July 15th, from Seward to Anchorage:
Dall Sheep:
We stayed in Eagle River Campground, Chugach State Park, outside Anchorage. It was nice to have woods and space - and sticks! - again.
Unfortunately, as we've seen in most of the state parks we've been in, people are killing the trees by pealing the bark off to use as kindling. As seen here, they actually cut the trees to do it. Very sad.
July 16th: We woke up to find our camping gear container was gone. It had been under the trailer, where it was every night for the past 22 weeks. Never a problem before. When we told the camp host about it, she said that theft is rather common, happening mostly on weekends when kids from the surrounding area drive through at two or three in the morning and take anything that looks like it might be a cooler (loaded with beer). Ours was the third reported theft that day. Hmmmmm. Would have been nice to have been warned ahead of time. A simple sign at the self-pay fee station would have done the trick. White storage container with interlocking lid, Coleman lantern, lantern hanger, Coleman stove fuel, fuel funnel, box of strike-anywhere matches, two-gallon collapsible water container, fire knot (which Bill had spent hours preparing), kindling, folding pruning saw, various ropes and twine, retractable clothesline, bungee cords, pack of sandpaper, two citronella candles in glass pots, roll of pipe insulation, and probably other things we can't recall right now. All gone. Worse yet, all just dumped somewhere if the host was right about it being kids looking for beer. What a waste.
After some commiserating, we got on with the day. Bill and Karen did some chores, including buying a generator, and Sue enjoyed spending the day with Barkley, reading, writing, and getting to know the neighbors.
Sunset at 10:32 p.m. set the trees ablaze.
Of course, it was still almost like daylight, so play continued.
July 17th: Our neighbors for the weekend are stationed at Elmonton Air Force Base in Anchorage. Here's Hadleigh, with her mom Brittainy and dad Cody, enjoying kisses from Barkley.
And then Hadleigh got tired.
Sue saw this red squirrel come out of a hole below a tree, grab the mushroom, and run up the tree to eat it.
Sue and Karen loved picking wildflowers together, and Sue especially enjoyed finding baby spruce trees amongst the flowers. This is a very special bouquet; it's for Jerry.
Jerry Haley was Sue's husband and Bill's dad and passed away in 1999. Most of Jerry's ashes were left near the creek behind the farm he and Sue loved and lived on for eight years in Murphy, North Carolina. Sue kept some of the ashes, and sent half of that along with Bill when we left Florida in February, as Jerry had always wanted to go to Alaska. While Sue and Karen were out picking wildflowers, Sue was drawn to a beautiful little bowl in the woods, with spruce trees on each side of the entrance and a steep hill Jerry would have loved to climb. Sue said it would be perfect if she could find a baby spruce, and there it was. We looked all around, and it was the only one there. So this was it: Jerry's Grove.
It was the perfect day for Jerry's ceremony. The sun even lit the path into the woods.
Sue, preparing the spot by the little spruce tree:
The view from the entrance to Jerry's Grove:
Time to build the fire:
July 18th: It rained all day long and all last night; perfect reading weather. Because the state park limits stays to four days, we moved about 25 down the road, back to Big Bear RV Park and Campground in Wasilla. A couple more days of reading, and then it was time for Sue to pack up for her loooong flight back to Florida. She left Anchorage Airport at 1:40 a.m., July 21st. We miss her so much.
This is Sue's favorite wildflower bouquet. We left it in Wasilla for our neighbors to enjoy.
