Denali.

jackal came by Bob W's around 9, and we left shortly with an
assortment of provisions that Bob had rounded up for us. A
tour of town to pick up the others, who were, let's see,
nor4, LIGrin, kltye, ckpeter, belle3388 + Lily, CDKing,
and magic111, not necessarily in that order. Some detours
on the way north, starting with trying to find a bank where
jackal could deposit many hundred dollars in small bills,
followed by a tour of Wasilla: what has come to be known as
Four Corners, all of which we toured in an attempt to find
something unknown (we ended up with a coffee drink for the
driver and a road atlas); and the Iditarod headquarters,
where we viewed an interesting and inspirational video about
the race and met some adorable Husky puppies.

On to Talkeetna, a quaint (too much so) town on the Susitna
River (where the heck do they get these amusing names? and
why do the Athabaskans make all these words that end in
-tna?), where we lunched at the Roadhouse - many of us had
chili (reindeer, black bean, or a mixture), though the house
specialty is Cornish-style pasties. The non-bean chili was
good for the middle of nowhere, though too tomatoey and not
spicy enough (great lashings of Tabasco made it too sour and
still not spicy enough). Some whose names shall remain
undivulged begged for time to explore the town, which was
reluctantly granted, so magic111 and I took the opportunity
to take a short walk and catch a glimpse of the river in its
roiling opaque green glacial glory.

Which reminds me that on the way to the state fair the other
day we had made a brief detour to Eklutna - the only a
proposness being the peculiarity of the names of the places,
Eklutna being a small old former Russian Orthodox town on
the way to Palmer, also ever so quaint.

It's a long trip up there. Not for Alaskans, I guess: I used
to go with a woman whose cousin was working at Prudhoe Bay,
and he'd have a week off, so he'd drive to his mom's in
Anchorage, have a good meal or two, then drive right back,
or so I'm told.

It's a gorgeous long trip up there, and we made frequent ooh
and ah stops and futile attempts to sight Denali, which was
most of the time covered with clouds, and when anyone caught
a glimpse ("stop! stop!"), we'd dutifully stop at the
nearest turnoff, whereupon the big boy would hide again.
The surrounding mountains - breathtaking - and valleys - the
fall foliage was at its peak -, though, made the trip worth
taking in and of themselves.

There were significant construction delays on the highway,
which gave us a bit of anxiety regarding our dinner plans,
but in the end all was well.

As we approached our destination, we encountered a moose cow
and yearling (we called it a calf, but magic111 corrected
us), who allowed us to get mighty close and get some
spectacular shots.