Friday, May 30th and I am in ecstasy. We are staying at Denali National Park and I have already seen some amazing sights. Let’s start at the very beginning.
Woke up in North Pole and reluctantly left the Fairbanks area. The weather was gorgeous - sunny and clear. Our route took us southwest through mountainous roads with beautiful views. Our only stop along the way was in Nenana. This is a tiny town with a great gimmick. Every year they hold a raffle called the Ice Classic. Basically they put a tower out on the frozen river with a large bell near the top. When the ice melts the tower begins to float and the bell rings. So, these clever townspeople hold a lottery to see who can guess exactly when the bell will ring. Each ticket is $2.50 and you get to choose a date, hour and minute. This year the ice melted on May 6th and one lucky woman from Anchorage won over $308,000. Jeff and I had a ticket, but obviously not the correct information. So we bought two tickets for 2009 and we’ll try again. Hope nobody else chooses our exact time and date so we can get all the moolah.
Drove on and had a great view of Mt. Denali from the highway and then we arrived at our campground just up the road from the park entrance. Now the official name of the mountain is Mt. McKinley, but the natives call it Denali – The Great One. It is hard to describe how I feel when I look at this mountain. It is the highest I’ve ever seen and it is massive as well. Pure white as it is totally covered in ice and snow and towering over all the other mountains, Denali is extraordinary. I ask my self why this mountain pushed itself up so much farther than the others and I guess the answer is the same as why some people push and achieve so much more than others. Just extraordinary.
We checked into the camp and unhitched the car. I assigned the spaces for our guests and then we waited for them to arrive. Jeff just looked at me and said, “Go.” So I hopped in the car, drove to the park and traveled 11 miles down the road to the first lookout where you can see Denali. I am so lucky as this is a crystal clear day and I could see the entire mountain clearly with no clouds. This may be the best view I’ve had in the three visits I’ve been lucky enough to have in this park and each lasted a few days. So I looked at it through binoculars, photographed it and just stared for awhile and then decided to go home.
Now the rest of my little trip was exciting too. Just passing the sign that says Denali National Park is intoxicating, but soon after I was driving in on the two lane road a large, gray wolf ambled by on the opposite shoulder. I stopped right there and put down my window to take photos and I got some good ones. I was a little nervous because this is a real wolf and he could jump in my car, but he wasn’t too interested in me and continued on – maybe to Little Red Riding Hood’s house.
I also saw a ptarmigan, the Alaska state bird (no it’s not really the mosquito), but couldn’t get a picture. On the way back I saw a stopped tour bus and they were watching two large moose grazing near the road. I stayed there for 15 minutes and took about a hundred photos. Also saw a raven, a magpie and a snowshoe hare. Not bad for a quick drive.
Back at the RV Jeff and I decided to book an ATV tour for tomorrow night with some of our new friends. On the walk back from the office we were forced to indulge in some ice cream in warm, waffle cones. Oh twist my arm more.
Dinner tonight is at the Cabin Nite which combines a meal with entertainment - Alaska style. Our group walks across the highway to the McKinley Lodge, a hotel run by Holland America and full of cruise passengers. Then we trudge down a steep hill to the log cabin theatre. We are greeted by costumed wait staff and we go inside and sit at picnic tables where we have assigned seating. Our waitress is Amber and if we need anything we swing our checkered napkins around our head and yell for Amber. It is amusing the first few times. The barmaid, Kitty, dished out kisses for $1.00 and she was quite popular.
The meal is served family style - biscuits, salad, ribs, salmon, corn on the cob, baked beans, potatoes and blueberry cobbler for dessert. It sounds better than it tasted, but you could eat as much as you like and the entertainment was good. The cast sang and told stories and it was fast paced and short enough to keep your interest.
Jeff did not attend the dinner and preferred to eat alone and then took Ziggy for a ride into the park. They saw a bear with two cubs, but were not in a good position to take pictures.
Enough excitement for one day. Tomorrow we hope to do some walking in the park and we are scheduled to go on an ATV trip in the evening.
Woke up in North Pole and reluctantly left the Fairbanks area. The weather was gorgeous - sunny and clear. Our route took us southwest through mountainous roads with beautiful views. Our only stop along the way was in Nenana. This is a tiny town with a great gimmick. Every year they hold a raffle called the Ice Classic. Basically they put a tower out on the frozen river with a large bell near the top. When the ice melts the tower begins to float and the bell rings. So, these clever townspeople hold a lottery to see who can guess exactly when the bell will ring. Each ticket is $2.50 and you get to choose a date, hour and minute. This year the ice melted on May 6th and one lucky woman from Anchorage won over $308,000. Jeff and I had a ticket, but obviously not the correct information. So we bought two tickets for 2009 and we’ll try again. Hope nobody else chooses our exact time and date so we can get all the moolah.
Drove on and had a great view of Mt. Denali from the highway and then we arrived at our campground just up the road from the park entrance. Now the official name of the mountain is Mt. McKinley, but the natives call it Denali – The Great One. It is hard to describe how I feel when I look at this mountain. It is the highest I’ve ever seen and it is massive as well. Pure white as it is totally covered in ice and snow and towering over all the other mountains, Denali is extraordinary. I ask my self why this mountain pushed itself up so much farther than the others and I guess the answer is the same as why some people push and achieve so much more than others. Just extraordinary.
We checked into the camp and unhitched the car. I assigned the spaces for our guests and then we waited for them to arrive. Jeff just looked at me and said, “Go.” So I hopped in the car, drove to the park and traveled 11 miles down the road to the first lookout where you can see Denali. I am so lucky as this is a crystal clear day and I could see the entire mountain clearly with no clouds. This may be the best view I’ve had in the three visits I’ve been lucky enough to have in this park and each lasted a few days. So I looked at it through binoculars, photographed it and just stared for awhile and then decided to go home.
Now the rest of my little trip was exciting too. Just passing the sign that says Denali National Park is intoxicating, but soon after I was driving in on the two lane road a large, gray wolf ambled by on the opposite shoulder. I stopped right there and put down my window to take photos and I got some good ones. I was a little nervous because this is a real wolf and he could jump in my car, but he wasn’t too interested in me and continued on – maybe to Little Red Riding Hood’s house.
I also saw a ptarmigan, the Alaska state bird (no it’s not really the mosquito), but couldn’t get a picture. On the way back I saw a stopped tour bus and they were watching two large moose grazing near the road. I stayed there for 15 minutes and took about a hundred photos. Also saw a raven, a magpie and a snowshoe hare. Not bad for a quick drive.
Back at the RV Jeff and I decided to book an ATV tour for tomorrow night with some of our new friends. On the walk back from the office we were forced to indulge in some ice cream in warm, waffle cones. Oh twist my arm more.
Dinner tonight is at the Cabin Nite which combines a meal with entertainment - Alaska style. Our group walks across the highway to the McKinley Lodge, a hotel run by Holland America and full of cruise passengers. Then we trudge down a steep hill to the log cabin theatre. We are greeted by costumed wait staff and we go inside and sit at picnic tables where we have assigned seating. Our waitress is Amber and if we need anything we swing our checkered napkins around our head and yell for Amber. It is amusing the first few times. The barmaid, Kitty, dished out kisses for $1.00 and she was quite popular.
The meal is served family style - biscuits, salad, ribs, salmon, corn on the cob, baked beans, potatoes and blueberry cobbler for dessert. It sounds better than it tasted, but you could eat as much as you like and the entertainment was good. The cast sang and told stories and it was fast paced and short enough to keep your interest.
Jeff did not attend the dinner and preferred to eat alone and then took Ziggy for a ride into the park. They saw a bear with two cubs, but were not in a good position to take pictures.
Enough excitement for one day. Tomorrow we hope to do some walking in the park and we are scheduled to go on an ATV trip in the evening.
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