Girdwood Alaska

This is one of the largest pieces of Jade I have ever seen. It was outside a Jade store in Girdwood

After touring the small interesting town we stopped for some yummy Ice Cream before hitting the road and heading back to the campground.

One of the things we have found out is we ALL love to jump in our Jeeps and explore and we ALL love ice cream!!

Pretties all in a row

Jenny, Karen Hugo, Barb Pintus & Marcheta Barker our new Alfa tag along friend we have adopted with her hubby Larry on this trip

Beautiful flowers by the Alyeska ski Lodge in the town of Girdwood Alaska

Bowman's Bear Creek Lodge

We found this charming little lodge and cafe in HOPE ALASKA where you sleep in little cabins next to a pond or you can sleep in a tepee. The owner stated they get plenty of snow in the winter time and the little pond freezes and becomes a ice rink. They are open all year. We just loved how it was set up, a little Shangrila

Cafe to get a yummy hot cooked meal along side the cabins

Cabins on the little pond

Loved this little cabin right in front of the little pond .

Wasilla Alaska with friends and family

We stayed at the Big Bear campground. I think we got the best sites of the whole park, very roomy with grass in between the sites for the dogs and cats to have fun outside.
We even had a big Salmon dinner one night at the park, food was great!

We finally caught up with my Sister & Cousins and got to met my E-mail pal Gill Rogers who just sold her beautiful home in Australia to move to Alaska. Instead of having cats and dogs, Gill rescued baby Kangaroos who's mothers had been killed. The Joeys would be in her pouch that she would wear till they were 11 months old. She had 6 jumping around her beautiful home in the wild.

We had a great time with Bill & Jeannette and Richard and Johnnie. Richard does not pass up places that sell Ice cream...my hero! Ha-ha

We also got together with our friends Gloria & Charlie Goss who were visiting their Daughter and grandson in Anchorage. Their son-in-law is in Iraq, thankfully he has a job there that does not put him in danger .

We went to Anchorage for the day with Charlie & Gloria and saw a Giant chocolate fountain, went to where they make Ulu's and got a sheath for mine that I bought on the last trip to protect the sharp blade and also bought a sharpener and chopping bowl to use the Ulu in. A Ulu is a rounded knife that you rock or chop back and forth. The early Alaskans used these to skin the animals & fish.

We are having a wonderful trip..........you have to see Alaska by RV so you have all the comforts of home but you see all the beauty outside your windows at a mere cost of a hotel and cruise ship. There are ALOT of rented RV's up here! We are even seeing the European's shipping theirs over. I have met people from Germany, Switzerland with their RV's here. Met several guys who shipped their motorcycles over from Austria.

I get goose bumps knowing I am seeing the Last Frontier and all it's glory and it's grand!!

The Triplets
(left)Pat & Barb (center) Richard & Karen (right) Dan & Jenny

The remains and bunkhouses of the Independance Mine

No this is not the chain gang, it's Richard, Dan, Bill & Jeannette cracking rocks to find gold at the Independance Mine. We all found some streaks of gold in some of the rocks.

Jenny Panning for gold in the creek at the Independance Mine

Johnnie Moinet, my Cousin Richards wife. Johnnie is so funny and cracks me up laughing. Dan and I like being with them and hope we get a campout together some year with them. The Moinet's have a nice 5th wheel trailer.

Cousin Richard Moinet from Geismar Louisiana

Bill and little Sammy( Bill is my Sister's boyfriend)

FINALLY I have caught up with my Sister Jeannette! We have been chasing her tracks around Alaska and finally caught up with her and her boyfriend Bill and Cousins Johnnie & Richard in between Wasilla & Parker.
We are bundled up it was chilly that night.

Happy Birthday Gill!
Celebrating Gills 50th birthday. Gill is from Australia and her hubby Bob is from the States. She's quite the funny gal and had us all giggling! This was our first meeting with Gill, she is one of my E-mail friends.

Enjoying our friend's & family in Wasilla Alaska

Left to right
Jenny, Bob Rogers, Cousin Johnnie, Bill, Sister Jeannette, Cousin Richard, Dan and the birthday girl Gill Rogers in front

Mount McKinley

July 15-16th
On a clear day you can see Mount McKinley all the way to Anchorage and many points along the Parks Highway; However Summer's often overcast or rainy weather obscures the mountain so you only have a 30-40 percent chance to see it. They say you have a far better chance of seeing a Bear than the mountain clear of any clouds.

We were lucky on this trip we saw it in all it's glory!

Mount McKinley hiding in the clouds. I took this photo at a cute Bed & Breakfast place on a little lake. Scenic view that Sunset Magazine would put on their cover for best romantic get-away near Trapper Creek.

July 16th The crown jewel of Denali National Park is Mount McKinley. It is North America's highest Mountain at 20,320 feet. Many people have hiked up this mountain and many have died along the way. Between April and June more than a thousand people will attempt to climb the mountain, only about half will succeed to the top. The late Susan Butcher took a dog sled all the way to the top of the South side of the mountain and back down.

Hooray NO clouds on top of Mount McKinley!! Pat took a flight up Mon 16th and flew around Mount McKinley and video taped it....it was AWESOME!! He even landed on a Glacier on top and got to walk around on the mountain.
So beautiful to see when there are no clouds.

Talkeetna Alaska

West Rib Pub & Grill Restaurant

Dan, Barb, Pat Karen Rich and I eating dinner in Talkeetna Alaska.
Jenny had a MuskOx burger dan had a reg hamburger.

Interesting sign post for a little cafe. Notice they have Reindeer dogs!