Week 151 - Anchorage, Wasilla, Palmer, Alaska - 07-05-2009

Waiting, Walking, Wheeling, Welcomes,

Our week was spent in the Mat-Su valley waiting for Pete's sister Donnalee to arrive. But what a place to wait! After two months in Canada and Alaska you can forget how beautiful it is. There are mountains, trees and water everywhere. The weather was gorgeous and there is even a glimmer of "nightness". We spent our time two-wheeling, walking and hiking. We hiked with John and Rosie at Eklutna Lake. We walked the Wasilla 4th of July parade from beginning to end against the flow of the parade. And we hiked to the top of Bodenburg Butte. And with great weather we put quite a few miles on the scooter. Alaska is awesome!

Eklutna Lake is in the Chugach State Park between Eagle River and Palmer, AK. We took the Twin Peaks Trail.

The trail is moderate to hard. It was supposed to be 2.5 miles round trip (at least we thought). We hiked over two miles and never reached "the loop" that would bring us back. The clouds almost cleared over the peaks.

This view of the seven mile Eklutna Lake is about one mile up the trail.

Wasilla, home of Sarah Palin, had a typical USA parade. 1) The Mat-Su Republican Women 2) The obligatory old cars.

1) A nice Thank You to all Veterans. 2) Homeschoolers from Raven Correspondence.

And a stream of a dozen firefighter vehicles loaded with Sparky, kids and firemen.

1) We don't remember the VW vans being this short! 2) Beautiful hanging flowers adorn the parade route.

The hike to the top of Bodenburg Butte.

The reward is a panoramic view of the Matanuska Susitna (Mat-Su) Valley.

The Mat-Su Valley is the only Alaskan community established for farming. 203 families moved here in 1935 as part of the New Deal projects of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The valley's soil is fertile and with 19 hours of summer sunlight this area grows some giant-sized vegetables, such as this world record setting cabbage.

Monday, we pickup up Donnalee and start exploring The Kenai. We can't wait, hope you can!

Love, Pete and Ellen

Photos from Jul 2009