PART 1--3 days in Denali, 7 day Southbound Cruise on Carnival Spirit.

Please forgive me for being so long-winded, but there was just so so much to cover!!

--Part 1 land tour---

Arrived Sunday night July 17th in Anchorage, rented car thru Dollar at the airport. Planning to drive halfway to Denali, staying in Talkeetna the first night. I also bought a copy of the “MilePost” from Barnes and Noble before we left, to use as our guidebook for the drive.

Made previous reservations for the 4 of us,(myself 48, hubby 49, daughter 22, son 16) to stay at the Talkeetna Youth Hostel tonight and Tuesday night at $28 per person, linens included a private room of 4 bunk beds-looked ok for just overnight on the web. Took about 2 hours to drive from Anchorage to Talkeetna weather on and off again rain in the low 60’s.We had to slow down once for a female moose and her calf crossing the road, we arrived around 9pm. To our surprise the Hostel was a little converted house-using the bedrooms for bunk rooms, it was not as pictured on the web, thought it would be more of a dorm type building. The linens and blankets we were given were a little worse for wear, the mattresses were the rubberized hospital kind. I thought it was ok, but my family was freaked out having to sharing bathrooms and also expected to do 10 minutes of chores before we left. We made the best of it and slept(earplugs came in handy since we were right next to the livingroom), getting up early Monday morning to continue the 3 hour drive to Denali. Before we left, my family asked me to find another place to stay on our way back to Anchorage for Tuesday night. They didn’t want to stay there again. So I went on the internet(provided for free at the Hostel) and booked a room at the Econolodge rated 3 stars in Anchorage for the last night.

Monday- ate breakfast at the Talkeetna Roadhouse-recommended by Budget Queen. The breakfasts were huge, so order half orders or share with one another. The cinnamon rolls were great and stocked up on the warm hiker cookies to munch on when we were on the road.Had a wonderful 3 hour drive to the Denali park area, stopping numerous times for pictures and to just look at the scenery. At one campsite area, came across a ranger posting “beware of bear” signs. The entire week bears have been overturning and destroying garbage containers in that area. We decided not to hike in that area-(smart move huh?!). Arrived in Denali park, checked out the wilderness and visitor centers, hiking the day and eating lunch at the commissary-hamburgers, chili and reindeer stew in bread bowls, panini sandwiches-all reasonably priced.Didn’t see any real wildlife yet.

Around 2pm decided to drive to Healy about 15 miles north to check into our next overnight stop.

The Touch of Wilderness Bed and Breakfast was our overnight home. Tim, the owner’s nephew, welcomed us in and showed us around. We reserved the Emerald room, which was a queen and double bed for the 4 of us with private bath. We loved it there !!! Met Barb the owner and just hung out relaxing on the comfy sofas, kicked off our shoes and my daughter and myself wrapped up in warm blankets sipping tea and hot chocolate while the boys explored the area. The weather was rainy and cold in low 50’s.Can’t say enough good things about this B&B, it felt like a home away from home. It was a beautiful place and I wish we would have booked for a longer stay there. I highly recommend this place, but book as far in advance you can, you will not be disappointed! We met a lot of nice people staying there for the night. Our plan was to get up very early in the morning, 4am to take the first shuttle bus thru Denali. I reserved a spot for the 4 of us on the Fish Creek bus ride thru the park service. I got our tickets and paid in advance and thru the mail. Paid a total of $103 for the 4 of us for the 8 hour bus ride, again it was highly recommended by Budget Queen.

Tuesday---Because we were leaving so early and missing breakfast, Barb from the Touch of Wilderness had ready for us in the refrigerator a packed breakfast of muffins, granola bars, yogurt, juices and fruit cups. With that and our leftover hiker cookies we had enough food to keep all of us happy for the 8 hours on the shuttle.

We arrived in the park 20-30 minutes early as told to for the 5:30 Fish Creek shuttle, this takes you to mile 63 then turns around and goes back the same way you came into the park.

The shuttle was booked full-two people to a seat. Some people think that once you get into Denali you will be upclose and very personal with all the animals- dont forget this isnt a zoo-most of the time they are far far away-binoculars are a must!

During the next 8 hours we saw numerous grizzly, including a mother with her two cubs being watched by a wolf. Dall sheep(which look like lice on the mountain side to the naked eye), a dozen or so moose and caraboo in the distant meadows. But the highlight was seeing a female white wolf calling for her two pups, each calling back to her and coming together, then all three calling for the father who returned their call and then joined the family to romp and play together. One of the pups had bright blue what seemed like paint all over his underside. Come to find out he got into one of the chemical toilets and that’s where the blue color came from. And then a grizzly bear munching on berries on the side of the hill very near our bus.

I thoroughly enjoyed the trip-the kids and hubby thought it was a bit long, but enjoyed the scenery, animals, and the ride thru the mountain road and sometimes very scary narrow roads high up on the mountain. The weather was cloudy and overcast, making it difficult to see Mt. McKinley. They say that it is only visible 30% of the time.

We got back to the visitor center around 1:30 in the afternoon, and prepared for our 5 and a half hour drive back to Anchorage. The Milepost proved invaluable, showing us mile by mile what to expect. The drive was very nice, sometimes rainy along the way, but in one stretch the weather cleared and we got a small glimpse of the glorious Mountain!!

We got into Anchorage around 7pm, found the Econolodge on 5th and Gambell-which was very disappointing-I thought it was dirtier than the Hostel definitely not even 1 star!! We got a recommendation from a few people at the gas station to eat at a place called the “Sea Galley” for good Alaskan halibut. The parking lot was jammed with cars which was a good sign. We had a great dinner of seafood and fish and decided to turn in for the night. Tomorrow would be the start of our 7 night southbound cruise on the Carnival Spirit.

Stay tuned for Part 2 -- Southbound Cruise on the Carnival Spirit