Palmer to Talkeetna

Wednesday, June 10

We spent the night with Gunnel’s daughter, Tina, and now have to say farewell. :(
I have really enjoyed her company. Maybe we will be able to do it again!

And now we are off to see if we are one of the few who get to see Mt. McKinley. We are scheduled to take an air flight out this evening on Talkeetna Air Taxi.

You cannot imagine our delight when, driving up the Parks Highway, we rounded a curve and there was Mt McKinley (Denali) right in front of us. Wow! We hit one of those days!

When I knew I was going to be up in Alaska I contacted my friend, Tom, who has been flying in Alaska for a number of summers in hopes of being able to fly with him. Unfortunately he is teaching mountain flying in Idaho this June. He told me to fly with Talkeetna Air and we could not have done better. Our pilot, Richard, was as good as it could get without being Tom. We took the tour that landed on the glacier. The day was bright and sunny…not at all cold out in the snow.

Our plane was a DeHaviland Beaver, a sturdy, slow plane that is great for this kind of touring. Her name is 9OYankee and she is almost as old as I am. This is a flight that anyone who comes up here should plan to take!