By 8 AM, we were all up and packed for our trip to Denali National Park. Would we finally see Denali (aka Mt. McKinley) today? The sun was out so there was a chance.
It was a little hazy but we were able to see the bottom part of Denali when we stopped at the Parks Highway viewpoint about 20 miles south of Fairbanks.
We then drove on a few more miles to where there was a sofa filled with stuffed animals on the hill above the road. This has been here at least 2 years.
When we stopped to take a picture, Suzy noticed that there was a stuffed animal that had fallen to the bottom of the cliff. It was a cute little dinosaur.
After a couple of tries, I did get it back up the hill where it landed in a nice sitting position on the ground to the left of the sofa -so at least it won't be alone.
We drove on to Nenana and stopped at the visitor center.
Lots of hanging flowers and a nice sod roof. We walked around the area - checking out the Ice Classic tripod on display.
I tried to get information as to the tripod John and I had seen in the Tanana River earlier this summer but the lady I talked to said it could have been any one from 1917 to this year as they had only ever recovered one of them. After looking around a bit, we drove on to the Tatlanika Trading Post to do a little shopping and look at their displays.
They had an old fish wheel on display.
The clouds were continuing to build and it was fun to watch their shapes. I especially liked the one in the center of this picture which looked like a space ship taking off or landing.
And of course it looked better earlier but by the time I could find a place to stop, the shape had changed a bit.
We got to Denali Park and stopped to take a couple of pictures before driving in the 14 miles of the road we are allowed to drive.
We pulled into the Savage River parking lot and stopped. They had sod roofs on the outhouses.
We decided to hike the 2 mile Savage River trail.
The flowers on this side of the river were beautiful. So many different kinds.
They had a bridge to cross over so we could walk back up the other side of the river.
We saw a few red arctic squirrels including this one back near the parking lot.
Meanwhile, back at the truck, a Mew Gull (nope it is not a sea gull) had taken up residence on top of the truck.
He hardly moved while we opened the truck doors, got out our lunch and went to a picnic table to eat. While we were eating, he did fly off for a few minutes but then returned to the top of the truck. After eating, we got in the truck and started it up - not sure at what point he flew away.
We drove back to the Wilderness Access Center and picked up our tickets for our shuttle bus trip into the park the next morning. Then we went to Glitter Gulch and walked through a few stores to see if we could find something special that we couldn't live without. Then drove the 12 miles south to Carlo Creek Lodge where we had arranged to spend the next two nights.
The cabins were cute and comfy (one room and a path) with only a small rear window. It was a very short walk to the showers. A quite nice place to stay - I'm thinking I will be back.
After moving in to our rooms, we decided to go across the highway and eat dinner. Suzy and Morris had Caribou Medalliens and I had halibut with rissoto - it was good but kind of pricey. I had ordered a halibut cake for us to try for an appetizer - it was $15 and only about 3" in diameter.
We stopped to do some glassing up the hill for sheep. Morris found 3 of them way up the hill.
Time for this old lady to go to bed while Suzy and Morris went for a walk and I believe donated some blood to the locals. Friday was going to be a long day.
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