Some pictures

Here's all the pictures we didn't add before.  This is a fish wheel.  Salmon don't eat when they are going to spawn, so a hook won't work.

A moose from a distance.

Friday August 11 - Whittier

We boarded the dome train this morning for our 9 1/2 hour ride to Whittier to board the cruise ship.  The train is lovely - two floors with dining on the first floor and comfy seats and a glass domed top on the second floor.  Rich, our guide gave a running commentary on local politics, Alaska oddities, etc.  We saw a moose, a quick glimpse of Denali without most of its cloud cover, swans, dall sheep, an eagle, Nellie says she saw sea otters (but it was really a rock) No it wasn't (Nell).  Everyone else saw black bears, but we missed them.  Too busy eating lunch.  It felt good to get off the train.  We had a quick dinner buffet, the mustered for our drill on wearing lifejackets, in case ship catches on fire or hits an iceberg.  Then we did a self-guided tour of this huge floating hotel.  Now we know where to find everything.

Friday, August 10 - Denali

Another early morning, starting with a big breakfast at the Princess Denali Lodge before our 6:30 a.m. bus tour into Denali National Park.  Our tour guide, Aaron, told us a lot of interesting things.  We see fireweed flowers along the side of nearly every road.  They bloom from the bottom to the top, and when only the top is blooming, there's only two weeks left until the first snow.  The blooms are at the top now.  We started out in the Taiga part of the park, where there are a lot of spruce trees.  Taiga means "land of little sticks."  As we went higher, we entered the tundra, which is above the tree line.  The tree line is at 2800 feet in Denali.  Dena means "the people" and Denali is the Athabascan for "the high one" and refers to the tallest peak in the world.  Denali is also sometimes called Mt. McKinley in the lower 48 - but never in Alaska.  We saw three of four moose, and lots of striking scenery, but "the high one" was hidden behind clouds, and we couldn't even see a hint.  Aaron was kind enough to show a picture.

After lunch we agreed to do our separate things.  Nell organized and relaxed while Marie hit the Nenana River for some whitewater rafting.  Had a great time on these level 3 and 4 rapids.  The river is glacial and 37 degrees.  That's a little shocking when a wave splashed over your head!  Marie came back and took a long hot shower to raise her body temperature back to normal, then off to eat some more Alaskan seafood.

No internet access in our rooms, so we're entering this from the lobby.  We'll add pictures when we can do it from our own computers.

Thursday, 8/9 - Fairbanks & Denali

We both woke up really early - still on Eastern time - but that's OK because our luggage was being picked up at 6:30 a.m.!  So we had a big buffet breakfast at the Bear Lodge, then while Nell got organized, Marie took a little walk at the nearby Wedgewood Nature Sanctuary... thinking it might not be too wise to be walking alone, quietly, in a nature sanctuary in Alaska.

It was just a short ride to the Chena River, where we boarded the 4-level paddlewheel riverboat, Discovery.  From the river we watched a piper cub circle around and land, saw mushers in training for the Iditarod, and stopped to see an Athabascan village.  There were more mushing dogs there, and some examples of Athabascan camp life.  We saw beautiful beaded fur clothing and how to make dog food out of chum salmon, and also got books signed by the author of GRANITE, David Monson.  We rode all the way down to the Tenana River and then turned around and enjoyed a scenic ride back, eating smoked salmon h'or doevres on the way.  Lance Mackey was back at the dock, with one of his champion sled dogs.  He has won both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod several times.  Back at the dock, we went into the "40 below room" to experience what 40 degrees below 0 feels like.  It's cold.

After enjoying a miner's lunch, served family style from cast iron pots, we boarded the bus for a 3 hour ride to Denali, stopping for a little shopping in Nenana, a truly depressing little native Alaskan town.  Our bus driver (Ian from Georgia) pointed out that there are more caribou in Alaska than there are people.  What's the difference between a caribou and reindeer?  One can fly.

Arrived at Denali just in time to find our room and then head out for our Alaskan Adventure Walking Tour - so far the best part of this trip!  We drove a short distance up the side of a mountain, then Kevin stopped and got out our trekking poles.  Oh, no!  We need trakking poles for this "leisurely walk!"  He said, "follow me," and straight up we went.  We chewed spruce pitch, ate wild cranberries, blueberries, lingenberries, and soap berries (not good!)  Kevin pointed out all kinds of lichen, including frog skin (which was green), folded sun (which was yellow), fairy puke (which was white with pink dots), and old man's beard (which looked like a grey, old man's beard).  We learned to use the trekking poles to go up and down steep grades.  Saw fabulous views of the Alaskan range, glaciers and snow in the distance, evidence of dall sheep and moose, and 88-year old remains of a forest fire.  We learned what to do if a bear should cross our path (which has happened, but fortunately not to us.)

We finished off this marvelous day with a marvelous salmon dinner, accompanied by 1960's music.  Does it get any better than this?

Off to a smooth start. After being stopped by security because of a water bottle, we started our journey.  We travelled 18 hours and are finally in Fairbanks. There seems to be stuffed brown bears everywhere.   It is 9:50 Alaska time, broad daylight. We are waiting for our bags to arrive.  The bed looks good.

Watch Here

Watch here starting Thursday Aug. 9 to see what we're doing in alaska.