Heading east on the Glenn Highway out of Palmer is a very scenic ride through the Matanuska Valley. This highway takes you along the Matanuska River and practically right up to the Matanuska Glacier. Dave and I hiked a short trail to the scenic viewpoints at the glacier. We had excellent views of the Chugach Mountains along the highway. Another very beautiful spot along the way was the colorful 6,300 foot Sheep Mountain, which lived up to it’s name and was dotted with sheep on the steep walls. After reaching Glennallen, we headed down the Richardson Highway toward Valdez. We passed the Alaska Pipeline along this route as it heads to and terminates in Valdez. Stopping at the Wrangell/St. Elias National Park we picked up brochures and a map for the Kennicott Mine, which we hope ... read more

After the beautiful day we had yesterday we can’t complain about the rain today. This is only the second time since we left home that we had to put the tent away in the rain. We did laundry and then headed away from the coast for a few days and hopefully out of the wet weather. First stop on our agenda for today was the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage. The center is home for orphaned and injured wildlife including black bear, grizzlies, moose, bison, musk oxen, deer and a bald eagle. It is a drive through park, but you can get out and walk if you want and seniors over 55 get in for $5 each. It was more than worth the price when you can get with 10 feet of bears and moose ... read more

Damp cool weather continues, with strong winds blowing off the water and low clouds hanging over the mountains. We left Homer and drove back through Soldotna and stopped at Fred Meyers for a repair kit for the tent. We have a small hole in the boot that goes around the hatch. The scenery today was mountains and clouds dampened with showers. We arrived in Seward, which we found to be a quaint port town. There was a cruise ship at the docks and lots of other boats including site-seeing boats that take you to see wildlife and glaciers. We had lunch in town and then spoke to a ranger at the National Parks Office about seeing Kenai National Park. We have been trying to determine if we want to take a boat out of Seward or ... read more

Anchorage is a bowl surrounded by mountains, except for the water of Cook Inlet. It is a beautiful city, the largest in Alaska. In the morning we were greeted in the campground by Arnold and Peggy, the couple from Saskatchewan who we haven’t seen since Whitehorse. When we left the campsite, we checked out some fishermen in Ship Creek, very near our campsite as we heard there were salmon running there. We also drove out to Earthquake Park which commemorates the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake which measured 9.2 on the Richter Scale. It devastated a large area of the coast from Anchorage all the way down the Kenai Peninsula. Alaska has approximately 30 earthquakes every day. Fortunately most are 3.0 or less. There is a website that shows a map of where the quakes were and ... read more

Denali National Park is one of the greatest places in this country to see. The scenery and wildlife is so spectacular. As Dave and I walked up to the Wilderness Center for our bus tour, a moose was standing just feet from us on the path. I quietly took her photo and she quietly scratched her head on a branch. Once at the center we boarded our 7:30 am bus to Fish Creek. It was a partly cloudy day and our expectations of seeing Mount McKinley (Mount Denali) were slim. Our bus driver/narrator John Nelson was very well seasoned at his job. He knew almost all there was to know about this park. We saw a ptarmigan on the road as we started our tour. This one had color, not the like the one we saw ... read more