rdixiebend

5am our phone rings...DH answers it...it rings again...ugh. Our wakeup call was scheduled for 6am, but for some reason it was made an hour early. Since we now had an extra hour, we wandered down the street to Starbucks for coffee.

 

At 7:20 our group number was called and we boarded the bus to go to the train station. For the next 8 hours we road the Chena car up to Denali. Apparently, I am the crazy person that hung out in the cold wind for most of the day to take photos. The open air deck was fantastic! DH stayed in the train car most of the day and enjoyed the guide's talk. We ate breakfast and lunch on the train and it was very good.

 

 

 

We got into our room at the McKinley Chalet Resort around 4pm. We are in building J and our room was very nice. The only odd thing is that the bedroom has a twin and a full size bed. Since Walt is 6'6" I decided to take the twin and give him the bigger bed. I feel like Lucy and Ricky Ricardo by having separate beds. LOL.

 

After we settled in we went to the gift shop to buy a magnet and look for thick socks. I accidentally packed my wool socks in the"to the ship" luggage and tomorrow's high at the park will be 48 degrees. I managed to find some socks, gloves, and winter hats. My gloves and hat were soaked from all the rain. I came prepared, or so I thought, with layers and rain gear. But the forecast for this weekend was 60 degrees and sunny, not 48 and rainy.

 

Before dinner we walked the nature trail around the property and then walked a half mile to the Salmon Bake. Walt had Yakadillas (yes, made with Yak meat) and I had Elk Sliders. For dessert it was their delicious blueberry pie. Yum! After that we called it a night.

We only brought 2 bottles of wine onboard with us due to lack of room in our carry-on's to Denali. I believe it's unlimited until January 31st...security did not ask us to open the backpack with the wine in it.

 

Lisa