Denali Windsong Lodge Denali National Park and Preserve

... you say. Yes, but very nice ones.

Val met another lady at the archives who wants to introduce her to Jack Coghill. Mr. Coghill was one of the signers of the original Alaska state constitution, a state senator, and there is a bridge named for him – the Jack Coghill Bridge to the Interior! In addition to all of that his father was a contractor for entertainment at Savage Camp in the 30's. Val is excited ...

... Anyway, we were told that fall only last about 10 days in this region, and that we’d arrived right before the peak.

The train stopped directly at the NPS Visitor Center for Denali, and we had a very short bus ride to our hotel for the night, which was a Princess-owned lodge. Princess owns five of its own lodges scattered around the state, and these form the legs for their various CruiseTour itineraries.

... what happened next. We saw one of the beavers see off two otters. The otters were making a real racket! But they went on their way. It was such a unique experience and very exciting to be there to watch. It was hard vto leave but we had to get back to meet Heidi.

We headed to the shops and ended up at the Salmon Bake where I had the beer sampler and Adi had a Amber Ale. Betsy and Kenny joined us not long after leaving Heidi ...

Sunday, August 2 - Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska - Day 2 of 3

Some of our group awoke early this morning to go white water rafting and some were scheduled for a bus tour of Denali National Park. Our bus tour is not until tomorrow, and we are happy we didn't sign up to go rafting since the temperature is only 38 degrees.

After a leisurely wake-up, we headed to tourist ...

Denali is a huge park most of which is inaccessible except in the winter time by dog sled. The rangers have a series of cabins they use to patrol. Part of the parks mission is to minimize human impact on the plant and animal life. This causes certain restrictions meaning the only way to get close to Denali (Mt. McKinley) is a 66 mile bus ride to Eielson Visitor Center that takes ...

... When found, we would show it to the rest of the group. Great way to find out about what we’re seeing as we walk. Some of the people in the group really knew their plants and told us all kinds of information. The view of Horseshoe Lake from the top of the mountain was spectacular. Then we hiked down to it; very pretty but way too many mosquitoes. The ranger had us sing a song "The Outsider ...

... and terrain were so outstanding. We had a rest stop along the way, and we were treated to some coffee, tea, hot cider or hot chocolate. Our guide, Kevin Hay, was a seasoned guide of the park, and we enjoyed him immensely. We continued on our travels. We spotted caribou, hares, ravens, beavers, and quite a few more moose and some black bears and grizzlies. We did see Wonder Lake. Not quite sure why they call it "Wonder", but Kevin said it was a ...

... that part is free. To get into the rest of the park you have to ride some sort of approved bus, and to camp you must pay for a back-country pass. It's worth the cost 10 times over if you have a reasonable day, what I had was an unbelievable day. So, we get going...great driver. Giving bits of information as we went, we quickly see a moose (MY FIRST, YEA!!!), but she's gone as quickly as we spot her. Shortly after we spot some Dall sheep roaming on a ridge. I'm even impressed with ...

... where do you work," someone asked me. "Nowhere," I said. "I'm a tourist." "Really,' he said. "We haven't had any tourists here all summer." "Rhino invited me up," I told him. He laughed, "Of course he did. That's just like Rhino." He took a sip of his beer. After talking with him for awhile he told me I should come up to the park to work next summer. "You get some Alaska under your belt," he said. "It's good for you." Eventually Rhino came onto the deck. He introduced me to ...

... they had been, where they were from, and where they were going. Nevertheless, over the next two days I found out all about where they had been (all over South America and the U.S. West); where they were going (Vancouver, so John could try the quasi-legal marijuana there); and where they were from (the northwest of England). "So where are you headed next?" John asked over a bowl of fresh cut pineapple. Marcela, the Argentinean who ran the hostel with her husband, awoke in the early hours ...