Day #5: Denali

The alarm went off at 4:30 AM.  We picked up mom and Auntie Grace at 5:15 and finished eating our buffet breakfast (more reindeer sausage, oatmeal, eggs, bacon, muffin, yogurt, fruit, etc.) by 5:50.  It felt weird to eat reindeer meat. 

We met Deb at 7:00 in the Main Lodge where we boarded a National Park bus for our Tundra Wilderness Tour.  It reminded me of a school bus, but was comfortable and they even provided us with a box lunch (siiighhh.... which included reindeer sausage).  Deb said the best thing about this box lunch is the box.

The tundra was already showing fall colors and our guide said they were expecting snowfall in a couple of weeks.

According to Wikipedia "tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons."

We were excited to see these Dall Sheep.  A couple of them were even doing some head butts. 

Although we saw these sheep close up, most animals were very far away.  I was amazed at what good eye sight some of our fellow passengers had, being able to see animals in the far, far, far distance.

I was really glad I had a 35X optical zoom on my camera.

Granted... I did take this shot thinking it was an animal.  When I blew it up, I discovered it was just a rock.  Sheesh!

And then... there it was... Mt. McKinley!  Its real name is actually Denali which is what the local people call it (The Great One).  It's the tallest point in North America.  It was magnificent. We were told that we were now part of the 10% Club that saw all of Denali revealed.  Wow!

We were mighty impressed and had to take this photo to prove that we did indeed see all of Denali!

This Grizzly Bear was actually very far in the distance which was fine with me.  It had an unusual blond coloring.  Our guide said the bears were all madly eating to store energy for the winter hibernation.

We stopped at a Nature Center tent where Auntie Grace and mom got to see how heavy a moose antler was.  They couldn't believe this was just ONE antler.  Imagine having to carry both of them!  They were really heavy!

Spotted this fast moving marmot.  Art told me to just shoot as many shots as I could and choose the best one later. 

Wolves had taken down a caribou and were feasting on it.  It was awesome to see the cruelty of Nature in the wild.  I felt very sorry for the poor caribou, but wolves have to eat too.

We were headed home when we bumped into these caribou on the road.  There were two of them and they kept the tour buses hostage for 20 minutes before they let us proceed again.

Deb dropped us off to see a Sled Dog Demonstation after which we caught a free shuttle back to the lodge.

After the Tundra Tour was over we went back to the lodge and rested before dinner.  Mom and Auntie were surprised at the HUGE flowers all around.  I think these were dahlias....GIANT dahlias!



The King salmon was excellent!  I couldn't believe how much excellent food we were treated with every day!  Mom kept saying she can't eat this much and it was such a waste.  Eventually, she was able to clean her plate, especially dessert! 

Auntie had no trouble from the start.  Her mantra was that she wanted to taste anything she'd never had before.  Mom wanted soft, easily digestable things.

I wanted the Alaskan crab legs.... again!  I think this was my third and last time.  I don't think I need to have crab legs for another year!

And NONE of us had trouble finishing our desserts.  This was just one of them.  We took photos of all our food, but I don't think I can post all of them.

It was a very satisfying day.

The next day would be our train ride south to our cruise ship, the Diamond Princess.