August 28, 2013 Wednesday
Day 52
40 degrees and raining, ahhhh, heated seats in the car are a brilliant invention.
Left Denali at 10:30am, on the Parks Highway, headed to Palmer, a little town near Anchorage. Today's drive should be about 215 miles. About one hour into the drive we saw a female moose right on the side of the road. We pulled over to look and she was about 45 feet from us. She was so cool to watch, and I was able to snap some pics with my iPhone, which is best used on close up subjects.
During our drive, like we usually do, we pulled off at vista stops along the way. There is so much to see, and enjoy.
We drove over the Hurricane Gulch Bridge, 260 feet above Hurricane Creek. Stopped to take pictures. Looking down was scary but beautiful.
On the lookout for more moose, the scenery was grand, like most of what we've seen in Alaska -huge mountains, vast countryside, big broad valleys, steep river canyons, wild rivers, spruce and birch forests, lakes, boggy meadows. Fall colors of reds and yellows are becoming more prominent all over. Fireweed, which is abundant along the roadside has turned from hot pink to white cottony fluff; beautiful with the fall foliage as a backdrop.
We drove through the town of Willow, which is the official start (after the ceremonial start in Anchorage) to the annual Iditarod sled dog race to Nome. We also went through Wasilla, but try as we might, we could not see Russia, hmmm . . .
Turned east onto Palmer-Wasilla Highway for a few miles until we arrived at our campground, Mountain View RV Park in Palmer.
Palmer is located in the Mat-Su Valley, between the Matanuska and Susitna Rivers. Palmer is a beautiful small town, with an interesting history. In 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved a New Deal program that brought 202 destitute farming families from the Midwest to Palmer to farm and raise dairy cattle in these fertile lands. Some of these "colony" homes and barns still exist today.
Late afternoon, we went to the Alaska State Fair mainly to see the giant vegetables, but the contestants were getting them set up to judge and they wouldn't be on view until Friday. We had a great time, though, cruising the booths, watching the kids ride rides and just generally people watching.
Wildlife Sightings
Moose
Sandhill Cranes
Golden Eagle