. Remember we bought Alaska from Russia which used to have settlements here. The Spirit Houses are a combination of the Athabaskan beliefs and the Eastern Orthodox doctrine. According to Athabaskan tradition the Spirit Houses are not maintained and allowed to go back to nature over time.

Blessed with the beautiful weather, we decided to go to “Thunderbird Falls”, however Dorothy was still spazzing out and put us on a rinse and repeat cycle to get there. There in the nice

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Reindeer croissant

weather, we hiked up and down and up and down in the gorge to get to the falls. Except for the mud on the trail, it was good to get out and move a lot.

When we arrived in Anchorage, we visited Earthquake Park and learned all about the Good Friday 1964 Earthquake and its flaming tsunamis. The earthquake was magnitude 9.2 (YIKES!!) and caused lots and lots of destruction that shifted parts up 50 ft and parts down 8 ft also shifting masses north and south. It was the most powerful known in North American history and 2^nd most powerful ever known. A flaming, 40-foot tsunami hit Seward and caught most of the city on fire (oil-tanks had busted so the water had oil all in it). We were told Earthquake Park would be a good place to spot Denali, but she was still hidden by the clouds. Later, we checked into the Springfield Suites and had to open the windows and Clorox wipe the room, not because it wasn’t clean, but because they had Febrezed it or something and it smelled all perfumey-like and none of us wanted to get a migraine. Afterwards, we headed out for

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Lake view with ducks and no Denali

a nice dinner at a place with outdoor seating. We really enjoyed not eating in our room. We made one more last desperate attempt to find Denali and drove out near the airport, but, alas, it was Friday the 13^th and she still didn’t show.

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