Have you ever spent four hours in a green hallway with a blue ceiling? No? Me neither, but I came close today. 

The Tanana River and it’s tributaries have spent eons carving out the flat valley between North Pole and Tok. 

The spruce, birch, alders and aspen painted the entire area with various shades of green. Engineers cut a hallway through it for the road and God’s sky supplied the high blue ceiling. That’s the road we traveled today. 

For miles there was nothing except tress on both sides and sky above  

And then   . . .

Just a few miles out of Tok we got our first glimpses of the Wrangell St Elias Mountains. 

Closer and closer.

 And then we were in Tok and the mountains were behind us. We are all settled in at the HideAway B&B. 

THANKFUL THURSDAY

Stanley: We are back to Tok. A very eventful and safe trip through south central Alaska. A total circle. We had a review of a former life, visited friends and family. Lesson learned: There is no credit for having lived here. There is no cheap place to stay. Lodging costs a fortune. 

Dona : What a wonderful week this has been. On Friday we went up Hatcher Pass to explore wedding memories. On Saturday a mass of folks showed up to celebrate Sean and Erin. On Sunday, we had the three boys and their families all to ourselves. On Monday, we packed up and had one last good-bye. On Tuesday, we drove to Healy on the most beautiful sunny day imaginable with totally unexpected views of Denali. On  Wednesday we drove to North Pole and visited the world famous Santa Claus House. And now we are headed home. Only 4000 miles to go.