Monday, July 11th we went to the post office the first thing in the morning and our mail was not there yet. They said the truck wouldn’t be there until 11:00 am. We went back at eleven and our mail was there. Since it was so late we decided to stay in Tok another day. We went to campground entertainment again.

Tuesday July 12th we left Tok at 8:15 am and headed north to Fairbanks stopping at Delta Junction the official end of the Alaska Highway (1422 miles) and got our certificate for completing the entire length of the highway. We arrived at Rivers Edge RV Park in Fairbanks at 2:00 pm. The Richardson Highway to Fairbanks offers good views of the Alaska pipeline where it crosses the Tanana River just north of Delta Junction.

Wednesday July 13th we went to Fred Meyer and got my prescriptions and some groceries. We took a ride out to the gold dredge and looked around town in the morning.

In the afternoon we took the tour on the Riverboat Discovery on the Chena and Tanana rivers. This was a real nice tour, the boat stopped at the home of Susan Butcher, champion sled dog musher and listened while she explained and demonstrated how she works with her sled dogs, very interesting. Next the boat stopped at an authentic Athabascan Indian village where native guides explained their hunting and fishing practices and their customs.

Thursday July 14th we left Fairbanks at 9:00am and stopped at North Pole, AK and had our picture taken with Santa and looked through the gift shop. We then traveled on to Mt. McKinley RV Park at Healy, AK arriving at 4:30 pm. We took a ride into Denali Natl. Park and toured the visitors center and got reservations for the bus tour through the park for tomorrow.

Friday July 15th we were in the park at 7:00am for the eight hour bus trip that takes you 66 miles into the park. We had a beautiful day, sunny and clear and were lucky enough to get to see Mt Mckinley in its entirety. Our bus driver said only about 10 percent of the people who visit the park get to see the mountain from the base to the summit without any clouds or haze interfering with the view.

On our way in and out we saw 5 grizzly bears,1 bull moose, 3 nice bull caribou, 1 wolf and two groups of dall sheep. It took eight hours and was a great day.

Saturday, July 16th we left Healy and traveled south to Palmer, AK where we stayed at Mt. View RV Park. This is a very nice park surrounded by snow capped mountains.

Sunday we took a ride into Anchorage and had dinner and checked out some RV parks there. We stopped to see my cousin Helen Krumery and her son Paul and had a nice visit with them.

Monday we spent another day at Palmer and got caught up with laundry and housecleaning.

Tuesday July 19th we left Palmer and moved down to Anchorage RV Park. In the afternoon we went back over to Helens and went sightseeing in Anchorage. In the evening when Paul got home from work we went out to dinner and did some more sightseeing.

Wednesday July 20th we went downtown Anchorage and stopped at the visitors center and did some gift shops. We then went to grocery store and stocked up. We went to Helen and Paul’s for a real nice dinner in the evening.

Thursday we left Anchorage RV Park and traveled down to Soldotna and Kenai. The drive down the Turnagain Arm is beautiful. In Kenai we stayed at Diamond M Ranch one night and then moved to Beluga Lookout RV Park which overlooks the mouth of the Kenai River as it flows into Cook Inlet. It is extremely crowded here with fishermen as the sockeye salmon are at the height of their run.

Friday July 22nd we went to the visitors center and museum in Kenai and then watched as the fishermen netted salmon in the river at the campground. In the evening we had dinner with Jim and Pat Heinrich a couple we met in Yuma AZ last winter. Jim and Pat are spending the summer in Soldotna watching the high school against vandalism. The schools hire visiting RVer’s to watch the schools in the summer and pay them by furnishing a site with hookups.

Saturday morning by 7:00am I counted over a hundred commercial fishing boats go by the campground on their way to set their nets for the salmon. We left Kenai at 9:30 and traveled down to Homer, AK where we stayed at Ocean View RV Park. We took a ride out on Homer Spit and watched the charter fishing boats come in with their catch. They had a good day for halibut there were quite a few fifty to seventy pounders and the largest one we saw weighed was 150 pounds. We toured the gift shops and watched the people the rest of the afternoon.

Sunday we went back down to harbor and then to the visitor center where we watched a couple of films on the ocean life and history of the area. Homer is surrounded by snow capped mountains an glaciers and the scenery is beautiful.

Monday July 25th we left Homer at 9:45 and traveled to Seward where we stayed at Bear Creek RV Park arriving at 2:00pm. We took a ride down to the harbor to see if there were any cruise ships in port.

Tuesday July 26th we went to the Alaska Sealife Center in Seward which was great. There are a series of aquariums where seals, sea lions, otters and various fish species marine creatures are displayed in their natural habitat. After that we drove up to Exit Glacier Nat’l Park and went on a ranger guided walk up to the glacier. This was very interesting as the life of the glacier was explained.

Wednesday July 27th we left Seward and returned to Anchorage where we will spend a couple more days.

Thursday, July 28th Second day at Anchorage RV Park, Anchorage, AK Went over to cousin Helen’s house. We decided to go downtown Anchorage to walk around. We met Paul for lunch and visited some shops. Later, got groceries at Fred Meyers.

Friday, July 29th Went to WalMart. Later, went to Helen’s house for a great supper and freshly picked raspberries from Helen’s garden .

Saturday, July 30th A cloudy rainy day. We took a little ride to do more sightseeing. We got caught up on some cleaning when we returned from our ride.

Sunday, July 31st Left Anchorage RV Park, and traveled to Mountain View RV Park, Palmer, AK arriving at noon. We took a ride to Wasilla and did some sightseeing.