Day 10 - 08/01- Anchorage to Denali

 Our trip to Denali was by rail.  We were assigned to the Foraker car which is owned by Princess Cruise Line. Princess's cars are named after mountains and Holland America's cars are named after rivers.  Our car last year was the Kenai and we passed it on our trip today. Their cars are unique in that all of the seats are in a dome car on the upper level.  The lower lever is the dining area along with 3 restrooms and an outside viewing area.  There is a guide as well as a bartender on board. Souvenirs can be purchased.



After leaving Anchorage, it's quite a beautiful 6 hour ride.  We ate breakfast and lunch on the train with lunch being part of our tour cost.  It was a clear day and we had excellent views of Mt. Denali.  When we arrived at Denali, a coach picked us up and delivered us to the Canyon Lodge on the McKinley Chalet property (HAL) where we had room 871 on the 3rd or top floor.  The rooms are not air conditioned and are pretty plain.  There is no pool or hot tub but there is a TV with a few channels.  The Alaska channel was nice.  The internet was excellent and super fast at 80+mpbs up and down.  The accommodations are down a pretty steep hill from the Main Lodge, but frequent shuttle busses are provided.



We found last year that it was easier to eat at the next door Princess Lodge and this year was no exception. We took the shuttle over there and walked right into Fanny Q's for a nice dinner which was covered by our dinner voucher.  Angela and Jakob took the shuttle back while I walked.  We made it to bed by 10 as we have a really early start to do a Tundra Tour at 6:30am.

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