We left Fairbanks after our dinner at the Turtle Club so it must have been around 7PM.  We decided to go ahead and drive for a couple of hours anyway since it was still light out.  You can still take pictures at midnight up here!  We crossed the Tanana River on the Alaska Native Veterans' Honor Bridge at Nenana.   Nenana is the town where they hold the annual Ice Classics where they award the winner, who guesses the exact moment that the ice breaks up on the Nenana River, cash prizes.  They have been doing this every year since 1917.  The bridge was named in honor of the Alaska Natives that served in the U.S. Armed Forces.  I included the railroad bridge as well.

             We spent the night in a roadside pull out as it was getting late and we didn't want to pay the price near Denali for an RV space.  Got up the next morning and went to Denali to ride the bus back into the park but there wasn't a space open until later in the day and we didn't want to wait for it besides it cost $42 per person to go on it.  We had the same chance of seeing wildlife as we went down the road.  We got some awesome views of the mountain as well as you can see by the pictures.  Have included other scenery as well.        
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            We passed the Igloo that has been there forever it seems.  A defunct hotel that never made a go of it for long seems they couldn't keep it from leaking so it is totally closed down now but an interesting structure anyway.  I always stop and take a picture of it for some reason this time it is so you can see it too.  Then comes Hurricane Gulch Bridge that is way up from the creek below.  There was no traffic right then so I went out and snapped a few from the middle of the bridge while Billy waited in the truck, he doesn't like heights! The bridge is 260 feet above the creek below!
              We always stop at the Alaska Veterans Memorial/POW-MIA rest area.  They have a visitors information center there with coffee and tea and hot chocolate to drink.  Nicole and Vye were very helpful and friendly to us, we visited for quite a while there with them.  There had been several changes since we had been there last making it a very nice stop indeed.  You have a good view of Denali (Mt. McKinley) from there as well.  The memorial consists of an alcove and a semicircle of five 20-foot tall concrete panels for each of the branches of service.  There are several other memorials there as well. If you are driving the Parks Hwy do not miss this stop!               Next is a special place we usually stop in at.  Mary's McKinley View Lodge which has the best view of Denali around.  We met Mary Carey, an author, many years ago. As she was a very interesting person to visit with we spent some time doing just that and took some pictures.  There this time was her daughter Jean as Mary has since passed on.  Her daughter Jean Carey Richardson is an author of childrens books herself and has quite a selection there for sale.  I bought one of Mary's books called My Three Lives In Headlines which will be coming out in movie form soon.  Now to get the time to read it!  As with many places in Alaska there was an old piece of equipment sitting in front of the lodge.
        Our next adventure was to take the Petersville road back as far as The Forks Roadhouse 18.7 miles where we had lunch.  Normally if you have clear weather you can see Denali quite well from places on this road but this day there were clouds over that way.  There were a LOT of 4 wheeler pickup and trailers parked along the road so it is a prime place to get out off the road to ride these vehicles.  It was on a Sunday that we were on this road so by afternoon many of them were packing up to leave to get back to the city after a weekend of playing hard.  This is not the smoothest road nor is it very wide in spots so you need to drive with care.  We had fun watching two pups, one big one little, play constantly while we had lunch in the little restaurant.  The little one would have been about Punkin Heads size, now wouldn't it be fun for him to have a little friend like this?
             
         After the Petersville Road trip was the road into Talkeetna.  We took it just to go see how much that little place had changed.  Not a lot as it turns out.  It was just as busy as ever as it has become quite the tourist attraction.  Needless to say we didn't spend much time there just a quick drive through, a few pictures and we were gone.  Last on our list was a drive into Casswell Lakes area as we used to have property back there.  That place has changed a lot since we were there last.  A lot more people have built there and there is electricity in there now which makes a big difference.  The last picture is of the cabin we built many years ago and sold before we left Alaska in 1992.
                   So there you have it for this entry.  We are taking a trip to Valdez  today so I suspect that will be the subject of the next entry.  Today is July 2nd.