Bipolar Fish

We are not wasting a minute of vacation. It's our last day in AK and we were up at 5:15am for one final day of fishing, this time for grayling. We met up with our fantastic guide Terry and headed out the Denali Hwy to the Jack River in search of "bipolar fish."

The weather gods were not working with us this morning. While gray overcast cool weather is ideal for trout, it's not so good for "trout with Mohawks." Terry was a great instructor, helping us perfect our casting technique. Marj continued to have the magic touch, and in the last half hour caught two of "the world's smallest grayling." I however, didn't even get one bite! So frustrating! I really wanted to catch one, I suppose I'll just have to come back again!

After fishing and regaining the feeling in our frozen toes, we drove down the Denali Hwy to where the pavement ends and the spectacular views begin.

We then begrudgingly continued our trek toward Anchorage, stopping briefly at Leisure World (aka the McKinley Princess Lodge) for improving views of Mt. McKinley and a change of clothes. Then it was back on the road again to Talkeetna.

After lunch and having a good laugh at another funny Alaskan sign, we continued the trek to Anchorage, doing our best to stay out late and only arrive at the airport in time for our 1 and 2:30 am flights. Easier said than done however, since we got up super early and Anchorage doesn't have much nightlife. We did manage to find a good dinner, and afterwards spent some time in a Chevron parking lot trying to repack our suitcases and retrieve all our belongings from the crevices of our rental car, all while the local NBC news truck watched from the parking lot next door. After accomplishing this feat, we headed to the airport, arriving just before 11 pm. We had had it with both Anchorage and tourist shops.

We hated to leave, but our washing machines were drawing us home.