Day 11 - 08/02- Denali

 Today was our all day visit to Denali.  It started with a 6:30am boarding of our Tundra Tour Bus (we were tge 8th tour of the day and there were like 48 of them starting from 4:30am until 4:30pm.  Brian was our driver, and he is a trained biologist and botanist.  He was a nonstop wealth of information.  The tour was 6 hours long and went out to mile 43 where the washout remains unfixed but due for completion in 2026.  We were provided with a snack pack and water. Along the way we had spectacular views of Mt. Denali.  The only wildlife we saw coming and going were Ptarmigans (the Alaska state bird), squirrels, grouse, and Dall Sheep.  We learned that ground squirrels are referred to a "cheese pizzas"  as they have the same caloric count.


Mt. Denali 

Ptarmigan chicks

Jakob petting the sled dog

Cuteness in a ground squirrel

More cuteness

We got 3 orders of Calamari as a to go lunch.  We ate it on the shuttle to the Denali visitor center where we took a second shuttle to see the sled dog demonstration and look at dogs. Back at the visitor center, Jakob had some ice cream and then he wanted to look at exhibits but didn't want to complete the Jr. Ranger activity.


We took the shuttle back to the Princess property and walked back to our lodge for some rest time before dinner.  Dinner was at the Golden Nugget Saloon  which also included a short musical about Denali.  We all enjoyed it.  It was the same as last year.


After dinner we came back to the room where Jakob had a brief FaceTime call with his mother before he had some quiet time, a bath and then to bed.  We don't depart for Fairbanks and the North Pole until 9:45am tomorrow. I stayed up a bit longer to update my blog.


After spending two full days in Denali last year, I strongly recommend that approach (Triple Denali) compared to just one day this year.  We are all a bit tired from the current schedule. I also highly recommend the southbound voyage to be able to sail the Inside Passage in the daylight. 

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