Letter 3 From Barbara to Family
Thursday Aug. 4, 1994
Dear Family and Friends,
We are in Edmonton, Cnada waiting for Morris to get back from the garage where he has to get the tail pipe fixed & the fron end aligned. Then we are going to the "Worlds Largest Mall" and spend the rest of the day.
Well, I left off on July so I'll begin this letter on Sat. July 16.
Had a nice beautiful dirve to Denaili National Park. Several times we saw Mt. McKinley in the far distance (probably 100 miles away). Mt McKinley is over 22,000 ft tall & completely covered with snow. We arrived at the Vistors Center where there were hundreds of vistors signing up for the shuttle bus rides. We got reservations for Monday monring. We found a vacant parking spot along the river (free); the camp rounds were full and a 2 day waiting period. After supper I showed Daved all of our pictures we had taken so far. David & Billy took a hike up the mountain after supper. It nice having David here, he's so interested in everything.
Sunday July 17
We go up and wnt to a darling little Baptist Church. After church we ate lunch at the Box Car Cafe in th every old historical Healey hotel. Stopped at Pt & Wendell's Bed & Breakfast & gift ship where we bought ice worms for $1.000 a piece ($3.00 everywhere else). We had met Pat a chuch this monrning. After that we shopped & looked aournd the famous Princess Hotel. We ate supper that the famous NcJubke Steakhouse and Salmon Bake. We played cards tonight & David took a long hike.
Mondy July 18
We took the 9:30 tour bus though Denali National Park. We had to take our own lunch & drinks, rain gear, jackets, etc. for we'd be gone all day and there are no facilities ecept for portable toilets along the way. We had very good driver who talked to us all along the way and stopped for us to take pictures. We saw moose, grizley bears, an eagle, a herd of dall sheep, caribou, a family f partmigan (the state bird) and marmonts. IN all it was a very good trip. The only thing Mt McKinley was converd with clouds from the mountain. About 30 miles on our way back, someone look out the back window & the clouds had lifted & we all jumped out & tried to get pictures of it. I imagine we were 60-75 miles from the actual mountain. No cars or private vechicles are allowd on this road, but there was a tour bus about every 10 minutes. It was a greate trip and we all really enjoyed it. We got back at 6:00 pm - a great day, sunny & cool. Tonight we met some neighbors of Jim & Sue's, Larry & Betty Tannon.
Sunday July 3
Very cold & windy & cloudy all day. Wyndall bought a cam corder along and has taken 3 videos (so far) and Betty's friends had a converter so we got to watch them. They are so good. We talked ab long time to Al Fords (Betty's friend) about his fishing. They are catching 80-130 lb halbuts and having them frozen & shipped back home. They figure it costs about $6.00 a lb to do this. One man we met took out a chair & put in a small freezer in his motor home! Tonight we took a long ride over a terrible gravel road look for bear or moose. We finally saw 2 eagles and one moose. 11:00 pm the sun is still out & voery cold.
Monday July 4
We're still at Deep Creek. The men had reservations to go deep sea fishing for halbut but it was canceled due to high windows & rain. It rained most of the day. The sun came out for an hour or so & then it rained again. There is a old couple camped right in fron of us that has fire going on the beachand they kept it going for 3 days now & they sit right though the rain & keep that fire going! We had a lazy day, eating, sleeping, talking, and playing cards. Betty made vegetable soup for all of us. We (6 of us) played cards till amost midnight. Well I'll close this one for now & go to bed. We miss all of you & love you. Continue to pray for us.
Love, Barbara & Morrs, MOn & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa
On the back of the above letter which my sister sent me:
Larry & Julie
We all are fine down here. Mark is staying busy in the fencing business. I have been babysitting kids over the summer. Zack's baseball team one 2nd place which Mark coached. Coral will go to the 2nd grade and katie 1st, Zack 7th.
It sounds like Mom & Dad are having a great time. Mom has sent some other letters bu I haven't gotten around to copying them, Sorry. David should be back on the 31st can't wait to hear about his adventures. Mom & Dad are heading back, they are in Canada and should be at Brenda's around August 15 the home around Sept. 1st. Can't wait to see them too the kids miss them a lot.
Love Ya, Beth