Our drive up to Fairbanks was rainy, so no good pictures. We walked a bit around the hotel downtown, but that’s it. In fact, the rain has raised the level of the river, so the guys have had a change of plans…. they are going on a wading fishing trip to the delta where the water isn’t flowing over flood stage! Hope their foot warmers work! Water is 38 degrees! But the fishing should be better!
Our bus trip today was full of impressive animal sightings…. everything but a bear! Sadly. The Caribou were out in force, and we saw 4 or 5 Moose. We saw Ptarmigan, the state bird, and even ewe, lamb, and ram Dall sleep and a red fox! Our only disappointment was no bear.
We arrived at Denali National Park today! We had a great greeting near the visitors center! You can drive a small portion, in 15 miles on our own, the farthest private vehicles can go, today into the park . Tomorrow we have booked the early Tundra Wilderness bus tour, but we had some time on our own today to visit the Savage River Station, and look out for animals!
There are few highways anywhere in the world more beautiful than the road between Anchorage and Fairbanks today! The stretch between Talkeetna and Denali National Park in particular! Today the skies were clear and the peaks of Denali were both visible and gorgeous!
We decided on pizza with Walker at the local pizza joint in Talkeetna and were listening to a great musician live in their patio when he walked in with a couple crew. Walker recognized him immediately! Marty Raney from the Discovery Channel Show Homestead Rescue! We heard him say they were filming nearby, at a couple homesteads. After a while, I ran into 1 of the crew on my way back from the restroom and told him Walker was a great fan! … and asked if we might chat at the musicians break with Marty and he said positively! But the musician was so great, he knew Raney, they had worked on some albums together, and he just kept playing!
https://www.honkytonkrebel.com/download-music
Eventually, Marty had to leave. (He lives an hour and a half away, he said,) but his crew member sent him our way to meet Walker. We chatted for about 10 minutes I think, took some pictures, and I even told him about our friend Henry, loving his show, building his own place in Fiddletown back a few years, and he said he loved the Big Island and had done a couple homesteads there!
We told him we had flown up to the Alaska Range to see Denali in the morning and he told us he was a guide up there for several years! He has lived in Alaska 50 years. He also told us about his album ‘strummit at the Summit’…. playing his guitar on the summit of Denali! Quite a guy! Very nice! Warm, easy to chat with, friendly! It topped off Walkers trip to Alaska! Better than the fishing could, I think!
We did a little more research on the musician and Marty Raney, and here are a couple of links for you.
https://youtu.be/XRyMmhfXgzs
https://youtu.be/1zUFzt9f0no
Here is Walker grinning ear to ear!
Great day in Alaska!
We attempted Denali today! …. no, not to climb it, just fly around it. Weather was OK and the views were great at first but a front started moving in and it was going to make the return too Cloudy, so our trip was cut a bit short and we couldn’t land on the glacier as we had hoped. The top of Denali’s 20,000 foot peak was occluded down to about the 14,000 foot elevation, but we were able to see parts of the mountain, plus Mt Hunter. We were able to see several glaciers, including the longest 1 in N.America, 45 miles long and 2 miles wide.
Along the trip from the ship we passed thru a2 mile, 1 way tunnel., (obviously too dark to photograph) . We stopped at the Wildlife Conservation center and saw animals native to Alaska. We drove along Turnagain Arm, an inlet named by Capt. Cook, and we stopped at a great Moose and water fowl habitat called Potter Marsh.
At Potter Marsh. There were Arctic Terns, several duck species, and an eagle
In 1899 an expedition explored Prince William Sounds and discovered the many tidal glaciers in College Fjord. They named them after the universities they attended or represented! Our weather was overcast but the many glaciers were still spectacular
We were the most fortunate today! The Marjorie glacier has had a spectacular show, calving for us several times, great chucks of glacier falling into the bay with huge splashes and waves. The skies are brilliant blue and the rugged peaks over the glacier, occasionally sporting puffy clouds, stand out against the blue.
The stunning view from the back of our ship, from our suite! Finally some sun on the beautiful Chilkat mountains
After our morning excursion to Jaime down this gorgeous fjord, we walked a bit around Skagway
The Joys of Retirement Production Company 