Palmer/Wasilla area, Alaska

 We had left Valdez on Tuesday, 7/28, and arrived in Palmer, Alaska, on Wednesday, 7/1.  Palmer is about an hour's drive to Anchorage, and we could definitely tell we were back in civilization. We had some chores scheduled for our stay in Palmer, such as Cody needed a vet appointment to update his annual shots, very important for allowing him to cross the border into and out of Canada to come home. Also, he desperately needed a good bath and grooming as he was starting to look a lot like Sasquatch and, I dare say, smell a little like him also, LOL. 

Looking very handsome after his grooming. Too bad it doesn't last 😂

We found large supermarkets here as well as pretty much any kind of chain-store shopping and fast food restaurants you could want in nearby Wasilla. I was particularly happy to find Fred Meyer's, an affiliate of Kroger, where we could use fuel points for a gas discount. But the biggest score for us was finding Boarshead deli meats and cheeses. Life is good again, LOL. For activities we visited the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters- no dogs, though, we'll see them in Denali - there was the first "Friday Fling" market and food truck gathering in Palmer that was fun, and we drove up the beautiful Hatcher Pass and took a tour of the nearby ghost gold mine at Independence Mine State Historical Park. July3 we move on to Anchorage for the next five days, where we will be meeting my brother who is coming to spend a couple of weeks with us as we visit the Kenai Peninsula and the fishing begins in earnest!

The first claim was discovered and staked in 1906 in this area of the Willow Creek Valley. The mine was closed in 1943 by order of the government because it was deemed nonessential to the war effort. The ban was lifted after the war in 1946, but gold could only be sold to the U.S. government at a fixed rate of $35/ounce, making mining unprofitable. In January 1951, after extracting nearly 6 million dollars' worth of gold, the mine was permanently closed. The only items of any value were the generators, and they were basically just pulled out of the buildings. After years of abandonment, vandalism, and two earthquakes, this is what is left of the mine and  the adjunct buildings. In 1974, Independence Mine was entered into the National Register of Historic Places, and title to the acreage was transferred to the State of Alaska in January 16, 1980.

Beautiful Hatcher Pass and our lunch spot for the day. I'm finding it fascinating here in Alaska that no matter where you go, you're completely surrounded by mountains, everywhere you look! We've driven hundreds and hundreds of miles, and never leave the mountains behind, not even at the water's edge.

There were many other activities to do in the Palmer area that we just did not have a chance to do. I ended up feeling that even with as much time as we have planned, there simply isn't enough time to thoroughly explore each different area if you are trying to cover the entire state in one summer. Food for thought.