HOME SWEET HOME!

We arrived home safely today. We were so happy to see our dogs!

We're all exhausted. For 10 days we never saw a star or darkness. And we totally adjusted to the Alaskan time zone which is 4 hours ahead, so today we feel like zombies!

We truly had a great time. I'm half awake but here are some observations:

There are relatively few birds in the air there. I guess the summer season is too short.

The midnight sun is exhausting. We did our best to draw all the curtains a couple of hours before we went to bed so we would get tired.

The mosquitos weren't bad at all.

It was hot. 80 degrees or higher most days. Last summer they had one day over 70!

Alaska has a great combination of mountains and water, unlike the Rockies. There are so many pretty lakes there and of course the ocean!

Mount McKinley is only seen by roughly 30% of tourists. It's usually in the clouds. We had many clear views of it.

We were shocked that we never saw any McCain/Paline bumper stickers. Not one. (We saw 3 Obama stickers.)

I'm falling asleep and it's only 2:00 in the afternoon. I think I will lay down on the couch with Willie who is out cold!

WHITTIER

One of the funniest sayings I heard about Alaska was about finding a husband here. They say the odds are good, but the goods are odd. Well Whittier is an example of an odd town. To get here, you travel through a tunnel that is one way. So once you are there, you have to stay at least a half hour. The traffic going out is only on the top of the hour.

There isn't a whole lot to too. There are just a few shops and restaurants. Everybody in the whole town lives in a single apartment complex.

But you can see the ocean and if you are lucky you can see sea lions in the harbor. (We did not.) We did however see one unhappy looking reindeer.

PORTAGE GLACIERS

We spent the last two nights in Anchorage and took little day trips. Portage is about 45 minutes away. There is a glacier ferry there and the kids and John took a 1 hour trip on a lake. Willie did the video work for me.

GIRDWOOD

We left Wasilla and headed to Girdwood. Girdwood is a beautiful ski resort about 45 minutes from Anchorage. It's really spectacular. A woman we met in Denali who was from Jackson, Michigan recommended it and we are glad she did.

From Girdwood we went to Beluga Point. We didn't see any whales but John had a good time playing in the mud, while our boys watched. He couldn't convince them to join him.

BACK IN EXCITING WASILLA

We're back in Wascilla staying at the Best Western on Lake Lucille. We discovered Sarah Palin lives just a couple of houses away from the hotel.

There sure is a lot of excitement. We saw NBC's Andrea Mitchell this morning and tonight ABC is setting up for a midnight shoot.

Wasilla is really a pretty cool place. It's small but there is lots to do here and there are several lakes in the area. There is a nice public beach right off the highway.

ALASKAN DOG TEAM

Last night we stayed at the Backwoods Lodge where they had 9 dogs!

FAIRBANKS

We drove up to Fairbanks for the day. We visited the University of Alaska and Pioneer Park. When we arrived we could smell smoke. The area was experiencing several forest fires. We headed back toward Denali and the smoke was so thick you cold barely see the mountains. We found a nice lodge and had a wonderful dinner at The Perch Restaurant.