Day 30-33 The Neverending Alaskan Adventure

Day 30- We left Denali and turned south towards Anchorage. We were told by Jim and Barb of a quaint little town on the way called Talkeetna. There were two state rec areas we wanted to stop and check to see if we could see the mountain. They are called Denali View North and Denali View South. We stopped at the first one, Denali View North. Nope. Then Denali View South. We got a glimpse of it. The haze from the smoke didn't help with the view and the camera just could not get a good picture of it.

That's the best I could do. It's very faint. The camera had a hard time focusing on it with all of the smoke in the air. Maybe next time. We pulled into our campground. Another Alaska state park which we are going to start calling them Alaska state parking lots because that is pretty much what they are. Montana Creek was the name of this one and we didn't even get a photo. We are slipping, I know. 

Day 31- Next day we headed down the road to Talkeetna. There was a little bakery on the way so Lisa wanted to stop there. It was called the Flying Squirrel. She got a scone it was pineapple coconut that looks eerily like a cow pie. But that is what she wanted. Who am I to say no.

Talkeetna is a very small town geared toward tourists. Many little gift shops and place to book excursions out of.

We walked the town and shopped the shops. It was getting towards lunch so we were looking for some sustenance when we learned about the Denali Brewing Company down the road. Light bulb came on in my head and now I know why Jim and Barb wanted us to go to this town. They want us to be beermongers like them. So we went.

The tour was only $10 a person and that came with several generous samplings. They are the second largest brewery in Alaska and the beers I had were very good. They also do meads, ciders and small batch gins and vodkas. We still hadn't eaten so we ate at the small food trailer outside. It was sooo good.

On to Anchorage with full bellies. Anchorage is a large city with everything that goes along with that. We were going to meet friends here who we haven't seen in about 4 years. Mark and Doran. We first met them our first year on the road at Cedar Key, Florida and then met up with them the following year when we were working in Moab, Utah. So it has been awhile. They are work campers. Not campground work campers but for a company that makes the campground map you get when you stay at a campground.

We pulled into the Golden Nugget RV park in Anchorage which is in town. Sent Mark and Doran a message telling them we were there. We didn't know where they were at so we got a message back saying they were in the same park. Coincidence? Or are we that good at stalking? We made plans. 

Day 32- They had things to do the next day so we were going to go to the zoo and do some sight seeing.

We saw seals, tigers and bears, oh my! Also one very cool Llama that knew he was a rockstar.

Then we were told of another place that we should go to. Again by Jim and Barb. So we went there also.

I think they are trying to fatten us up with a diet of beer and donuts. Although I do like the name of it. We waddled back to the campground just in time to have dinner with Mark and Doran. We went to the 49th State Brewery in Anchorage. Had a great meal and did a lot of catching up.

It was a good evening. They showed us around Anchorage a little bit. This is their fifth year working up here. We said our goodbyes. 

Day 33- The next morning we left Anchorage and our original plan was to go to Seward. It is the 4th of July weekend and Mark said that it would be crazy there so we changed our plans and headed to Homer. There were some Alaska state parking lots that we had planned on staying at. 

Leaving Anchorage on the Seward Highway, we quickly came to a grinding stop. The highway was blocked for miles up ahead. We waited on the road for an hour not moving.

The Milepost book warns you about this road. That it is very accident prone because of impatient drivers passing when they shouldn't. Sure enough when traffic started moving again we got to the accident scene and it was a head on collision. There must have been injuries because we watch 3 ambulances leave.

We were traveling along the Cooke Inlet. The smoke from the fires was intense there.

It really made for a surreal image. We knew we would have to drive by that fire and we weren't sure how close we would get to it. We saw fires in Yellowstone but this one is huge. This one is the Swan Lake fire and I think it was near 70,000 acres. It has been burning since June 5th and was started by lightning.

The parks we were looking at staying at where covered in thick smoke and some where closed due to the fires. So we kept going towards Homer hoping to drive by it and get to clearer skies. At one part the fire got to 100 feet of the highway and you could see where it was still smoldering. As we were getting to the campground we came across another head on collision. I don't get why these people are so impatient. We were getting tired and and we got out of the smoke and found a state parking lot in Clam Gulch, Alaska. 

See why we call them parking lots now? The information said it was by the ocean so we went for a look. 

We were pleasantly surprised with an unexpected beach day. We walked the beach looking for shells but there wasn't any. The rocks were so worn smooth that we kept a couple of interesting ones. There was an Eagle watching us from the bluff.

Will our heroes ever get to Homer? Tune in tomorrow kids for another exciting episode of "Dorks on Parade!"

"Gladys! Did you bring my fireworks so I can blow my hand off?"