THE ALASKA CAMPBELLS: DENALI AND HEALEY

Last week, we drove a new vehicle to a set of elders in Fairbanks and drove their old truck back to the Mission headquarters. (When a vehicle has gone over 50,000 miles, the people in Salt Lake tell us to detail the vehicle and sell it.) Normally, Elder Palmer, who is in charge of the car fleet does that duty. But, he and sister Palmer were handling other vehicles and also some housing problems, so they pressed us into taking the job. Also, while we were there, Sister Palmer instructed us to inspect all of the missionary apartments, which we did.

We left Thursday morning the 27th of Sept. and drove back on Saturday the 29th. In commentary about the three day assignment, if a missionary couple are allowed to take a three day "vacation" while on a mission, I guess that is kind of what we did. While we were doing official work, we were also able to see the "sights" going and coming, stayed in a nice motel room for two days, and, drive all over Fairbanks -- all in the name of mission work.

Here are a few of the sights we saw on the trip

(Just a recommendation, after you've read the post,
look at the pictures enlarged, especially of the
mountain.)

While driving north, we could see this majestic mountain
in the distance, which continued to grow and grow and grow.
And, seeings how we were on the Lord's errand, we got
to see the mountain "without" cloud cover -- sort of.

and the other peaks adjacent to it.

Even though the day was cloudless, I guess that

Mount McKinley has an ever present cloud over the

summit most of the time. We were very grateful

for what we were able to see.

Peaks to the South...

and, further South.

(Toward the North of the peak.)

These pictures definitely do not do this mountain
justice. We watched it grow larger from over a hundred
miles away. It "explodes" skyward over 20,300 feet into the air.
It is one of, if not the most imposing and awe inspiring things
that I have ever seen in my life. It left me in complete awe
and wonder.

Sister C. at a view area, complete with telescopes.

The natives (in the Athabascan language)

call the mountain DENALI, which means The Tall One.

Hence, the park in which it is situated is called Denali

National Park.

Sister C.going to another view area.

Moi, coming down.

One of the signs we read said that Denali is the tallest mountain peak in the world considering the full height of the mountain from the base to the summit.

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The following pictures are mainly for Cari,

who spent last summer working in the park

and living in Healy.

Filling station, cafe, etc.

A newly fallen skiff of snow on the lawn.

Town sign

We're not sure if this is where the workers...

lived or not, but on the outside chance...

it was, I included these pictures.

This is the beast that I drove back.

I think that this is one of the tour buses of the

resort where Cari worked.

Speaking of which, this is the resort where she worked.

It's the Princess Lodge -- or something like that.

As you can see, it's all closed up for the winter.

Businesses across the street...

more businesses...

and, more businesses.

This is the Nenana River...

a tributary of the Tenana River --

Big deal you say? The Tenana river is a "big sucker"
so to speak. We crossed that river and saw 3 or 4
large low-draft barges that are used during the summer
for the fishing industry.