Had a decent night at this fairly quiet pull-out, though we weren't exactly level, we were fairly sheltered from the road. Headed back to town around 9:30 to see about tickets for the Hurricane Turn flag stop train (which we learned about on Trip Advisor), but as we came over the brow of the hill, we noticed a bunch of cars parked in a scenic view off to the left, and in moments, we knew why. Despite the fact that it was cloudy overhead in Talkeetna, off in the the distance, the mountain range, including Denali (Mt. McKinley) was absolutely clear as a bell. The clouds were moving from the south fast, so immediately after going to the train depot and learning they didn't even open until 10:00, we headed straight for the airport, to K2 Flightseeing. Though we didn't have a reservation, they managed to get us on a flight that took us exactly where we wanted, around the entire summit, no glacier landing, leaving within 30 minutes, perfect! It did leave a little later, but we still managed to reach the mountain while it was still clear, and we worked our way around to the Wickersham Wall on the north side, just as the bank of clouds starting butting up against the south summit, it was gorgeous! What a fantastic ride! We came so close to the mountain, we felt like we could reach out and touch it! Our pilot was a former Cessna test pilot, and the plane was a larger twin engine (two engines always make me feel safer than one), and he did a fantastic job of weaving in and out of peaks and valleys, it was breathtaking. It will be very hard for anything after this to top this experience. Outstanding! We passed over several glaciers, and he pointed out all the highlights without getting overly chatty, we couldn't have asked for more. Worth every nickel! By the time we headed back, we ran into some rain, so our timing was absolutely perfect! Afterward we drove into town and spent a little time walking around, spending nearly two hours in the local historical museum (while other tourists raced around us... their loss) had a bite to eat and a beer at the Brewhouse, before eventually heading back out to a different overnight spot just a bit further out of town than the last one, but it's set back more off the road and has a better screen of trees in the front for more privacy, plus it was more level. A perfect day!

Woke up early to the alarm, and since it had rained all night, and we couldn't imagine our Kenai Fjords 9 hour tour would take place, so I called right away, and was told they were still planning on going! We rushed around, and managed to get there on time at 8:00, only to THEN be told that the two longer tours were canceled, but if we wanted to take the shorter cruise around Resurrection Bay that they would adjust the price. We declined, and managed to get a full refund, since the clouds and rain were so thick, we couldn't imagine seeing much wildlife anyway. We took the opportunity to head our of town, and thus gained a day in our schedule. Frankly, we had seen mostly rain since we arrived in Alaska, and were ready to start heading north, where apparently the skies were a bit clearer. Off we went, first to Anchorage for gas and shopping, then on to the tiny town of Talkeenta, which is the jumping off point for most climbing expeditions, flightseeing and jetboating in the area. As we were driving through Anchorage, Hubby noticed in a magazine some information on a Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, so we decided to take the detour and go there for a bit. It was fascinating! The wool of this critter is so soft, and the yarn was weaved and knitted into incredibly soft material. By the end of the tour, Hubby decided to adopt one, with a special sponsorship program they have, so we decided on a 16 year old female named Luna, whose claim to fame was that when they were out playing with large balls, she got stuck up on one, with all four legs off the ground, and it apparently took her some time to finally figure out how to come down. Two years later, she did it again! Anyway, she seemed like such a character, we just had to adopt her! It's for a great cause, in any event. After that tour, we continued on our way, reaching Talkeetna in the afternoon. After taking a drive around town to see what was there, we walked around a bit before heading back out of town to a pullout camping area that we found.

Slept pretty late, knowing we didn't have to hurry anywhere, had a cold breakfast of cereal knowing we would be eating a big lunch at a restaurant, and eventually moseyed down to Seavey's Ididaride. The Seavey Family has won the Iditarod on several occasions, and placed many times, so they're rather famous in the dog-sled world. We started out doing the dog sled section of the tour first, learning a great deal about how they live, how they're bred and maintained, saw how they lived in plastic barrels and seem to love it, how they can't wait to work, it was very enlightening. Then three groups of us piled into three wheeled carts, and watched in fascination as the dogs were hooked up, leaping and barking in anticipation, but not moving forward, not yet anyway. Before long, we were off and running! We rolled through the woods for about a half mile before stopping for a designated rest stop. Apparently, 50 degrees and raining was too hot for them to work too hard, as they apparently are more comfortable in 15 below, so the rest was to cool them down. After a bit of rest, off we went again for another half mile, another rest. During each rest stop, our guide, Grayson, a young man who did a pretty good job throughout the activity, answered all our questions and gave us lots more insights into the whole racing world. We traversed along the side of a river, then back into the woods, finally arriving back at the kennel, where our next stop was to cuddle puppies for a few minutes. Nine pups in one litter, only 16 days old, so it was easy to cuddle. Next we headed indoors to watch a demonstration of how the equipment worked, from showing us the brakes and steering on the sled, to dressing up an old and very cooperative sled dog in all the gear from booties to jackets to tummy (and privates) warmer. Then, with a young girl from the audience, we got to see all the human equipment as well, also from booties to jackets to snot wiper (yes, really). Finally, the kennel tour came to an end, and we then joined Todd our tour driver on the bus, and our first stop was a nearby restaurant. We had ordered our meals when we first arrived, so they were waiting for us by the time we got there, and were served moments after we sat down. I had a delicious salmon sandwich, Hubby a seafood chowder that was deliciously creamy. After lunch, we loaded back up on the bus and headed out to the Exit glacier, which was just up the road from Seavey's and walked to the river downstream from the glacier, and found chunks of ice all along the edge. I walked downstream a bit, and found I could see the glacier from there, it was quite remarkable. Then we all decided to head up the trail, though Hubby decided not to, since it was quite a bit of uphill climbing, so he headed back to the visitor center. The rest of us headed uphill, and eventually got all the way as close to the glacier as we could, though we did have any member of the party quit about halfway. Got lots of pix, and gaped and gasped at some of the facts that we learned along the way, like, every inch of glacier was made by compressing 100 feet of snow, making it so dense that no wavelengths of light can come through, except occasionally, when the conditions were right, a vivid aqua blue. Amazing. Afterward, we headed back down the trail, catching up to our stragglers, boarding the bus once again, and making another stop at a fish weir, where scientists count the salmon as they run upstream, and when they reach a certain number, they prevent any more from going upstream. This apparently insures that just the right number reach the lake, allowing for good runs every year, rather than boom and bust years. It's the latter ones that you find in the store as "Wild Alaskan Salmon." By now, we were pretty much wet through, as it had been raining steadily for several hours now, and, after a short drizzly ride through downtown Seward, we made it back to Seaveys. From there, Hubby and I went to the Safeway to pick up a few groceries, and briefly considered staying overnight in their parking lot, but fearful there was a city ordnance prohibiting it, we headed out to a turnout by the river that we found, almost directly across from the road that led to Seaveys. Looked like a pretty good spot, as several other RV's were there, and more joined us as the evening passed. A great day!

Having already knocked out about 15 miles of our first leg, we had a nice breakfast in the RV and headed out fairly early. More miles of gorgeous and dramatic scenery down to Girdwood and beyond, until finally the road moved away from the inlet into the mountains. We turned west to head for Homer, and as the mountains slipped away, the terrain became fairly ordinary, looking like any coastal community like in the Carolinas or along the West Coast. We stopped in Soldotna, which was the only, full-fledged town along the way (with TWO grocery stores, no less!), and finished getting supplies before moving on. As we reached Homer, the first view is the most impressive. As you top the hill, you can see across the inlet to the other side, and with lots of mist and rain and low clouds around, we weren't sure what we were looking at. Later we learned it was a glacier, which was cool enough, but with the clouds swirling around it, it seemed even more mysterious, so beautiful. When we got to the bottom of the hill and into the town, we took a wrong turn and ended up on the Homer "Spit," a causeway that juts out into the inlet most, but not all, of the way. It was crowded with little shops, restaurants and fish markets, mostly on stilts, boats, campers, cars, parking, and was just a mess of people wandering around. We almost reached the end when we found a fish market, so we stopped in hopes of finding some fresh salmon. No such luck, being Sunday, this shop was out and there were no processors around, so we actually ended up buying some frozen, oh well. We headed back to the mainland, found the right road and kept going, now heading east along the south side of the peninsula. I had discovered that my cell phone wouldn't download data for my GPS, but my new Jetpack could, so I ended up using my Jetpack as a hot spot so my phone could work data. Weird, but at least it worked. So with the GPS running, we discovered where Trails End Horse Adventures was, then set about looking for a place to park for the night. We were tempted to park at the elementary school just up the road, but discovered a side road across the street that had a little turnout off it. There was a half-stripped down car parked there, not sure what that was about, and it wasn't perfectly level, but it was convenient and would do for the night. We got settled in, though I had some trouble trying to hook up the DVD player, so we tried to watch it directly, and we both ended up falling asleep. With the sun setting after 10:00, and dusk lasting to 11:00, our internal time clocks are having a field day trying to get used to it. Early start tomorrow, so we gave up and went to bed!

Well, today's the day we hit our 50th state! Arranged for a town car to pick us up at the stable, said our good-bys to our four-legged family members, and headed out to the airport. Unlike my earlier flight this week, we got the 5th degree from TSA. They confiscated my corkscrew because it had a one and a half inch "blade" on it, then searched both bags, chastised me for several minutes because I had too many liquids and wasn't following the 3-1-1 rule, then when they finally learned I was handling baggage for two, it suddenly became all right, though no apology was offered, just another lecture about "in the future," all the while using a tone that of a 1st grade teacher (and not in the nice way). This despite the fact I had a TSA pre-board pass. Despite being over 70, they still made him take off his jacket and shoes, because he had to have a pat down (because of his defibrillator), and they said it would help make it "go faster." What a crock. Anyway, we finally managed to make it through, and we had breakfast at the restaurant in the terminal, which was surprisingly good considering the monopoly. Finally got on the plane, which was another turbo jet like Monday, and were in Seattle in no time. Fortunately, our outgoing flight to Anchorage was also in the same terminal just a few gates away, so that was easier than before. Wasn't long before we were winging our way north! The flight was uneventful, and we landed easily enough, and our baggage was out in no time. Called Great Alaskan Holidays, from whom we had rented an RV, and they were out in no time. We had originally planned on staying the night there, then getting the orientation in the morning and heading out, but we had taken an earlier flight than originally planned, so we just managed to squeak in under the wire, saw most of the video before we reminded them we were full-time Rvers, and they quickly sent us on our way just before they closed their gates at 7:00. We headed out to Fred Meyers (it was recommended over Walmart, but that proved to be a mistake), where we bought as many supplies as we could, though they didn't have a lot that we would normally get. Got a bit perturbed by a clerk in their liquor store, when she insisted that we BOTH show ID in order to buy brandy and wine, insisting that even if I walked away she wouldn't serve Hubby because I had "touched the bottles". I had left mine in the RV, and no amount of reasoning would change her mind, so I ended up having to go all the way out to the edge of the parking lot to get mine, how stupid. Not a good first impression of Alaska, I'm afraid. We had learned late that there was no overnight parking allowed anywhere in Anchorage, so we had to get out of town asap, not part of the plan, but there you go. We still didn't want to spend the night in the RV parking lot, so we headed south. There were many turnouts along the way, but most were right on the road, which we wanted to avoid if we could. We finally pulled into Bird Creek, a fee parking area that had a row of trees separating the RV area from the road, and for $5, it was worth it. We didn't bother pulling the slide out, we just had a quick dinner and settled in for the night, grateful that it wasn't raining despite dire forecasts, and having seen some fantastic scenery as we headed along the Chugash mountains on one side and the Cook Inlet on the other. Gorgeous! And most importantly, we made it!! Our 50th state!

Though we originally were going to head for the Joe Watt Canyon area near Ellenburg, because it was apparently an open field with no shade, no corrals, no trees, no water, and the temps were still in the 90's because it was east of the mountains, we reconsidered and decided to go to another place I had just found called Sahara Creek Horse Camp. It was a slightly longer drive, but would get us over the mountains to the cooler, western side, and it was a more equipped horse camp. We headed out early again, after a great night sleep in cooler mountain air, and while we made the trip fine, there were a few quite scary moments. The first was shortly after leaving the campground, when I-84 took a plunge out of the mountains into the valley, dropping from 3700 feet down to 1300 feet in barely 5 or 6 miles, making a very steep and harrowing section of the journey. Hubby got going a bit too fast and couldn't slow down, his brakes giving out and even though he was in second gear, he couldn't stop. Eventually his engine even quit under the strain. He finally managed to pull over using the brake controller on the horse trailer, and he waited until he could start the engine again before proceeding. I kept going down the hill, as it seemed more dangerous to stop, until I had just about got to the bottom, and I found a place to pull over to wait for him. Our walkie talkies didn't work at that distance, so I just had to trust that he would come down off the mountain eventually, and not too long afterward, he did. Very happy he didn't panic, and everyone was safe in the end, but it was quite a frightening few minutes. The first exit afterward had a casino with a restaurant, so we stopped for a sit-down breakfast to give ourselves time to get our nerves unjangled after that. Most of the rest of the drive was fine, except for the last 25 mile stretch through very twisty, windy and bumpy forest roads, but many of the views were spectacular. We actually passed White Pass, a campground where we had stayed last time we came through this way, then had another long downhill stretch, but we took this one much more slowly, enjoying beautiful views of Mt. Rainier as we went. Stopped briefly at a corner gas station just to check on my email, since my Verizon map indicates I won't have service at the campground, then we took the last stretch and arrived at the horse camp around 3:00. The place was packed when we got there, but someone was just leaving and they generously offered us their spot. There were other places open, but the highlines were all on the outside of the campground, and except for the end spots, they were across the road from the campsite. The one we got was on an end, so we were next to the horses. The campground is fully forested, and thus quite cool, a refreshing change from earlier in the week, and it took me no time to get up the highline and get the horses settled and fed. Turns out the campsite was free, but that we were supposed to have a DNR pass, which you can get when you renew your license. Does't help the tourist much, though. I wasn't about to go out looking for a store that sold them, so we took our chances. Someone later told me the rangers had already been through for the day, and as we were leaving first thing, we would be gone by the time they got there, so 'nuff said, we had a free night. Again, water spigots were few and far between, but we had enough water in both trailers to get us through the night, no worries. Settled down again, after the toughest day yet for all of us, thankful for the cooler weather.