The McKinley Explorer to Denali National Park

---

We are now beginning our new adventure starting today. For the next eleven days we will be touring Alaska and the Yukon Territory with a tour group of about 45 people (with about 38 of them being seniors).

We met up with Judd's parents, another couple they are friends with, their two children and their parents as well back in Anchorage yesterday. Today we boarded the McKinley Explorer headed toward Denali National Park. We started out with an ice breaker game where we each received someone else's nametag and had to find out something personal about that person before they could get their nametag back. We met two sweet girls from New York, Beatrice and Christine, who you will see in some later photos. They were touring with their parents for their 30th wedding anniversary and became our sidekicks for the rest of the trip.

So, the train ride was long and unfortunately not very eventful. We were hoping to see an abundance of wildlife and beauty, but that was not the case today.

We eventually pulled into Denali National Park, which was stunning! We had the pleasure of staying for the night right outside of the park. In the morning we took a shuttle bus into the park where we saw some caribou up close and personal. We also had the very rare opportunity to view Mt. McKinley (aka the Athabascan name "Denali" or "The Great One" as the locals call it), which is the highest mountain in all of North America, at an elevation of 20,320 feet. You have to look at the pictures very closely and you will see the snowcapped mountain peaks. They almost blend into the clouds, but that is "The Great One"!

We only wish we could have spent more time there. It is really a special place where we could have easily spent a week cruising around the park and taking excursions, but we had to be on our way. Off to Fairbanks tomorrow!

---