North West

In Haines, Alaska tonight.
I looked at the weather forecast and decided to gamble on a scenic flight over Denali and so booked it online and then drove down to Talkeetna.
Alaska I have now found out is 1/5th the size of the lower 49 states. This makes the seemingly short drives shown on the comic book style maps from the tourist centers quiet a lot longer than they seem. It rained most of the drive with a fairly low cloud base obscuring the mountain ranges that I should have seen.
Next day I woke up and it was completely fogged out but I still drove the 20km's to the airport and it was actually sunny. The flight was on!
Mt McKinley is the highest peak in North America

The flight included landing on one of the glaciers

Alpha Team going in!

Delta Team touching down

The flight was awesome. I think the afternoon flights were cancelled due to the bad conditions so it really was lucky. I finally got a decent coffee in North America. Talkeetna is a bit of a hippy place and the local bakery - Flying Squirrel Cafe actually had decent beans and someone who knew how to operate the machine! Amazing.
The road south took me through Wasilla.

Parked out front I had this nagging feeling someone in a stars and stripes bikini was drawing a bead on my forehead with a high powered rifle but that may have been a passing fantasy.
Anchorage was completely forgettable but the road to Homer followed the waterline and was basically mountains going into the sea.

looking across Cook inlet

 Unfortunately the weather in Haines is too wet and windy to fly today or the next few days. Very disappointed as this is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been