So good bye McCarthy. Onward into Canada no service there I know unless at a coffee shop.   Hike with cliff and dogs had to walk in a grey sloppymud. Yep finally found real mud!!!!

So we are about 90 miles off of the Richardson highway east into the biggest national park Wrangell-Elias and I have LTE service which means here up north I can DO stuff on my phone.  I found out in the Kenai Penensulia 3G and 4-5 bars of service didn’t mean a thing! 😢😏. Calls I could make and receive and robo texts I received but nada else!   

The reason we are in the boondocks is Kennecott mine!  Cliff loves history and old mine stuff,  I love old buildings and scenery!  So a 60 mile dirt road trip @ 15-25 mph later we made it!!!  Yes that fast only and we mean it!  Being a well seasoned back country driver from Colorado we know what we are talking about!!  Haha. Sorry about the bragging!!  But some of you remember the Letoux creek road before the turns it into a dirt/ gravel highway!!  We know rough!!  So it was worth the slow drive they have mile post so you can see you progress!!!  And sometimes you didn’t want to know ‘ that’s all we’ve gone?!!’  Haha.   The scenery was great even tho it was cloudy ‘again’.   We crossed over an old rr bridge 248 ft. Above a river. The railroad bed was used for parts of the road into McCarthy!  

The road stops at a foot bridge that’s crossed over a roaring river, that we are camped by.  A shuttle runs ever 30 min. Into town and or to the mine site 5 miles away!  We walked to town 1/2 to 3/4 mile away. Read two opinions in brochures and info signs so…….  haha. Lovely little old town laid back atmosphere!  Neat but eclectic fun town!!  

Walked by a community garden.  Old vehicles flowers planted in discarded wheelbarrows truck beds pics on other camera I’ll post later. Sorry!   The view here is spectacular Root Glacier looks like it’s spilling out and over from the mountains north of us!!!  Hope to hike to and on it with a guide.  

   Today started out light rain but forecast says partly sunny this afternoon 😊👍. But am very comfy hanging inside our space !  

I’ll post pics of our ‘space’ so you know what I’m talking about!! We don’t live ESP. In these small/tight quarters like Martha Steward so…….  haha. But I loved it because we used to sleep in the truck bed with a camper shell on inflatable single air mattress 3″.  Now I have a kitchen, dinning room, bedroom!!!!  And a cabinet for a porta potty so a bathroom too!!! Shower is outside, got a flip open easy tent for that!! Our bed is a queen size on that slides into a double so we can sit at the table!!! 

I’ve had moments of unbelievably ‘I can’t believe I’m seeing/doing this!!’  I have not missed tv!!   Oh did I tell ya in Canada they have the same gossip mags at the store check out stands with our movie star crap!!!  I saw, cause I had to buy groceries that George’s twins were born, someone else had a major health problem. Etc blah blah……..   I haven’t paid attention here in AL cause I use self check out where they usually aren’t !!!

So gonna get a few pics on! 

Oh I forgot I went on a boat Glacier ride!  It’s a mile across. Mears Glacier ! 

A 238 ft. Tall rr bridge now a one lane car bridge!!  Over the Strelna creek spelled correct I check map!!!  That huge river pic is the Chitina (chit nah) River. It was huge!!!!   

I mailed postcards at this post office cutest little one ever! Lady was a sweetheart!! I’m keeping my grandchildren informed of our travels buying postcards and got an app it lets you do your pics on a postcard and a message they print and mail it all only $1.99 each!!!   

Pics are posting opposite of what I pick out whoops!!!!  

The sun came out late last night glad I peeked out and got a pic!  The mtns here are enormous!!  The is Root Glacier our view from camp spot!  The big pic is from the walking bridge.  

Karen 😊

We met a guy at the river here while we were looking at Denali.  Talking I found out he’d climbed it in ’95!!  

We met a young couple across from our camp spot today who knows where Hotchkiss is!!!  He came up here from Telluride, and is heading back to Colorado after years of working up here.  He and family are here for a softball tournament starting tomorrow, we’ll be missing all that action!!   They went and paid and saved four more sights around and a Roos from us!!  We were cringing but he got to talking that after years of playing in tournaments and having kids they all are going to bed earlier than when they started playing!!!  We liked him immediately, knew it wouldn’t be a partying crowd!!!

We’ve meet lots of people who are lovely nice polite people!   Our pilot on our tour today came from Moab.  Small world if you open your ears and eyes!  

Whittier was a very quiet place we loved it!  Getting there was beautiful and quite a few camping areas were along the way!  Future plans  in the works!!!

Two lovely blue sky days came our way, zipping up here from Whittier paid off!!  Last night Wednesday I encouraged Cliff for us to purchased tickets for a flight tour of Denali.  It was AWESOME!!!  So worth it and he agreed. Got it in st 12:30 pm.  Clouds starting rolling around it by 4 pm.

I forgot my prescription readers in the camper they are ruined 😢😥.  They were in a junction of a board that folds down.  I have my regular glasses with bifocals so ok there but I’ll miss them reading in bed!!  Life goes on… ups and downs even on vacation.  

After four weeks tomorrow am not tired of our camper, really !!!  First few days were settling in organizing packing etc. I had moments to myself and when I found out Stella and Marijo did too ( and they camp lots like this) I knew I was normal getting adjusted but after 10 days totally at ease living this way! 

So here’s some pictures!!!!

Coming from Seward to Whittier. 

Glaciers glory around Denali.  

Heading to Either Valdez or McCarthy to camp and see the historic mine Kennicott north of Valdez. Weather decides which comes first.  Then Skagway will be after that.   Happy trails. Karen 

Driving up the road north of Wasilla I kept my eyes open. And yes. There she was I said loudly to Cliff!!!!!!   All the rain the previous 2 eeeks and very cloudy weather paid off!!!  

Camping in Talkeetna tonight. 

So today’s drive. Went to Whittier drive through a tunnel to get there sun is out I took plenty of pictures!!!

Third pic up is the Turnsgain Arm westward driving towards Anchorage!!  

On our way to Talkeetna!!!  

Karen!  Oh Moose Tooths pizza was delicious  here in Anchorage. 

So sunshine is on the menu according to weather underground!!!!   Lets hope mother nature doesn’t change her mind!!!!!!    whohooooo   🙂  🙂  🙂  🙂

Can you tell we love the beach? I find water peaceful. Even when the tide is out as in these pictures we still enjoy walking along. There are some very interesting rocks on a beach at least at this one up at Cook’s Inlet State Park. One part of it you can drive on the beach, mostly we saw four wheelers, but as we were about to get off two trucks zoomed down and headed north. At Bishops creek you weren’t allowed to drive on the beach. The trucks had big containers that were square with scab written on them. Didn’t have the opportunity to ask them what they were looking for. Agates are found once in a while but you don’t need a big container like that to collect them. At a store a lady said the glass globe floats are rare to find now days. Whether you find anything or not beach walking/strolling is relaxing.

The Salty Dawg saloon has been in business since 1957. Got interior pictures on previous post or so, but forgot to get an outside one. The ol’ guy who started it had homesteaded on an island that was on the way to Seldovia, the captain said his daughter still lives on the island. Google it, the dollar bill thing I don’t remember why but there is mooga money just on the walls!!! Being old, a saloon and all it smelled old and well used, bet there have been plenty of fist fights in the past there, spilt beer/drinks and who knows what all else is included in the smell of those walls!

Oh the big fishing net and the guys and trucks you see on the beach are netting salmon.

Residents, not just natives get to net fish. Don’t think you can buy a net that big in Colorado, hahaah.  Very interesting rock huh?  looks like rocks were thrown into a pot of cement…. oh heres the same moose pics, loaded from phone before forgot and am not attempting to try to delete them!!!! hahaha not THAT tech savvy!!!!  ahahah

The state park campgrounds here on the Kenai peninsula are lush with trees and folage, it makes camping very private between camp spots. This is a picture into the Cooks Inlet State Park.   These wild geraniums  are all over.. Cliff washing some sand he got in Canada.  And lunch time at Cooks State Park Oakley was wishin’  !!!!    haha it was just a few days after her big adventure!

Onward tomorrow for us, on the 4^th of July. I’m loosing my internet connection that is secure, so……….I may get brave and post a few things from my phone from a coffee shop possibly. Our travel companions are heading to Deadhorse and its over 400 miles north of Fairbanks. They want to fish along the way, it’s suppose to be great fishing and then tour the Purdhoe Bay area. You have to take a tour bus because of the pipeline, it’s a secure area.

We will be heading to Seward for a day or two, Cliff would love to fish again on the ocean for halibut, I’m still waiting for whale sightings!! So gotta get to the ocean again! Whittier, Talkeetna. Anchorage stopover to visit seriously with Verizon (rep in GJ wasn’t very truthful with me about my service up here, can get calls but even though I have 4-5 bars of service my data won’t work, no texting or connecting with the net) 😦 camping close to the Kennicott mine and touring it north of Valdez, and possibly Valdez is still on our agenda here in Alaska.

Cloudy, to partly sunny is in the forcast for this next week, one day had all sunshine, but just like in Delta County the weather app constantly changes as the day goes by. Mother Nature is still in control of the weather.  Got picture happy 🙂

Stew at the Holloway’s had tons of veggies, but the smoked salmon dip was to die for………..yum O………be jealous all you want…….home smoked and made..!!!!   🙂  🙂  🙂

Happy trails……. Karen

Tried to post lots of pics yesterday was at a ‘newly’ acquired friends home I had to check on other important stuff first like nearest Verizon store in Anchorage, connecting with cousins in Seattle when we go through there!!! Then I tried to post pics. Didn’t want to overstay in my opinion so gave up!!!  I’ll try tomorrow we are invited to dinner there!!   Yum.  Bill is an awesome cook and Becky is an awesome clay artist!!  

Cliff made the comment at the laundry mat that this is boring!!  Yep and I did this for a bit when we first moved in our house!!  Had to wash a sleeping bag and our comforter so needed bigger machines!  Super nice business and very clean. 

Cliff has gotten his fill of seeing moose. Had a boat ride of the century on his halibut fishing trip Friday!!   Seas were 10 ft waves at least!   He filled his quota for the day and filled another persons while his was leaning overboard most of the time. 😥

It’s rainy but I think I like this weather better than if it was real hot.  54 today but feels warmer not even cool outside!!!

I’ve about have accepted that I’ll be kayaking with rain gear on. 😊😊

Now I’m ready to see some whales so July is here and that’s the season coming up!  Ferry ride last week was too early captain said!!