September 11-15 - Pre-cruise adventures to Denali

Most of our trip pictures were taken from the inside of a plane, train, boat, or bus. Since it was hard to get perfect images on a moving vehicle, it was tough to find really good images, but alas, I have found and chosen some of the better ones. Please excuse and understand any glare distractions, or blurred foregrounds. I am setting up this site in three parts: pre-cruise - Denali; cruise/excursions - Inside Passage; and post cruise - Vancouver, BC. I will try to hold the number of pictures to 50 or less on each page. So scroll away with us on our wonderful trip.

Alaska Airlines 3-hour plus flight to Seattle, had a layover for 2 hours,
then the flight to Anchorage which was another 4 hours.

Out of the rain and above the clouds. It was nice to see the sun.

Interesting patterns in the fields. I'm not sure if this was in the Dakotas or Montana.

We are over the Rocky Mountains -- Montana or Idaho.

How excited I was to see Mt. Rainier - most prominent, Mt. Adams, and
Mt. St. Helens in distance back of Rainier....all in the Cascade Range, Washington State. What a sight!
Visit the Cascade Range Volcanoes.

I'm not quite sure where this is, but I think we were flying over parts of
Alaska. You can see a cruise ship in the lower right corner.

More Alaska ice fields. I can see at least two distinct glaciers and a few that are almost gone.

This looks like a silver river, but it is actually a tidal bay where the tide has gone out,
leaving behind silt of the glaciers which fed it. You can also see the remnants of
the braided stream where run off is still flowing to the sea.

Anchorage, Alaska from our hotel room. There were a lot of empty stores and
signs of revitalization in progress. Very noticeable were the fur stores.

This is the monument commemorating Alaska's Statehood. Beyond this plaza, and down
the hill is the train yard where we will be catching our train in the morning. Beyond the train yard,
you can see a tidal basin where ships come in to load and unload cargo. It is also the spot
where "Tent City" was during the gold rush days and the beginning of Anchorage.

We were told this was the oldest building in Anchorage that is still being used.

We are now embarking on an 8--hour train ride to Denali National Park. Denali is
the native's word for Mt. McKinley. Anchorage is over 400 miles by rail to the Park. Some people in
Anchorage said the day was so clear, they could see Denali, the tallest mountain in North America.

This is just one of the many scenes that we passed. One was more beautiful than
another. There was no end to the magnificent scenery. The day was clear, sunny, and a little
cool. We sat on the upper level of the train with a glass dome. The views were spectacular!

It is hard to get good pictures from inside the moving train. I have tried to pick out
the better groupings. The trees were in full color. Most were in various stages of yellow and gold.
It was a beautiful contrast to the clean, blue sky. This pictures reminds me of a puzzle picture.

Two weeks prior to our trip, Alaska had some of its worse rains in many,
many years. There were mud slides all over. Here you can see the slide debris along
side the tracks. It looks like this was a common occurrence in this part because there was older
mud with growth and then the new mud over it. In the middle of the picture, that is a
dry river bed which will come alive each spring as the snow melts off the mountain.

We aren't quite sure if the white on the mountains is snow or that
is the type of rock. It made for a nice picture anyway.

This was the train we were on. The second car from the engine is typical
of the cars Holland America had us in. Although I think ours was nicer. Here we are
going over a very tall bridge. The next picture will show you what we saw from that bridge.

It was the confluence of two braided streams. They came
together as one stream to flow under the bridge we were crossing.

These are birch trees effected by the flooding. Makes
for an interesting image. We could call it Porcupine Marsh.

Your can barely see the snow-covered mountain range that sits at the feet of Denali.

Just above the tree tops in this picture are the snow-covered mountains
at the foot of Denali. You can see Denali rising above the clouds...
It is all snow peak. We are over 100 miles away at this point. We were very lucky
on this trip to see Denali as clear as this. It is usually shrouded in clouds.

Just another wonderful scene that could go on a puzzle.
I love the contrast of the yellow trees with the green pines.

This is beaver-created dam. Quite a unique set up....it is terraced with a waterfall flowing
from one level to the next. The beaver works at night in order to be safe from predators.
I wonder if they wear little hats with lights on them to see what they are doing?

In the middle of this beaver pond is the "lodge." The beavers have their lodge doors
under water. It protects them from predators and solicitors. Quite ingenious.

This is Talkeetna, the colorful and historic town that we
were told is the inspiration or model town for Northern Exposure.
It is said to be the closest town to Mt. McKinley (Denali).

Moose Stop is the bus stop for our hotel lodgings in Denali.
We could hear the rushing water of a river behind our lodge, but didn't go
down there to look at it. We should have, because the view was again spectacular.

I believe these red berries are called "fire berries" and can be potentially harmful to the
human touching them. Anyway, I thought it was a wonderful display of color.

Our first night in Denali, we took in a dinner-show at the lodge. The food and
entertainment was great. Here is one of the stunts the actors had people doing to warm
up the crowd. It worked and we had a fun time of it all.

You have heard of the "timber line" well we were above that. But if you look closely,
you can see a "Dall sheep line" on the face of the mountain. There are a few stragglers in
other places, but this was a unique sight. The Dall sheep take to the high ground to get away from
predators. They also eat some of the delicate vegetation up there.

These blueberry bushes have been picked clean by the bears foraging for food to sustain them during the
long winter's hibernation time. Our guide told us to stay on the trail that is marked. If a bear starts for you, hold
your ground and start talking or yelling. The bears don't like humans and will likely turn away. If they do charge you -
stand your ground... that impresses them and they usually retreat. After that you'll probably need a change of underwear!

The happy couple celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary on this trip which includes a cruise.
In the distance Mt. McKinley (Denali) looks like a mirage. The next picture will show you just what it looked like.

WOW! This was the 4th day - all season - for visitors to see the mountain so clearly.
At this point our guide said it was about 70 miles away.

Part of the river that runs by our lodgings. Our train tracks are on the far side of
the stream further up where you can't see them in this picture.

Look close. See the two green roofs? That is where we spent the night.
Look how close the river was. We are on the train going to Fairbanks. The tracks
run the ridge following the river for a long time. We will be traveling through a small canyon around the next bend.

There is a female moose trying to get out of the water to run from the train sound.
That was my first sighting. This is as clear as I could get it increasing the image.

Under the shadow of the bridge in the middle of the picture you can see the tunnel we will
be going through. It wasn't very long, but still not to my liking.

Transportation in and out of Fairbanks for most commuters living on this river.

Sled dog training camp. During the summer they train by pulling that ATV. In the winter when the river is frozen over,
the dogs will pull a sled on the river. There was a demonstration. All I have is a QuickTime movie of the hitching the dogs.

Salmon filets drying in the sun.

One of the cabins you could go through which is authentic to the region.

Efficient eco-friendly, energy saving, roof covering is still growing in this September's unusually warm climate.

Our guide shows off the "sun ray" hood of this finely made fur parka.

Here our guide is explaining how these dresses are made and how well the beading is done on them.
The person who did such fine work also has her work displayed in the Smithsonian.

Because of the shortened growing season, vegetables grow to a giant size.
It is amazing sight. Even the flowers are a little larger than normal.

Big cabbage! I wonder if Charlie Brown ever looked for the great cabbage!

My first moose sighting! This gets back at Bob for taking a picture of me with our ship looking like
it is through my head. This was on an excursion to Monaco during our honeymoon cruise five years before.

This machine is actually a salmon catching wheel. As the salmon swam by,
they would be caught up in the wheel and dumped into a basket.

This stream leads to the gold rush in the area.

The dredges were loud and unsightly, but they could dig out and separate the gold from the dirt faster
and more efficiently than the traditional "panning."

The dredger was a more efficient and quicker way to remove the gold from the stream. The problem with this system
was it left tailings which weren't eco friendly and were a little unsightly. As it turns out, there is still gold in them thar
tailings and crews are going through them "the old way" to extract the remaining nuggets.

I really didn't take any pictures from Fairbanks. Normally I would take one out our hotel window,
but all there was to see was a garbage dumpster. So these pictures are from our bus on our way to Seward
where our ship was waiting for us. We made a pit stop at this wildlife refuge where there are many
animals that were injured brought back to health. If they were able to set them free in the wild again, they
would do so. Most of the animals we saw were permanent residents because
they need too much care to set out to fend for themselves.
These animals here are musk ox.

Three bull moose. It was raining hard at this time. At least there was a lookout hut with
a roof to keep me dry while I took the pictures.

These moose won't be released. I think they are too dependent upon humans to feed them now.
They are munching on twigs. The word "Moose" is a native word meaning "twig eater."

Leaving the refuge we spotted this rainbow. We were about an hour from Seward.

Soon we were in Seward where our cruise ship was waiting. It didn't take long to go through
security before we were on board looking for our stateroom with a veranda.

Let's go on the cruise!

Copyright 2006 Karen Porteous Glass. All rights reserved.