Alaska Trip – Barbara Edwards Comments

Sequoia National Park by Barbara Edwards

Sequoia Ntl Park- first day

44 degrees this morning. The roads in the park don’t allow for anything over 22 feet long so we made it perfectly.

Hairpin turns, steep angles and grades, narrow lanes all are here. Mostly there are tenters in camp last night. The big rigs can’t get any further into the park.

It’s eight am and 45 as we head up the trail to Moro Rock and the best view of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the lower forty-eight states.

The road is narrow with a deep gorge down to the river. And I mean 400 feet or more down.

Hairpin turns challenge my husband’s driving skill, but I trust him totally. He’d be confident with our 35 foot fifth-wheel.

I can’t count the times we stop to take photo after photo. His fancy camera’s battery goes dead and I have to use my old stand-by.

It isn’t as clear on landscape, but it loves the Sequoia trees. They look red in the sunlight. So tall I get dizzy looking for the tops.

I’m so embarrassed that I have run out of descriptive words. A fellow hiker crowed how he felt overwhelmed and I agreed.

We walked among trees that were thousands of years old. Touched them. I got teary eyed. I want all my family to see what I’ve seen.

Still forty-five when we drive down the mountains. In low gear to save the brakes, with my heart in my mouth. The curves are worse when you can look forward and see over the low abutment. Not everywhere has a guard rail and the drop is right there at the edge of the pavement on a lane ten feet wide.

We had lunch at the Waskula Lodge. It was good food and a beautiful setting. Our waitress is working there for the summer until December, using a tiny bungalo for the help that is three minutes walk away. What a place to stay! I recognized Lupines, Daisies, Honeysuckle, and wanted to know the names of several others.

Another day and I’m losing track by Barbara Edwards

Black, black, black lava flows cover the valley floor before we stopped last night. It looks incredibe. I keep thinking God must have taken a pitcher and poured the lines across the land.

This morning we quickly pass the continental divide at 7,000+ feet.

Oil refineries, a paper mill and small tourist businesses catch my eye. I’m not a big shopper so browsing stores doesn’t get me excited. I told Bill I’m going to look for native gemstone jewelry in Alaska. I already have genuine tourquoise and silver jewelry my Aunt Mary bought in the late 1940s when she visited with her husband.

Arizona pops up and the cliffs tower over the welcome station. Red rock boulders, green brush and horses with foals pastured by the road. It’s warmer, in the sixties and overcast. I hope it stays clear until after we visit the pertified forest.

We have 30 days to reach Seattle and every stop is planned, sort-of. We can skip the Grand Canyon since we camped there a couple years ago.

Speed limit has been 75 mph, but we’re cruising between 60-65 since it gives us the best fuel mileage.

There isn’t always internet so my blogs are raggedly timed.

Hope you like them. I am boggled by the endless beauty of our country. I can’t see enough with only one pair of eyes.

Make sure you plan to see all this. It’s all ours.

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Day five- My Alaska Trip

Beautiful morning. Forgot my camera in the camper and can’t take a photo of the gorgeous sunrise or the full moon with Bill’s camera. Point and shot, my foot. I like my old camera.

The red bud tree is the Oklahoma tree. It has purple flowers, go figure.

The area is lovely, green grass, cattle grazing and a newly planted vineyard. There is a huge orchard with a variety of trees. I don’t know but I’m guessing they are nut trees. The owner is planting acres of new trees, and I can see acres more of mature trees.

Tulsa is a flash off the highway as we whiz by.

I noticed the locals are nice people. Friendly and helpful when I asked for directions. Coming from the way stand-offish New England are, I’m always surprised at how nice people can be to strangers.

Having a little jet lag with the time change. I just went through day-light savings and hated tha change, now we’re leaping across zones and I’m dragging behind. On the radio, enter to win a eight to ten person tornado shelter valued at four thousand dollars. Just what I need.

Driving a portion of Route 66. Do you remember the TV show? How romantic it was. Adventures all over America, handsome men and beautiful women in trouble. Everywhere are the tribal names, Cherokee, Kickapoo, Fox, and others. We travel on a toll road.

Leaving Oklahoma the wind is blowing so hard the truck shakes and my husband must fight the wheel to keep straight. The land is so open. Hard to describe the feeling of looking out towards the horizon. The sea gives me the same view where I think I can see until the earth curves.

Not much changes as we cross into Texas. Sagebrush lines the road and the land spreads in a wide blanket. Cattle dot the fields like tiny miniatures.

The open land enchants me and I take a couple quick pictures before and exit that goes only to the Johnson Ranch. Wow. I’d love to live and ride here.