...To Shining Sea.

We visited Alaska on a twelve-day tour that included a land portion from Anchorage to Denali NP via motor coach and train, then motor coach to Seward.  There we boarded our ship for our cruise that stopped in Juneau, Skagway, Icy Straits Point, Ketckikan, and Vancouver.

We arrived in Anchorage late Tuesday afternoon and, after checking in to our hotel, walked about the downtown area passing the official starting line for the Iditarod Dog Sled Race, a world class stuffed Kodiak bear, and a memorial to Alaskan statehood, then met our tourmates at dinner.  With light streaming in the windows until near midnight (4 am Romeo time) we resisted sleep.  Though we know about the increased daylight, the experience was sensational, sitting up with light through our window so we could read until near midnight.

Wednesday morning we rode to Telkeetna.  There the Telkeetna River and the Chulitna River join the Sustina River.  Along its banks we got a panoramic view of Mt. McKinley (Denali) with Mt. Foraker,  and dipped our hands into the cold water to scoop up flour rock, the fine sediment deposited from glacial runoff.  Walking back through the town we found a small cafe with bakery in the historical district (downtown) that served wonderful cinnamon rolls--should have bought two.   We boarded the Alaska Railrod train in Telkeetna for Denali Park.  The rails followed a river winding its way up to Denali Park.  Here our hotel sat on the banks of the Nenana River and because we had no air conditioning we left the doorwall open for cooling and for the white water noise which lulled us into a sound sleep.

The next morning we took the Denali Natural History Tour into the park where we saw young Grizzly bears playing in a meadow beside a stream not far from their mother, Dall sheep high up in rocky terrain, caribou, moose, and ptarmigan on the side of the road; a rustic, still used ranger cabin; and of course Denali.  For two full days we have viewed the "the great one", seen only about 20% of the time because of the fog, rain, and clouds, but for us 100% of the time.  That afternoon we were driven back to Wasilla for the night.

Our first stop on Friday was at a sled dog training facility run by the family of Joe Redington, Sr. who founded the Iditarod Race in 1973.  Kathy took a ride on a wheeled sled pulled by sled dogs--MUSH.   A short ride later along the Turnagain Arm of Cook Inlet we stopped at Begich-Boggs Visitors Center from where we can view Portage Glacier, walk along Portage Lake, and touch floating glacial ice. We then rode in the Kenai peninsula, back and forth between mountains, to Seward where we boarded our cruise ship later in the afternoon.