Alaska, June 26, 2025, Chasing the Peak

   Ward and I recently took a trip to Alaska. We flew into Anchorage (via a stop in Seattle) and used our friends' house as our home base. I am chronicling our trip here.

We had a made-to-order breakfast at our Dome House B&B, checked out, and headed back to the Denali Visitor's Center. It is a large center with well-done displays that we enjoyed perusing. After about an hour, we headed to the park bus depot, where we caught our bus for the day. Both the park and a private company run buses into the park. Upon recommendation of our B&B host, we took the inexpensive park bus. All buses take the same route, and all buses give commentary and stop for animal sightings. We were happy with our choice. 

This was our bus for the day. It was a transit bus, and you could get on and off anytime.
 We picked up several hikers along the way. We had a bathroom stop on the way in and out and a 20-minute stop at the Mile 43 turnaround. The whole trip took about 5 1/2 hours.

There is only one road into the park, and the public can only take cars to mile 16. After that, only pre-approved buses (or dog sleds) are allowed on the road. The entire Denali Park road is 92.5 miles long, but a rock slide (actually a rock glacier as it has been moving for many years) closed the road at mile 43 in 2021. They are building a bridge over the slide and hope to have it done next year. Meanwhile, the backcountry trails and camps are only accessible by plane now.

We drove through a lot of tundra at the base of the Alaska Range. The bus driver has been driving this route for 20 years, so she was very familiar with the area and gave good insights.

We saw a moose and her calf, caribou, and ground squirrels on our ride. However, most of them were far from the road, so they were hard to see. And with no special lens, you can't see them in photos. This is a photo of caribou. Trust me, they're there under the top snow bank. We saw them with our binoculars. :)

Ward explored the East Fork braided river at our turnaround spot. It was cold and windy at this spot, so Ward explored longer than I did.

There were three places along the bus ride where you can see Mt. Denali if the clouds decide to part from around it. That didn't happen. Actually, 70% of the time, the peak is in the clouds, so it was no surprise we didn't see it. And I thought, what's the big deal? We've been seeing big mountains the entire trip. How can this one be any more spectacular than what I've already seen? Luckily, I got to find out that I was wrong. 

After we returned from the bus trip, we decided to get on the road. We had a two-hour drive to our hotel for the night. We stopped along the way at two viewing sights in Denali State Park that have good views of Mt. Denali/McKinley (which I will refer to as Mt. Denali from here on out). However, while we had more amazing views, Mt. Denali was not in sight. The South View at the state park often has one of the best views around, and it was only a few miles from our hotel, so we decided we would come back later that night for another look.

We stayed at the Princess Wilderness Lodge in Trapper Creek. The complex was coordinated with the cruise line and was quite large, with multiple restaurants, fireplaces, movie theaters, and more. Although I've never been on a cruise, it had a cruise ship feel to it from what I've heard. There were long waits at the restaurants, so we decided to go out and find somewhere else for dinner. 

Down the road just a bit was McKinnley View Cafe. It didn't look like much from the outside, but we were hungry. As we approached the porch and entrance to the restaurant, we saw several excited people. Mt. Denali had just come out of the clouds and was shining bright in all of its glory. Wow. It was something to see. We had a good dinner that was somewhat communal as we all talked about Mt. Denali that we were seeing.

That's all 20,230' of snow-covered Mt. Denali under the clouds.
 Per usual, our pictures do not do it justice.

We went back to our room and decided to take one of the hikes around the complex. We got turned around and didn't end up on the trail we intended to go on. Instead, we found our way to the Treehouse Trail. During our walk, it started to rain and I thought we should turn back. But Ward kept going forward, and I'm glad he did because we found the treehouse. 

It turns out that this treehouse was built for the cruise line and was featured on the TV show Treehouse Masters. The show was playing on a screen inside, and we watched as we waited for the rain to stop. It was really cool watching something on the show, then looking around, and seeing it in person. We had another great view of Mt. Denali from here. 

The entrance to the tree house.

Another shot of the Treehouse from down below. With over 4 feet of permafrost and an active earthquake zone, the Treehouse needed extra engineering for its design.

Even more clouds had cleared from Denali.
This is pretty much the same view of the mountain as seen above, but it is several hours later, so we were seeing the mountain in shadow.

We went back to the hotel, took one last look at the grand mountain from the lodge viewing deck, and retired for the night.

Tune in next time for a bit of this and that on the way back to Anchorage.

Until next time...

Alaska, June 25, 2025, North to Denali

  Ward and I recently took a trip to Alaska. We flew into Anchorage (via a stop in Seattle) and used our friends' house as our home base. I am chronicling our trip here.

After breakfast, we started our 4-hour drive to Denali National Park. Along our drive, we drove out of the Chugach Range, through the Talkeetna Mountains, and into the Alaska Range. Needless to say, the scenery did not disappoint. 

I only took a couple of photos during the drive because pictures from a moving car are not always of the best quality. At least, mine aren't.

We appreciated the wildflowers we saw along the way.
These were wild geraniums at a roadside stop.

There wasn't much development along the Parks Highway (Rt. 3), but we finally found McKinnley View Cafe for lunch, just 15 miles south of Denali National Park. We had a nice view while we waited a very long time for our order, which was wrong when it came. But, we made do, especially since we were trying to make it to the park to see the 4 pm sled dog demonstration at the park.
 

   We made it to the park in time to catch the bus to the dog kennels

         for the last show of the day.

We were surprised, but you were encouraged to pet the dogs before the show. Many of them presented themselves for scratching and petting.

They started the show by having dogs pull the summer sled around the area. The dogs are used mainly in the winter to haul supplies and patrol the outer parts of the park when it is covered in snow.

These dogs are Alaskan Huskies, which have been cross-bred over the years to develop the breed. They have a variety of looks because they are bred for performance rather than appearance, unlike AKC (American Kennel Club) breeds. The dogs in the park are bigger than the Iditarod dogs because one is selected for hauling and the other is selected for racing. 

There was a cuteness overload at the end of the presentation
when volunteers came out carrying the five puppies they have now. 

By the time the shuttle took us back to the visitor's center where we were parked, it was dinner time, so we headed to Healy, where we were staying for the night. Healy is a town of approximately 1,000 people, located 20 minutes north of the park. 

We stayed in the Dome Home B&B. Our room was the one with the window you see in the front.

After dinner at the local restaurant, we bought ingredients for lunch tomorrow, and then we retired for the night. Tomorrow was going to be another early morning.

Until next time...

Alaska, June24, 2025, Baby, it's cold outside

 Ward and I recently took a trip to Alaska. We flew into Anchorage (via a stop in Seattle) and used our friends' house as our home base. I am chronicling our trip here.

Cascade, Berry, and Coxe Glaciers at the entrance to the Harriman Fjord in Prince William Sound.

Today's outing was the "26 Glacier Cruise" out of Whittier. Whittier is a small town in Prince William Sound, accessible only by boat or through a tunnel. The tunnel was initially designed for trains, but was later modified to accommodate cars as well. However, there is no 2-way traffic, so getting through the tunnel is carefully timed for trains and cars going inbound or outbound. We left early and got through a cycle earlier than planned, which gave us time to explore the town and the local museum.

The Whittier Tunnel under Maymard Mountain was built in 1943 to enable sea-going shipping to reach the interior of Alaska via the railroad.

The museum was a single room that highlighted the importance of the area during World War II and the Cold War, featuring local heroes and their stories. There were also first-hand accounts of the harrowing 1964 earthquake. Bo, who has visited the museum over the years, said it has really grown. When it first opened, the exhibit featured artifacts and index cards.

The 26 Glacier Cruise we were on supposedly went by 26 different glaciers. We didn't see that many because of the fog and rain. However, the promise of many glaciers is not the reason we booked this afternoon cruise. It was because it had a no-motion-sickness guarantee. I am prone to motion sickness, so when I saw this one, I said. "Sold!" It was also a favorite of Bo's, who went with us. BTW, it lived up to its promise of a big boat in calm waters.

The boat was a large catamaran, and we were joined by several hundred people on the outing. We sat in a booth with three other friendly tourists from Memphis. I was especially impressed with Ginny, who sat across from me, because she was an expert at spotting animals. The captain called out animals when he saw them and slowed down the boat, but Ginny saw some things he didn't. I called her Eagle Eyes and stayed with her at times while Ward and Bo went out on the deck for better looks. We saw more sea otters than anything else, but we also saw sea lions and humpback whales. Well, we saw their water spouts, but I did see a fin of one of them. Ward saw a harbor seal that I missed. Bo had a better camera than we did, so the animal pictures I'm posting were taken by him.

We sat in the upper cabin of the boat.

After lunch was served, people moved freely about the boat, both inside and out.

Sea otters

This sea otter had a baby riding on its belly.

Sea lions

This sea lion was enjoying an afternoon nap among the kittywinks.

The captain stopped the boat for a while in front of Surprise Glacier. Surprise Glacier was further up the Harriman Fjord from the three glaciers in the first picture. Perspective was hard to get here. The glacier looked about 400' across and about 400' away. In reality, it was 3/4 mile across and about 1/2 mile away. We saw several pieces of ice break off (calving) that didn't seem that big until we felt the large waves they generated. The captain said that one of them was one of the biggest he's seen. (The black stripe in the middle is the medial moraine.)

I hadn't realized before this cruise how blue glacial ice is. Think blue popsicle. 

The captain told us this was J. K. Rowling's yacht. It was huge! Harry Potter has rewarded her well.

On the way home, we stopped at Portage Lake overlook. It was beautiful, but I was cold. After a brief picture, I appreciated the beauty from the warmth of the car.

Bo dropped us off at the airport, so we could pick up a rental car to use for the rest of the trip. B had a much-appreciated dinner waiting for us.

Tune in tomorrow for when we spent the day chasing Denali.

Until next time...

Alaska, June 23, 2025, Only in the Summer

  Ward and I recently took a trip to Alaska. We flew into Anchorage (via a stop in Seattle) and used our friends' house as our home base. I am chronicling our trip here.

Our train trip to Seward yesterday made for a long, tiring day. Because of that, we chose to have an easy day today and visit the Alaska Botanical Gardens. If we can, we try to work in a visit to gardens wherever we go. Here are a few pictures from our visit.

Columbine

Ursa botanicus. Alaskan bear decorated with what they eat.

I think this is saxifraga.

Himalayan Blue Poppies

Rock sculpture

Lamium. We have this in our yard, but it blooms yellow.

Magpie sculpture. From the artists: "The imaginative pair of magpies represents Alaska's dramatic shift of light and darkness throughout the changing seasons."

Lady's Slippers

Those are real flowers planted on the VW wagon. I guess that's real Flower Power. 😁

We had sandwiches for lunch at The Great Harvest Bakery and took home a loaf of cherry white chocolate bread that we had sampled. There's nothing that beats the taste of good bread, and that's what we had here.

B fixed shrimp salad for dinner, and we enjoyed talking while looking out their windows, which offered views of the mountains.

Come back tomorrow when things are going to get cold. 

Until next time...

Alaska, June 22, 2025, Chugga, chugga, choo, choo

 Ward and I recently took a trip to Alaska. We flew into Anchorage (via a stop in Seattle) and used our friend's house as our home base. I am chronicling our trip here.

If you squint and look way in the back,
you will see the domed, double-decker car we were on.

One of the top things on Ward's list of what he wanted to do was to ride the Alaska Railroad. Today, his wish came true when we rode the train from Anchorage to Seward. Bo took us to the train station to catch our 6:45 am train. Yesterday, I referred to this early time as 0-dark-30. That was silly because this time of year in Anchorage, there is no darkness. Only dusk. And it was certainly light when we got up at 5:30 am.

We opted for a car with a glass top, so we had great views in most directions. While this train was not advertised as a tourist train, it was. During the 4 1/2-hour trip, we heard commentary about the areas we were riding through, and the train slowed down when there were animal sightings.  We saw dall sheep, eagles, and a bear on the tracks. Actually, the bear went over the hillside before I caught a glimpse of it. But it was there. We went to the lower level for breakfast and got a different perspective on what we were seeing. I enjoyed the ride, but Ward was thrilled. He's always been fascinated with trains. 

We went downstairs in our train car for breakfast.
Guess who had sausage gravy and biscuits again?

The scenery was beautiful along the way as we rode through the Chugach Mountains.

Part of the route was along the Kenai Lake.

It was busy when we got off the train because there were several buses of people there from cruise ships. However, most of them did not stay in Seward. They went further north. 

Seward, on the Kenai Peninsula, started as a Russian trading post (the first non-native settlement). It has a population of about 2000, but has large influxes of people during the summer, with visitors from cruise ships and the train. The town was essentially destroyed by the 1964 9.2 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, but rebuilt, and today it is an important fishing port.

We saw lots of fishing and tourist boats in the harbor at Seward.

Monument commemorating the founding of Seward in 1903. Seward was proposed as the ocean terminus of the Alaska Railroad to the interior. 

Besides taking a train ride to Seward, our goal was to visit the Alaska Sea Life Center. The center is an aquarium and a marine life rehabilitation center. While we enjoyed all of the animals we saw, the puffins were the most fun to watch. They would dive underwater and swim gracefully, almost like we see birds in the air.

We didn't get many pictures inside the Sea Life center,
But we did get one of a puffin (upper right). 

After the center, we wandered around town and were surprised that several restaurants were closed. Since it was tourist season, that's not what we expected. However, we did not go hungry because we found a place for lunch.

Dog sleds were carrying things from ships in Seward to Nome
 before the famous 1925 medicine run.

We spent the afternoon walking around town, exploring a riverfront park and the Kenai National Park Visitor's Center until it was time to catch the bus home. The bus took about half the time of the train. Part of the ride followed the same path as the train, but the other part was through new territory. We had local commentary from the driver for the entire ride, which made it interesting. BTW, the train seats were a lot more comfortable than the bus seats. But we only paid half as much for the bus seats, so I guess that's okay. :)

We had a seat in the front of the bus, so we could see out the front as well as a side window.

Bo picked us up at the bus station after a long but good day. 

Stay tuned for the next time when I show you a place that we try to visit, wherever we go.