Of Interest

To All it may interest, Janice Campbell has had nothing to do with this Blog at all.

Pictures From McKinley

Here are a few pictures from our stay at the McKinley Lodge, Denali NP.

Day 13

We woke this morning to cloudy conditions on the mountain so we had to cancel our glacier landing, the plane will nor risk a landing in bad conditions. We are rescheduled for 9:00 in the morning (Friday) if conditions improve. We all decided to take the Jet Boat Adventure ride from Talkeetna, Alaska. They filmed the series Northern Exposure here; it’s a very small but very Alaskan town. We took the boat down the Chulitna River about 15 miles to a trapper cabin. You can tell you are in Alaska when the guide carries a shotgun, and the man working on the jet boat dock has a 44-mag on his side, very John Wayne, Bob you would love it. Deb tried on a bear skin cape, she looked beary attractive in it. Later in the afternoon we took a horse drawn wagon ride to the top of a crest and got a beautiful view of the Alaskan Mountain Range. The wagon master and his helper were a lot of fun and we all had a great time. We panned for gold, had smores by the campfire and yes that is Debbie and Roddy kissing a reindeer. Mike also kissed a reindeer, but there was one person in the group that chickened out, guess who? We wore moose antlers on our head and even snuck in a kiss. We have had a great time here at the McKinley Wilderness Lodge and hate to leave, but tomorrow afternoon we have to hit the rails, back on the train to Anchorage. More to come……….

Day 12

We woke early and after breakfast at the Fairfield Inn in Anchorage we headed for the Alaskan Railroad Train Station to catch our train to McKinley Wilderness Lodge. We boarded our Dome car for the 3 ½ hour trip to the lodge. The views from the train were fantastic; of course Rod and I did catch up on some sleep. We arrived at the lodge around noon and planned our activities for the next day. Plans are to take an air tour of Mount McKinley and land on the Ruth Glacier. We all hope the weather cooperates and we get to do this. Well maybe all of us do except Janice and Debbie are trying their best to talk their way out of it. We sat out on the deck and watched the mountain come and go from sight behind the clouds and just relaxed. The weather is perfect, just a little cool, if only the clouds would break a little. It’s fun listening to other people tell their stories of their Alaska vacations, never heard of a complaint yet. Most have flown or taken a cruise. They cannot believe that we drove from South Georgia up the ALCAN and Yukon, seems like we have the best stories and have seen more of Alaska than any of them. We have not met anyone here that has been to the Arctic Circle, or drove the Dalton Highway like we have. The cruise and set itinerary tours may be good for some people, but I think the drive and the freedom to see Alaska the way we want is worth every minute we have spent. We had a great dinner here at the lodge and are turning in early to get some rest for a day full of adventure tomorrow. More to follow, along with more pictures………..

Day 11

We left Fairbanks at 2:15 this morning so that we could arrive in Denali National Park for our National Park tour at 5:30. The picture is Fairbanks at 2:00 AM. It was strange driving in daylight at that time of the morning. We had reserved the Wilderness Access Tour that went 64 miles into the park. The views were unbelievable; we drove down a very tight gravel/dirt road that was perched on the very edge of the cliffs. The road had everyone on the bus a little uneasy to say the least. The wildlife viewing was fantastic, we saw Moose, Dall Sheep, Grizzly Bear, Fox, Caribou, Mountain Goats, Eagles and many others. Mount McKinley was covered in clouds at most of the areas where it could be viewed, but we did get some sightings of it during the day. This is a magnificent site, dwarfing other mountains in the Alaskan Range. We had a great tour guide for the 8 ½ hour trip. This has been a high point of the trip so far. We are now in Anchorage till in the morning when we board the Alaskan Railroad Dome train for a trip to the south side of Denali. We will be spending two nights at a wilderness lodge within 25 miles of the mountain before returning to Anchorage. We plan a jeep excursion to the base of the mountain on Thursday, with an airplane glacier landing on Mount McKinley for Friday morning if we can get Debbie and Janice on the plane. Janice says she has some things to make right before she lands on a glacier. Something about a Chuckie Doll and the Grand Canyon being in Colorado along with others. Roddy, Debbie and myself will most likely take a separate plane from her. Debbie discovered that the pedal that looks like a grate in the floor of the outhouses is for flushing the toilet and not a thing to clean the bottom of your boots........ What a Janbie. More adventures to follow.

Total Miles To Date: 6214

Denali National Park and the National Park Service – A++++

Denali Pictures

The mountain was in the clouds, but we did get a view of it. The size compared to the rest of the Alaska range is unbelievable. Here are some of the pictures from Denali National Park.

Day 10

Ten days down and twenty one to go………… Today started off with light rain and 45 degrees and it stayed that way for most of the day. We decided to do some indoor things so we went to the Great Alaskan Bowl Company this morning and watched them make birch bowls, needless to say we also purchased a few. We learned a lot about bowl making, very interesting stuff. Afterwards we went to the Fairbanks Ice museum to watch ice sculptors in action. We saw the ice carvings that were done at the World Championships held here in Fairbanks in February. The most impressive was a life size replica of Susan Butcher and her sled along with the whole dog team. We drove to North Pole, Alaska for a meeting with the Santa’s, made pictures and tried to convince him that we had all been good. We closed out the day with dinner at the Pump House restaurant on the Chena River. The food was great food and it was a fantastic place to eat, overlooking the Chena River. We have a lot to do tonight, getting packed and ready for our next leg of the trip. Tomorrow we will leave out early, around 2:00 AM in order to reach Denali National Park for our bus tour departure at 5:30 AM. We hope to get some wildlife photos and some fantastic scenery. The tour lasts 8-9 hours and then we will leave Denali for Anchorage. I’m still waiting on Janice and Debbie to write their first week highlights so I can post them, but they just like to ride. Maybe I will get their first week highlights sometime during the third week. Not many Janbbies (only something that Janice or Debbie could do) to write about on this trip, they have been doing good so far. We did have a Janice and Debbie make a decision day yesterday…….. hope they don’t get in the habit, it takes too long. We all concluded tonight at dinner that this has been a fantastic trip to date, with no regrets. There is nothing like experiencing new things with such great friends. We all miss our families and friends and hope to see all of you soon. More to come, with pictures of Denali.

Total Mile To Date: 5832

Pump House - A++ (Great Halibut)

Springhill Suites Fairbanks - A (Very Clean, Nice People)

Ice Carvings in Fairbanks

More Pictures