Denali

It was another early morning. We had breakfast, spent some time at the lodge and then were off on another bus ride to the Denali Princess Lodge. It was a cold morning and the mountain was again obscured by the cloud cover; however, we did get some views of the small peaks in front of Denali showing as black outlines peaking through the clouds.

The ride to Denali was on the Parks highway, the one and only highway in Alaska. It travels from Fairbanks to Anchorage – a north/south route. Being here, you learn so much about the culture and way of life...and minimizing roads is one of those things.

The Denali Lodge is another 'campus' of buildings. It is right along the highway just a few miles north of the entrance to Denali National Park. There is a stoplight along the highway....one of the few we saw away from the large cities of Anchorage and Fairbanks. Across the highway are many little shopping stores – t-shirts, knives, and the Harley Davidson store.

We took the shuttle into the Park and went to the visitors center. We also went to a presentation by the Parks' dog mushers and got to see and pet the dogs. Listening to the presentation and learning about life in the winter up here provides a new outlook on what I used to call dog sledding. Amazing lives these people live.

We had dinner across the street from the lodge at Prospectors. The place was packed with mostly locals, so we knew the advice on the location was good. Amazing pizza!