Denali Park Road Opening
Easter Sunday was my father’s birthday. If he were still on this earth, he’d have turned 75 years old. In my mind’s eye he will never be older than 62 - the age he was when he left us. Some days, I miss him so much that my heart literally hurts. And other days, I think of him and my lips turn up in a smile over a fond memory I have. It is true that the pain of loss lessens as the years pass, but that’s an overall lessening. It doesn’t mean you stop having days when the grief grabs a hold of you and shakes the tears loose. Fortunately, Easter Sunday was a day when my sorrow was just a mild ache; a wistfulness as I drove down the highway with Steve and watched the beautiful countryside pass by outside the window. I so wish I could show my father Alaska.
I’ve been following the road opening updates on the Denali National Park website for several weeks. With anticipation, I followed the progress of the plows and the dozers, as they cleared mile after mile of roadway. Finally, the announcement came on Friday - the road was opening to mile 15: Savage River.
The weatherman was calling for snow showers, which wasn’t something we wanted to hear. Spring has come to the Interior, and the snow is quickly melting away. With average temps in the 30s and 40s, and abundant sunshine, the thought of snow showers depressed me. When I woke up on Sunday morning, the first thing I did was glance out the window. The few puffy clouds that were drifting across the blue sky were uplit with orange, as the sun moved above the horizon. How exciting to see that, and not gray skies and flurries! Steve woke about an hour later and we were packed up and on the Parks Hwy at 9am.
