It's funny how driving down a road the opposite direction at a different time of day in different weather can change the scenery. It's not that the drive from Anchorage to Denali on Wednesday wasn't pretty, but it was nothing in comparison to today's drive back down south. Sparse clouds drifted through the sky, allowing us to see Mt. McKinley from many angles as we drove through the valley. The flowers were blooming along the roadside, the water in the lakes was blue and reflective, and the trees were glistening.
The tall one below is Mt. McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America! Though I'm not tempted to climb it, I am so ready to go hiking! I want to see the scenery at a 3 mph pace rather than the 65 mph pace we've been seeing it at these days. All that we've seen is calling for me to conquer it.
We took a trip into the Hatcher Pass area near Wasilla to see the old Independence Mine. We were not expecting to be blown away by the beauty of the valley. Green like I have never seen it before covered the mountainsides.
The mine was really interesting as well. It was all falling apart; apparently they don't do any kind of restoration on the actual mining structures, though there were some nice trails and boardwalks built.
Other notable events today included me locking our key in our cabin from the last two nights(picture below), a yummy oatmeal and blueberry breakfast served by the always-flustered waiter at the Perch Resort, a stop at a used bookstore in Wasilla because we had run out of reading material(BTW, especially to Hannah, I'm starting Harry Potter! I just finished reading Nectar in a Sieve), finding a crossword puzzle to work on at lunch, and now being in our lakeside room at our hotel with the window open and the weather blissful.
Alaska is beautiful!
Hooray! I got a shoutout! (...unless you meant your sister... but since I do think I remember asking you what you were reading, and I've been talking to you about HP lately, maybe I'm safe to assume you weren't?)
ReplyDeleteAlso BTW, Mom decided she wants to watch a Harry Potter movie every night (starting last night, although we only got through about 2/3 of it before declaring it bedtime) so that we can watch HP 7.2 before it leaves theaters. I saw it w/ Michelle Friday night--very good.
I'm eager to hear what you think about the books. Keep "entertainment" in mind. :)
Talk tomorrow!! I can't wait.
Thanks for sharing these beautiful pics with us!
ReplyDeleteI saw HP7.2 Friday night, with 10 other friends - if you go to see it, I would go for the 2D, rather than the 3D. (I had streaks that wouldn't go away on my 3D glasses) I loved all the books & plan to start rereading them all again! Hope you enjoy them!!