4th of July & Denali Trip

 

We celebrated our 4th of July this year with our friends Mindy & John, & their family. They came over & helped putting trim boards up at the bottom of our siding in preparation for the rock work on the bottom of the house.

 

On the 6th we headed north to Denali National Park. The DGD Darian has never been in the park before & we wanted her to see it.  The usual summer road work was being done on the road. The running joke is there are 2 seasons in Alaska. Winter & Roadwork.

A lot of my favorite wildflower was blooming along the way & in the park. Fireweed.

Wild roses are in bloom to the north too.

I noticed this weird patterning on a lot of the leaves outside of Park Headquarters. I think it must be from some disease.

We stopped at the Salmon bake for dinner.

Darian & I both had Halibut Tacos. They were so big & full they were hard to pick up.

We spent 3 very sunny days in the park, where the sun seldom shines in summer.

The Ranger gave a talk on Lynx & their relationship with the Arctic Hares.

I think we were the only Alaskans in the group.

This is what the evening around the campfire looked like. It stayed light enough at night that I was able to read in the tent without a light until 100 a.m. I know this because I always have a hard time falling asleep the first night out camping.

 

We stayed at Teklanika, which is the farthest into the  park that you are allowed to drive, & only if you are camping there for a minimum of 3 nights.

 

We got up early the next morning to catch the bus into the park.

Our first animal sighting was Caribou butt.

The mountain was out, with only a few high fluffy clouds in the way. That’s Mount McKinley, otherwise known as Denali, which means “the Great One”.

The park is so vast. I always think this must be the world looked before man moved in.

Darian got to play with a few caribou antlers at the East Fork rest stop. Our next big animal sighting were 2 grizzley bears lolling in the sun. The sunny days are not the best for seeing animals, because they tend to lay down & rest when it’s warm. The bear on the right was scratching it’s belly.

This is the only road into the park.  I hope they always keep it this way. It’s a beautiful unspoiled wilderness.

Our next caribou sighting was a little better view. This one was trotting along, being bugged by flies.

We roasted marshmallows on the fire & made S’mores. We ate too much & had a good time.

On the way out of the park, we went & caught the next bus to the dog-sled Demo. If you do nothing else at Denali, you should do this.

The dogs were warm too, but enjoyed a little head scratch.

The ranger on the right talked while the one on the left did sign language for the deaf.

Darian loved the dogs. Their excitement when pulling the sled is palpable. It’s always a fun demo.

We also checked out the new visitor center.

Linda Beach’s quilt is hanging inside. I know Linda from SAQA. The park has a cabin that you can apply to stay for a couple of weeks. If accepted you only have to pay them with a piece of your artwork.

Back at home, I finished quilting Marilyn Moreno’s quilt before we left, but didn’t take it off the frame until we got back home. The quilting design choice was hers. I had drawn up 3 different options on my Bamboo. You can click on them to get a closer look.

Friday we picked up my DD Michelle.

Sunday we went to an Encaustic Painting class together.

 

Darian especially seemed to enjoy it.

 

Darian did these first 3.

Michelle did this, & another that she doesn’t want published yet.

 

I worked mostly on this Raven,

and started on this one, but I don’t fell like either one is finished yet. I guess I’ll have to sign up for another class when I can afford it.

Here is the final class photo.