July 9, 2010

When we woke up this morning the sky was perfectly clear. Not one single cloud, not even little fluffy ones. We drove to a lookout and the river to take pictures of Mt. McKinley and nearby peaks. Jim paid bills and we took showers in the Casita. We hooked up and drove down the road to a large gravel pullout where other trailers were. We went back to town and looked at the historical buildings -- a museum, old log homes, the school and the railroad depot. We watched a film about climbing Mount McKinley at the Denali Park Ranger Station. We had appetizers at West Rib (nothing to do with ribs you eat -- the name of one of the trails to get up to the summitt of Mt. McKinley is called the West Rib). Went to Denali Brewing and had a beer (they were already of Chai-PA). Then we went to the city park where they were having a Friday concert. A band named Rare Form was playing. After they finished at 7 pm we went to the Telkeetna Cemetery. There is a memorial to all the climbers who have died on Mt. McKinley and surrounding peaks. Since 1965 there have been 105 climbers who have died on Mt. McKinley -- about 3 a year on average. The cemetery was very neat. Some graves had old bent plane propellers on them and most all had beautiful flowers planted.