Day 3 – Trains, Danes, and Denali – June 3, 2019

After staying up past midnight, the morning came early. Denali was still visible as we ate breakfast and packed up for today’s train ride to the Grande Denali Lodge, located just outside the national park.

While waiting for our train, we met two friendly couples from Denmark. It seems like everywhere we go, we run into people who used to live in California. Sure enough, one of these couples had lived in Eagle Rock and Pasadena for a year when they were doing a foreign exchange teaching fellowship. Karen had a great time discussing Danish (and various Scandinavian) films and novels with one of them.

The skies continued to clear as our train headed north beside the Susitna River. With Denali to the west of us, and still free of clouds, we got some great views from different angles throughout the morning. This part of the railway took us over the Susitna River Bridge, which was built in the 1920’s and is quite high in the air.

We stopped out in the middle of nowhere for a half hour while the southbound train from Fairbanks exchanged crew members with our train. Shortly after that, we reached the summit pass, which has the Alaskan Range to the west and the Talkeetna Range to the east. This is Alaska’s continental divide: on one side, all the rivers flow south and eventually into the Cook Inlet; on the other side, the rivers flow north on their way to the mighty Yukon River, and then into the Bering Sea.

On the way from the Denali Depot to our lodge, we spotted a mother moose and her two calves grazing on tree branches along the road.

Tonight will be an early-to-bed evening.

 
Next: Into Denali National Park

Day 2 – Train, Talkeetna, Glacier Landing

The train horns started sounding at 5:30AM, so there was no problem waking in time for our early morning departure to Talkeetna. The Alaska Railroad Gold Star service is a delight. We got right into our spacious observation car and settled in for the ride. No more than a quarter mile from the station, we saw our first wildlife of the day: a mother moose and her calf grazing along the tracks near Ship Creek. Later on, we saw more moose and some trumpeter swan as we passed through the spruce and birch forest. Breakfast was included with the train fare and we shared a table with Patti and Jerry, from Ohio. Patti had no problem filling every hole in the conversation (which was mostly hers, anyway) with tales of their many vacations. After breakfast, we went up to the outdoor viewing deck to clear our heads in the brisk morning air as we continued through the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.

At the Talkeetna Depot, we met our shuttle driver, Wayne (more on him later), who told us we were not on his travel manifest. After several calls back and forth with the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, we learned that their records showed that we were supposed to have checked in yesterday and departed today. They told us to come on in anyway, and they’d find us a room. Karen made some calls, the front desk staff got us set up, and we got our room.

It was already after noon, and we hadn’t yet booked our activity for the day, so we had the hotel set us up with a 5:00PM ‘flightseeing’ trip into Denali National Park that included, weather permitting, a glacier landing. However, the tour company told us that there was a strong possibility that there would be no glacier landing today, due to forecasts for rain/snow/low visibility at higher altitudes.

With our flight booked, we hopped onto the shuttle bus for Talkeetna. Once again, our driver was Wayne. We overheard him admonishing some young hotel workers to just ‘go with the flow’. When I commented to him that Karen had been telling me the very same thing ever since we arrived at the lodge, he revealed his inner-philosopher. Wayne looks like the prototypical backwoods fur trapper from the 1830’s, complete with an awe-inspiring beard and the outdoorsman’s presence to go along with it. So his observations and advice (people are all the same, the only difference is their clothing; once you’ve gone off the grid, it’s hard to ever go back again; etc.), carried a certain rustic gravitas. Full of inspiration, we jumped off the shuttle in Talkeetna in search of food and drink.

Sunday afternoon in Talkeetna was way more mellow than I expected. The crowds were small and the gray skies began to give way to some brief glimpses of sunshine. We had a good lunch at the Denali Brewing brew pub, and struck up a lively discussion with the leaders of an Anchorage motorcycle club. They gave us some tips on what to see when we head back toward the Kenai Peninsula later in our trip. Karen also got an opportunity to pet the fur of a living and breathing animal, as opposed to the guilty pleasures of yesterday's window-shopping.

Then, we walked over to the airfield for our flight. By late afternoon, it looked like the skies were clearing, and the flight staff confirmed that our glacier landing was likely to happen. Our pilot, Patrick, did a great job with the De Havilland Otter aircraft and he even let me sit in the co-pilot seat on the return flight. I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story.

Back at the lodge, we ran into a somewhat gaunt young guy sitting in the parking lot. He asked us if we’d just been on a flightseeing trip. I told him we had, and then I launched into a giddy description of what we’d done. He casually mentioned that his family was coming in today to meet him and he was wondering if he should take them on the flight. He also casually mentioned that he had just returned this morning from a 17 day journey, in which he and his five companions had successfully climbed the summit of Denali! What a show-off! Karen later ran into his wife, who said the climbers had been stuck on the mountain yesterday due to weather, and were finally able to get back today when flights resumed.

For dinner, we had some seafood chowder near the very scenic patio deck overlooking the Talkeetna River and the mountains beyond. Denali was still enshrouded in clouds and even though we’d seen quite a bit of the peak while up on the glacier, we never really got a clear view. It seemed like we were going to join the 75% of people who never get to see Denali because of the weather.

It’s after 11:00PM as I’m typing this, and Karen just came back into the room after taking one last look at the mountains before the sun sets. Look what she brought with her – Denali has come out of hiding!  Good night.

Next: Outskirts of Denali National Park

ALASKA ADVENTURE – Day 1 – Anchorage - June 1, 2019

There’s nothing like a 5 hour red-eye flight to make you (especially if you’re a creature of habit) appreciate the benefits of a synchronized circadian rhythm. Nevertheless, after a couple hours of post-flight napping, we hit the streets of Anchorage in search of breakfast. It was a beautiful Alaskan spring morning, meaning low 50’s under overcast and drizzly skies, but it helped us shake off our drowsiness. We stopped first at the local farmer’s market to check out local artisans. There were lots of antler and tusk carvings, along with handmade textiles and clothing. Karen also got to greet some sled dogs who were taking the day off in town.

We found a little eatery across the street that served good homemade biscuits and gravy with sausage and eggs. Right behind the diner is the location of the ceremonial start to the annual Iditarod Dog Sled race, and just down the street from there is one of my favorite Army Navy stores. If you want to find the clothing and gear used by the local workforce, this is the place for you.

Going to the other end of the sartorial spectrum, we stopped at a furrier shop along the same street. Here, we got to caress $10,000 mink stoles while browsing among a rather stoic taxidermy menagerie.

Ship Creek runs right through the city, and there is a salmon viewing platform within easy walking distance of our hotel. Sadly, there were no salmon to be seen there today. A bike/hike path parallels the creek and it also goes past the Alaska Railway station. We stopped there to confirm our reservations for tomorrow’s train ride into Talkeetna.

After that, we walked along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail which has the city of Anchorage on one side, and the mudflats of the Knik Arm/Turnagain Arm on the other. We got off the trail and back up to town to visit the luxurious Captain Cook’s Hotel (where I’d stayed back in 2009 on some business trips), and then on to the 49^th State Brewing Company. We sat next to a couple who had just bicycled in from their home about 15 miles away. She is a nurse, who came out from New York to provide aid to remote native villages, and he is a bush pilot who was born in Alaska. They met 30 years ago when he had to fly an ill patient out from one of those villages. They gave us some tips on places to eat and hike when we get to the Alyeska Resort later in our trip. They also told us a cautionary tale of some people who had wandered out onto the mudflats of the Knik Arm, became mired in the cement-like goop, and drowned when the tide came back in (see bore tides of Cook Inlet)!  I think we’ll stick to the trail…

Tonight we had a light dinner of reindeer sausage pizza and salad at the Fat Ptarmigan pizza shop, followed by homemade ice cream from the shop next door. While eating our dinner, we watched a never-ending line of people on the sidewalk outside waiting for their ice cream. I recommend Wildscoops Ice Cream. The Alaskan birch almond flavor was good – so was Karen’s wild blueberry.

With the sun still high in the sky at 9:30PM, it’s time to get some rest for tomorrow.

Next:  Talkeetna

Update for the Past 10 Months...

Since our big trip across the U.S. ended last July, we haven't done any updates to the blog. In anticipation of some upcoming activity, and in order to see if I can still work this blog, here is a brief recap of a few things we did over the past few months. This does not include the everyday 'activities' of retired life, such as early morning trail runs, leisurely breakfasts, afternoon naps, the occasional music gig, and binge-watching our favorite Amazon Prime TV shows.

AUGUST 2018 - Our neighbors let us use their annual week at their Maui timeshare. This allowed us to get there just in time for the arrival of hurricane 'Lane', which was one of the strongest storms to hit the islands in a few years. It was quite a sight to see normally placid jungle streams turn into raging torrents in a matter of a few hours. Fortunately, the weather cleared enough for us to do some hiking in Haleakala Crater in the thin Hawaiian atmosphere above 10,000 feet elevation.

SEPTEMBER 2018 - We made our annual trip out to the Colorado River with our long-time pals from back in our Disneyland days. The featured activity this year was watching Rogers and Hammerstein musical films projected onto the garage, while singing along to all the tunes (at least some of the crowd was doing this - not everyone was as enthusiastic about the musical theater experience as were a vocal few).

NOVEMBER 2018 - Although Southern California was in the midst of several wild fires, we decided to go ahead with our plans to travel to Santa Barbara for a previously-planned trip with our friends, Betty and John. On the train ride up the coast, we were stopped near Simi Valley while Cal Fire crews put out fires that had made their way down to the train tracks. We made it through and spent a great weekend at a B&B we'd last visited more than 25 years before.

DECEMBER 2018 - Karen agreed it would be a good time for me to take a little camping trip, so my friend Mark (Windom) and I headed out to the remote Saline Valley in the Death Valley National Monument. We had no trouble getting in to the hot springs over the 60 miles of dirt roads. During our stay, some big winter storms hit at the higher elevations. While the temperatures were mild and comfortable where we were, a lot of snow was falling on the mountain passes. This made our trip out of the valley more exciting, and allowed us to hone our skills at laying on a muddy/snowy road to install and remove tire chains on the 1969 VW camper. As usual, the wonder bus got us safely home.

Karen and I also did a quick camping trip to San Elijo State Beach, where an epic surf swell and the holiday vibe were beginning to show up.

JANUARY 2019 - Karen must have noticed how beneficial the December trip had been for me, since she heartily endorsed my January ski trip. My friend Steve (another former D-Lander) invited me to join him and another friend for a week at his timeshare at the Heavenly Valley ski resort in South Lake Tahoe. It had been over 15 years since the last time I'd used alpine skis (I'm a cross-country skier by preference), so I was a little anxious about how I'd do. The biggest surprise for me was not how rusty my skiing was. Instead, it was the high price of lift tickets that put me back on my heels. Luckily, being an old guy let me ski at a relatively good discount from regular rates. During the week, we were hit with giant snowstorms (the roads to the resort were closed down for one of the days), and this allowed us to alternate our winter activities: on the days when the wind was blowing fiercely, we did some snowshoeing in the shelter of forest.

MARCH 2019 - The California winter was pretty wet, and this produced some spectacular displays of wild flowers. We did not get out to some of the crazy places, such as Lake Elsinore, to view them, but we did manage a quick trip to Chino Hills State Park. It was still early in the spring and we got a glimpse of the first blooms of California poppies, lupine and wild mustard.

MAY 2019 - This is the first time since I retired that we've been home in May. Just been hanging around (getting ready for the Indy 500, thanks to our neighbor's, Glen, model A roadster) and preparing for our next trip.

NEXT:   Alaska