Howdy - from Dickinson, North Dakota, where the north wind is howling, and we are glad our furnace works!  Actually, it's warmer than it has been in the mountains, but the wind makes it feel worse. 

It is good to be back in the USA!  We both cheered when we cleared customs at Coutts the other day.  When my last blog entry was interrupted by xanga server problems, I was trying to upload a picture of a handsome caribou buck leading his herd along the roadway.  I'll try again:



Isn't he grand?  A bit later, another bear ran across the road in front of us.  Didn't catch it on the road, but got a shot of it looking at us through the woods:



This shot doesn't show how big this bear was - glad we were in the car!

Today in North Dakota, we were treated to the sight of at least a hundred pronghorn antelope.  Beautiful, graceful animals!  Hard to get a picture of, though.  And a cock pheasant flew near our car as we breezed past,

These beautiful animals, plus the panoramas of the Montana and North Dakota Badlands made us appreciate the beauty of our own land.

Hope to be home in a couple of days - I'll try to summarize this incredible trip (over 8000 miles!) when we get home.   Thanks for checking in on us!

The plan is to start for home this morning - we are in Glenallen, Alaska, camped at a beautiful site - here's our backyard:


Yesterday, we drove down to Valdez - the area around Valdez is called "Little Switzerland" - beautiful mountain scenery.  On the way, there are beautiful waterfalls - all glacier-fed, so they  run all year.  This one is called "Bridal Veil Falls", and the section you see here is about ten percent of the total height:



While in Valdez, we walked along the harbor, where I caught this fishing boat on the way home with the day's catch:



The day before, we were in Seward, and passed the Matanuska glacier.  It is huge, and if we had more time, there are spots where you can hike right up to the glacier.  But here's a shot of it from the road, with a hint of autumn colors in the aspens:  (There are more than 650 glaciers in Alaska!)




Well, time to hit the road.  We're planning on heading south for home, by driving a bit this morning north to Tok.  If you look at the Alaska map, sometimes you have to go north to go south!  And we are looking forward to warmer temperatures - the  temperature got to 28 degrees at our campsite last night!

We are excited about getting closer to home!  And to all the people we love!

The trip to Palmer (about 45 miles northeast of Anchorage), was spectacular, along the road know as the Tok Cut Off Road.  Tooling along through low, rolling hills, alive with the colors of autumn, you come around one curve, and this mountain takes your breath away:


Mt Sanford is not that tall - only about 16,000 feet - but it's presence is so huge and noticeable.  We ended up driving around two or three sides of this imposing scene - I probably have about 20 pictures of it!

A bit further along, this incredible glacier (which at this moment shall remain un-named - since I can't remember its name):


Then, after spending the night in Palmer, it was on to Denali - the "Great One" in the local native language.  It is the renamed Mt. McKinley National Park.  About 40 miles south of the peak itself, there is a viewpoint - a spot to pull off the road, and, if you are very lucky, gasp at the beauty of the highest peak in North America - Denali is 20,230 feet.  They say the entire peak is only visible about 2 or 3 days a month, so we were lucky to see most of it:


You have to imagine the lofty part of the peak not visible here - and remember, this massive mountain is over 40 miles away from me when I took this picture!

Just to the left of the main peak, this incredible peak with many spires thrusting their way to the sky:



Walking up the hill a bit, you could  see another mountain to the left - I think it's called Dall mountain, but I'm not sure.  I have seen this mountain pictured elsewhere - I want to do a little research and nail down its real name later:


Even though we did not get to see all of the 'Great One', we feel very privileged to see as much of it as we did!  We camped that night at a private campground about 15 miles south of the park entrance.  After setting up camp, we drove up to the park to get our bus tickets for the next day - you can't drive into the park with private vehicles.  Walking into the Wilderness Access Center, we heard what sounded like a fleet of 747s taking off - a hail storm was advancing across the valley.  I wish I carried a good sound recorder - it was an unforgettable roar!  The hail came down very hard and fast - quickly covering the ground with white marble-sized hail.  Fortunately, I don't think any damage was done to the Chevy.

The next day, our trip on the bus into Denali, was indeed the high point of our trip.  To observe God's animal kingdom, living in the incredible beauty of the Alaska wilderness - there are no words to come close to describing it.  Next blog entry, I'll try to pick the highlights out of the wild animal pictures I was fortunate to get - including grizzlies at less than fifty feet!  (Sure glad we were in the bus!!)