Denali - home of predator and prey

Greetings from a hostel just outside Denali National Park after 4 days' camping in the park and looking at a whole pile of truly wild animals. I have survived to tell the tale. The animals are pretty amazing and include the traditional 'big game' - none of which are afraid to wander all over the road (first one is a moose):

to a different kind of predator:
I also encountered lots of what Alaskans apparently call their other unofficial state bird - the mosquito. Writing this I have not had a shower for 4 days and going to the toilet while in the park involved exposing all relevant parts for the minimum time possible - with violent accompanying hand movements in a crouching position - to avoid being munched on. Let us just say that despite serious preventative measures (see photo below) I was not entirely successful.

Anchorage next and then home! M

Fairbanks - land of the midnight sun (dusk)

Fairbanks - home of interior Alaska. It was over 30 degrees while I was here which was a really nice change from the 15 degrees or so it has been everywhere else. Fairbanks threw itself a big solstice party for the longest day of the year - I can report that like in the movies, bands in street fairs DO play Sweet Home Alabama and the locals do get up and dance. Not me though.

This is me dutifully recording the 'midnight pitch' at midnight during the 102nd annual Midnight Sun Baseball Game. For the record the Alaska Goldpanners went down 6-1 to the San Diego Ocean Waves. However, this is as dark as it got in Fairbanks on June 21 - all night.

Alaska from the air (for free - kind of)

In case any of you come to Alaska, don't pay for a flight-seeing tour. Book a flight from Juneau to Anchorage and ask to sit by the window on the right hand side of the plane. This was the most amazing flight I've ever been on (so far):

Juneau and the 'drive-in glacier'

Juneau - on a typical South-east Alaska day. Drizzly, a little bit cold. These are also 2 of the 7 cruise ships I saw in the Juneau harbour during my 48 hours in the city.

After 2 nights in the city I headed out to Alaska's famous 'drive-in glacier'. That's drive in if you have a car. Otherwise it is a decent couple of miles heaving a backpack up the road. This (below) is the view from my tent with the glacier in the background. It doesn't show the mosquitos dive-bombing me every few seconds.


And just to show the difference a day makes, this is a (closer) view of the glacier on the day I left. They say it's better viewing a glacier in the rain... (?) but I don't get it.

Taking over the Capitol Building

Juneau, the capital of Alaska. I decided they needed a woman to run things - so this is me in the Speaker's chair in the equivalent of Alaska's cabinet room (for the lower house). I could get used to this.

New Friend

This is my new friend I met waiting just outside my tent in the Sitka campground one morning. Apparently this is a banana slug. He was so beautiful I decided he should have his own blog post too..

Sitka

Greetings from Sitka, the cultural capital of Alaska. This is the place where native Indians and Russian fur traders clashed for territory in the early 1800s. It's also the place where Russia signed over Alaska to the USA for 7.2 million dollars in 1867.

Sitka overall was pretty cool. I have learned lots about the 'Raven' and 'Eagle' divisions within the local Native Indian Tlingit tribe which are shown on the poles.

The other great thing about Sitka (read: not so great) is that it is one of the few places in Alaska where there are no black bears .. just grizzlies. This in a place where the hostel had unexpectedly closed down so the only option was to go camping by a lake..