To Denali and Back

 Let me take you on a quick trip to Denali National Park via the Alaska Railroad!

Monday May 15th was another bright clear sunny day and found us at the train depot in down town Anchorage bright and early.

Waiting for our train.

We're on our way!

Our favorite spot was the open air walkways between the cars. 

It was a great place to feel the wind and watch the world go by.

A lake near Wasilla.

The train didn't have very many passengers so we were able to move around freely and changed our seats to ones facing each other with a table in the middle.

Denali/Mt McKinley was standing tall and clear. It's only about 10 percent of the time that you can see the whole mountain like we did that day. Denali is so tall that it creates it's own weather so it is often shrouded in clouds. But not that day!

Mt McKinley, also known as Denali.

It took about 8 hours to go from Anchorage to Denali.

Along the way we saw moose, caribou,swans, and even a black bear climbing a tree along the tracks.

When we arrived at the train station in Denali a bus from our hotel picked us up and drove us up, up, up the mountain to our hotel, The Grande Denali Lodge.

Our room! I just love staying in hotels! :)

And the view from our room.

The next morning we ate a big breakfast at the lodge and Elijah wanted a picture with the bear.

How's this for a breakfast view?

After breakfast we went into the park, took a walk, and spent some time at the visitors center.

Some of the Denali Park Rangers have four legs and a tail. And we got to meet them!

These are the dog sled dogs that patrol the park and keep things clean and wild.

This pup was the sweetest thing. Ethan just loved this dog. 

He sat there for the longest time just rubbing his belly

and picking rocks out from between his toes. :)

The feeling was mutual. Look at that paw on Ethan's shoulder.

They gave a short sled dog demo.

That evening (once we pulled Ethan away from his new four legged friend) we got a taste of old-time Alaska on a covered wagon ride thru the Alaskan tundra.

As the only two children on the wagon, Elijah and Ethan got to sit up front.

We rode out to a little cabin in the woods where we were served a yummy dinner.

The rocking of the wagon nearly put Ethan to sleep. Notice the nice lady holding him up! :)

Wednesday morning we went to the visitors center again since we had a little bit of time before our train left for home. 

Elijah holding a moose antler.

Inspecting a wolf pelt. "Wolves are my favorite animal." Elijah said.

And a bear skin! It was so soft! No wonder people used to use them for rugs! :)

The train home was even emptier than the ride up! Hello whole train car to ourselves.

The trip home was spent reading, snacking and watching the beautiful scenery go by.

We even got to eat a meal in the dining car! So much fun!

Conductor George

 And that was our trip to Denali and back on the Alaska Railroad!

Thanks for coming along on the ride!