Ruth Glacier – Wandering Dawgs

For this challenge Anne asks us to tell us about a new experience we had.

Ten years ago this week Henry and I were in the final planning stages of a four month RV trip to Alaska from Georgia. We weren’t new to RVing and had made several long cross country trips but this would be the longest we would be away from home. The entire trip was filled with new experiences. I’ve included a few of the most memorable.

*New experience: Humpback Whale on our first wildlife cruise*

*New Experience: crossing the Arctic Circle on the Dalton Highway in Alaska*

*New experience: Glacier Calving on Aialik Glacier, Alaska*

*New Experience: Denali National Park, Alaska*

*New Experience: Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez*

Our most exciting and most memorable new experience was a flightseeing trip from the airfield in Talkeetna to the south face of Mt. Denali (it was called Mt. McKinley back then) with a landing on Ruth Glacier.

I was really nervous about flying in a small plane but it was worth it. It’s a day I will never forget.

Our latest Alaska experience was taking an Inside Passage cruise in August, 2022. We revisited some locations and explored new ones.

Many thanks to for Anne for this challenge Lens-Artists Challenge #242 – New Experiences

Day 58: Friday, July 12, 2013

We woke up to beautiful sunny skies. The weather forecast was sunny and warm all day. A perfect day for viewing Mt. McKinley.

We started the day by walking to beautiful downtown Talkeetna.

Welcome to beautiful downtown Talkeetna

Downtown Talkeetna.

House rules at the historic Fairview Inn

Stubbs, the Mayor of Talkeetna. He hangs around downtown.

I had a spinach bread for lunch. It’s kind of like a square pizza with spinach and cheese.

Next we stopped by Talkeetna Air Taxi at the airport to book a flight-seeing tour with a glacier landing. The first flight available was at 4:00 so we returned to the RV park to get the truck and drve to the Talkeetna overlook for a view of Mt. McKinley with no clouds.

Beth and Henry at the Talkeetna overlook

An Airplane flies over Mt. McKinley

At 3:30 a van picked us up to take us to the airport for our flight. There were six passengers on our plane – two guys and a gal from Norway, a man from Maryland, and us. Our pilot Alex was from Georgia.

The flight was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. Seeing the mountains from the air and flying so close to the south face of Mt. McKinley was awe inspiring. It’s a day I will never forget.