2010 Alaska trip

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Talkeetna

Spending the night at Talkeetna. Talkeetna is the jumping off place for climbers of Denali and other mountains in the Alaska Range. It has a frontier, funky atmosphere. We ate dinner at the West Rib Pub and grill (pic). From the Milepost, I thought this was a fancy restaurant--but it really Alaska funky! (Loved it!)

My Gonzaga sweatshirt got attention, two guys commented on it--they were UCLA and UW fans, so we didn't agree about the Zags' prospects. We watched part of the LA game, but when it came to "garbage time" when Ammo might have played, the power went out!

Then I talked to a couple of Alabama fans who noticed my sweatshirt and had a nice conversation.

Now we're back at the campground relaxing.

Denali Wildlife

We saw 3 caribou not too far away (Aunt Martha caribou in the pic), a cow moose and two calves, several caribou in the distance, Dall sheep in the distance, and a willow ptarmigan.

The willow ptarmigan is Alaska's state bird. It changes colors--white in the winter and brown in the summer. This one is being some willows, but you can see it is in transition--white body brown head.

Denali!

Denali (Mt. McKinley)

The chances of seeing Denali when you get to the park are about 30%, but I have seen "The Mountain" every time I have been in the park (and many times from Parks HIghway, Fairbanks, etc.)

Denali makes its own weather. In these pics we went from pretty clear to partly covered. By the time we reached the 30 mile point on the park road, all that was visible was a little tip.