So much, so fast

Hi! So much has happened in the past week and a half. I have so much to tell you about. I have been really busy and that is why I haven't written in a while.

Dad and Pat came up and we went to Denali. It was absolutely amazing. We had a beautiful view of Mt. McKinley (Denali) on the drive up to the Park. Before I proceed, I should probably explain the whole "Denali" thing. There are 3 things that the word Denali can refer to: Denali State Park, Denali National Park, and Mt. McKinley. I will pretty much never talk about the State Park. So if I say that I went to Denali, then I am referring to the National Park. If I say that I saw Denali, then I am referring to the mountain. You are just going to have to pay attention to context to know what I am talking about.

So, back to the trip. Dad and Pat got up here on Monday night. We went and got some food and walked around a little bit downtown, but they were tired and it was sort of cold out and they weren't dressed for it. Tuesday morning we hung around downtown for a while going in gift shops and stuff. I had to stop by the office to update my boss on something that happened Monday night in one of the cases, but then I got to show Dad and Pat where I get coffee, where I eat, etc. After lunch we began the drive to Denali. We didn't see any wildlife on the drive up there, but we had beautiful views of the mountains. Once we got up around the park we met up with Billy (my second or third cousin who is working in the Park for the summer) and had dinner. It was really cool to meet a cousin whom I had never met and spent some time with him. He is really a great guy and I hope I get to hang out with him again this summer.

On the way to the hotel from dinner we saw 3 different moose. Two were off a little ways on the side of the road. I got out of the car and took a picture of them because they were at a safe distance. Then, along the back road close to the hotel we saw a really skinny one that looked like he was going to dying or something on the side of the road. It was cool because he was so close, but sad because he was so skinny and looked so sick. :(

On Saturday we got up super early to get on the first shuttle bus into the Park. The bus left at 6, so I was up before 5. Yuck. But the trip into the park was AMAZING! We saw TONS of wildlife. I think we saw about 20 different grizzly bears. Two of the bears (a mom and her one year old cub) were actually in the middle of the street at one point so we were only a few feet away from them (but we were in the bus). We also saw some bears out on the tundra just playing. It was really cool to see them in their natural habitat where they weren't worried about people or anything. They looked cuddly. haha. But I wouldn't want to get too close to one if I wasn't on the bus. :) We also saw an entire herd of caribou (aka reindeer) which was neat because you saw the younger ones playing around the herd. We also saw two wolves. Apparently wolf sightings are pretty rare. The ones we saw were a golden color. If no one had told me, I would have assumed they were foxes, because that is what they looked like to me (given the fact that I have never seen a wolf OR a fox in real life before this). One was on the side of the road, pretty close to the bus and the other was a little ways off in the brush. We also saw bald eagles and golden eagles. After seeing the first bald eagle, I wasn't very excited for the birds anymore, but other people on the bus were obsessed with the birds, which was kind of annoying. Oh well. The loony toons on the bus were quite funny once I got past my annoyance at them. (We all know I get a bad attitude sometimes.) haha.

On the way back on the bus we got off and hiked for a couple of miles on the bank of one of the rivers that runs through the park. We didn't see any wildlife while we were off the bus (boo!) but we did see some rabbit parts, including rabbit feet. It was kind of strange to find single rabbit legs, but no other part of the rabbit. I wonder why the animals didn't eat that part too....

Once we got on a different bus to ride the rest of the way back, some people from Hollywood were sitting right in front of us. How strange...

We didn't see any moose in the Park, but on Wednesday, on our way back to Anchorage, a HUGE moose walked across the street in front of the car. It was the first moose I had seen that was that big. It also had a huge rack, which was cool to see for the first time as well.

Tuesday night after the Park we met up with Billy again to eat dinner. Again, SO much fun to get to know my cousin. I feel so lucky (blessed) to have the amazing family that I have.

Wednesday morning we got up and went to a sled dog demonstration. We got to pet the dogs before the demo, but it was super anti-climactic because the dogs just sat by their dog houses out of reach. It was a pretty warm day and I think it was just too hot for them. Their prime operating temperature is below 0 and it was probably almost 70 that day. The dogs were beautiful though.

Alright, I think that is enough for tonight. This weekend I will update you on the camping trip from last weekend as well as this past week at work. I will also try to organize my photos from Denali and give you all a link to them. This week has been crazy at work though and I am exhausted when I get home (which is why it hasn't happened yet). Sorry for the delay. I miss you all and love you!!!!