The morning was bright and sunny. After staying up late last night, I slept in. I had coffee and a muffin at the office, and sat on the porch to enjoy them. I was not in a mood to pack and go.

Here’s the picture of the full moon rising last night. Of course to our eyes it looks several times larger.

Just south of town is a waterfall that they have tamed. It cascades down a chute and falls on a bed of rocks before flowing through a culvert under the road.

When I was about 40 miles from Anchorage I could smell the smoke from the forest fire. When I got very close traffic stopped. You can clearly see the plume of smoke blowing off the mountain.

I thought the delay was caused by the fire, but after we started moving I could see the delay was caused by a crew painting fresh lines on the pavement. The yahoo driving that little silver car in front of me couldn’t keep his tires off the fresh paint.

While I was stopped I noticed a group of Dall sheep foraging on a cliff above me. They stayed back in the trees for a long time, but eventually ventured closer to the road. It was interesting watching them interact. The alpha goat chased away the others and claimed the best spots. The others just kept moving around looking for whatever they could find.

I drove down 5th Avenue in downtown Anchorage just to see what it looked like. It’s a modern, medium-sized city. I found a park near the shore. Lots of people were enjoying the sunny day and picnicking.

From Anchorage I took the road north toward Denali and Fairbanks. I was getting sleepy, so I stopped for a cup of coffee. A trucker driving a load of new vans pulled up to the diesel pump nearest me. The pump hose wasn’t long enough, so he had to maneuver the truck closer to the pump. He asked me to watch to make sure he didn’t hit the canopy with the van on top of the cab. All went well. He didn’t hit the canopy and the hose reached the tank.

I decided to stop at a campground in Cantwell, AK. Just a few miles before getting there we had to wait for a pilot car to take us through a construction gap.

I’m going to check out the visitors’ center at the park in the morning.