Feb. 1, 2008 - An Uneventful Drive
No slips or slides, no crashes, no ditch diving, no moose hitting, no flat tires. Success.
So I had these great intentions of actually stopping and taking lots of inspirational pictures. Things that would really express the spirit of interior Alaska in February. The problem was, stopping and taking pictures involved the possibility of being passed by the person who you had just tailgated for 25 minutes, while they drove 40 mph, and you desperately waited for a straight stretch on the two lane highway, with no oncoming traffic, to pass them, and then when you did pass them, the road was icy and you were stressed the whole time, about going a passing speed of 75 mph, so that you didn't get hit by the semi you just knew was coming around the next corner.
So in other words, I did not want to stop. Once again demonstrating that I am not a true artist. Tough
These pictures were basically taken through the front window, while I was driving.
This is our first view of Denali (or Mt McKinley, as non-Alaskans call it). It actually looked much clearer than this but the cold inversion, and the fact that it is something like 100 miles away, make it look fuzzy. This was taken as we drove through Willow, (the town that once has aspirations of being the capital of Alaska...but didn't quite make it). I actually pulled over, because we hadn't left the land of passing lanes yet.
Some random shots:
When you are driving through the area north of Talkeetna and south of Cantwell, you know you are in the middle of nowhere. Leny and I tested that theory out one time, by breaking down on that stretch at 2:00 am when it was -30. But today was a BEAUTIFUL DAY.
Tourists sometimes complain about the taxes that they pay when they come to visit. Why should way pay taxes, when people who don't vote about it (tourists) can pay them. Things like Anchorage's 12% bed tax. (Stay at my B&B, our bed tax is only 5%!) However, I noticed that all the nice rest stops and restrooms are all boarded up and closed for the season. Those are apparently only for the tourists. If we need to go potty, we can squat behind a bush.
Another place that is closed is the entire town of Denali. It is a tourist mecca, that didn't used to be there when I was a child. Now it has about 20 hotels, shops and restaurants. But these exist for only 4 months. In the winter it is closed.
After this point, the lighting got rather flat, along with the land. So I let Delaney play with the camera:
Here I am, trying to clean the brand new CD, which had suspiciously sticky fingerprints on on it.
But the greatest success of the day? At the ripe old age of 10, Delaney finally, FINALLY, figured out how to blow bubbles:
That kept her busy for about 100 miles.
