21st May
Left our fantastic lodge aboard a Motorcoach on route to Mt McKinley lodge. It is a fairly long day of travel so we have a stop for lunch in Anchorage. There are a couple of sites the coach is allowed to stop at for photos and a leg stretch before reaching Anchorage. It is not a huge city but is the largest in Alaska. We really wanted to send some stuff home so checked with the coach driver as to where we could find a post office. A mall was about a 5 block walk so decided to go there, and hopefully find somewhere to grab lunch on the way. An hour and a half can pass quickly. The post office was not busy and we quickly found a suitable box and taped it all up. Alaska has limited options with post, so we send the latest instalment of DVD’s express post, and the remaining stuff priority post. Prices are surprisingly reasonable, we think the postal service is subsidised by the government. We were doing ok on time, so stopped at a crab restaurant on the way back for lunch. They had a really good smoked salmon and cream cheese platter. Made it back to the coach with a couple of minutes to spare so all good. On to Mt McKinley lodge. The weather changes very quickly and we passed through some very heavy rain showers before arriving at a very pleasant and very large lodge. This lodge is huge with hundreds of rooms divided into buildings spread out across the property, 3 restaurants, the usual gift shops, spa pools, bar, and lots of lounges with views out to Mt McKinley. The main lounge even has a massive log fireplace open on 2 sides. We head to the tour desk to book something to do tomorrow and after deciding on a scenic flight over the mountains. As we started to book it, our credit card kept declining. Not a good sign, as there should be enough funds available to cover it. After checking the balance on the internet we see there must be something charged in the last 24 to 36 hours that is hugely wrong! We end up calling our bank and find out that a “hold amount” was put on by the last lodge and they can take a while to be released, rather than when the account is settled. What a crap system! Thankfully we had enough cash to buy some dinner (hadn’t been near a cash machine for a while, had actually tried in Anchorage but when the ATM had declined we had assumed it was the ATM like in so many other places, rather than a problem). Decided to simply chill out for the evening and enjoy the view.
22nd May
Our bank is great and had the credit card sorted by the morning. The amounts had not shown up on the net yet, but we are good to continue. As we had been unable to book anything yesterday, we had a very lazy day around the lodge. We had a spa and ate, and then enjoyed finally getting a clear view of Mt McKinley. The hotel actually has a call service for when the view clears, and this has no time limit, so it could be 3am in the morning if that is when the view is good. We are a long way north so there is about 20 hours of daylight and never really goes dark. By 11pm it was time to convince the body to get some sleep.
23rd May
We have an hour bus ride to the train station in Talkeetna – well not really a station, more just a platform with lots of bus parking next to it. We have the whole day on the train while we head up to Denali National Park. The train is comfortable and even has a glass dome roof so great views all the way. Lots of reflections so crap for photos, but not too worry. We were served lunch on the train and refreshments whenever wanted. The only wildlife spotted was a black bear. We arrived in Denali and issued our room key etc as we exited the train. Loving not having to check in! Also our luggage is taken care of and should be waiting for us in our room already. The only concern we have is our room number is not on the lodge map, the room number before our is, but not our particular one. Even the hotel rep on the train did not know. Nevermind, we followed our nose and found our room, the number was not a nice brass embossed lettering like the others, rather a piece of blue paper with the number scribbled on (lucky to see it really as it was on the second level) but the room was just as nice and our bags were there. We have an early start tomorrow so simply watched TV before going to bed.
24th May
We reluctantly got up and got our bags ready to be taken to the next hotel, then headed to the main lodge to be picked up for our Natural History tour in Denali National Park. Had to pay tourist prices for some cereal and OJ then boarded an old school bus. The first stop was for a video demonstration on the making of the road – of course this must be important, rather than the natural beauty of the park along with its wildlife etc! Oh well, only 20mins, not quite enough time to catch 20 winks, but almost. We drove some more along the park road – one way in and out, also very controlled in regard to the amount of traffic allowed each day. The second stop was at a log hut with an “authentic” woman “living” there. After the woman had to read her cue card to say she was a native Alaskan woman, we figured it was all a show and quickly lost interest. Guess it is early in the tourist season so she hadn’t got her lines right yet. This is the longest walk we get – a gruelling 200m of flat gravel. Back in the bus we continue and finally see some Caribou is the distance, and then a grizzly with two cubs! The came down the hill and crossed the road behind the bus! Fantastic, a pity the windows only opened a little and we got yell at everytime we poked a camera out it. What do they expect us to do when the windows are dirty? Oh well, this was the highlight of our tour, so back to the hotel to wait for our afternoon coach up to Fairbanks. We had free internet so did the photo updates and email etc.
The coach up to Fairbanks was nice and uneventful. We even were able to skip one of our designated stops so the trip didn’t take so long. At the hotel we once again visited the tour desk and booked some different tours for tomorrow. We want to go and see what the area is like above the Arctic circle so taking a flight up to Fort Yukon, then get back and go to see an ice hotel. The hotel is a little out of town, so ate at on of the restaurants. Rather a disgusting dinner of sauced and slow roasted (to death) ribs. We couldn’t taste anything but the sauce. Oh well, not really that hungry so simply headed up to bed.
25th May
Today was really stuffed up, but worked out in the end. We forwent the gold panning tour as we had book a flight up to Fort Yukon, inside the Arctic circle. This was supposed to pick us up at 11:45. By 12 nothing had showed so we enquired. There is no such flight at this time!? What the? Turns out we hadn’t been booked on anything and that the actual flight was supposed to be at 5 in the evening. We had paid for a trip to an ice museum and dinner so checked that. No, not even booked on that, also found we had been overcharged by 100 dollars. Hmm, the different tour desk girl was astonished there had been such a stuff up so asked for some time to sort things out. We decided to do the later flight and now miss the ice museum. By the time all was said and done, we had been refunded for the 2 tours we missed during the day which had been part of our tour package, reimbursed for the missed ice museum and managed to get seats on the flight in the evening. We also had time to do the river boat tour in the afternoon, just we would have no time between the end of that and the flight. No worries, and it was complimentary. Riverboat tour was ok, was a stern paddle wheel which was actually powered by the wheel. They had thrusters which aided greatly in the movement of the ship. We passed by a dog sledding demonstration where the dogs pulled a Quad bike – motor missing. They get up to 20miles an hour on the straights! The hardest part is stopping these dogs from running as they apparently love it! They compete in a 1000km race each year which is the most prestigious race in Alaska with the mushers having great respect. We then stopped at a tourist version of a native village where everyone disembarked and listened to 4 demonstrations/talks about life as an indigenous person. Back on board and back to hotel for the flight. After checking in and listening to a spiel on the area and history we boarded our twin engine propeller plane. Chris got to be co-pilot. There were only 6 on the plane, think it could seat 10. Was about an hours flight up to Fort Yukon and flew over the pipeline, followed a couple of valley’s where gold mining had taken place before crossing a mountain range revealing a large flat expanse of land. Hundreds of lakes dotted the ground, with waterways meandering around, some joining, some not. Most were completely free of ice, with only some of the sheltered streams still frozen. Fort Yukon is a small settlement, completely isolated from the rest of the world by roads anyway. The airstrip was gravel and not too bumpy. We were greated by a friendly local and a bus which had been barged in on the river. We were driven around the township which is getting a huge government aid with sewage system upgrade and medical center. Each project costing over 20million each! All for around 500 people, used to be 800. Back on the plane and head towards home. Pass over a very large gold mine – Fort Knox strangely enough. See some strange rock pillars on the top of a mountain, proof that it was not under a glacier in the past, then back to the airport. It is nearly 11 when we got back to the hotel, however it was still daylight! The sun was not going to set until 12:15pm! Hadn’t had any dinner yet and the bar was still open. So fingers crossed we walked in and asked if they would still serve dinner – the guy said yes and we were the last ones served J Also got a really good chocolate martini – not sure what he put in it though J Back to our room and packed our bags ready to be picked up in the morning.
26th May
Our airport shuttle was supposed to pick us up at 8:45, we were waiting at 8:37 but nothing showed up until 9am. Thought this was strange and asked driver when we on the way, turned out we were not on the shuttle to the airport as that had left early! He said he could drop us there anyway as it was on the way so no panic after all. Our bags were waiting and check in was fast until we got to security checking. I guess they were bored as they gave us the full going over with everything taken out of our bags and swabbed for explosive residue or something. They were polite, but still not a nice process as it is very invasive. Oh well, it is supposed to make us feel safer – ha, really over airports and flying now. Flights were short, but we stopped in Anchorage for a couple of hours, then down to Seattle with another stop of a couple of hours before a short hop back to Vancouver. Landed just before midnight and by the time we got to the hotel it was nearly 1am. A complete day wasted when it should only take a few hours. The room smelt badly of old smoke, but we were so tired we ignored it and went to sleep.
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