8:40 We arrived at the hostel a little while ago. We had time to get our rooms together and eat dinner, although back home it's 12:40 am. The mountains are still capped with snow, as we saw from the plane, as well as many glaciers.
Anchorage is really empty. There are almost no cars on the street at all and this is the largest city in Alaska!6/22 11:54 pm It's still light out!
6/23 We arrived in Denali National Park today. One we parked the RV we are not allowed to move it until we leave. Today the bus took us 66 miles into
Denali Park while the driver pointed out spots of interest, and the passengers looked for wildlife. Some people spotted things I could barely find with someone giving me directions to where the animal was.
Although far away, seeing animals only before see in National Geographic was exciting, but seeing them close up was thrilling.
We almost ran over a fox lying on the side of the road, a caribou approx 40 ft. from the road, dall sheep on the road and cliff
right next to the road and a few bear close to the bus. Of course we took pictures of all of these plus more; Mt. McKinley, a
caribou bone I found on the hike, squirrels ran through my legs, and showshoe hare you could get within 5 ft of. …
6/25 Last night I fell asleep at around 8:00 pm or something, I don't even know. I have no sense of time with no clock, besides
the watch we brought, and since it is always light out. …Before we knew it it started raining. We ran back to the rest area,
caught a bus and after a while got off again. We spotted two bears; a bus came by and we got on, told them we saw two bear
but they weren't visible and they seemed skeptical. Then out of nowhere people were spotting bears left and right—5 total. .
6/26 Today was very exciting. On the way out of Denali we saw a stopped RV. About 30 ft. from the road was a caribou with a
very large rack. The people had been watching him for a while and noticed he was coming closer to the road. Finally he did
come onto the road but Mom, who had the video camera, was getting more tape and missed him completely when he was on the
road. I, however, did get some great shots. Next we went to a sled-dog demonstration. We took some nice pictures of the dogs,
Now the exciting part or should I say parts. We drove on the Denali Highway, which is mostly unpaved and bumpy. But there is
great scenery so we decided to try it. In the Milepost Book there are many places it says to look for bear of moose, or
something like that. Well, in one of the moose parts, I was looking in the pond and said, "Look! A duck!" And then Mom said.
"Oh, my God! A moose!" They were swimming in the same pond. Then later she spotted a moose and calf, 4 bald eagles and
Ptarmigan. I took some great pictures of the 2 bald eagles flying and fighting or playing or something. Now were are stopped on the side of the road next to a lake where we will stay tonight.
6/27 I tried fishing today. I didn't catch anything but I did better than one woman, who hooked Now we are on our way to Palmer. The radio has no stations. For amusement we press the search button and it keeps going forever.
6/30 We planned on going to Kenai today, but only got as far as the Kenai River. We are going to stay in the Russian River
Campground in Chugach National Park. At about 12 we took a hike along a trail to various fishing sites. We talked to a bunch of
people who gave me pointers. They were telling stories about a bear coming down, eating someone's fish and biting their
packs. While we didn't see that we did spot 3 bald eagles, one within 50 ft. Then we went back to the RV and slept for 3 hours.
When I woke up a 6 Mom took me to a tackle shop where I rented waders and bought flies, the only lure you are allowed to fish
with. I lost 3, found one and had no idea what I was doing. A lady did help me with casting though. On the way back we came
across an adolescent bear. He crossed the river a few times and even climbed a tree. The most exciting part was when he came
up on the trail about 30 ft. away. After watching him for a while we went back to the RV to realize it was 11:40 and we still had to eat dinner.
7/1 Today was exhausting. Around 12:45 we left for what would turn out to be about a 9 mile hike. Along the way we saw some
interesting stuff. Some of the forest was burned down; Rangers did this in order to allow smaller trees and shrubs to grow for
the moose to eat. After a while we went to the main attraction: the Falls. The spawning salmon could be seen by the hundreds,
most of them floating in the water, resting themselves for a great journey. Some salmon could be seen leaping the falls, and
others who failed that task washed downstream. I was amazed at how many made it past the fishermen. When we finally got back to the RV, I took off my bnoots, which was the best part of the day.
7/3 Mom claims the alarm never went off, but I think it must have. She ended up getting me up at 5:30. We rushed off to the
airport to board a small plane of 30 passengers. From there we had to wait an hour to board a float plane which held 4
passengers. They were both pretty cool, although my stomach left me on a few occasions. After lunch we went straight to the
bear viewing platform. Tons of bears, eagles, salmon (even more than Russian River) and many other intriguing wildlife. We stay in a neat little cabin for the next two days. 
By the way, on the third time back from the platform I almost walked into a bear. It delayed us 15 minutes.
7/4 After lunch we went to a photography talk. There were some great pictures. One of a bear, on his stomach looking through an open garbage can with two
black bears eating the garbage.. …After that I went back to sleep only to have my mom run in telling of her bear encounter. She was on the beach and she heard
footsteps as she turned around or tried she saw two bears in a full sprint towards her. When she tried to turn she fell flat on her face. Next she sprawled herslef into
the thicket and watched as one bear passed and one stopped and stared at her before moving on. Mom was awarded a pin for good behavior around bears.
7/5 We left Brooks Lodge today. Once again we took a float plane, this time to Kulik Lodge, and from there got on a 6 passenger plane to Anchorage. About 10
minutes from Anchorage there was a lot of turbulence. All I could do was tighten my stomach and hope for the best…
7/7 Today was the last day. I have mixed emotions, but mostly I just want to get home. Right now we are waiting in the RV parking lot waiting for the owner to take us to the airport.
8:40 We arrived at the hostel a little while ago. We had time to get our rooms together and eat dinner, although back home it's 12:40 am. The mountains are still capped with snow, as we saw from the plane, as well as many glaciers.
Anchorage is really empty. There are almost no cars on the street at all and this is the largest city in Alaska!