Life's Journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, totally worn out, shouting "Wow...What a Ride!"

Saturday, August 13, 2016

61 Day Alaska Caravan: Day 30-33

August 10-13

Day 30

This mornings ride was about 111 miles to Healy Alaska just a few miles north of Denali National Park. We got a few peaks of Mt Denali on the way to the park, just a teaser for the next days visit to the park.


An early travel meeting and then we were off to the Alaskan Cabin Nite Dinner Theater where dinner is served family style by the actors in the performance.The performance is the tale of Fannie Quigley who came to Alaska during the Gold Rush, she made her fortune by cooking for miners. She became famous in these parts, staked a claim at Kantisha and married a miner by the name of Joe Quigley. The performance also goes into the beginings of Denali National Park by Harry Karstens. It is an entertaining performance, with a few other characters thrown in.





Day 31

Up and out by 5:50 to catch a bus that never showed up till 6:30am, sure could have used the time to sleep a little more. Our bus today would take us into Denali National Park and all the way to Kantisha,  92 miles of rough road but the scenery was worth it. We were lucky to be there on a beautiful morning when Mt Denali showed herself to us. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
 






Interesting glacier




Mamma grizzly with two cubs



In 2003 two bull moose clashed, eventually their antlers locked. One tine pierced an eye, both moose perished locked together on the tundra.


This area was just cleared two days before of a mudslide that happened about a week ago. The previous Adventure Caravan that went through couldn't take the road all the way to Kantisha. Our timing was good once again.





Male grizzly


Hanging out in Kantisha on their suspension bridge.


Our most adorable picture of the day, may have to make this into a Christmas card.









We also saw some bull moose but the pictures didn't come out very good. Considering the wildlife we saw and the views of Mt Denali we did pretty well compared to many others. 13 hours after setting out we were back at the rv tired and worn out.

Day 32

Today we did some white water rafting on the Nenana River, since we couldn't take the camera there are no pictures and the ones they take of the customers from the river banks were just too expensive.

After our rafting trip we headed to 49th State Brewery where those who drink beer enjoyed them, combined with a few appetizers it made for a nice lunch after our rafting.


 Day 33

Today we headed back to Denali NP, our bus tour did not stop at the visitors center so I needed to get my NP Passport book stamped.



This wonderful couple, Bill and Gail, just celebrated their 50th anniversary. They were on our rafting trip, they're going on the zipline adventure...such an inspiration. 




Dave found another grizzly to wrestle, don't think the spectators were impressed.





Tomorrow we head to Anchorage.

Until next time...

2 comments:

  1. What an adventure and so many animals. Keep those pictures coming.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We were so lucky to see so many animals, some don't see half of what we saw. Don't worry Dave doesn't go far with out a camera.

      Delete

Thanks for stopping by;We'd love to hear from you.