We woke up between 2:00-3:00 a.m. as it started raining hard in the middle of the night and we finally packed up around 4:00 and drove back to Denali National Park. We slept in the parking lot until 5:00 where we then caught a bus for an all day trip. It was drizzling rain the whole day and we never saw Mt McKinley although we did see some moose, carabou and 3 bears at the very end. We took pictures of the bears but they were to far away to get a real good picture. They told us the Mt. McKinley is only visible about 10-15% of the time. Only the first 14 miles are open to the publlic and then you have take a bus. We were glad that we went once but will probably not go again as I can think of better ways to spend a summer day in Alaska.
We headed south towards Anchorage and the scenery was nothing spectacular until we got around Wasilla where we went on some backroads. We also took Peter’s Creek road which is about 20-25 miles off the main road. It was fairly flat with nice houses along the side and some marsh land. I had read a book by Richard Leo where he had claimed land here back in 1981 and wrote a nice book about this area. He had left the life of New York to build a house with wife and kids
We drove into Anchorage around noon and started looking for hotel as most of them were already full. We finally found one for $85 at the Samovar Inn which also had pool and jacuzzi. We drove around the town and waterfront that night. The town seems to have a mix of homes, condos and lower income apartments. The downtown has some skyscrapers but not exactly metropoliten. It reminded me a little bit of San Diego but I'm sure I wouldn't be saying the same thing in the winter. We saw the airport and teens playing basketball at midnight in an enclosed hockeyrink/basketball court; depending on time of the year. Jacob thought it would be great to play basketball all night and not have to go to bed. I drover 400 miles today and 3550 total in seven days.