Ladee's Travels

This is a test to confirm that I can mobile post multiple photos. Taken in Fairbanks, Alaska. If I wasn't going to face 100+ temperatures, and luggage that was already filled to the max, I would bring one of these coats home with me.

I've had it in everything from a breakfast burrito to chili to bus snack to an omalet ... And now lasagna. I'm hooked!

Traveling by paddle boat along the river. We stopped at an example of a local village. Learned how to make salmon jerky (note to K on smoking the salmon to make jerky). The photo is of a chief's daughter who is working during the summer between high school and college. She is modeling a maaahhhvelous fur coat. I would love one but I need to remember that I'm returning to the 100 degree days of Phoenix summer.

After trekking down a snow covered trail, GPS in hand, I found my geocache!  All I could think was "if I slip and fall down this hillside, I don't even have survival snacks in my backpack". High five to my Geocaching buds, especially my sister because she is always encouraging. (What fun! Go! Downhill in the snow in the woods with bears!) Here is info on the cache:  To Get To This Cache : Hike the MSLC Trail. You can access this trail, either from the Horse Lake Trail head to the Taiga Trail or from the Murie Science and Learning Center. As you near the site look low near the ground on the southeast (uphill) side of the trail for a small cut bank and a section of exposed rock (approximately 1 foot high and 3 feet long). Here this "basement rock" is exposed for you to see – rock that is 500 million years old! Remember, these rocks tell a story for all to see so please do not take any souvenirs. Ladee "There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who i...

Denali was beautiful today. Blue skies. Green trees. White snow. Enjoyed the Visitor Center and the Science Center. Saw birds that look like seagulls. If they jumped the train on the coast, they are surprised now!!

I love to Geocache and want to find some caches while at Denali. The problem is that I will be on a structured tour bus, not hiking independently. I downloaded all of the virtual caches while I sat in the Denali Princess lobby waiting for the tour bus. I should have done this last night because I only have wifi access while the pickup is running late.

Cheers with my morning latte to a great day of touring Denali. Clear blue skies. Cold but no blustery wind. Out for a full day. Wish me good luck with the Denali Mountain views and wild animals. Trying for a moose siting. Reminds me of the days we spent in Ignace, Ontario with the hockey families.

I know that I have photographs on other cameras but I want to get this post started with the photos available now. I will likely update this as I find other pics and will send notification that this post has been updated. The main lobby.

347.7 DENALI PARK • Entrance to Denali National Park and Preserve. Riley Creek Bridge is the railroad’s second highest. The train continued on from Cantwell to Denali as I sat, camera in hand, admiring the landscape and anxious to arrive at our destination.

319.5 CANTWELL • A small settlement and starting point of the Valdez Creek gold mining district. This is another railway flag stop and since no one was out waving a flag, we did not stop.  Makes sense to me!  Population is about 222.  It is located in the Denali Borough.  Alaska does not use a county system.  There is a 'before Cantwell' and an 'after Cantwell' photo to show you that this town is in the middle of the forest.

Mile Marker 312.5 SUMMIT • The summit of the Continental Divide is at 2,363 feet and is the lowest rail pass in the Rocky Mountain chain. Summit Lake eventually drains both into the Pacific and the Bering Sea.

Mile 284.2 HURRICANE GULCH • One of the line’s best photo vantage points, the bridge spans 918 feet, some 296 feet above the creek. We can see the engine round the bend and start over the bridge.

The Seattle Times reported that there is a little train in Alaska that stops for hitchhikers.

After we left Talkeetna, the land instantly turned remote and barren.  There were many streams and rivers.  A fisherman is in the river, unable to wait for the Spring snow to melt.

The waitress at the Crow's Nest in Anchorage is from Talkeetna.  She recommended getting off the train and touring.  I'm not that brave!!!  So, I took photos to get a full view of all that Talkeetna had to offer. Talkeetna is known as the base for expeditions to Denali (also known as Mt. McKinley). Tourists travel to Talkeetna each summer to fish salmon, raft and go flightseeing. Products from local artists, musicians and craftspeople are available in area stores. [Wikipedia] This is the railside restroom at the Train Depot.

The train slowed down to a crawl so that we could see the mountains.  Click, click, click...cameras were taking a lot of photos.  Here are some of the ones that I was able to take.  Keep in mind that these are taken through the window.

Live from the Alaska Train Anchorage to Denali! Here is my first siting of the famous mountains. Alaska has had snowy and cloudy weather for the past few days. Lucky day, the sky is clear and blue. A small percentage of people are able to see the mountain top without clouds. You can see the clouds slowly starting to firm.

We continued along the rail northward, winding past half frozen lakes and different "tundra" levels.

We road in to the town of Wasilla.  Tina Tour Guide mentioned that the town holds an official "Wasilla Clean-Up Days" so that the entire town can turn out and clean up after the winter.  Does the name Wasilla sound familiar to you?  Sarah Palin was the Mayor.  I took several photos to see if I could see Russia from here.  This photo looks across Wasilla Lake

After a good night's rest at the Hilton, we had the bellman call a cab to take us down the hill to the railroad station.  It is close, but I had too much luggage to haul so we took advantage of the cab.  Those taking the Princess tour took the luggage to a separate stand to get tickets for the train and check in the luggage.  The train departed about 8:00 AM ish (we learned that "ish" is the Alaska railroad time schedule) so we had 45 minutes to spend in the terminal.  It is a fairly nice size terminal with restrooms, a coffee bar and the ever present Alaska gift shop.  As boarding time approached, the other passengers were called to line up.  They were going to cross the tracks and board the train. The Princess passengers were to board a motor coach and travel 1/8 mile to board the special Princess car.  We checked in, found our seats on the upper level, and started the journey.  The seats in the upper level of the Princess car were arranged with...