Leaving Anchorage Behind

Tues Aug 28th- With our trip down the Copper River behind us, and so many wonderful memories stored away, it was time to ‘hit the road’ once again. We are headed, more or less, towards home. Our plan is to drive to Tok  - you really can’t get home without driving through Tok – then we are going to drive north and east on the ‘Top of the World Hwy’ to Dawson City. From there, we will finally head south, working our way to the lower 48.

We left Anchorage with all kinds of feelings…..We had been passing through Anchorage,  or using it as our ‘base’ a number of times. Now, we were leaving a place that had grown familiar. We were not sure whether we would ever be back……

Adventures over…or at least winding down. Home and loved ones ahead. (We plan on stopping by Chandler, AZ to help Sarah with a bit of wedding planning). Friends to visit on our way……3,700 miles to go before we get to Chandler…….I have been feeling a bit homesick…..It is easy to just get focused on getting home.Yet, I want to make the most of the next 2 1/2 weeks on the road.

And so we begin this last leg of our journey…..

 

As we drive, we are struck by the changing Fall leaves. We left home in the Spring (March 6th) and followed Spring  across the country and northward into Alaska. We stayed to see the Summer and now we are witnessing the beginning of Fall.

Fall in Alaska is brief…..and these changing colors herald the onset of Winter. Time to go home!

We stopped by the TLC Kennel in Palmer to pick up Jade. She seemed none the worse for being kenneled for the week. As we loaded her up, we were, once again, all together.

We were driving familiar road…..the Glenn Hwy towards Glennallen, as we had driven several times before. We passed by the Matanuska River that we had rafted and the Matanuska Glacier that we had hiked with Laura and Dave .

It was a brilliant sunny day, and we had to stop for one last  picture of the glacier gleaming in the sun.

Mt. Wrangell shone in the distance….a fresh dusting of snow covering her peak.

We drove past Wrangell –St.Elias…..and turned on the Tok Cutoff. Fred drove, I wrote on my blog posts…….

We arrived at the Sourdough Campground just south of Tok…….and spent the evening settling in. We had electric and water hook-ups, Laundromat and free WIFI. I spent some time posting my scheduled blogs while Fred made use of the laundry to wash Jade’s bed covers which smelled pretty bad from the kennel. Jade was funny….as soon as we replaced her bedding, she crawled in her spot under the table, curled up and went to sleep. It is good to be ‘home’.