Photos by Karen Allen from Annie Oakley.org

Hello everyone (well those few that may come here :) sorry but haven't posted in awhile since I got back from Alaska and still need to post my update from July 4th in Wasilla with Pictures.. Let's just say --- IT WAS AWESOME !! but in the meantime I would like to share with you the two following pics done by Karen Allen. Karen is a member of Team Sarah and is an ardent Sarah supporter. I feel her work, photos and videos, are some of the best out there. Please also check her out at www.annieoakley.org

Day 6 in Alaska Thursday July 2

• Nothing planned today except to go to Wasilla and meet some TS friends and do a tour :). So I ate b-fast at the Sheraton and then walked downtown to get my rental car. The rental guy told me to meet him at 10am but didn't show up till about 10:30am. This was not one of your "name" rental companies but a local Anchorage operation who happened to have a much cheaper rate than the big national companies. This was quite an experience as they gave me an old Ford Taurus with about 80,000 miles on it.. It looked like it had been wrecked and wasn't vacuumed out or anything but the rate was about half of what I was quoted from Avis. Picked up the car and drove back to the Sheraton --- Cost $10 to park for a day. The car had power cords sticking out of the front. Being a Virginian , I had no idea that these were used as a heater to warm the engine during cold weather :)
• Walked back into town as I had some time to kill and was reading the historic signs on the sidewalk about Anchorage. Decided to go to the "Snow Goose" restaurant on 4th street just down from the Hilton. Our bus driver from the Sunday tour had recommended it and it has an outdoor patio with awesome views of the Cook Inlet and downtown. They also have a little micro-brewery called the "Sleeping Lady" after Mount Susitna.
• Then walked back into d-town, this is a very touristy area kind of like a touristy beach area but instead of dolphins and sharks as the theme, there are moose and grizzly bears :). Plenty of gift shops, tour companies advertising cruises, restaurants etc.. The weather was absolutely perfect, a cool breeze and sunny skies. I know the winters up here are rough but the Summer, from my brief experience has been fabulous.
• Ate at a sidewalk vendor - had a reindeer sausage, chips and a Dr. Pepper. The sign on the vendor's machine said, "no you are not eating Rudolph." That made me feel better :)
• Left Sheraton to head towards Wasilla, the Sarah Palin portion of the tour. Wasilla is about 45 minutes North of Anchorage and on the way up actually got caught in a small traffic jam in Wasilla -- the area is actually a lot more congested than the Media's impression.
• Met Jill from Wasilla and Denise from TS at the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce which is actually where the Alaska Railroad makes a stop:

• Jill took us to the Wasilla Bible Church, this is Sarah's church and also Jill's. This was the church that some nuts tried to burn down but now it is looking great and doing fine !!! I sent a donation and Jill said that inside you can see a pin on the map of all the people that donated. We couldn't get in but I took a picture out front:

• Next stop Wasilla High School. The alma mater of the Governor of Alaska. Jill said inside they have a trophy of Sarah's high school b-ball championship.. GO WASILLA WARRIORS !!

• Next stop: City hall: This is where Sarah was the Mayor and I think this is where her and Todd voted in the presidential election. The building is actually a lot bigger than this photo captures as it extends around the back.

• Last stop: Iditarod headquarters which is located in Wasilla. Jill said that the event used to start from here but has been recently been moved to Willow, which is North of here.

• Back to Anchorage and got back about 9pm. I'd like to thank Jill and company :) for taking her time and showing me around. It was great!! You get a lot different perspective when you actually see the sites first-hand.
• Plan for today Friday is to tour Anchorage, might take in a hiking trail and either go to the fireworks in Wasilla tonight or will be definitely heading out there on Saturday for the July 4th parade, Tea Party and cookout!! Stay tuned more to come from Billy's excellent adventure to Alaska :)

Day 5 in Alaska Wednesday July 1

• Ate b-fast about 7am in the Mountaineer Grill at Denali Bluffs Hotel. Then I walked down into the row of shops and restaurants. You have to check your luggage in and they transport it to the railroad depot. My train was scheduled for 12:15pm.

• I decided to walk to the Train Depot. The clerk told me it was about a mile, it ended up being about 3 miles but hey it was good for me. The park service visitor center is also located right across the street from the train, it's worth a look and is a really nice facility. They have a film and some ranger tours you can take. The train arrived on time and we left about 12:40 after everyone had come off and we boarded. I was booked on the "standard" fare which is the cheapest price with the Cruise lines having the more expensive cars with the Glass domed roofs. To tell you the truth, I thought the standard fare was fine, I had plenty of room and we actually had a couple of cars with the "domed" roofs which we could use. I had no problems getting awesome views of the surrounding countryside.

• If you ever go to Alaska I would put this train ride at the top of your list. Granted, I got lucky and had a beautiful day weather-wise but I think on any day the views will be spectacular. The Train travels slow (we arrived back in Anchorage at 8pm) and you have plenty of time to take in the vistas. We got really lucky in a few spots because the clouds had cleared from Denali and we could see it perfectly. My tour agent had told me that some people prefer the bus ride, which I had done on the way up, but there really is no comparison. The train, in my mind, is the way to go!!

Day 4 in Alaska - Tuesday Denali Park

• Got up about 4am again :) and ate the complimentary b-fast at the Hotel starting at 5am. A good b-fast, bagels, fruit, juice and coffee. At 6am the driver picked us up for the Wilderness Tundra Tour and we proceeded to pick up the bulk of the passengers from the Princess Hotel/Cruise Line Lodge. I think there was about 48 of us on the Bus. I met a nice couple from Canada who were taking a cruise from Whittier, AK after this portion of the tour.
• The bus enters the park and starts down the park road. If you were to take your car you can only drive the first 14 miles and after that there is a ranger station where only the tour buses can pass. The views/vistas are spectacular.

• The bus ride took about 8 hours and our job was to spot wildlife. We saw 4 bears, a couple of moose, some caribou, birds, a wolf and Dall sheep high up on a ridge. In the pics below you can see a Momma Grizzly walking right down the road with her cub and also a Willow Ptarmigan (state bird of Alaska) and her chicks.

• Back to the hotel and a few hours break before the white-water rafting ride on the Nenanna River. This river flows from the Nenanna glacier so the water has a bluish-tint and is only about 38 degrees. They put us in "dry" suits to keep us warm and it was pretty spectacular as I got drenched in about the first 2 minutes. The suit keeps you warm but my hands were freezing: Pic below of dry suit and the river:

• Back to the Hotel about 9:30pm and I'm exhausted. The day was Great !! and the weather so far has been picture-perfect. I would definitely recommend this but don't forget your wallet :) Went to bed and awaited my train ride back to Anchorage scheduled for tomorrow.

Day 3 in Alaska - Monday

Hello everyone, well the few that come to this page :): Been up at the National Park in Denali and no internet access. Just arrived back in Anchorage so I'm going to try and get up to date:

• Ate at the Country Kitchen again and then walked into downtown Anchorage. My bus trip to Denali wasn't until 3pm so some time to kill.
• Went to the National Park Visitor Center on 4th Street at 9am and walked around. They have a lot of info about Alaska and you can watch some "free" films here. Watched one about the animals native to Alaska which had some great film work. Here is one of the native animals: A Dall sheep:

• After this, I walked around and ended up at the Tony Knowles hiking/bicycling trail. Saw from the outside the home of Oscar Anderson- He was the 18th person to move Anchorage back in 1915 and was one of the first to open a business.

• Back to the visitor's center and they had a walking tour starting at 11am which focused on Captain Cook. Cook was one of the first European explorers to come to Alaska and the Cook inlet is named after him. If anyone saw the Glenn Beck interview with Sarah where she mentioned going to "Tastee Freeze". She has the cook inlet behind her like the photo below. Also notice the mountain in the background, Mount Sustina, the sleeping lady. This was the mountain that Team Sarah used in the birthday greeting to Governor Palin. Also notice that the Tide is out, this inlet has one of the most extreme changes of tide in the world, second only to the Bay of Fundy -- 40 Feet in a 6 hour period:

• Back to the Days Inn, checked out and took a taxi to the Anchorage Museum to catch my bus to Denali. Very new and nice museum, I particularly liked the section on the History of Alaska starting in prehistoric times. Great info about Alaska Statehood and the pipeline. This pic is taken outside the museum while we waited for the tour bus.

• We left at 3pm and the bus takes you North out of town past Elmendorf AFB and eventually onto the Parks Highway. On the way you pass through the Mat-Su borough and Wasilla. The bus driver said "Over to the left is Lake Lucille, home of THE Governor Sarah Palin."After you pass Wasilla, about the only community of size is Willow. We traveled a few more hours and took another road to the east towards the town of Talkeetna and the Talkeetna lodge. This lodge is owned by a Native American corporation and on a clear day has views of Denali/Mt. Mckinley but as you can see from my pic it was very cloudy -- Traveler's note: they say that for my visitors the chance of seeing the Mountain is only about 30%. Also the town of Talkeetna is where they take fly the mountain climbers from that are attempting to climb the mountain.

• Back on the bus and towards Denali Park, the drive took us about 6 hours and the bus driver dropped me off at the "Denali Bluffs Hotel." The rooms were very nice and this really is the "Land of the midnight Sun." By the time I had got a bite to eat at the Hotel it was about 11pm and it was still perfectly light. The views were spectacular although you cannot seen the Mountain because of the foothills. This little area of Hotels is where most of the tourists come as the Cruise lines have built lodges and hotels and my impression was that they are kind of "running" the area. There are also gift shops and restaurants for about a stretch of a 1/2 mile and after that, that's about it and the road heads North towards Fairbanks. This area is only active from May till Mid September and becomes basically a Ghost town afterwards as the seasonal tourist season ends and the Winter sets in. The first pic is from the Bluffs Hotel and the other is a shot of the Tourist area taken on Wednesday morning.