Wandering

One of the ideas behind this year's adventure was that we had no set plans.  In the past, my friend has had a given thing he's wanted to do while I was there -- one year we drove to Seward, another year we flew to Homer, and so on.  But this year, he just wanted us to play it by ear.  This ended up working out very well, and was part of why I enjoyed this year's visit so much.

So this morning we just got in the truck and drove, looking at scenery and finding nice places to stop, walk around and take nice photos.  Like this one:

And here's the old Knik River Bridge.  It's long been closed to traffic, but it remains because it carries the power lines across the river.

Then into Palmer for lunch and a stop at another bookstore.  I found a copy of the AP Stylebook for Alaska.  It was the first time I found one.  There was no way I was going to pass that up.

A little later, we drove back to Hatcher Pass.  The first time I saw the place several years ago, it was cloudy and gray, and I was running around catching snowflakes on my tongue.  In the July sunlight, it takes on a whole new personality.

We hiked back around Summit Lake and took more photos.  It was a balmy day.  I rolled my sleeves up and enjoyed the warmth.  (A few days later, I'd find several mosquito bites.)