Tuesday,  June 13, 2006   Sue has been spending a lot of time updating the website and making postcards.  We arrived here in Palmer on Thursday and have decided to stay a few more nights and go to Anchorage on the 15^th.  Chuck flys in very late on Thursday.  After he arrives we plan on taking the Kenai Fjords Tour.  It’s a wildlife & glacier tour.  The tour takes about 8 hours.  Then we will head towards Fairbanks and the Artic Circle.  There have been some wild fires up there so we will check on those before we leave.  The Palmer Elks had their annual summer picnic which we were invited to attend.  The men roasted 6 hams, hamburgers and hot dogs and everyone brought a dish to pass.  I took lemon bars and finally used up the lemons I had gotten at Julie’s in Tracy.  The lodge provided drinks and tomatoes and lettuce for the burgers plus watermelon.  We had a nice time.   Skip called Peggy who he knows through his friend, Louise in Washington.  Found out she only lives a couple miles from the lodge.   He had a nice visit with her.  Later in the day we took a drive to Hatcher Pass.  We had a beautiful view of the Talkeetna Mountains.  Along the road, there were signs that recreational gold panning was permitted.  I imagine Skip will try to get up there before we head to Anchorage.  There is an old gold mining camp up there called Independence Mine.  While it was in peak operation it produced over a million dollars in gold. During World War II the operation was stopped and the mine closed in 1951.  We took some pictures and headed back down.  We made the mistake of taking Lucas with us and he gets freaked out if a large truck is coming towards us.  He tries to hide but there was no place for him to hide in the car like there is in the RV.   We stopped and calmed him down and headed off again.  Sometimes we think he needs therapy.  On the way back to the lodge we saw a large whirlwind and I took a picture.   Sunday, we went into Wasilla and went out for a nice Sunday dinner at the Best Western.  You guessed it…a brunch!!!  Skip loves those buffets.  He had breakfast food and I enjoyed a salad, fresh vegetables and fresh salmon.  So good!!  We both had dessert…lemon chiffon cake.  Can’t get away from those lemon dishes.  The restaurant was situated on a lake with a wonderful view of the mountains.  We watched the little planes take off and land on the lake.   As luck would have it, there was a wedding just starting.  It was fun to watch even though we didn’t know the people.  The waitress said they had 3 weddings out there this weekend.  The people here are so friendly.  We went shopping at the local Fred Meyer.  Milk was only $2.99 a gallon.  Pop is pretty expensive.  Julie, those Pepsi six pack bottles we buy were on sale for $5.79.  Quite a difference from the lower 48.  I decided to buy a 2 liter bottle.  We drove into Anchorage (40 mile drive) and found a nice RV park to move to on Thursday.  We will stay there for 2 days and then go down to Seward to take the glacier tour.  Gas is only $2.82 at Costco in Anchorage.  Hope the trend of lower gas prices continues but the odds are it won’t. I added four pictures.  A couple scenery pictures and one of Skip and the last one of Lucas.   More later….