Denali Park Hotel Healy

... you say. Yes, but very nice ones.<br><br>Val met another lady at the archives who wants to introduce her to Jack Coghill. Mr. Coghill was one of the signers of the original Alaska state constitution, a state senator, and there is a bridge named for him &#8211; the Jack Coghill Bridge to the Interior! In addition to all of that his father was a contractor for entertainment at Savage Camp in the 30's. Val is excited ...

Last trip out into the park&#8230;<br><br>Val has wanted to go to Wonder Lake for two summers, and Dave does not want to ride the bus. As the season comes to a close, Val has decided to take the bus to Wonder Lake by herself. It turns out to be a good choice. Val says there is not a lot of narrative to go with the story of her day; the pictures tell the story.<br><br>They saw everything on the park road except...A BEAGLE!<br><br>Your rare breed,<br><br>Remington Beagle<br>

September 1, 2009<br><br>Even though we have had many days of rain, the fall colors are still beautiful here in Denali Park. We are being teased today with some blue patches of sky, and occasional glimpses of sun. This morning we could even see part of the mountain. This all means that our days here are getting short. We are anxious to get home and see all of our family and ...

... beaver pond. Dave and I walk around it and investigate. I can smell beaver, but I can't see any. The beaver chewed down a bunch of small trees, and then piled them all up and held them together with mud. It&#8217;s pretty cool. That&#8217;s way too much work for me. I mainly like to nap when I am not sniffing.<br><br>From Lignite Road we backtrack down the George Parks Highway to Healy, and drive through town. We go past the Healy Airport (Healy International LOL) and ...

... about six inches right up to my nose and then jumped up in the air and came down headed in the other direction. Up the tree he went and then boy did he ever swear at me. "Now wait a minute fella, I didn't even do anything." He was just putting on a big bravado because he was so embarrassed for being so stupid. Lucky for him I don&#8217;t care for squirrel no matter how it is prepared. Otherwise he would have been supper. (If you believe that Val has some ...

... driver out of Talkeetna, Alaska. He was pretty well known in the interior for his flying prowess. So when homesteads were offered he decided to homestead on Ruth glacier of all places. He built a house and an outhouse on top of a peak of mountain on Ruth glacier. After some years had gone by the government decided that they didn&#8217;t really mean that someone could homestead on a glacier, and tried to get the property back. They took the Sheldon family ...

... us with their cheerful melodies. When we get to the wooden bridge at the end of the maintained trail Val wants to go on up the next hill for a peek, but Dave says he does not want to go so they cross the bridge and turn to finish the last half of the loop back to the parking lot. Back at the parking lot we see that the baby moose has come down to the river for a drink, and we get some more pictures and some video of him. There are several photographers ...

... surprised by the temperatures. They have implied that if you aren't in Alaska by the end of July, it can very easily be cold. If this weather continues, I will make some serious route changes, and head south into British Columbia as fast as I can. It is very unfortunate, as there are so many places I hoped to visit in Alaska. All I can do is wait until tomorrow and see what the weather brings.

How to have a good trip: have a plan, and change it as often as needed. The first part of my plan was to drive to Denali National Park this afternoon, enjoying the rifts and rills and mountains and hills along the way. The second part was to get to my motel before dark. Well, that part was easy, since it almost didn't GET dark at this time of year. But part one, well.... Rain pounded me without ceasing. Road construction reared its orange cones in the most unlikely places ...