We had a very exciting day. In the morning we went to the Talkeetna Museum and had a look around. It was pretty interesting. The staff was helpful and talkative. After that we went to the Talkeetna Ranger Station which is the place that every crew planning to climb Mt. McKinley must come for registration and orientation. Our youngest son David has climbed the other 49 highest points in every state, and this would be the last for him. We knew he had it in his plans. The rangers told us that he was registered to climb but that was all they could say. So we went over to the Alaskan Mountaineering School which he was registered with and found out he was on the mountain right now. His ecpedition started on May 25 and he was scheduled to come down on June 15. We got a nice orientation about how the process works. David is in a group of 6 with two experienced guides.

We had a nice lunch in town then headed to the airport for the highlight of the day. We booked a two hour flight around the mountain which included a glacier landing. Our airplane was a Turbo Otter which can really haul the freight. Our glacier landing turned out to be at the Mt. McKinley base camp where all the climbers start and finish their adventures. There was a little bustle of activity as some were preparing for the flight out and some were preparing to assault the mountain. We picked up two climbers who were returning from the adventure then headed back to Talkeetna. Very exciting afternoon.

We returned to the hotel and boarded our bus for a three hourn drive to Denali where we have three nights before heading out to Fairbanks.