Glamping Days

sled dogs Denali contains 6 million acres, & 4 million of those are designated as wilderness. This means that no motorized vehicles can go there, no power tools used, etc. These sled dogs take rangers, scientists, & cargo into these wilderness areas in the winter. The movie at the visitors center about them & a program here at the kennels were both great. The training is fantastic, they are extremely well cared for & much loved. When the trainers started to get dogs out of their kennels to line them up to pull the cart, they all got extremely excited, barking & jumping, hoping to be chosen to get hitched up & run - there LOVE to pull a sled.   moose This cow & baby were right beside the road & seemed unconcerned about the cars & people nearby. dinner with friends Eight Escape trailers converged on Denali this week, & we all met for dinner this evening. First, we took pictures by the park sign.  At the 49th State Brewery, there's the recr...

This morning was spent at the visitors center, which is the most beautiful one I've ever seen, & I've seen quite a few. We also hit the several shops in the park. Afterward, we took a tour bus for 5 hours/43 miles into the park. Our guide was quite entertaining & informative - a fantastic tour! Though none of them were very close, we saw a fair number of animals, including a cow moose & here baby (noted below). When we entered the "buses only" section of the road, a park ranger came on our bus & sang us the "safety instructions". Wildlife sightings today: moose - 2 (1 baby)          caribou - 3          Dall sheep - 10  trip total so far:       black bears - 4            deer - 2                     grizzlies - 1                moose - 2     stone sh...

Today's drive from Fairbanks to Denali took us through the remnant of the still smoldering Bear Creek fire; yesterday, it was the largest wildfire burning in AK, about 26,000 acres. Folks who drove through 2 days ago had flames on both sides & smoke so thick that they couldn't see the lights of the car in front of them; after a 4 hour wait, a pilot car led them through the fire. My pics were taken through the windshield.  The scenery near the park was a preview of coming attractions.  Once in Denali (the park), we set up camp & then drove the 30 miles round trip on the part of the road open to cars. Later in the evening, we went again as far as the viewpoint for Denali.  Though it's all beautiful, the highlight was a glimpse of Denali (the mountain). Only 30% of the visitors here actually see the maintain as it's usually cloaked in clouds. We kind of sort of saw it - some snowy mountain visible through the clouds.   

Did a bunch of errands this morning, then spent about 3 hours at the U of Alaska's Museum of the North. This evening, a bunch of folks got together for a pot luck; the host provided some moose burgers & moose sausage, & I brought bison brats - real Alaskan food!  These peonies & bleeding hearts were outside a bank here - spring flowers in late June. The museum is a striking building & sits atop a hill along with the rest of the campus. There's a lovely view over the Fairbanks area from the museum. This is a ridiculous number of pics from the museum, but I found lots of interest there.                                                 dolls made by Aleuts After a settee made of antlers, a dress made of fish bones, & a basket made of fish skin, I thought I'd seen it all...but then there was this piece in the contemporary Alaskan art exhibit. I...