Wasilla to Denali Nation Park, Monday, July 13, 2009

While in Wasilla, we attended one of the wards in our church. There we met and were invited for dinner at the home of Barbara and Gary Adams. They were very kind to us and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with them.
Monday, we left for a campground near Denali so that we could drive into the park early Tuesday morning. This batmobile was on the side of the road in a fireworks store parking lot.

This is a view of the Kashwitna River as we passed by going north.

The fireweed were nearly at their peak while driving so I had to include several photos of them beside the road. It made the road look like a road through a park.

More fireweed! They got their name because they are the first plant to grow in the soil after a fire.

This is our first view of Mt. McKinley at mile 162.4 north, from Anchorage on the Parks Highway. Mount McKinley lies within the Denali National Park. Hope to get some better shots when we get inside Denali.

This is an abandoned Igloo Building which might have been a unique lodge at one time. There are many aboned buildings and lodges in Alaska.

This white wildflower has a bee on it! I will have to identify all these wildflowers when I get home.

This is one of many wild grasses in Alaska. One of the busdrivers called it a fox's tail.

This is Summit Lake in the Broad Summit. This summit was so broad that it went on for several miles. The Alaska RR runs alongside the road through this summit.

Here is a view of Broad summit which may give you an idea of the scale. You can barely see the vehicle on the road in the distance.

This is fireweed at the Cantwell Campground, 27 miles south of Denali Nation Park entrance.

This fireweed is a taller variety than the minature one we will see in Denali Park.

Here we are stopped for road construction on our way north Tuesday morning from Cantwell RV Park. This is fairly common in Alaska due to the permafrost melting and causing the road to sink.