The great train adventure!

In the Interior, we occasionally get horrid heat...people are always surprised by this because it's Alaska after all! But no, indeed, we've been enduring a 2 week long heat wave with no air conditioning...the kids were aching for a change...and since this our last summer in Alaska, I thought it best to hie ourselves down to Denali this weekend.

They have a great Alaska resident discount on the railroad and combined with a military appreciation special at the Grand Denali Lodge, we lucked out like bandits. We departed early on Friday morning on a big blue and yellow Alaska train.

Here are excited happy boys to be underway on an honest to goodness train!




The views for the first few hours were for the most part uninspiring, consisting of endless marsh and taiga forest. The occasional startled moose, turning capacious rump, and fleeing into the reeds, enlivened the views a bit but the boys were not enthused until the last hour of our trip when the Nenana river came into view. The views were simply breathtaking -- because of the winding and steep nature of the track as it hugs the canyon walls, the train chugged slowly along as we drank in the vast panoramas.




Here's the view from our hotel room. We were booked at the Grand Denali, a steep 1/2 mile climb up the bluffs. But oh so worth it! We could catch shuttles from there to anywhere in town and into the park, but we chose to walk most of the time.


We have limits on pictures on here, and I've exceeded mine, as well as the baby' patience. Stand by for more!