Alaska - Our 50th state

Day 10 - Monday, August 29, 2022 - Denali


I got up at 7:30 but Ron slept in a bit. It was 25 degrees when I got up so we'll have to dress warm. We have plenty of warm clothes though. We walked across the road from the resort and had tea and muffins and some coconut breakfast cake. We browsed the gift shops and went back to our room. Our excursion didn't leave until 1:30 from the main lobby so we had a little time to rest. We made our way up all the stairs to the main lobby and had a 4 1/2 hour natural history tour of Denali. Our guide Laurie was very informative. First we saw a 15 min film on the history of the park. Then we drove through the park with the guide pointing out different vegetation, explaining the geology of the park, life in Denali and native American customs. The views were impressive but as is usually the case Denali was elusive due to the clouds. We had a few sprinkles but we lucked out again with the weather. We were prepared to have rain every day as it had been in the weeks before our arrival but the weather has been perfect. Also the colors were starting to turn as everyone kept referring to this time of the year in Alaska as fall. It is hard to describe the magnitude of the mountains and expanse of the land. Along the way we saw Dall sheep high in the mountains. We got back around 6 and were hungry since we'd only eaten breakfast. We went across the street to Prospectors for pizza on Laurie's recommendation. There was a line so we left our name and walked the boardwalk. Ron had an ice cream to hold him over and I had some popcorn. Of course it didn't end up being a long wait then. I had some Alaska White beer and we ordered pizza with elk meatballs and kalamata olives. Yum. Went back to the room. It was a great day.

Views of McKinley Chalet







A storefront near our hotel, many of the stores had beautiful flower displays


The stairs we took to get to the main lobby


Views from Denali National Park


A historic cabin that is still used by Park Rangers




It's Bullwinkle


















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