Denali National Park

Driving to Barrow, Alaska, the most northern inhabited settlement in the United States, was not an option.  So we settled on a more easily reachable location -- Denali National Park, which was only about 3 hours away from Anchorage.

Charlie advised us to take the "shuttle bus" that takes hikers and campers to various sites throughout the park rather than a tour bus.  The shuttle was a little over $20 per person where the tour bus was $75 per person.  (The seats weren't the "luxury" type that would've been on the tour bus, but they were comfortable enough for our needs.)  The driver for the shuttle bus was also an excellent tour guide.  He pointed out the various wild animals, hiking trails, mountain peaks, etc., along the 8-hour roundtrip ride.  We saw grizzly bears, caribou, moose, big horn sheep, foxes and more along the route.

 

The shuttle made plenty of stops where we could get out and stretch our legs as well as get some great pictures of the scenery.

The route's elevations changed dramatically throughout the ride.  We'd go from being several hundred feet high and then down to river banks.  By the time we arrived at the point closest to Mt McKinley, the storm clouds had covered the peak.  So we don't have any pictures of Mt McKinley.

Why am I sitting by myself?  On the trip out, my window was along the mountain sides.  So I didn't notice how narrow the road (wide enough for only one shuttle bus most of the route) was and how steep the dropoffs were until we were headed back to the park's visitor center.  At that point I was more than content to sit on the opposite side and be oblivious (as much as possible) to how close to death we were if the bus went off the narrow road.

At first you might think this picture was unintentional.  But Russ took this photo of the drop off from the "edge side" of the roadway.  Now do you understand my concerns?

 

Here's a picture of a post card I had purchased that shows what Mt McKinley looks like without clouds obscuring the view.

 

 

 It was around midnight by the time we got back to our motel just outside Denali National Park. We didn't use a flash with this photo of the view outside our motel room. That's about as dark as it gets this far north this time of year.   

 



Once we retire from the military, we can see ourselves living in Alaska during the summers.

Back to Denali National Park

We went back to Denali National Park in the morning, going to some hiking trails that were close to the visitor's ceneter.  (As you may have guessed by the photo of the sharp dropoff and mention of the narrow road, personal vehicles are NOT allowed to drive past a certain point in the park.) 

It was a little colder than I'd expected.  My gallant husband loaned me his jacket.  (What a "manly man!")

It was still pretty chilly as we remained in the mountains' shadows during our early afternoon explorations.  So Russ avoided the temptation of reaching into the creek to feel how cold the water was, though he wanted to.

 

We went back to the visitor's center to warm up a bit and look at all the exhibits we'd missed seeing yesterday in our scramble to catch the last shuttle bus of the day.  Have I mentioned before how much Russ loves looking at maps?  It doesn't matter if it's an ancient map, road map, air chart map, etc.  He could spend hours reviewing the details of a map.  As this was a topographical map, he wanted to spend a lot of time looking at it. 

 

By the later afternoon the sun was out and I was warm enough to explore some more.  Though you can't really see the moose in the picture below, we had a great view of it on the other side of the lake.

 



Here's a better photo of the moose getting a drink of the extremely cold water.  (Yes, Russ could no longer resist the temptation and had to feel how cold the water was.)

To summarize our Denali adventures, we had a great time and would go back again.

Eagle River Nature Center

It was great having our very own tour guide (Charlie Howell) giving us ideas for around-the-town activities.  After exploring Thunderbird Falls, we headed over to the Eagle River Nature Center.

The day time temperatures were perfect for all the outdoor activities we had - low 70s.  We always wore pants during our hikes to keep from getting bitten by mosquitoes and ticks.  (Remember how large the leaves were at Thunderbird Falls?  That should give you an idea of how big these pesky insects are.)



I couldn't decide which was better to admire, Russ or the scenery?  Since I'm only in Alaska for a short while, I better get back to admiring the scenery.

 



The mound in the water on the left side of the picture is one of many beaver dams at the nature center.  The water was so clear it perfectly reflected the scenery behind it.  Gorgeous!

One downside of all the beaver activity is that the trails often get flooded when new dams are built.  We all managed to make it across the planks without falling into the water.

 

 

 Russ and I are with our friend Charlie Howell in this photo on the banks of Eagle River.

 

This gigantic tree looked like it had been hit by lightening at some point.  With more than half the tree trunk missing, we could only guess how old this tree was.  It was so big the three of us couldn't reach all the way around it.

 

This is another great place to spend a couple hours or a whole day if you're in the Anchorage area.

Thunderbird Falls, Alaska



I've been stationed in Texas and became a Texas resident.  Texans are very proud of "everything is bigger in Texas" sayings.  I have to admit, I'd never seen tree leaves this big before in Texas.  Look at it!  This one leaf is bigger than both our hands put together.  And I may have mentioned how big the Alaskan mountains are.  There are dozens of mountains in the Anchorage area that are more than 6,000 feet tall, even though the base is at sea level.  That's like being in the Colorado Springs area with the 13,000 - 14,000 foot mountains, that start at a base of 7,000 feet.

Alaska needs to come up with its equivalent of "everything is bigger in ..." saying.

 

 

 We climbed up this lookout tower to get a better view of the falls.

 

Then Russ, Charlie Howell and I all hiked to be closer to the base of the falls.  We could feel the spray in the air.  It was so incredibly peaceful even though the noise from the waterfall was quite loud.

Russ and I even managed NOT to fall in when we got on the river bank to get a picture of Thunderbird Falls in the background.  If you're ever in the Anchorage area, I highly recommend this easy hike.

Exploring Eklutna Lake and Elmendorf AFB

There are so many places to explore right in the Anchorage area!  I finally discovered why so many people would take an assignment to Korea to get a guaranteed follow-on assignment to Elmendorf.  The Anchorage area is absolutely gorgeous (in the summertime).

 

We started the morning out at Eklutna Lake, which was only a 15 - 20 minute drive from Elmendorf AFB.  The lake had miles of groomed hiking trails that were easy/safe enough for me to go on without injuring myself.  (Or should I say re-injure myself since I seem so adept at getting hurt?)  We had a fantastic time exploring on the various trails.  Oddly enough, we only saw a handful of other hikers during the hours we spent here.

 

 Russ demonstrated his "rock skipping" skills and even managed a few throws with six or more skips.

 

 

Here's my handsome hubby staying out of trouble even though the drift wood looked really tempting to build something.  (Isn't driftwood just a larger version of Tinker Toys?)

 

 

After Charlie got off work she met with us to explore Elmendorf a little more.  Of keen interest to Russ was the air park for personally owned aircraft.  Elmendorf has a grass runway plus a lake for seaplanes to take off from.  An interesting factoid Russ taught me was that Alaska has more aircraft per capita than any other state in the country.

 

 

After admiring the air park, we went in search of moose, which freely roam the base.  This picture of Charlie will forever be etched in our memories.  (No, the security forces did not see her clearly unbuckled while she was sticking her head out the window.)  I'll have to save this for her retirement photo montage.

 

We didn't see any moose on base during our adventures, but we had a lot of fun anyway.

Around Anchorage AK

We didn't have a set schedule of what we were going to do while in Alaska, but we wanted to stop by and visit our friend Angie "Charlie" Howell, who's stationed at Elmendorf AFB near Anchorage.  (She and Russ had both been stationed at Travis AFB in the Bay area of CA as air traffic controllers while Charlie and I were both assigned to the Military Equal Opportunity Office at Goodfellow AFB in San Angelo TX.)

This picture was taken on Elmendorf AFB.  The salmon had just finished the spawning run a week or so earlier.  That would've been pretty neat to see.

 

 

These next photos were taken at Chugach State Park.  It's amazing how tall the mountains are considering Anchorage is at sea level.

 

Due to the mountain heights (and cooler temperatures), there was still plenty of snow by the time we visited.

Rest assured, Russ did NOT peg me with the snow ball in his hand (though he wanted to).

Honeymoon to Alaska -- Finally!

Back before Russ and I had started dating, we'd been at a luncheon with several other co-workers.  Russ had mentioned how he was going to take his wife to Australia on their honeymoon after he got married.  I'd asked when he got engaged, and he mentioned he wasn't engaged, but when he did get married, he was definitely taking his wife to Australia.

Well, here we are on a flight to Alaska.  True, we weren't heading to Australia, but Alaska does start with an A.  So doesn't that count?  Plus, since we got married in January, that was NOT the time to be making a trip to Alaska.  So here's to our "real" honeymoon!

We officially departed Langley on 5 July and drove up to Andrews AFB.  We only stayed one night at lodging and departed for the long flight to Anchorage from Ronald Reagan National Airport.  It was a long, but non-stop, flight.  Of course, Russ had to sit by the window so he could enjoy the view and plot our flight path.

 

 

You wouldn't know it by looking at the level of the sun, but it was after 10 p.m. when this picture was taken.  (This was the rental car we had while in Alaska.)  When we had a hard time finding an open restaurant, we finally figured things out when we looked at the clock on the car to see how late it was.  So for our first meal on our honeymoon, we ate at Arby's.  (It was open!)