Alaskan Trip, Day 4, Denali National Park

Early the next morning we had breakfast at the lodge then loaded a bus for our 7 hour Tundra Wilderness Tour. We had hoped to see Mt. McKinley, aka Denali, the highest point in the US, but every time we got close the clouds were too low. We did get pictures of several other mountains with snow-covered peaks, though.

Although we saw several kinds of wildlife from the bus--moose, sheep and bear, none were close enough to get without a high powered zoom which our camera does not have. But, we did enjoy the beautiful scenery. The picture of me pointing to a flower is of Alaskan fireweed which is used as a harbinger of winter, kind of like the wooly worm is used to predict a cold winter in Kentucky. In Alaska, they say when the reddish fireweed blooms all the way to the top of the stalk, summer is over, and winter is near. It still had a few inches to go when we were there in late July.

When we got back to the lodge, since it was still bright daylight we took another walk and actually saw two bears across the river from our cabin. We wanted to get closer for a better picture, but the park employees advised against it, so you will have to settle for this picture of one of the bears (the brown smudge) eating berries in the brush! (to be continued.)

Alaskan Saga, continued, Day 3

In the morning, our tour bus took us to Fairbanks University where we got to see their experimental gardens and took a hayride around the farming area of the campus. The Fairbanks area has 22 hours of daylight in July, (and only 2 hours of sunlight in January!) so although their growing season is only 3 months long, it is very intense, allowing them to grow cabbages that weigh over 100 pounds and the most beautiful flowers you could imagine!

Next we stopped and checked out the Pipeline. My husband is over six feet tall, and he had to stretch to reach the underbelly of the pipeline in this area, but about 100 yards from there, the pipe went underground. We were told that about half of the pipeline is buried underground. Here is some info I found online about it. The 800-mile-long Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) is one of the world's largest pipeline systems. Starting in Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope, TAPS stretches through rugged and beautiful terrain to Valdez, the northernmost ice-free port in North America.

On our way to Denali National Park we stopped at North Pole, Alaska, so I had to have my picture taken with Santa to show the grandkids! Then we headed on down the highway and arrived at Denali just in time to see a very entertaining show about Alaskan history at the Cabin Night Theater. The delicious food was served roundhouse style. Afterwards, even though it was almost nine o'clock, it was still bright daylight so we settled into our cabin then walked to the lodge and back.