Alaska Review! Day 3--Talkeetna to Denali (Healy) (Part 2)

We started north on the Parks Highway.  We knew it was about 3 hours to Healy, which is where we were staying.  However, we also knew that there would likely be numerous stops for photos and taking in the environment, and we were right.

 
I would say it took us about 4.5 hours to finally reach the Visitors' Center.

I will mention here that having the Milepost is a must.  I had an electronic copy on my tablet, and it was great to be able to follow along and be ready to stop.

Some of the things we saw:

Imp found some foliage which reminded us of something from Dr. Seuss.

 We started looking off to our left to see if we could spy Denali.  This isn't it, but the mountains were pretty much ubiquitous as we headed north.

About an hour from Talkeetna, we hit the Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge.  We were interested to see what it looked like, and the Milepost said there was a decent view of Denali from the deck, so we swung in.

It is a lovely property, and we realized that this lodging was designed to mimic what you'd find on a cruise...you can take excursions from the lodge, there are numerous restaurants, and a large deck with people sitting in lounge chairs with drinks...just like you'd see on a ship, minus the pool.

You could even learn more about Denali right there.

  We thought we might see Denali peeking out, but probably not.

After that brief stop, we started up again.

 I drove the last 90 minutes of the trip to Denali while Chretien slept, so there are no photos of this last bit.   At least with all the beauty, it was an easy drive. 

At last, we saw this:

 We didn't have a lot of time, since they close at 6 and we first stopped by the Wilderness Access Center to pick up the shuttle tickets for the ride to Eielson tomorrow.   Because I knew our dates and itinerary back in September, I booked the tickets on December 1, the first day they were available.  Kids under 16 are free, so it cost Chretien and I $68 to ride to Eielson.  I had mentioned Wonder Lake, but Chretien said he didn't want to ride for 11 hours round trip, and I thought that was a good idea, especially with the kids.  I will mention that because we have the "Every Kid in a Park" pass, we were given a refund of the $10 apiece charged for Chretien and I's park entrance fee.  There are even exhibits here to look at, such as bear safety videos, so we checked some of those out before heading over to the Visitors' Center.

We picked up the backpack and information about the junior rangers program.  The backpack is filled with books and items to help kids stay interested while they ride the shuttle.  If they complete so many activities (the number of which depends on their age), they can become a junior ranger.

Then we took a look around.

 Earnest loves wolves.

 Including this photo of the Dall sheep because it became an inside joke with us.  We saw so many animals, but no Dall sheep until after we left Denali.

 Imp with the moose.

 People can leave their impressions of the park, or just sign their names.

 Earnest also loves bears.  He posed with this statue, and Imp had to join him as well.

The center closed pretty much at 6 PM sharp, so we decided to drive the first 15 miles that you are allowed to drive with your personal vehicle.  We did not see any wildlife, but we were treated to some gorgeous scenery.

 I could look at this forever and not get bored.

We turned around when we had to and headed back.

We then drove to Healy, to the Denali Outdoor Center.  There are two offices, one in Glitter Gulch near the park and one in Healy. 

 
They have all sorts of adventures you can do (and we will do in a few days), but they also have four dry cabins to rent.  Back in September, I booked a rafting trip and two of the cabins for two nights.  They gave us a good deal, with an early bird special as well as discount for booking both a rafting trip and the lodging.  All told, it was $656 for the rafting and the 2 cabins for 2 nights.  The cabins were dry, so you had to walk to a main cabin where there were several complete bathrooms (toilet, sink and shower) as well as a full kitchen to use.  We didn't use the kitchen, but we did store all of our perishables in the fridge, which worked out well.  The drawback was that anyone who was on a rafting trip also had access to the bathrooms and kitchen, so there were periods of time with a lot of activity.

We brought our stuff in and headed out for dinner.  We wound up at 49th State Brewing Company, as it was close and we were hungry.  Even though there were plenty of tables outside (under cover), we still had to wait.  My guess is that maybe they were short-staffed because it was July 4.  We ordered a few plates of macaroni and cheese (some with meat), a flatbread pizza for Imp, and I think Earnest might have had another burger (sensing a theme here).  I don't think I had a beer, but maybe Chretien did.  We did order three desserts to share, which we brought back to our rooms as it was getting late and we had an early start in the morning.  The bill was $132, which reflected the desserts (and maybe a beer?)

While we didn't see fireworks for this Independence Day holiday, which bummed Imp out, we did see this double rainbow, so that sort of made up for it.

And that is the end of Day 3!