June 8th to 13th - Palmer,Whittier,Soldatna

June 8th - Fri - to Palmer
We did not see all of Mt McKinley (Denali) on our bus tour so we stopped several times on the way to Palmer to try to get a better view. But the clouds hung around all the way so only got another picture of part of the mountain.
We arrived at the RV park in Palmer about 3, Clem & Marlene were here and set up. Larry & Barb and Terry & I made a quick trip to nearby Wasilla for booze and groceries. Happy hour, dinner and another Happy hour(s) rounded out the day.

June 9th - Sat - Palmer
Barb & I needed to do laundry and since the RV park has only 4 washers and dryers (dryers outside in a lean-to), we decided to all (6 of us) go to Palmer to do laundry and watch a parade for “Colony Days”. The parade started late and was longer than we thought it would be so it was 2:00 before we headed for Hatcher Pass and some lunch. The scenery was great and we stopped several times on the way back to get pictures of Susitna River that ran alongside the road. Because we had such a late lunch, no one had dinner. We just sat outside, fought the mosquitoes, had drinks and snacks and enjoyed our Buddy burner. Anyone reading this who does not know about our Buddy burner and wants to know, send us an email or a comment on the blog.

June 10th - Sun - Palmer
It is so nice that Larry has a truck (Chev, of course!) with a bench seat so all 6 of us have been able to ride in one rig.
We all went to Anchorage today. Spent an hour at an outdoor “craft” market and then found a park to eat our picnic lunch. The weather was perfect - sunny and warm with a slight breeze.
Then we went on a tour of the Musk Ox farm just up the road from Palmer. The musk ox are not terribly fond of the warm weather so they were mostly lying in the shade of trees and we didn’t get very close views of them.
Marlene, Barb & I went on a nice walk to a nearby lake before sitting in the sunshine to enjoy a pre-dinner drink. It was warm enough while I was cooking dinner to turn on the air conditioner.

June 11th - Mon - near Whittier
Our plans to all leave by 9:00 this morning got a little derailed. Clem & Marlene were putting in their slides and raising the front jacks to hook up when they lost power to the slides and jacks. We all tried to figure out what could be wrong (owner’s manual, testing all power, etc) but to no avail. So we helped them move slides and jacks manually and they said for us to go on while they tried to make an appointment at an RV service center. Larry & Barb and we had to get propane which happened to be right beside an RV service place. So Terry went and spoke with a technician and he told Terry that it probably was a fuse on the battery. We drove back to the campground to find Clem & Marlene gone as it was after check-out time. We got them on their phone and Terry told Clem what he had found out. A ways down the road we got a call from Clem saying they were on the road and not too far behind us as we had waited for Larry & Barb to get some groceries. It was the battery fuse and Clem was able to temporarily fix it with a wire.
We are staying at a government campground just out of Whittier. It is lovely - treed, large spots, widely spaced, fewer mosquitoes than Palmer and firepits. While dinner was cooking, Terry & I went for a 1 ½ mile (one way) bike ride on a beautiful concrete/boardwalk/asphalt trail alongside a river that went to a lake and a visitor center. We all sat around a fire after dinner.

June 12th - Tues - Whittier
Larry & Barb and Terry & I went on a boat cruise out of Whittier to view glaciers and wildlife this afternoon. The short trip to Whittier is interesting - it includes a 2 ½ mile, one-way tunnel that is shared by the railway. It costs $12 round trip for a car/truck, $35 for an RV. Clem & Marlene followed us to Whittier and we all checked out the shops, etc before we left on the boat.
The weather was nice for the trip. Overcast but no rain - better color in the glaciers and not so much glare in pictures. Again, we didn’t see much wildlife - lots of nesting gulls on a mountain side, a couple of eagles and some sea otters. Saw only one small piece of ice fall off a glacier.
After dinner, we again sat around a fire.

June 13th - Wed - to Soldatna
We all went to a Wildlife Conservation Preserve this morning. Started out with a couple of really scrawny looking moose, no bears to be seen, wood bison way off in the bush. Then a guy came by on a 4-wheeler and “woke up” the animals. I think they recognize the 4-wheeler as the deliverer of grain and all come running. So we went back and saw the bears, the wood bison (huge animals), all the elk, more bears, deer and a couple of owls.
Uneventful drive to Soldatna on the Kenai peninsula where we are staying at an Elks club “RV park” (parking lot). We have 110 electricity, no water hookups but you can use a hose to fill your tank. The price is right at $13 a night and we can get wifi in our rig. We all stopped at Fred Meyer on the way in where there is a dump station.
Took it easy this afternoon - went driving and grocery shopping with Clem & Marlene and then I got a haircut and Marlene got a shampoo/blow dry which she promptly redid when she got back! The guys were in the Elks bar when we got back - paying for the RV spots and picking the local brains for fishing info.