Motorhome Experiences of Judy and Lyle Dean Lebsack

Ptarmigan (they look like pheasants)

7/10/2019

We've lost a couple of days on this blog, so playing catch up.  After arriving at Denali RV Park, we did the usual chores, including removing bugs from the front of the coach.  For some reason, they keep coming back.  In the evening on 7/8 the group went to a dinner show featuring a delicious meal and really talented singers.  The theme was old Alaska during the gold rush.  Entertaining!

Yesterday, was an all-day (as in 13 hour) trip into Denali National Park via a school bus. No air conditioning and Alaska is having record heat, plus smoke from numerous wildfires and dust from the unpaved rough roads.  Our attention was diverted by sightings of grizzlies, caribou, moose, ptarmigan and at the risk of eye-strain stone sheep high in the mountains.  But scenery was obscured by smoke, so what should have been magnificent wasn't.  One of the optional events was panning for gold.  We've attached a couple of photos. 

Five of our group discovered a charter plane service back from the Denali Park lodge.  The two-hour flight included a fly around Mt. McKinley.  Pricey.  $315 per person.  But the rest of us were being beaten up by washboard roads for five hours AND never got to see the amazing mountain.  Maybe not so pricey.

Following the day of touring Denali, we met friends from the Chicago area for dinner.  Jack and Janet Carran and his parents are on a cruise of Alaska, with a ground trip to Denali.  Great seeing them, sorry it took a trip to Alaska to do it. Today, it is on to Fairbanks where our 44 day caravan will end on 7/14--after more group activities.

You can work for gold....

7/7/2019

We made our way from Anchorage to Denali this morning--roughly a four-hour trip.  Strangely, the roads weren't that rough on Alaska highway 3 (the Parks Highway).  Scenery was unremarkable by Alaska standards, but suddenly in front of us was the mountain.  Moments later we were able to pull off the highway for a view of Mt. McKinley and several other peaks.  There was a little smoke/haze and the distance was pretty significant.  But since a lot of people come here and never see the cloud-shrouded mountain, we considered ourselves lucky.  By late afternoon, smoke from forest fires had obscured our view.

As we got closer to Denali, the deep gorges and rapidly flowing rivers were more numerous.  Judy captured one from a moving, bouncing motor home.

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Or you can buy it!

It's hot in Alaska, but this moose found a way to cool off