Denali National Park

Because it stays light so long in Alaska we found ourselves awaking early and going to bed late. As you can imagine that meant we were tired by mid-afternoon. I tried to plan all our vigorous activities for the morning so we could chill later in the day. Monday morning we ate breakfast in our little cabin and then checked out for Denali National Park. The temperature was a brisk 37 degrees. The trip to Denali was a little over two hours with a few stops along the way to take pictures. Here's some of what we saw:

Still snow in many areas.

Once in Denali we were treated to quite a few wildlife sightings. We saw a herd of Caribou in the park. 

The Denali park road is usually closed to private cars, but because we were there before the tourist season we were able to drive to Mile marker 30. Half of this is a gravel road. We stopped quite a few times to take in the scenery and to eat our PB&J lunch. At 25 miles an hour it took us a while to get through the park.

We decided to hike the McKinley Station Trail right near the park entrance.

Here's a few pictures from the hike, which wasn't long. You can see by the wooden pathway it wasn't exactly strenuous.

It was late afternoon before we checked into our hotel, the Denali Princess Lodge. This hotel is usually filled with pre-cruise tours, and more expensive than we can afford, but we managed to get in before the crowds started showing up. The prices were about half what they usually are. We liked the hotel, but not as much as our little cabin in Talkeetna.

After a short nap we headed out to our evening activity – a dinner theater in Denali Village. I'd heard good reviews about the show so I booked it months in advance. It does sell out quickly. I had a half-price coupon from the Alaska Toursaver book, which saved us money on both this, the Denali flight the day before and the whale watching excursion we did in Juneau. Well worth the money for the book.

The dinner and the show were excellent. BBQ ribs, salmon, homemade biscuits, beans, potatoes and apple crisp for dessert. The actors served as waiters, as well as musicians and singers. They were all so talented and personable. The storyline was kinda korny but the songs were all about Alaska and warmed our hearts. We were delighted with the presentation and the food! After the show it was still very light outside (10:30) and getting much colder. We saw a few more Caribou by the road on the way back to the hotel.