Tuesday, June 24 - Fun Day with Lora and John (Palmer, Alaska)

 

Today our friends John and Lora came and got us and we saw some of the sights in this area. Bob and Janet declined going out today, as they just wanted to hang out at home.

We met Lora and John in 2011 when we worked at Amazon. They are original from Iowa, but lived in Alaska for 20 years before starting full-timing. They are here now visiting with Lora’s parents.

Our 1st stop was

Then we drove up to Hatcher Pass

Hatcher Pass is a favorite recreation area for residents of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, and is easily accessible from either Palmer or Wasilla. The main attraction of Hatcher Pass is 272-acre Independence Mine State Historical Park, a huge, abandoned gold mine sprawled out in an Alpine Valley. The remains of 16 buildings that were built in the 1930s by the Alaska-Pacific Mining Company, one of the leading hard rock gold mines in Alaska in its day.

Closed in 1951 (the year I was born) today is a state park. Today you can explore the structures, hike several trails and visit the visitors center.

The most interesting part of this place to me is that my 1st Nephew, Brian Baker and his wife Shannon were married at Hatcher Pass. They were station in Anchorage while in the Air Force.

Wildlife we saw

Surround by Mountains.

This was taken while up at the Pass

Same mountain our our back window of the RV

They showed us where they are staying at Wasilla Middle School. Apparently some Alaska school districts hire workcampers to camp in the parking lot to be a deterrent for vandalism.  You get water and electric and they come and pump you out once a week. They only need to call the police if they see anything happening and they are free to come and go as they please. GOOD DEAL!

By this time we were hungry and we stopped at DQ.

After lunch we headed to the IDITAROD Museum:

A race covering 1,000 miles from Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, it’s the roughest, most beautiful terrain Mother Nature has to offer. The trail has jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, and desolate tundra. Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs and side hills, and you have the Iditarod. A race extraordinaire, a race only possible in Alaska.

We saw a film in the museum about how the dogs just want to run. They are cared for throughout the race by many veterinarians and their mushers and team.

We were able to see the dogs and the puppies, but the puppies were too tired to wake up.

They have rides that last about 2 minutes. (We didn’t ride but watched others ride)

The Hall of Fame hanging in the museum

At 5:30 we went over to Bob and Janet ‘s for pizza dinner. As in the past Janet’s pizza was very, very good even though it wasn’t cooked in the green egg.