4 Wheels 4 Girls

July 7th, we went into Seward, Alaska to get some groceries. So we looked up grocery stores and came up with one: Safeway.

We drove to Safeway and pulled in to the parking lot. I was debating whether or not to go inside and help pick out food. Finally, I decided to go in. I hopped out of the RV and was hit with a sudden smell; the smell of a fish cannery. You might think I’m either crazy or disgusting, but I liked the strong smell. And unlike a lot of people I know, I love fish, and I don’t care if people make fun of me about it.

So I took in the fishy smells as I walked up to the front doors of Safeway.

On July 7th, after we left our campground in Wasilla, we went to go do some laundry and get lunch. Luckily, we found a great laundromat with a Subway next to it and a library across the street, AND there was a bonus….. There was a fair right at the end of the road that we could watch. It was pretty sweet for just a boring old laundry day.

We got subs, and then after we finished them, I asked if I could take my sisters over to the library. They said yes, so we went over and plopped down on the comfy cushions and started to read.

I was so wrapped up in my book that I didn’t even notice when Dad came in and started taking pictures of us reading. Then, unfortunately, he said it was time to go, so we gathered our laundry and continued our drive! 😀

July 6th, we pulled over at a rest stop. We asked why we pulled over, (as we always do) and Jean told us.

A long time ago, Jean was at this exact place. She was with her friends, and when she climbed up on this big rock, she saw Mount McKinley. It was an amazing view! So she got out her camera and took some pictures. And one turned out nice enough to frame.

Now, that picture is famous to our family! Since the mountain is over 20,000 feet tall, it is almost rarely seen through the billowing clouds. Yet that day, Jean took the famous picture of Mount McKinley! And now it is hanging–
in our dining room!
Hahaha! That’s the story! So we went to that exact place and now I got some really good pictures. Maybe we’ll even have to replace the old one! 🙂

After we had lunch we went to catch our bus for the sled dog demo. We ran to get on the bus. We waited for a while for the bus to come and get us. When it came we all ran to get our seats. We road in the bus for about 15 minutes.

When we got to the dog kennel a ranger told us the rules. He said that we were not aloud cross the blue line When we got out Me and Ana ran to go see the dogs. There were so many dogs. Some were black, white, brown, gray, and honey colored. We went and started petting the dogs. There were some that were sleeping and some that were looking at you and waiting for you to pet them. After looking at the dogs the demo was about to start. We went to find seats.

We waited until a ranger came out with a dog. He started telling us about his dog. His dog was named swift. Swift was black and was big and had big paws. He was so cute. Swift is a wheel dog. If the other dogs make a mistake swift makes sure that the sled does not tip over. Daddy says that swift is like an extra motor. I think that swift has a cool job.

After telling us about what breeds swift was he told us that they were going to show us how the sled worked. Then all the people that worked there started bringing out all the dogs. All of the dogs sat up. They looked as if they knew what was happening. Trout a dog started running in circles. It was really funny. I looked up and they were off. They were going super fast. We watched in amazement as they zipped along. When they came around the bend we all started cheering. They came to a halt and we all clapped. They were really good.

We were driving along when Mommy said STOP! why there is a sale with it’s cub. A sale is a mother bear. We looked and and with are luck it was a baby grizzly with it’s mother. We all thought it was so cute. It looked just like it’s mother. We think we scared them away because they ran into the forest. We all looked for them until we were about to give up when to heads poked up from a bush. There they were. In the bush. We stayed there forever until we left them The baby was so cute. It was my first baby grizzly bear.

[Editor’s note: sale = sow (mother bear)]

We saw…

Five caribou and a baby caribou,
three moose,

eleven grizzly bears,
two golden eagles,
a flock of ducks,
about five ptarmigans (the state bird for Alaska),
two snowshoe hares,
a red fox,

eleven dall sheep,
and a lynx!

We had a fun time at Denali National Park!

On June 5th, we went on an 11-hour bus ride in Denali National Park. You’re probably thinking, 11 HOURS!? DANG!!! But it was actually pretty fun. The idea didn’t sound so hot when I first heard about it, but then I realized that it was going to be a lot of fun with great scenery.

Stella and I slid in to a seat together, and then we were off! We saw some great animals and views, and we stopped at a really cool visitor center. It had lots of interesting displays, and outside there were a pair of locked moose antlers. They had been fighting for a girl moose, and while they were fighting their antlers got locked. One moose poked the eye out of the other moose, and since they were stuck, they died together with their antlers bound. It was really cool.

After driving for about an hour, someone shouted, “Look! It’s Mount McKinley!” and there it was, peeping out of the clouds! It was SO tall and SO huge, and it was covered with snow, even though it’s July. It was so beautiful and I tried to take a picture, but my camera died before I could take the picture. Oh well; Dad and Jean took some pretty good pictures.

Our final destination was Wonder Lake, where we could get great mountain views. It was really pretty. Then we turned around for the other half of our ride. We read books, wrote in our books and journals, and chatted. In what seemed like no time, we were back at the visitor center.

It was really cool to see Mount McKinley!!! The bus trip was great; we saw the mountain a few more times on the trip as well. I’m really glad we did it! It was a wonderful experience!

We were driving along when somebody said STOP!!! What is it every one said? It’s a caribou with it’s baby. Were I said? It’s near the end of the hill. Oh it took me for ever to find it. The baby was trotting along behind it’s mom. We watched it for a long time. I love seeing baby animals. They are so cute. They went behind a hill and we left.

We learned that both the female and and the male both have horns. We also learned that caribou and reindeer are almost the same thing.

July 5th we went on a bus ride in dandaley. All the anamolse we saw were so cool. the 11 hower bus ride was very fun! we saw alot of ceraboo and grizzly berars. we saw a babby grizzly bear. we saw some dal seep all the sotent the seep started to run my mom sede it was a wolf that what she thot. We a snowe shoo here. I only saw oue. Shotly after late we saw a links. Shotley after that we saw a sowshoohere.

We saw a baby ceraboo. Then we drove alittel bete father and saw to bole mooses. on the the bus we ate sawechs and some chees. my dad spoden some tamagens. we ate are Luch and dener on the bus.

Editor’s translation:
July 5th we went on a bus ride in Denali National Park. All the animals we saw were so cool. The 11 hour bus ride was very fun! We saw a lot of caribou and grizzly bears. We saw a baby grizzly bear. We saw some dall sheep at the top of a mountail. All of a sudden the sheep started to run away from something. My mom said she thought it was a wolf. We saw a snowshoe hare. I only saw one. Shortly after that, we saw a lynx. Shortly after that, we saw a snowshoe hare.

We saw a baby caribou. Then we drove a little bit further and saw two bull mooses. On the bus we ate sandwiches and some cheese. My dad spotted some ptarmigans. We ate our lunch and dinner on the bus.

After the awesome parade where we collected loads of candy, we all walked down into the park to go to a giant picnic. We laid down a blanket and then went through the line to get some lunch. People from all over the town brought the food, so there was tons of it and a very large selection.

We piled our plates high with all kinds of yummy food and then went back to our picnic blanket. Then Dad asked if we had seen the pig, and I’m like, “What pig?” He told me there was a whole roasted pig on a table near the food line, so I threw on my shoes and raced over to the table. Sure enough, there was a WHOLE pig that was sliced open and you could see the ribs and the head and everything!!! It was super cool and super gross. There were men pulling meat out of it, and while I wanted to look at that crazy pig more, Stella was really grossed out by it and she wouldn’t go anywhere near it. I think she was even a little afraid of it. 😛 So anyway, we ate tons of food and desserts, and then sadly, it was time for us to leave our friends and move on down the road. After we said goodbye, it hit me that I hadn’t even tried the pig. Well, oh well. Too late now.

I’m so glad we went to the picnic. We all had a great time!!!