It is Saturday around noon. I am proud to say that Elizabeth got Charlie to the airport, assisted him in checking his bags, walked him to the security check and waved good bye as he walked toward the gate.. She is certainly my daughter. When she told me she was driving him to the airport yesterday I was a little worried. I wanted her to take him to the Marta station and let him go from there or at least get someone to ride with her. She had never driven to the airport before – but being my daughter, she felt like she needed to assist him all the way. I said, “I feel like you are so grown up.” She said, “Well that’s what children do Mom, they grow up.” Now it we could both leave Charlie alone…..

So I am on pins and needles till we pick up Charlie at the airport around 6pm tonight. It will be great to see him for the first time is exactly one year. We actually left Georgia on July 15th last year. We will take him on a couple of day trips around Anchorage and then pull out to McCarthy to see Carmen and John and the dog, Jetta. We board the ferry on the 24th.

The final leg of Mary’s visit was spent in Denali. We took the camper up there and stayed at the Riley Creek Campground. It was a beautiful camp area, lots of trees, quiet. Mary and Tom kept birding every possible minute. We took the Denali BackCounty tour into Kantishna the next morning entering the park at 7 am and returning at 5:30 pm. Mary was really impressed with the park. We had great sunlight for the most part of the day and got one wonderful sight of the south peak of the mountain. When we rode by Wonder Lake all I could think of was that I was glad we weren’t stopping cause of those mosquitos. We arrived at the BackCounty Lodge for lunch, panning for gold, bird watching, hiking and just resting by the water. All of the workers were from countries like Russia, Albania, and Poland. Had such a good time and the park looked completely different on the way home. The last hour – I really wanted off that bus….

We took Mary to the airport Tuesday night. I hated to see her go, as I had Terry and Dee earlier. I really enjoyed that change of pace traveling and seeing new things with them.

I watched Carnivale yesterday, the first season. Today I’m watching season three of The Wire - one of my favorite shows. Can’t wait till Charlie gets here. I hope we recognize him.