Stuck at McKinley Princess

[aussie jb]

You can keep up to date with road closures and such here... http://www.matsugov.us/

[ARRTrain]

I'd use the State DOT website for the most current info. The MATSU site shows Updates from yesterday, nothing for today.

 

511 Online Travel Info - Road Conditions

[retiredtchur]

My husband and I just got back last nite from our first trip to Alaska. We arrived in Anchorage on 8/9 and began our land tour on 8/10. We learned while on the train to Talkeetna about the train/bridge accident and what it did to upset everyone's travels. We dodged that bullet. We stayed at McKinley Princess one nite and then railed from Talkeetna to Denali for one night. The next day we took a motorcoach to Fairbanks where we stayed for 2 nites. At this point, we had rain everyday and could not see Mt. McKinley (Denali) at all. I truly got great usage out of my mini-umbrella. The sun came out briefly late in the afternoon on 8/13. We flew on 8/14 from Fairbanks to Anchorage to board a motorcoach to Whittier and it was still raining. It rained the entire cruise until we arrived at our last port, Ketchikan. From that morning on, we had nice days to Vancouver. We read in USA Today about the flooding while on the plane out of Toronto.

 

Despite the fact that we had so much rain and saw very little wildlife ( a squirrel, a pair of swans, one bald eagle, and a caribou from a ranger's high powered binocular stand) we still had fun ! Our helicopter trip/landing on Mendenhall Glacier was cancelled. Hubby got to go salmon fishing. We met so many great people and the pictures that we did capture will provide visual memories for a lifetime.:)

 

Judy

 

Island Princess (southbound) 8/14

[jonikal]

Jonikal, so sorry we aren't on the same tour but it looks like rain and cool temperatures which are a welcome relief for us here in Georgia. Have a great trip.:)

 

Lucky - you echo our sentiments here on the Gulf Coast of Florida exactly. Are you flying Atlanta-Seattle-Anchorage next Tuesday? If so, we may see you on the flight. Our Delta leaves Hartsfield at 11AM

[LuckyinGA]

Jonikal, Our Delta leaves Hartsfield at 8:16 a.m. to Salt Lake City and on to Anchorage arriving at 2:30. I haven't started packing yet but I've started piling stuff on the guest room bed. I'll probably pull out the suitcases this weekend.

 

I see you are from Bradenton. We have a condo right off of Cortez. I was there last month with my mom and it was 102 the day we went to the flea market!! I am so ready for cooler temperatures.

 

Is this your first trip to Alaska?

[jonikal]

Hi Lucky - No, it's our second. First was last year when we did Seattle-Seattle on the Diamond. It was fabulous but we wanted to see more - hence the land tour this year. I'm quite familiar with Cortez Road and most of the condos in that area since I sell real estate. I have avoided the Red Barn for the very reason you stated - to darned hot!

 

Good luck with your packing - it sounds like we need to concentrate on rain gear and lots of umbrellas!

[LuckyinGA]

Jonikal, when you get a chance, e-mail me your realtor contact info to Luckyinga@bellsouth.net. We purchased a pre-construction at Bay Pointe last January and a resale this past June. We are always looking for investment opportunities in that area. We would love to eventually own something on the island!!

 

I'm keeping a close eye on all of the road closures and washout info. We are scheduled to take the McKinley Explorer to Denali on Wednesday morning. I sure hope we don't encounter any problems.