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.

RAFTING

The boys all went white water rafting just outside Denali. I used the few hours of free time to catch up on posting. Connecting to the Internet, listening to the radio and making cell phone calls is not easy here.

NEW CABIN DIGS IN HEALY

We decided to stay in a cabin tonight. It's about 1.5 miles from where we were staying. It's a little bigger and super cute.

More Denali

So everywhere we go we see t-shirts for the 30% club. That's the percentage of folks who come here and actualy SEE Mt. McKinley. We are so lucky. We've seen it everyday we've been here. It certainly is beautiful.

Today we went hiking to the Horseshoe Lake. We run into people from Michigan everywhere we go.

John and the boys are off white water rafting and I found a cute cafe that has WiFi so I am catching up on my posts.

MS. MOOSE

View from our B&B in Healy (12 miles north of Denali) and a moose with twins!

WAS IT SOMETHING WE SAID?

So we leave Wasilla on Wednesday and Sarah Palin resigns on Friday. Weird.

Yesterday we spent the day on an 8 hour Tundra Wilderness Bus Tour. We saw bears, caribou, dall sheep, a golden eagle, fox and more. And we got a peak of Denali (native word for "the high one" or Mt. McKinley) in the clouds. Oh and we saw a rainbow.

Not too shabby!

DENALI

Here's video from our first day in Denali. I was trying something new with my video camera and I got this tiny video. Oh well.

We drove up from Wasilla and were so fortunate to see Mt. McKinley. I guess only 30% of people who come here actually see it. It's usually surrounded by clouds.

Every here is BIG and BEAUTIFUL. AND EXPENSIVE!!

Yesterday we went to the dog sled kennel to give all the dogs some luvin'. We pet each and every dog that would let us. We fell in love with a dog named Willow.

Our B&B overlooks Otto Lake and we have seen a moose with twins every day.