Another fine breakfast and it was time to bid farewell to Fairbanks. This whole trip is getting a series of good tastes of so many wonderful places that we could settle in for a week or more in themselves, only we get a day or two. But, we certainly are making the most of these tastes!
We couldn’t hang around too long, because we needed to drive south to Denali National Park! A place we have both dreamed about for so many years, and now, here we are! We have the great fortune to be guests with the daughter and son-in-law of a couple of our favorite friends in Ohio. We are staying with Scott and Beth in their home in Healy, just outside the gates of Denali. They have both lived in Alaska for over 30 years, and are an excellent source about what it is “really like” to live here. They lived for quite a while in a “dry” cabin that they had built, which means no running water and having to use an outhouse…imagine this at 45 below zero!
One of the fascinating stories that we heard, and that we have now been able to confirm as true, a story about Susan Butcher, the dogsled driver who had won several Iditarod races and later died of leukemia. We had heard on our riverboat ride that she had taken a team of dogs to the top of Mt. McKinley, 20,320 feet up! Dick was in complete disbelief that this was possible. We are hot in finding out the how and why of such a trip. We found that she had indeed been to the top of the mountain with dogs. We have heard debates about how many dogs she got to the top. Obviously, there was no sled involved here. She was part of a very experienced team of mountain climbers who made it to the top with her. This was one remarkable woman!
AS we made the two-hour drive south of Fairbanks, it was mostly quite cloudy, but at one point Dick exclaimed, “Oh my God, there it is!” And we got our first glimpse of Mt. McKinley, Denali, the Great One, or as the locals call it “The Mountain". A fleeting look, but very nice. The areas gets most of its percipitation in the summer, so you can see the mountain only in less than one of three days. We are hoping we will be among the highly lucky and see much more of it.
We drove over what we think is the original “bridge to nowhere” that connects Fairbanks with Denali. There was a lot of controversy that why would they need to connect the parts of the state with roads. One of the early governors said we already have a road going through Alaska. How many roads does one state need?”
About noon we arrived at Denali!!!!!!!!! It is such a lovely park. First, we went and got information and our tickets for tomorrow’s guided tour of the park by bus. Then we tried to catch a ranger led walk, but lost the group while we retrieved some things from our car. We ended up still having quite a lovely 2 miles walk just outside the Visitor’s Center. 
There we were especially pleased to find some amazing mushrooms and toadstools all along this marshy wet area. We also found the bones of a moose calf that had been eaten last summer by grizzlies. Sobering! Moose, even calves, are BIG! Wow!
Denali has an arrangement that you can only drive cars the first 15 miles of the 89 mile park road. Most of the road is unpaved and accessible only by park buses. So, we drove out to the end of the pavement and took another hike along the Savage River. Windy and cold, but beautiful. We walked a loop trail that had bridges over the river at either end. 
The highlight of this was a whole flock of ptarmigan, the Alaskan state birds. These birds, kind of like a cross between a grouse and a chicken, were so pretty and we got to see them quite close up. They are already beginning to change plumage to their winter white. What a treat to see them so close.The evening ended up at Beth and Scott’s house with lots of tales to tell both ways of trips and travels and life in our respective communities. Lots of enthusiastic talking and then, time for bed. We had to get up at 5:30 in the morning to catch our 7:00 bus for a ride to the heart of the park!
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