June 27: Today we drove from Fairbanks to Denali. For the most part, the roads were surprisingly smooth and solid, although there were the occasional brief stretches of single-lane traffic where the road was being repaired and/or resurfaced. Sometimes these stretches involved longer delays that the amount of traffic seemed to merit, but we were in no particular hurry. In one spot we saw an enormous front loader helping clean landslide debris off the inside lane, and it was making pretty quick work of it! Glad we weren’t there when the land slid—all that dirt and rock could ruin your whole day! It was once again a rainy, dreary day and I find myself tiring of this in a hurry. The good news is that the weather is forecast to lift tomorrow and allow a little sunshine. Sure hope so!
We enjoyed dinner and live entertainment at the Cabin Night Theater near where we are parked. Once again, the food was delicious and the entertainment delightful. After dinner and the show ended, we went back to the coach for an early evening to bed.
June 28: Sunshine again!! Yay!!! Dave and I were signed up to take the tour through Denali National Park, but we did the same tour several years ago on a crystal-clear day. So in light of his lengthy day on the 26th , we decided not to spend 10-12 hours on a bus again right now. Instead, this was our lazy, catch-up day. The cool, sunny weather was great for walking around the area, doing a little tourist shopping and having pizza for lunch. Naps were in order this afternoon, then we got our respective materials ready for the Motorcade’s worship service tomorrow a.m.
June 29: It was another gorgeous day, and we began it with a brief worship service in one of the buildings at our campground. One group of early rafters had already left, and as soon as the service ended, our main group subdivided into several smaller groups for the various activities of the day, which included rafting, ATVing (is that a verb??), and jeep tours of the Park area. Dave and I joined an ATV group that went out around 11:00 a.m., and we had a grand time—although there were moments when I questioned the sanity of our decision to go! 😉 Anyway, we had a great time and saw some lovely scenery (see photos below). We were back to our coach by about 1:30 p.m., so we had a quick lunch and a long nap! Then I finished knitting a scarf and started knitting a pair of slippers while Dave rode his bicycle a little way into the Park grounds and back (10.68 miles roundtrip). We’ll probably make an early evening of it, because we travel tomorrow and will be helping park coaches at the next campground. This means we leave earlier than everyone else and arrive in time to help the others in our group find the right campground and their particular parking spot. So tomorrow, we’re off to Anchorage!
