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Published: July 16th 2013
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Denali National Park
A pretty spot along the road I got a little behind on postings...
July 13...Another very early start...up in time to make a 7:30 am shuttle bus in Denali National Park. It's the only way to see the park. We had reserved the first shuttle out for an 8+ hour ride through the park to the Eilosen Visitor's Center which is 66 miles into the park. It's a large school bus in which the driver narrates along the way and stops when there's any animal sightings. The park is beautiful. We saw a moose along the road almost as soon as our ride started and later on we saw a few caribou, one up close. Others in the distance. The driver and many of the people on the bus said they saw bears and sheep but they weren't so visible to me. They kept pointing to the 'dot' on the mountain. But from every angle watching Mt. McKinley was a thrill...depending on cloud cover. We had a clear day and because of the early hour got some great pictures. We were in the park until about 6 and even though most of it was spent in the bus, the time flew by. For dinner we stopped
at a food truck to pick up Thai and Chinese food and with the wine and beer we had chilling back at the hotel, we had a great dinner on the back deck of the hotel until the mosquitos descended and chased us inside.
July 14...Marcy, Steve, and I were up early for a morning hike to Horseshoe Lake from the Visitor's Center in the park. It was a pretty 3 mile walk. Then the car was packed and we were on the road again continuing south on the George Parks Highway towards Talkeetna. We made some stops along the way, thanks to Marcy's navigation and eagle eye for lookout points and interesting places to stop. We got glimpses of Mt. McKinley and the beautiful surrounding mountains and landscapes from every angle. On one of overlooks we met a young woman who had climbed and submitted Mt. McKinley on July 5th! She became an instant celebrity to the tourists that were on the overlook. Steven shook her hand and we all peppered her with questions about how she prepared and what it was like being up there. Other people came by and wanted to take a picture with her.
What an incredible accomplishment, especially for a maybe 25 year old woman.
We arrived in Talkeetna, our last stop on this trip, and were very happy to find a young, hip kind of town. Lots of camping families, cute restaurants, local artist shops. We wondered around, people watched, had a great late lunch with, of course, local beer. Our last for this trip. And then we went to find our hotel and were amazed at the place, Denali Overlook Inn. It was a great house, B&B style, with incredible views of the surrounding mountains and Mt. McKinley. The proprietors gave us a breakfast menu to preorder, even as to what time we wanted breakfast. There was a dumb waiter to take our luggage up to the floor where we were staying. We hung out in the living room, enjoying the views. We had pizza in town for a late dinner and came back to watch the sunset, 11:30 pm. Gorgeous, colorful, but not bringing on the darkness.
And so we ended our trip...with beautiful surroundings, good friends (still!), lots of laughs and great pictures to remember it all by.
July 16th We got back home early this
The gang
in front of Mt McKinley (sort of) morning. Sad for this to end and not so eager to deal with the day to day again. Hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing!
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