Author: ToadMama

We left the Denali National Park area today headed for Anchorage. The vacation is winding down. It has been a wonderful two weeks, but we’re both looking forward to getting back home.

We had an extra-special treat today, though. We got to meet-up with Mike’s long lost cousin, June, and her two kids, Leah and Mikey. June and her family (her husband wasn’t able to join us) live in Willow, a town about an hour or so north of Anchorage. We met in Talkeetna for lunch then went back to June’s place and met her incredibly nice landlords, Jerry and Sue. Mike and I really enjoyed the visit.

Before we left, we posed for a quick group photo. The picture was a little blurry, so I Photoshopped it a bit. June said to make sure I tell everyone this is her “rain hair” (it rained today). Leah didn’t say anything about her hair, but she probably didn’t realize how crazy it looked after Mike playfully mussed it up.

All in all, we’ve been pretty lucky with the weather during our visit. Even today, although rainy, it was still gorgeous. The blue sky, storm clouds, snow-capped mountains, and white clouds make for some very dramatic photos. Despite the fact that, when we left our cabin today, I told Mike I wasn’t going to take any more mountain pictures, I just could not resist. I posted my favorite cloud image of the day below for your viewing pleasure.

Tuesday, June 3 – So, we finally made it to Denali National Park, America’s crown jewel of national parks. And the weather sucked. It was overcast and gray for most of the day. Then it started raining. All of the planning and anticipation leading up to our Denali visit and we get crappy weather. Of course, up until now, the weather has been pretty darn fantastic for us, so I guess we really can’t complain.

Wednesday, June 4 – This was supposed to be our BIG day. The day we’d been waiting for. The day we were scheduled to ride the shuttle bus into the park (private cars are not allowed to drive past mile 15).

Despite the crappy weather yesterday, today it was gorgeous. We could not have asked for better weather. How good was it? It was so good, we actually got to see Mt. McKinley! North America’s highest mountain, at 20,320 feet, is so tall, it creates its own weather. Only about 25% of people who visit the park will ever see the mountain. One of the reasons I scheduled our shuttle trip for the ungodly hour of 7:00 AM is that you are more likely to see the mountain in the morning. You are more likely to see critters, too.

Did we ever see lots of critters! Grizzly bears (10 of them), caribou, moose, Dall sheep, a red fox, a hoary marmot, more snowshoe hares than we could ever possibly count, ditto for ground squirrels (the fast food of the tundra). We also saw some cool birds. You’ll just have to look at the pictures to see for yourself, because I am tired of writing for the day.

Tomorrow, we leave Denali and head back to Anchorage. But we’ll be stopping in Talkeetna to meet up with Mike’s cousin, June, along the way.

Sleep Deprivation – I am having one heck of a time sleeping here in Alaska. The further north we get, the longer the days get. Sunrise for today was 4:05 AM. Sunset is 11:57 PM. How weird is that? Well, the first picture below was taken at 10:00 PM last night without a flash.

The next picture was taken at 11:00 PM last night. Again, without a flash.

We were going to do a 12:00 AM photo, but Mike has a cold and went to sleep. I, on the other hand, was up until about 2:00 AM. It didn’t look much different outside at midnight. At 2:00, it was slightly darker, but not by much.

Our Travel Cooler – Mike and I have traveled to a variety of places in the Western US over the past 15 years. We almost always have a rental car, so we stop and buy a foam cooler and drinks to stock it with. It is much more convenient than stopping to buy drinks all the time.

Why am I telling you this mundane bit of info and even posting images on my Blog? Well, because we thought you’d find it equally amusing that every time we buy a cooler, no matter what state we are in, we get the same exact cooler. Even weirder, the cooler is manufactured in…

… Baltimore, Maryland. Our hometown. So, whether we’re in Arizona, Montana, Washington, South Dakota, Utah, or even Alaska, among other places, our cooler is from Baltimore. Just one odd little bit of travel trivia to entertain you.

Tuesday – It is 10:45 AM here. I have been up for hours. As soon as Mike is finished drinking his coffee and waking up fully, we’ll set off to explore. Hopefully I’ll have some more-exciting images to post later today.

Yesterday, we left Seward for Anchorage traveling on the Alaska Railroad.
We saw quite a few moose along the way and some amazing scenery. Take a look at the pictures and you’ll be surprised to see how much snow was still on the ground. The train only reached an elevation of about 1,000 feet, but the mountains on the Kenai Peninsula accumulate and hold lots of snow.

We reached Anchorage at about 10:30. It was 11:00 by the time we checked in to our room and found a restaurant. So we were eating dinner at about 11:30 and it was still sort of light outside. Their “dark” is not like our dark at all. In the summer, anyway. No flashlights required, that’s for sure.

We were a little late getting started this morning, which was cool because we didn’t have to be anywhere at any certain time. So we took our time on the 220+ mile drive up the Parks Highway to Denali National Park. The Parks Highway really is not all that picturesque; the Seward Highway puts it to shame. Until you start getting closer to the Alaska Range.

The picture above is proof. Mt. McKinley–20,320 feet–is in there somewhere, but the top is obscured by clouds, as it often is. Still, it is a cool picture.

I’m not sure what is on the agenda for tomorrow, but I am sure we’ll find something to do. I can always find things to take pictures of…

Sadly, today is the day we leave Seward and the Alaskan coast behind. It is tough, I have to admit, because I just love it here. We couldn’t afford to stay very long, though. Things are ridiculously expensive. A typical lunch in a restaurant is about $30. The regular price for a twelve-pack of canned Pepsi at Safeway is $7.49. A mid-size bag of Fritos that would cost about $2.49 – $2.99 at home is $5.25. Dinners are costly, too. And regular unleaded gas is going for $4.61 per gallon.

But it sure is pretty! All of the pictures from today are just shots I took as Mike and I walked around, killing time before our 6:00 PM train ride back to Anchorage.

I had Mike take a picture of me with several critters located at various spots in the area. And I took a bunch of pictures of the view. The Seward boat harbor is quite picturesque. And they sell really good fish, too.

Seward is by far my favorite Alaskan city so far. Sitka was cute, but tiny. Juneau was just gross. The downtown area, anyway. So far, we’ve only seen the Anchorage airport and a small slice of the city; we stopped for breakfast at McDonald’s, which was very disappointing because they don’t serve bagels out here anymore.

We hear Anchorage is just a city. It isn’t a destination anyway, just a place we have to get to to go to and from the various vacation spots. We’ll spend the night there tonight then will rent a car tomorrow and head north to Denali, where we’ll be staying until at least Thursday.

I’ll sign off with my favorite (I think) picture of the Seward boat harbor. Internet access will be very iffy after today. If you don’t see any updates, that is why.