Alaska: Danali National Park

Alaska: DAY NINE

After leaving Fairbanks, we drove to McKinley Park and ate some great food at the famous Salmon Bake. They have some great tasting halibut! "Mmm Mmm GOOD."

Denali National Park Entrance and one of the Visitor Centers was not too far down the road. This is where we would spend a few hours waiting for Travis to arrive by shuttle bus from his station.



So- we browsed the visitor center/bookstore, watched their award-winning movie, ate some ice cream, walked the "Spruce Nature Trail, and tried many times to convince Ava to use the potty. We failed. It was too scary. lol

We went back to the car where Ava had a quick nap - and then Travis showed up :)

We all piled in the car and drove a couple miles up the road to where the NPS Sled Dog Kennels were. It was cool to be there after normal visiting hours.

They were VERY excited to see us, barking loudly.

Some of the dogs were still "in training."

After visiting the kennel, we still had about an hour and half drive into Denali - to Travis's cabin. We obtained a National Park Service "Guest Pass" at the check station. It would be a gravel, twisty road most of the way. We had to watch ahead and around hair-pinned corners for shuttle buses (stopping each time until the bus passed). There are 60 buses that run this route daily in Denali!

Dall Sheep - one of the primary reason's Denali became a National Park.

We stopped at a pull-out to walk around.............

It's hard to tell from these pictures - but the color contrast of the mountains was gorgeous!
(I think these pictures will look better when I post them on my Picasa Web Album).

Family photo - op (again) ........ yeah, you'll see many of these ;)

We think the picture is pretty good - if at least one of the two kids is actually looking :D

Isaac looks perplexed.

:D