Thursday 9/18 - Denali Park

Wind advisories in the Alaskan range!  Take them seriously.  About 4 am things were bumping and flying outside our cute little room at the Lakeview Inn.  The wind continued to howl pretty much through the morning -which canceled our walking plans but made for a cozy morning relaxing in our room with the view of the lake (and the breakers at the shore!).

After a lazy morning (well, semi-lazy, I worked on a bunch of stuff while Ed relaxed and read), we headed out to the Totem Inn, the only restaurant game in town.  Had a great breakfast of ham and cheese omelets, hash browns (yes, the real live thing, and yes, the heck with the carbs!) and rye toast.  A bonus of the Totem is that they have free wi-fi - so we connected and caught up on our emails before heading out to Denali Park for our afternoon tour.

Gave ourselves enough time to explore Glitter Gulch - the area right outside the park that held all the tourist shops and the Princess and other tour company hotels.  End of the season - and boy did it show!  All the restaurants were closed (so there went our great idea to eat at the Alaskan Fish Company for dinner!), and most of the shops were too.  Went into one souvenir place were the guy was closing up in 30 minutes and heading to Tuscan.  Ok then!  He was trying to get rid of water bottles, so we got some for 25 cents (nothing else was that good a deal!).  Ghost town....headed over to Denali for our afternoon tour.

Booked tickets for the Denali Tundra Wilderness tour online - instructions said to meet at the Wilderness Center at 1:15 for the 1:30 tour.  Remember - this is the end of the season - and we are on the last tour on the last day of the season.  So - we head to the Wilderness Center - and it's pretty much locked up, closed!  Knocked on the door and a girl answered and gave us our tickets, but told us the tour pick up wasn't until 2:10.  there was an earlier pick up at the Denali Wilderness Chalets hotel in Glitter Gulch that we could do.  So we headed to the Chalets - figuring we could waste an hour there better than sitting huddled in our car with the heat blowing.

The Chalets were hopping! There must have been about 200 people there - all Holland America - waiting for their transportation down to Anchorage.  Not a seat in the place - we hit the gift store, bought Ed a great t-shirt 40% off then hung out in the lobby waiting for our tour.  Bus pulled up at 1:45 and we hopped on with about 6 others.  Great little bus - looked like a school bus, but with padded seats and seatbelts.  Had a box lunch of summer sausage (really good!), cheese, Alaskan Potato Chips an a granola bar.  Great snack.  Headed out a little early, picked up about 8 more folks at the Wilderness center and headed out through the Park.

The Wilderness tour took us to MP 30 on the Park Road. Normally, regular passenger cars can't go past MP15 - but because it is the end of the season, cars could drive the whole 80 miles through the park.  But taking the bus was a great way to really see the park and scope for wildlife without worrying about the driving.  The scenery was beautiful = just past the peak of fall color season, but still spectacular. Our driver/guide, Joe, was informative and fun.  Our jobs were to spot out wildlife and then shout "stop" when we saw something.  As it turned out, being so late in the season, we didn't see much - but we did see a moose out in the distance, a wolf running through the fields and a couple of Lynx at a closed campground.

The tour took 4 hours and was a nice way to spend the afternoon in the Park. Joe showed us where the bus from Into the Wild was located (well, he pointed out the valley and mountain ridge across which the bus was located).  We took a walk through the forest and saw a couple of Snowshoe hares - already turning white for the winter, and just generally watched the beautiful scenery pass by.  The only disappointment was that Mt. McKinley wasn't out.  Oh well - the skies had at least cleared and there was no rain!  That was a huge bonus.

At the end of the tour, Joe handed out little guide books that were a great surprise. Explained the park and all the wildlife you find there.  We headed back to Glitter Gulch to pick up our car, and when we were dropped at the Chalets - they were all boarded up!  In less than 4 hours they had emptied out that hotel and literally boarded up the doors and windows!  End of season! 

Headed back to the B&B to freshen up - then hit the Totem for dinner (remember - it's the only game in town!!).  The Totem was slammed!  All the Princess employees were celebrating end of season in the lounge and the kitchen was backed up terribly.  We sat down to a full restaurant - waved at a family that was on the Tundra tour with us - then ordered salads.  It took over an hour to get our food - the poor waitress was so apologetic - she was totally in the weeds!  But we didn't really care, we had no where to go and nothing to do.  And the salads were surprisingly good!

After dinner - we retired to our room - did laundry (yes, Mom, I know, I know!) and watched Red Eye on DVD.  Then hit the sack in the nice soft Lakeview B&B bed.

Wednesday, 9/17 – Anchorage to Denali

Up in the morning fairly early, Ed out to get coffee and our midnight girl was still there. The night before, she had kept saying "yens" = and I joked with Ed that Alaska was just like Pittsburgh! Well, yeah, she’s from Bloomfield!!! What a small world. Has lived in Alaska for some years now, moving from Juneau to Anchorage. Amazing!

Continental breakfast of awesome looking muffins and bagels. But = don’t want to start on that carb trail, so we stuck with coffee. Shuttle took us over to Enterprise at 9:30 and we were in the car and out of the airport before 10am. Headed south to a new beer and wine warehouse Ed had seen advertised in the paper. We’re stocking up! Great prices – for Alaska! I got a 1.5 L pinot grigio for 6.99! Miller Lite only $18.99 – not too bad considering. Then went to Fred Meyer – which we didn’t realize was Kroger! Kroger brands all over and signs all co-branded. But no Kroger savings card – so no extra discounts. Stocked up on snacks and fruit and headed out to Denali.

Even though Anchorage is a big city for Alaska standards, it’s still very navigable – one road in and out. Made it through town in less than 20 minutes and were on Route 1 headed out of town by 11:00. 254 miles to go – the skies sort of cleared and the rain held off while we headed north into the Taiga forests. Perfect time to be going into the mountains. The leaves are just changing and the Aspens are fabulous. All burnished orange, bright yellow and a million shades in between. Peaking out from the green pine trees so ubiquitous in Alaska, the scenery was spectacular.

We hit the “infamous” Wasilla at 11:35. Had to try to find the county courthouse, but didn’t quite locate it. Maybe on the way back! After Wasilla, there isn’t much for the remaining 200 some miles up to Denali. Gorgeous foliage, to be sure, but civilization? Oh no. There were little cabins, one room log cabins, that were for sale or rent. Looked like people lived in them, but they couldn’t have been more than a couple of hundred square feet. Really odd.

The road to Denali is a two lane undivided highway. The only road North out of Anchorage – and the only road to Fairbanks. Even so, after Wasilla, there wasn’t much traffic at all. Not going North.. It’s the end of the season, literally, in Denali and we drove for miles and hours without seeing another car going North. Lots of southbound traffic, including a bunch of Royal Celebrity and Holland America buses that looked empty, but we were it heading into the mountains.

Turned on the radio to get the weather and were transported right into Northern Exposure and “Sicily” Alaska! The announcer was going through the emails they received, and remember “we only check emails Monday through Friday”. People had sent in requests to ask about their lost dog, a very friendly spaniel mix, someone left an umbrella at the town hall – please call (insert number here!!!) to claim your umbrella. Then he moved into the trading post/sell or sale! Kid you not – need firewood? Call this number. Then a pause and a “hmmm”, Doris is looking for an Elizabethan collar for her dog, please call her at X number if you have one. Oh yeah – this is like the Outer Banks in the 40’s we think!

The total drive took about 4 hours. It really wasn’t all that bad, very pleasant on the eyes. A little rain here and there, but not too bad. And of course the towns, or what passed as towns on the way, were priceless. Like Cantwell, a crossroads with 2 gas stations, log cabins to rent and the Flour Kitchen restaurant. Oh, and let’s not forget the Antiques/Tires/Firewood store.

Arrived at the park (milepost 254) and headed to the Wilderness Access Center, which is where we thought we would pick up our tour on Thursday for the park. It was deserted. Two cars in the lot. So we headed to the Visitor Center. Um, closed for the season! We knew the town was shutting down because we had problems finding places to stay. Virtually everything closes down on 9/15, only 2 days! Did find the info center at the museum, and the sweet park rangers told us that yes, in fact, we should go to the Wilderness Center and since there were only 2 days left of tours, that was why there were few people there! Asked them about recommendations for restaurants, and they told us about the Totem Inn which is open year round, and another little café up the street form our hotel.

Outside the park, heading North, you immediately come into Denali “central”. All the cruise hotels, the souvenir shops, deli’s, little restaurants, all the tourist traps you’d find outside a major attraction. It was pretty deserted and all the shops had 50% off sales – we’ve heard it’s a zoo during season – which we can only imagine. We sailed through there – watching a ton of Princess shuttles loading people with bags. Where are they going? At 4 pm? We’re clueless, but maybe we’ll figure it out on the ship. Or ask someone up here.

Heading to the Lakeview Inn, about 10 miles North of the park, with a stop in Healy to check out the Totem inn. Again, Healy is little more than a cross roads. The Totem inn on one side of the crossroads – a little grocery and liquor store a ways down on Healy and some big apartment house looking thing on the other side of the crossroads! The Totem is a basic little cabin style motel, with a diner restaurant. Serves breakfast all day – I’m in! Figured we’d go there for lunch tomorrow. Tonight we planned to go to the Black Diamond golf café– which is less than ¼ mile from the inn. Stopped by on our way to the Inn, just to make sure they would be open. They are – for the last night! Geez! So we’ll head there for their halibut or salmon or baked brie with garlic. Mmmmmm. Tomorrow night may be an issue, but we are hoping to go to the Great Alaskan Fish company for fried fish – either panko breaded or Alaskan beer battered. Probably great after a whole day in the park.

On to the Inn. Past the Black Diamond, hang a left on the little dirt road that heads toward the lake. Past the ATV company, on the left is a precious looking 2 story house. Check in? Look for your welcome note on the bulletin board! It’s an honor system check in! Instructions tell you where your room is and not to wear your shoes on the carpet! We have the Mt. Glow room, downstairs with a deck and an incredible view of the lake. Totally adorable!

There’s the honor system store - $1 for just about everything, sodas, popcorn (we brought out own), candy, snacks. $2 for the laundry machines. Breakfast waiting for you in the refrigerator – fruit and cheese and bread for toast. Full coffee pot in the room with regular and decaf. All the comforts of home. It is just great.

Nice afternoon relaxing on the deck with our coffee. Later – as it started to rain – we came inside for beer and wine – Ed sitting in the rocker/recliner watching the lake and the mountains! This is nature – and Alaska at it’s best!

Dinner at the Black Diamond was great. About 16 others there as well for the last night of the season. I ended up with soup and salad, which was perfect. Ed had the seafood sampler of shrimp, scallops and halibut. All was excellent. Ended up back at the room around 8, watched a dvd movie then hit the sack. Still catching up on our sleep – obviously!!

Tuesday, 9/16--Travel Day

All packed and ready to go on Monday night, finished up work and last minute details in the morning, trusty Groome was in the driveway right at 12:30. Airport, check in – yes – I am STILL on that darn watch list – will someone PLEASE tell Homeland Security I am not Cat Stevens! – concourse, security, gate – and it’s not even 1:30 yet. Had our bon voyage cocktail at the bar on Concourse A – then waited patiently for our 2:37 flight to arrive. Got off the ground ½ late, but didn’t no worries in Charlotte. We had plenty of time between connections there.

On the plane – we toyed with buying a drink or coffee – but it’s so irritating. Ed talked to the precious flight attendant, and once he found out the coffee was really strong, declined it. A few minutes later, here the FA comes down the aisle with coffee and a bottle of water – in case it was too strong! What a doll! So – Ed has his coffee, I have water…..of course I enjoyed my water more, because I actually got to drink it. Ed’s coffee ended up in his lap – think McDonald’s only not so hot! What a mess. Fortunately he had on coffee colored pants – and you would not believe this – but you can not tell he dumped a full cup of black coffee on himself. Even though he says they feel crusty, those pants look like the day they were bought!

Charlotte was a zoo as usual. Walked from the end of terminal E (then end of the world!) to B – got our afternoon exercise, and had a quick bite to eat at Chilis. Love their burgers! Down to the gate – boarded on time, but then sat there, and sat there. This is the flight that is always late into Phoenix and we only had 33 minutes to connect to the only flight to Anchorage. Needless to say we were sweating it. Finally pushed back only 15 minutes late, but then took 45 minutes to taxi and then sit on the tarmac in line to take off.

Good flight – just long – and we were worrying about the connection. I went back and talked to the FA’s and they said not to worry. Operations knew we were coming and they would hold the plane because “they really want you that plane just as much as you want to be on that plane!” Well, makes sense. They don’t want to pay for hotel, meals, etc. if we miss it. And – we made up so much time in the flight, that it didn’t matter.

Had to haul down to another concourse – so we got our evening exercise – great running with my 10 pound backpack! Made it on the plane with 10 minutes to spare. Took off, no head winds, made it in record time to Anchorage – 12:15 pm Anchorage time. Watched Made of Honor – cute chick flick. Even managed to snooze a bit on the plane – well I did – Ed……you know…..

Raining and 47 degrees in Anchorage, but boy did it feel good after 96 and 80% humidity. Long House hotel came to get us in the van – nice gal – talked our ear off, lots of information. Gave us a room right behind the office so we didn’t have to haul all our stuff around and up stairs. Hit the hay – and never looked back. Wow – up for 24 hours! It was nice to lay down and sleep.

2 days and counting

This time on Tuesday, we'll be winging our way towards Anchorage....hopefully! At least we'll be on our way to Phoenix - with a 33 minute connection to the only flight to Anchorage. May the travel Gods smile on us. All packed - managed to fit everything in our suitcases - but what a difference a trip makes! Last trip we barely filled the case - only casual summer clothes. This time - ha! Quite the different story. Even though we have packed really light (I mean, come on, I only have 4 short sleeve tops and 3 tanks for 70 days!), the combination of 30 degree nights in Alaska and the Bering sea and 90 degree days in Thailand make for heavy packing. Add in the formal wear - and yikes! We're at 49.4 pounds! Had to change carry on's to take the larger ones. Oh well - what's a traveler to do? Take only 2 short sleeve tops and 1 tank!

LOL.

More later - from Anchorage - or maybe in between!

Ready to Roll