around Denali National Park

around Denali National Park, a set on Flickr.

4th of JULY In DENALI
Well, here we are in Denali National Park celebrating America’s 236th birthday. For all of you way down there in the “outside”, what Alaskans call anywhere else, it’s a balmy 53 degrees and windy here. That’s also the high for the day. Sorry about all of your hot weather.
At noon today, we went to the 3rd annual Healy, AK 4th of July parade. Yep, it had everything that small town America has in its parades. Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts with flags led off. Fire engines with all of the lights followed then the parade got right down to the nitty gritty. 3 people walked with their dogs, the Baptist church decorated a car and advertised Bible School, a big flatbed rolled by with 2 HUGE lumps of coal and a bobcat, 2 horse drawn wagons and an old Model-T car were the main attractions. There were a couple of other local businesses in the parade which lasted a whole 12 minutes. No kidding! The real point is that people all over America and around the world (don’t forget all of those Servicemen and their families plus others living abroad) take pride in our country and celebrate its greatness (despite all of the liberals trying to mess it up – my own feelings, your mileage may vary). So – HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA. WE LOVE YOU!!! We ate at the Totem Inn after the parade. I have included a pic of Dave's meal (Judy's add on)
Denali is 6 million acres of big country. You can only drive the first 15 miles of a
90 mile road into the park. If you want to go beyond the 15 mile mark, you have to take a tour (school bus ride). Prices depend on how far back you go (of course). Yesterday, we drove the road for the second time. We got to see the Denali Mountain!! It was a BIG DEAL, because it’s only visible for maybe one day out of three in the summer. Generally it’s covered with clouds. We got some pictures. We have taken a couple of walks along the trails that the park rangers have made. We walked up on a cow moose in the woods which was neat. We’ve seen a couple of moose in ponds and have their pictures too. Our tour (out to mile 90) isn’t until the 16th when we will go out with our friend Joe who is flying into
Fairbanks next week. By the way, that tour lasts for 12 hours, and we hope to see some grizzly bear, Dall Sheep and maybe a wolf if we’re lucky.
Oh, you may be interested to know that Denali (mountain) used to be called Mt. McKinley, but you can’t do that anymore, because our liberal friends hate anything that resembles traditions in America, and have changed its name. Go Figure.
All is well. The weather is what it is, and the equipment is still in good shape. We’ve heard about all of your storm problems back East and the fires in the West, and we keep you in our prayers. Be safe everyone. Love Ya Lots.