8-15-09 Return trip on Glenn Hwy; a Japanese moment (pics of Cousin It with Sasha, Orca VW bug, Matanuska Glacier)

8-15-09: We packed up a very wet camp this morning and left the Kenai Peninsula. After leaving Anchorage we drove east on the Glenn Highway through spectacular mountains and past immense glaciers. When we stopped at a roadside pullout to cook up Raman noodles for lunch, I (Mike) dried out our tent next to the van. A most peculiar episode occurred during this interlude; a bus full of Japanese tourists stopped to view and photograph the nearby glacier (Matanuska glacier). They quickly migrated to us! Apparently we were more interesting with our drying tent, our dog Sasha tied up, Patty sweeping out the car mats, and a cook-stove boiling Raman noodles. Without a howdy do or a questioning glance, they commenced walking amongst our gear, around me as I cooked, taking pictures of Sasha and hand feeding her from the food in her dog bowl, and laughing and chattering between themselves. We felt like we were intriguing animals in a zoo, or perhaps like an aboriginal family during a colonial inspection- “You see Margaret they can use utensils too”, “They are soo cute Howard.”

Patty had to take a picture of someone’s VW bug that drove up to the same roadside pullout. It was a black and white bug decorated as a killer whale (the fins were a permanent part of the car!). Gaby and Sasha also had Dad take their picture where Gaby made herself look like Cousin It of the Addams Family.

Next we drove almost to Tok and set up camp for the night at the Eagle Trail campground. Before that, we saw a cow moose and her calf in a field below the highway.