Today is the third and final Monday of this trip. In two days we deliver the RV to GAH. But in the meantime, we still have a couple of activities and some to accomplish them. We see the finish line and it looks pretty good. As I have noted lately, we are tired and worn out from the driving and sitting for extended periods. We get out and walk around when we can but the body is not happy these last few days. Still, it has been an experience I do not regret doing and I am very thankful we had the time to do this and see both countries in a way we had not done so before. The experience and the pictures, both by camera and with just our eyes were beyond description. But don't worry, we have plenty of pictures to show that were not loaded to this blog.
The plan for today was to pack up the 'camp' and head either back to Denali for a couple of hours or head south. The weather was no the most hospitable. It was at freezing, and there was rain. It was not freezing rain, but it was very cold and dank. In addition, the winds picked up in the early morning and the RV was rocking a few times during the night. Its hard to tell if it is night, as it never gets dark. Although the sun sets, it seems to stay just below the horizon and there is enough light to do some day activities. It makes falling asleep more difficult, at least for some people (I am not one of those people). Any way, we took our time getting our sh*t together and decided to head south and say goodbye to Denali. We hit the road and set off for Telkeetna and then Anchorage. I have copied some pictures from the internet to show you the town as I did not take the camera but this gives you an idea of the layout. The town serves two purposes. There are a bunch of gift shops with both locally made items and nick-knacks from other global points. There are also a number of excursion companies that offer activities to do. This includes white water rafting, Helicopter and plane rides to see Denali and it is also an initial gathering point for those who want to climb Denali. There is a lot of activity for such a dinky town.
The town is really alive for just 4 short months, mid May to mid September. It is too cold and there is too much snow the rest of the year. The town itself is active all year. There is a native population of about 900, with a school, medical building and mayor, but during these four months they receive thousands of visitors. Along this one strip there are over a dozen shops and at least 10 restaurants or snacking businesses. There are not enough people in the town to fill the open jobs, so people come from far away to work this abbreviated time frame. The come not only from the lower US but from other countries too, like Europe. Very similar to those who work in Denali for just the tourist season. So we walked the strip and visited the shops. We were then for a couple of hours and picked up a few items. The weather was on and off rain, but that did not seem to matter to the crowd. We saw another GAH RV and I am sure there were others throughout the past week. We finished our shopping, got back to our 'home' and drove out. We now headed to Anchorage.
It was already near three and it was a 2 hour trip to this main city. Traffic started to build once we got near Wasilla, home of Sarah Palin and family. Just a tidbit of information for you. She did not come out and greet us. This is a good sized town or small city, especially compared to what we have see lately. It is spread out over 10 miles along the main artery here, and has all the stores and stop offs of towns we are familiar with. I was amazed at the amount of traffic going against us. It is about 35 miles from Wasilla to Anchorage and I would guess, many people make this commute. The highway was crowded the entire way to Anchorage.
Anchorage, as noted earlier is the largest city in Alaska. It has over 300K inhabitants. This is about 40% of the population of the entire state, which is around 700K. It is a regular city with the same issues and activities of any other town in the US. We will explore a bit tomorrow.
We pulled into the RV park, or what passes for one. It is right on the main highway and rather noisy, Probably not the best choice but the other sites had there own negatives also. Plus, I was able to sleep with no problem.
So here we are, just a day or so before the 'Adventure' ends. The goal for Tuesday is to pack up, clean up and maybe still find some wildlife to photograph. Moose is said to be quite prevalent here and can be seen walking down main street on occasion. We will see. Until tomorrow!
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