Memorial Day Weekend 2008

We started our Memorial Day Weekend camping trip with a 4-7 hour drive to the Denali Grizzly Campground at milepost 231.1 on the Parks Highway. I say 4-7 hours because it took the girls and I about 4 hours in the van and Stephen closer to 7 hours on the bike. Did I mention it rained much of the way up?

The girls and I arrived around 2:15 and proceeded to set up camp. Turns out the "short walk" to our riverside (Nenana River) tentsite was more steep than short. We carted our tent, cooler, campbox, air mattress, etc. down the 60 degree, root-strewn, slope. By about 3pm we had our camp established.

Stephen showed up, wet and cold, around 4:40. He'd learned that the BBQ started at 5pm. He was a little sketchy on the location, so it took us till around 5:20 to finally find it. By that time, we were at the far end of a long line. But we eventually got our hamburgers and hotdogs and corn on the cob. The food was good. The company was "colorful" (despite the black dress code). We met a couple of other little ones, from whom Alicia immediately proceeded to swipe two toy cars.

As you may know, it doesn't actually get dark in Alaska in the summer. This makes it a little tricky to go to sleep in a tent which has no "window shade darkening" potential. I guess the trick is to pretend you're lying down for an afternoon nap and then hope you stay asleep for many hours. This would've worked in the tent, except for the fact that the temps dropped into the 30s and Tess and I were absolutely freezing in our less than adequate sleeping bags. She and I ended up scrambling up to the van at around 2am to warm up and get a little sleep.

This was delayed slightly by a police car cruising past at around 2:30 aiming its strobe light at us while we had the van running to generate some heat. What possible crime could they be preventing by shining a strobe into a minivan parked legally at a campground at 2:30 in the morning?

We decided against staying our 2nd night at the campground. That was a good thing, since it turned out the Memorial Day Ride was scheduled to take place almost 2 hours south of the campground, back towards Anchorage.

We quickly broke down the campsite, packed everything back in the van, and headed south. Tess rode with Stephen for the first hour or so. But she was frozen and ended up back in the van. We met up with the bikers at Mary's McKinley View Lodge at milepost 134.5. They were scheduled to ride the 13 miles back up the Parks Hwy to the Veteran's Memorial at 1pm. We grabbed some "warming up" food at Mary's.

A little after 1pm, a military helicopter flew low overhead on it's way to the Memorial, and around 200+ bikers followed it up the road. The air was a little crisp, and there was a tendency for both rain and even some snow. But the group was intent on their mission to honor those who have given their lives in service to our country. It was cool to watch.

At the Veteran's Memorial, the helicopter landed with some high military officials and guest speakers. A brass band played as well as a bagpipe player. The mood was patriotic and solemn. The precipitation ceased. Wreathes were laid. Speeches were spoken. It was good to be a part of it.

Two years ago, we spent Memorial Day at the D-Day Memorial in Bedford, VA. We were sweltering in the heat! This weekend, we took part in a similar memorial service, but found it hard to keep from freezing!

It's good to know there are people all over the country taking some time out of their busy schedules to pay tribute to people who paid such a great price for them. It's nice to remember that Memorial Day is about remembering.