Hurrah for the red, white and blue

We aren't usually home for the Fourth of July. It was kind of nice to be there this year, especially considering last year's fiasco, when the neighbor kids kept tossing fireworks into our yard and trying to burn my house down.

But the real reason we stayed home was for my niece Gabi. Gabi took up fencing last year, and qualified for nationals this summer. The competition was about 20 minutes from my house, so my brother Scott, sis-in-law Mari and two of their kids came to stay with us. Mari's friend Dawn was also participating at nationals, so she traded private lessons for Gabi for a couple night's lodging. 

I love having a full house, although my nephew Grant noted one of its shortcomings. He asked me why I only have one bathroom in my house.

"We have two," he bragged. "Grandma and Grandpa even have their own bathroom!" I promised Grant I'd run over to Home Depot and buy another bathroom for his next visit.

Mark loved their visit. He got to abandon summer camp and hang with his cousins for a few days. But as Independence Day arrived, he learned that the fun was over, and it was time to fight.

Well, for Gabi, anyway. Scott, Mari and Dawn left with Gabs at daybreak, to get her registered and ready to fence. I went later on, with two sleepy boys in tow.

Gabs did her best. She got a few good hits in, and while she may not have scored as high as she'd have liked, we were enormously proud of her (and her red-and-white striped sock!). 

And after the competition, it was time to celebrate! Mark and Grant were thrilled when I stopped to buy fireworks, but crestfallen when I told the cashier I wanted some small, not-crazy things like sparklers.

"Awwwwww," they both sighed. Grant tried convincing me to buy a giant box of explosives called the Finale, but I reminded him what a hot mess I am. I'd probably just set myself on fire.

I'm a Dinsdale, which means I don't know how to put out just a little food for a party. I made five pounds of potato salad and two pounds of cucumber salad, and delegated the meat-cooking duties to my brother Scott. He grilled up hot dogs, burgers, steaks, and asked, "How many people are coming to dinner?"

I smiled and said, "Well...just us." Oh, and my brother Smed and his girlfriend, too. Hey, the best part of a big dinner is the leftovers, right?

Actually, for the kids, the fireworks turned out to be the most fun. We'd purchased 12 boxes of sparklers, and the kids were determined to burn them all up as fast as possible. 

However, we soon realized the dang things were misnamed--they should've been called smokers, because that's mostly what they did! The entire yard was full of smoke in mere minutes, but the kids didn't even notice. They were just thrilled to be playing with matches, and lighting stuff on fire.

I also experimented a bit with the sparklers. This is my idea of some real hotcakes!

The kids also got to light up the fountain fireworks we bought. I personally would not have let them (yes, I'm a paranoid mom), but Scott supervised them very closely. And they were so excited to do it.

"Look at mine!" Grant screamed, as the fireworks shot up. "I did that! I lit them! I'm a BEAST!" he shouted, pounding his little chest. Man, was he proud of himself! It was so cute...

There were a couple fireworks shows scheduled in the area. Scott and I debated which one to take the kids to. But while we were talking, the neighborhood lit up. You could see and hear fireworks erupting all over the place. It was pretty awesome--the fireworks were huge, bright, and very close.

"That one's from Disneyland, Dad!" Grant shouted. Scott answered that yes, it was, then shook his head silently when I looked at him. Another burst of colorful lights prompted Grant to yell, "The Finale! Someone's setting off the Finale!" So he got his 4th of July wish after all (and I made it through the holiday unscathed).

The neighborhood pyros showed no signs of slowing down, so finally, we just put the kids to bed. They were exhausted after the long day, and they all smelled a bit smoky, but they were happy.

And I was pretty happy, myself.

Eagles galore!

July 4

Mark and I stayed up late packing last night, and decided to sleep in. We’d had enough early mornings and needed a good night’s rest.

After an early lunch, we boarded our motor coach to the Mt. McKinley Lodge. The bus took us along a 120 mile road of beautiful Alaskan countryside. We saw a mountain that formerly housed a glacier, and a giant igloo (an unfinished hotel, not an ice igloo!). We saw rivers and trees, and Edra even spotted a moose. We crossed over a bridge with giant ravines below, sheer drops that were pretty scary.

We saw everything but Denali, which was clouded in today. Apparently, it even clouded in yesterday afternoon, reported Edra, who’d met a couple on the Natural History Tour after ours. They’d been disappointed to miss the mountain, and we were even more thankful for our clear day and amazing views of it.

After 2 ½ hours, we arrived at the Princess Mt. McKinley Lodge. Of course, it’s beautiful here. The lodge rests high above the Chulitna river (we learned that all river names named by the Athabascans end with the letter “A”). And it being the Fourth of July, there was a celebration.

We skipped the celebration, which turned out to be a parade of the lodge staff. This is the smallest lodge by far, and the number of staff reflected that.

It’s light all night long here, so there were no fireworks, but the staff did their best to put on a show. They passed out popcorn to the guests, then joined the parade, which consisted of floats sponsored by each lodge department – Maintenance, Food & Beverage, Housekeeping, Transportation, and Administration.

There was also a special guest appearance for the Grand Marshall –- Sarah Palin (OK, a Palin lookalike -– who I’m pretty sure was a mustached man!). Considering she resigned from her governorship today, it was an ironic choice for Grand Marshall.

The "big" parade

Our hotel was literally in the middle of nowhere, so we boarded the 4 o’clock shuttle to the nearest town, Talkeetna. The driver didn’t want to disrupt the parade, so he left as it came down the path -- our bus actually started off the parade. Guests could vote best float, so as we passed the parade viewers, we waved and shouted, “Vote for us!”

The shuttle took an hour to drive us to Talkeetna, a small town about two or three blocks long. It was a tiny little place with 400-800 permanent residents and today, a lot of cruise passengers passing through.

Edra in downtown Talkeetna

You could definitely tell the locals from the tourists. The locals seem to have a sense of humor.

The town was very festive, with celebrations all along the river bank. We checked out the view where the Chulitna, Susitna and another river converged. It was a pretty but rapidly moving river.

A local pub hosted our dinner. Most of us picked one of the two local specialties -– caribou or halibut. The halibut came in tacos or sandwiches, and was excellent. Bill ordered his caribou as a chili cheeseburger, which he proclaimed delicious. Wende and Mark enjoyed their caribou in chili, while Edra savored the caribou tacos. (I sampled the caribou tacos –- tasted like lean hamburger.)

Dinner was a bit rushed, because we had another activity planned –- a jet boat along the river. I was a little nervous at first, especially when another jet boat flipped around the corner past us really fast. But we had a great driver who really knew his way around the river, and my fear soon dissipated.

The boat stopped suddenly when someone shouted. Turns out they saw an eagle’s nest, complete with a parent eagle sitting in it (couldn’t tell if it was the mama or the daddy, but the naturalist said they take equal responsibility). It was the most fabulous thing ever to see that eagle sitting in the tree. Next to the moose, it was my favorite moment yet.

Until five minutes later, when we passed a sandbar with another eagle. This eagle was sitting on a log, and was super close! It was magnificent, and huge. We later saw it fly off over the river, its humongous wings powering it far across the river.

I just couldn’t believe our luck. We were sighting the most incredible animals!

We exited the boat for a small hike through the woods. Our guide took us to a replica of an Athabascan bivouac, complete with dried bear pelts hanging from the walls. He also explained how the Athabascans cooked over an open roasting pit, which we think looked a little like this:

That meat might be a little tough

He then led us to another encampment, with more animal pelts and a small smoking cabin. PETA representatives would blow a gasket if they saw even half the animal furs and skins we’ve seen this week.

Would've preferred to see a live caribou...

We also saw some new vegetation we hadn’t seen before: ferns.

They're quite tasty sauteed in butter and garlic

Specifically, fiddlehead ferns, which flourish here. They were gorgeous.

The mosquitoes were out in full force here. I killed a humongous skeeter in Denali, but here they were small, abundant and aggressive. It was 80 degrees outside, but I put on my fleece sweatshirt. I figured I’d rather be hot than all bitten up.

We returned to the boat and headed back to the docks. I was eager to see the eagle in the nest again, but it was in a different tree. Still marveling over the majestic birds, I exited the boat, and stepped on to the sand. Suddenly, a few of us spotted another eagle, right off the dock, just a few yards away. Some smaller birds were dive bombing it, trying to chase it away, but the eagle resisted them. It headed straight for us, then turned, and repeated the move two or three times. That eagle flew right over us, wings spread out. We couldn’t believe our luck.

Eagle!!!

Then it was back onto the shuttle and headed toward the Mt. McKinley lodge again. It was still light out when we arrived, though more of a dusky sunlight than the bright-as-noon sunlight we experienced in Fairbanks.

Sunset at the Mt. McKinley Lodge. That's about as dark as it gets.

The lodge has a huge deck and chairs pointed directly at Denali. Because of the haze, we could only make out the tip of the mountain, but we saw the surrounding mountain ranges, including the sawtooth range (aka the moose tooth range). It was a beautiful night, with a beautiful view, even if we didn’t see the whole mountain (though I doubt any view could top the one we had yesterday). We enjoyed the view for a long while, until the mosquitoes got the best of us. I was shocked when I walked into our room to put Mark to bed, and realized it was 11:39 p.m.!!! No wonder he was whining up at the lodge, I realized. Kid was three hours past his bedtime!

But it’s all good. Tomorrow we head toward Anchorage for a night, and then on to the ship. We met an older lady who said she’d been freezing all week, which was the polar opposite of our Alaska adventure so far. A middle ground would be nice, since it’ll be odd going from 85 degree weather to much colder climes. But I don’t care, I’m just thrilled to start the second leg of our journey. The land portion was more than I could’ve hoped for, and probably the only thing that could top it is a calving glacier.

I’m hoping to report on that soon enough!