Alaska 2020- Day 9

We weren’t in much of a hurry to arise this morning. At the risk of sounding redundant, this is the first trip we’ve taken where I have actually felt like it was vacation. The fact that we DON'T have to repack and unpack and load and unload the car every day is the bees knees! I had to pick up a few grocery items this morning and stumbled upon this majestic market! 

I've always felt the Whitlock Kroger was missing something.....

We’d told the children that since this trip had yet to include a presidential library we were going to head to the Alaskan Annex of The William McKinley Presidential Library (not a real thing). We explained that because of his connection to Alaska (Mount McKinley, now Denali), they’d decided to set up additional exhibits in Alaska in addition to his Primary Presidential Library in Ohio. The wee-ones whole-body frowned and whined that they'd thought they were going to make it a whole trip without a presidential library. Bwha-ha-ha!  These were all lies. We think it’s fun to tell lies to our children. Although, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult with the Google. However, our real plan kept getting pushed back because of weather, so we had to keep telling more lies. In the meantime, we walked into Talkeetna to meet with the mayor. Well, we tried to meet with the mayor. He wasn’t home. He lives in a store. He is a cat. And, he’s dead. Rest in peace Stubbs the cat who served as mayor of Talkeetna for 15 years! Now, Talkeetna is really just a historic district run by a council, but the idea of a cat-mayor did perk my interest. Unfortunatly, Stubbs the Mayor-Cat passed away from natural causes after a long life of civil service. Stubbs had exhausted at least 2 of his 9 lives prior to expiring having survived an assassination attempt by an unleashed dog and taking a swim in the deep fryer at the restaurant next door! 

Cute store, no Mayor-Cat. 

I’d heard there was a new cat mayor residing at Nagley’s store but we looked high and low and couldn’t find him or her. Maybe the new cat mayor was out on official town business…..We’ll never know.  

I could live anywhere that sells Peonies out of 5 gallon buckets! 

I'd  planned on going to the little Talkeetna History museum, but, like everything, it was closed. The children bemoaned in unison, "Why, oh Why?!? We really wanted to go to another random hisory museum". 

So, I might've taken some artistic license with that last kid quote. 

Because Thomas had not yet procured a souvenir, when he spied a sidewalk artist, he decided that he would like a Caricature of himself. And he would prefer that this likeness of himself feature him holding a Corgi in one hand and a samurai sword in the other hand. Ne’re the two shall meet. 

I like the way the artist captured adult teeth in a kid head 

We wanted to grab an early dinner so that we wouldn’t be late for our evening activity. The kids were super suspicious and it didn’t help when Mr. Bullington had to go back to the RV to get his GoPro. Charlotte, the most wiley of the Bullington children, inquired why it was necessary to have a GoPro at a presidential library….So we lied again and told them that we were going night rafting (also, not a thing)….Then we walked up to the Sheldon Air Hangar. The clouds finally parted and we were ready to go Flightseeing! It’s like sightseeing, but on a flight. See what they did there.

It was so cute the way the color drained from their hopeful little faces when they set their sites on our transport for the evening. It was not a 747, but a 70-year-old puddle jumper! Whee!  Our plan was to make our way to Denali and land on Ruth Glacier. At least that was the plan. They say The Big One (Denali), is so big that it creates it’s own weather. By the time we got to the point to land on the glacier, the weather had clouded over and the visability was too poor. I was bummed because I wanted the experience, but we still got to fly really close to mountains and were able to spot lots of animals from the air. So many bears…..

I think she's got at least one more flight in her!

 

Cautiously optimistic that we won't die! 

I could probably survive, I've read Hatchet. 

No words

Ruth Glacier from above

See the Bull Moose? 11:00 from dead tree.

Dern Weather! 

Alaska 2020-Day 8

We started our day with a hike to and around Horseshoe Lake. It was such a lovely hike and we (again) felt like we were the only people on earth. Thomas shimmied up rocky hill sides and the girls skipped rocks.  I know that is super-exciting to read about! 

This would probably be an appropriate time to begin discussions on the mosquito situation. I’ve seen the Mosquito Death Squadron of 2020 and friends, it’s coming right for us and we’re all gonna die! I thought I’d seen the worst Mosquitos of my life in Glacier NP a few summers ago. But those did not swarm around your head and then try to fly off with it. Maybe that’s the downside to being some the only folks in the park. These jokers are conditioned to feast on hordes of tourists and with fewer travelers, they are blood thirsty, desperate little ne’re-do-wells. They are not deterred by campfire smoke, or pants, or long sleeves. Those jokers feasted like they were at the Golden Corral THROUGH MY PANTS and the pants and shirts of my travel companions. Except for John. “Mosquitoes don’t really bother me”, he boasted. While the rest of us were flapping and swatting our arms about our heads like we were in the throes of some sort of conniption. Insect repellent did curb their blood lust, but some of us don’t like repellent because “ew, it makes me smell like camp and I haven’t the opportunity to shower on the hour and half hour”. The range of personal hygiene in this family is staggering. After our hike, we headed our home down the highway towards Talkeetna.  What a little diamond in the rough! 

spied this thing....

This Igloo was built to be a hotel in the '70s and never opened. I totally would've slept in an igloo gas station if only given the chance.....

And, if you don't believe me about the mosquitoes....

Those are parents wearing mosquito-net bedecked bebes. 

Talkeetna was hopping with lots of Alaskans and a few tourists. We ate at the Denali Brewery while we people watched. Our RV park is one of the best yet and a very short walk to the cute downtown. This is a great place to spend our last few days.

If there is a chance to poke our head through a funny hole, we're going to do it every time like it is our job. 

Vroom!

Peonies the size of my head

Beer flight for Mr. Bullingon, wine for me!

What is this mystery contraption?

Fort Building Friends

Thomas and his pop-up Posse

 This trip has flown by, so much so that the wee ones are already discussing seat configurations for the long overnight flight home. The popular sister vote is that they don’t want to sleep next to Thomas because he “toots”. Thomas got his back up about it at dinner and loudly retorted, “I don’t even want to sit with you, I’m FINE WITH SLEEPING WITH STRANGERS!”. The lady at the table next to us blew Pepsi out her nose and others just stared. We should probably just start to wrap things up and head home.

Alaska 2020- Day 7

So, one thing we’ve learned is if you don’t like the weather in Alaska, wait 10 minutes. This strategy works for most instances except that it rained HARD all night. It would have been a blissful way to sleep in…..but.... sunlight. I was so grateful for our little road abode and not a leaky tent. 

Oh Captain, My Captain!
Today, we’d planned an 8-hour ride on a Blue Bird Bus (made in Fort Valley, Georgia! Whoot!). Denali National Park had only one road and private cars are only allowed beyond the 15 mile marker. If you want to go farther, you have to hop on a bus. The longest ride is 13 hours! Now, the only bus running this summer is to Eielson Visitor Center (8.5 hours round trip). 8 months ago, I wasn’t able to get a bus ticket because they were all sold out. There wasn’t an open RV spot in my preferred campground, now, Denali is empty. Mostly, because RVers from the bottom 48 can’t get here because Canada’s borders are closed and Cruise ships aren’t a thing (Pre-Covid, they would shuttle passengers inland on excursions) We’ve talked to several Alaskans who are actually getting to see their beautiful state without having to crawl over a million tourists. I love that journey for them.  I’d love to hear more about their lives and names and where they’re from, but social distancing makes it really hard for a social butterfly like me to meet new friends. I didn’t realize before this summer what an important part of our trips consisted of meeting random strangers from all over the globe. When before, you could strike up an interesting conversation with a Nanny from Sweden, or a housewife from Boise, or a college kid from Ohio. Now, there is just silence. From a distance. Save us Bette Midler!! While an 8-hour bus ride might sound like hell on wheels to some people (my skeptical self included), it was the most wondrous event.  We were among 24 people, masked and socially distanced, on a bus that would normally seat 80. I was even able to socially distance from my own people who I’ve been doing the opposite of social distancing with for 4+ months. Huzzah!  We all had our own window seat to gaze out over the ever-changing Alaskan landscape. Someone would holler, “BEAR!” and our driver, Mike, would slam on the brakes, throw it in reverse and we’d all grab our binoculars! To have the time to sit and watch a big grizzly munching his face off in a berry patch for half an hour was such a gift. To look upon my children’s faces staring out over the landscape and not at a screen was such a gift. I wondered what they wondered, but I didn’t ask,  as some thoughts are none of my beeswax. We washed, rinsed, repeated for “CARABOO!”, “MORE BEARS!”, and “MOOSE!”

BEAR!!!

CARIBOU!!!!

MOOSE!!!

When we’d munched our sandwiches, and pulled from the necks of our water bottles, we finally reached the halfway point, Eielson Visitor Center. Mike gave us about an hour to mill about and since the actual visitor center is closed, our option was to hike or maybe hike. And, here’s something about Mr. Bullington. If there are three options for hikes, he’s gonna insist on the most challenging one. No matter how loud the protests sound from the mouths of babes. In true Mr. Bullington fashion, we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of a 1,000 foot climb in one mile, with a one mile breathless downhill chaser. The views were glorious, the complaints, resounding! But, we did it! Bullingtons can do hard things! The bus ride home featured other wildlife sightings and also naps. 8 hours in a school bus on a one-lane dirt road can take it out of a girl! And naps are rad!

KIDS!
Out of their natural environment!

Always the photo bomber!

4/5 big smiles!

Imma gonna sit my skinny a$$ down and protest walking one step further. I didn't sign up for this "Bullingtons can do hard things" ish. 

You know what muffles the whinese of little children? Taking pictures of wild flowers and pretending all is right with the world. 

We settled back into camp and I cooked reindeer sausage on the camp fire like some sort of Alaskan badass.  

Campfire Queen of Denali

Not half bad for paper plate eatin'! 

Alaska 2020, Day 6

After the disappointment from our dashed dogsled experience, I began to seek out other options. When I called the Iditarod headquarters looking for mushers who could possibly  introduce us to wild world of dogsledding,  I got the name of one Jeff King. Jeff has won the Iditerod 4 times and lives with a whole mess of Huskys right outside Denali. I secured a meeting for us with him and all his pups. After Mr. Bullington steered our big ol’ residential vessel down a little dirt road to his house, we were greeted and immediately handed little puppies!  Yippee! Who doesn’t love a fresh little puppy in their arms?!? Jeff is fo' real serious about all things Iditarod. And he talked A LOT and for A VERY LONG TIME about lots of dogsledding details. I learned that I am probably not cut out for a race such as this, or any race for that matter. But, I am totally cut out for strapping up a team of dogs and letting them pull me through the Alaskan Wilderness in a golf cart! That is just good clean fun!  Wheee!

Doggies cool off in Jeff's pond

 

 

 

Mush!

The Man, The Myth, The Legend

We had to make a quick stop at the 3 Bears Grocery/Hardware/gas station for provisions. We’ll be “camping” in Denali but without any hookups. Can I just say that RV camping isn’t really camping? It is hiding behind the smoke screen of camping but with running water and a toilet that flushes. If I never sleep in a tent again, it will be too soon.

When we returned to camp, I started dinner prep after kicking everyone out to the great outdoors. I listened to The Indigo Girls, drank wine, chopped veggies while the kids explored, put up Enos and helped John build a fire. We parked ourselves in a campground that was completely booked 8 months ago, now we are among a very small number of campers. The Welcome Centers are closed, the buses are running on a very limited schedule, but Y’ALL! We have this glorious national park ALL TO OURSELVES!!!  We hiked for 4 miles and saw maybe 10 people. I remember a couple of years ago when we were in Yellowstone it was like Atlanta traffic with a few Buffalo crossing the road. Now is the time to see our National Parks! Flights are cheap! If you are going to have to educate those little stinkers your own selves, you might as well do it somewhere pretty!

Thomas' Culinary Experiement: Grilled Ruffles

Served on a piece of bark...