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.
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