Laundry on my mind. I've been
procrastinating but also realize this is not all that necessary as
I packed too many clothes. But I'll never have such a lovely
place to do laundry again and headed to the “Riley Mercantile.” I
had checked this out last night and expected early morning on
Memorial Day would be a good time, with no waiting. Except it apparently was
what others thought also.
I met a couple from Vermont and a guy
from Texas, and we chatted in the way of total strangers who will
likely never meet again. The guy looked like Dennis Quaid, not quite
as handsome, tall, a few pounds overweight but pleasant. He had a great
smile and eyes that twinkled with good will. He was wearing a
nondescript blue buttoned polyester shirt with a couple of small old stains
and some baggy unremarkable pants. He was helping with this chore for
his family of wife and four kids (“ages 4 to 21”) and were
traveling in a large RV. They spend the winter in Austin, Texas, and
then summer at a lake house in Wisconsin. They always travel together
but when I asked further, he said how their trips were “mostly
pilgrimages...like to Rome, the Holy Land, Lourdes....” Once he
told me that he and his wife had been on “that island” (meaning Mackinaw when I said I lived in Michigan) for a
wedding anniversary, the first time away from the kids in 20 years, and “we were sittin' on the porch and I looked at her and said, 'You miss the
kids don't you? You wanna go home?'” They both agreed and so he
“called the pilot" and they left within the hour. His wife
home-schools the kids. They live on an old hunting ranch in Texas.
That's all I got...He was not in the least bit pretentious, surely
didn't look or act as a person with means, but he must have them.
Means...
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| the Alfred Hitchcock Mew Gulls at Savage Creek in Denali |
The couple were in their 60s, and were pulling a “three-season
camper” behind a new Subaru station wagon. The wife was an alpha
talker, a type A all the way. The first thing I heard from her was
how the washing machine's “Start button needs to be pushed hard
because it said 25 and I thought it meant another quarter, but it
meant 25 minutes, but I had already put my quarter in, so they gave
me back 25 cents....” The husband was a gentle soul who tried to
help but didn't always get it right according to his wife. He had had major heart surgery
last year but is now fit enough so they hiked nine miles yesterday.
“She's my coach,” he said nodding to his wife. She told me all
about good campgrounds, about campgrounds where they have "little
shampoo bottles like motels," campgrounds that have hair dryers. When
she asked about what to see in Michigan should they ever vacation
there, she got out a little spiral notebook and very earnestly took notes on my
random suggestions. She looked at me rather quizzically like I was a
curiosity, traveling on my own. She wondered how I get my mail. She
told me where to stay in Valdez and that “you have to go there and stay at the Eagle's Nest campground.”
She goes to every Visitor Center along the way, because “they are
free,” but she also likes museums, and on and on. She and her
husband had a few snappish moments between them, and she also
admonished the Texas guy when she noticed he put more than a quarter
cup of laundry detergent in the little holder. He just smiled and responded by saying
how he was noticing her meticulous folding of clean laundry and that
precipitated several sentences on why she washes everything inside
out and why she folds the way she does, etc., etc. But hey, they are out doing it...enjoying life, delighted they now qualify for the extraordinary good deal of a Golden Age Pass.
Just outside, at a picnic table, a man
was working on a laptop plugged into an external outlet. The adjacent
little store had good coffee and three young dudes working. All these
kids like Emily must line up for the chance to work in our grand
national parks.
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| Alaskan sled dogs in Denali NP |
It was such a glorious day. I missed
the shuttle to the sled dog presentation so drove 3.5 miles up the road and lucked out finding a parking place. The park uses
Alaskan sled dogs, both to entertain and instruct visitors in the summer but also
as working dogs, since there are no motorized vehicles in the park in
the winter (or so they say). There were 30 to 40 beautiful dogs, each on a
short chain with her/her name on his/her dog house. Most were
somnolent until it was time to run them around a track behind a dog
sled, when, as the trainers walked towards them,
the energy changed dramatically, as in lunging, barking, howling, jumping, straining on their chains. The dogs, of course, have no idea whose turn it will be today so all are eager and hopeful. A fortunate five were chosen, and there was one short run around a small track but it was impressive. They do
this show three times a day all summer. Ranger Jake then talked for 30 minutes about the dogs and what they do in Denali.
I drove up the park road as far as allowed in my car
and hiked a very short distance along the Savage River. Mew Gulls are
abundant all over southeastern Alaska and they were mobbing a woman
on a gravel bar in the river who was running away, hunched over and
flailing with her hands about her head. Yesterday, Wendy, our shuttle driver, called them
“crabby birds.” She would revert to baby-talk a few times when
referring to animal behavior.
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| Habitat quilt in the Murie Center for Learning and Science in Denali NP |
I stopped by the Murie Science and Learning Center
with more exhibits and interactive videos, but the most amazing object was a gigantic quilt
done by a group of women in Healy, a town just up the road. It was Denali National Park done in the pixelated squares of a habitat map, at
least 20 different zones. And, surrounding the map and
acting as a border, were individual squares, representing all of
the habitats and done in free form by each of the women who worked on
the quilt. It filled the whole wall behind the front desk.
Before I left the park for good, I sat
in the parking lot under aspens and had a sandwich. It was weird as
it felt exactly like a quintessial Indian summer day in Michigan, so
much so that I didn't resist the notion and reveled in the autumn sun
and warmth while the leaves fluttered in the breeze. It must be the
Alaskan quality of light, the position of the sun and cool temperatures...whatever, it was delightful. Autumn in the Spring. I had also felt this season confusion yesterday while on the bus.
Many tourists are foreigners...northern Europeans, East Indians and Japanese. I saw no
African-Americans or Hispanics.
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| Denali NP very close to the Visitor Center |
I forgot to mention that yesterday, we immediately saw a mother moose and calf actually meandering through the Visitor Center parking area. And that I saw a pair of Harlequin ducks in one of the streams we passed. Harlequins rival Wood Ducks in beauty.
Off to Anchorage, 250 miles south, with
spectacular views of Denali intermittently along the way. Occasionally, I would see signs of "Road Work from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and finally (duh...) realized that of course...since it stays light nearly all night.
I knew from experience that I can usually get a good deal at high-end hotels early in the week. I did exactly
that and stayed in a Sheraton overlooking the city. It was still
twilight at midnight when I finally went to bed.
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| south to Anchorage |
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