Day 32 - Denali, Alaska to Anchorage, Alaska

Day 32   Denali National Park to Anchorage

Rig 11  Dick and Diane Hall

 The day started with  a beautiful, sunny day!   We all headed out with the hopes of seeing Mount McKinley at the various  stops along the way.  It was socked in with clouds!

The Deep Gorge at the Hurricane Gulch Bridge was very impressive. 

Our next stop was the Alaska Veterans Memorial.  It consists of an alcove and a semicircle of five 20-foot-tall concrete panels, one for each branch of service and each with a large star on the upper part and inscriptions on the lower part.

The panels memorialize the Alaska National Guard, the Merchant Marine, the Submariners, and victims of the Air Force c-47 crash on nearby Kesugi Ridge in February 1954. Three flag  poles stand at the site; the center pole flying the American flag; the pole to the right the Alaska flag, and the pole to the left the flags of the Pow-Mia.  The memorial was erected in 1983 and dedicated in 1984 by Governor Bill Sheffield.  The Beyers Lake site was selected because it is centrally located between Alaska’s 2 largest cities, Anchorage and Fairbanks, (and there is a beautiful view of Mount McKinley from the entrance to the memorial on a clear day.)  The memorial reads: “We dedicate this quiet place to the remembrance of the veterans of Alaska who have served their country at home and throughout the world.  We honor their heroism and dedication.”

Talkeetna was our next stop.  We disconnected our toads from our rigs and drove 15 miles to the town.  Talkeetna  began as a trading post in 1896, and grew as a riverboat supply base following the Susitna River gold rush in 1910. The population boomed during the construction of the Alaska Railroad. The town is the jumping-off  point for climbing expeditions to Mount McKinley.  There are several historic  buildings  and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The town was  crowded and parking was limited.

Diane made two purchases.  Forget-Me-Not Earrings which is the state flower.  In 1917 a bill was introduced in the Territorial Legislature of Alaska proposing the Forget-Me-Not  to be declared the official flower of Alaska.  It was approved and  the Governor signed the legislation into law on April 28, 1917.  The following was found in the margin of the bill:

A little flower blossoms forth

on every hill and dale,

the emblem of the pioneers

 upon the rugged trail.

The pioneers have asked it

and we could deny them not;

so the emblem of Alaska

is the blue Forget-Me-Not.

The second purchase was  an Ice Worm book mark.  The Ice Worm is REAL!  People may kid about iceworms in Alaska, but such a worm does exist  Small, thin segmented, black worms, less than an inch long, these worms thrive at temperatures just above freezing.  They come out on cloudy days and when the  sun strikes them, they burrow back into the ice.

The last stop was the Iditarod Race Headquarters.  It is a beautiful setting.  Dogs were waiting to take  visitors on a ride through the woods.  One of this year’s mushers was  Jodi Bailey.  We visited with her in Fairbanks and met two of her lead dogs.

One beautiful dog was sitting in the passenger’s seat of  a pickup.  I asked the musher why the dog was in the truck.  He said that that was the favorite place for the dog to wait for him.  He was his wife’s dog and had NO interest in racing.  Just loved going along for the ride.