ALASKA VACATION
(Land Portion)
About a year ago Josh and I started talking about where we would like to go for our 5 year anniversary. We really hadn't been on a nice long vacation since our honeymoon and we decided 5 years of marriage deserved some celebrating! As you can see from the heading we decided on Alaska. We spent 12 amazingly relaxing, fun and spectacular days there and loved every minute.
(be warned there are lots of pictures below...but I want to remember each moment)
On Tuesday we flew into Anchorage and spent the night there at Hotel Captain Cook. The hotel (below) had great views of Cook Inlet. Josh and I were also thankful for the nice thick shades in our room. During out time in Alaska the sun rose about 4:30am and set around 11:30pm, but it never really got dark at night.
Our next stop was the Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge. Oh, what a peaceful and relaxing place. The lodge had lounge chairs (as you will see below) on a huge deck that faced Mt. McKinley. The weather cooperated with us we were able to see the whole mountain, all I can say is WOW. We learned that about 1,000 people attempt to climb Mt. McKinley each year (the season lasts from April-July) and less than half make it to the top. While were there 120 people had already tried to summit, 17 made it to the top and one person had lost their life. We loved every minute of taking in the beauty of the Mt. McKinley area by, hiking and relaxing on the deck.
FYI: My pictures below don't do justice of how amazing the mountain really is.
Mt. McKinley is right behind us
The Mountain is to the left, looks like clouds
The Full View
Josh found some snow. We went from 90s in AR to 50-60s in Alaska
So Relaxing....
Our annoying woodpecker friend
Thursday we headed to the train station and took a 4 hour train ride to our next destination, the Denali Princess Lodge. We were able to enjoy some beautiful views, great conversation with our Aussie friends and Josh and I both ordered reindeer chili for lunch....yumm!
DENALI PRINCESS LODGE
We spent 2 nights here and had lots of fun hiking in Denali National Park and shopping by the lodge.
Thursday we headed to the train station and took a 4 hour train ride to our next destination, the Denali Princess Lodge. We were able to enjoy some beautiful views, great conversation with our Aussie friends and Josh and I both ordered reindeer chili for lunch....yumm!
While waiting for the train (and throughout the whole trip) we saw several sea planes.
Our Train
This one is for mom, I went outside on the platform between the cars for awhile...
Beautiful Views
The only somewhat decent picture I had of us on the train.
DENALI PRINCESS LODGE
We spent 2 nights here and had lots of fun hiking in Denali National Park and shopping by the lodge.
The main lodge
Below are pictures of our hike up Mt. Healy in Denali. It was a 2 1/2 mile (1,664 ft) climb to the top. We started at the bottom with a temperature of 65 degrees and ended up at the top with a windy temp of about 40.
Mt. Healy a view from the bottom
We encountered some snow on our way up
Yea, pretty sure I can handle these views while hiking
Taking a break on the way up to enjoy the view
ALMOST THERE...
Our little Pika friend. It kept squeaking at us and freaking me out.
Taking in the view
My handsome hubby
After 2 days in Denali we boarded a bus for the long, but fun 7 hour drive to Whittier, where we would meet our ship.
That ends the land portion of our trip, which we loved every minute of. I will post about our time on the ship soon!
I LOVE all of the pictures so far and the great descriptions of the fun time you two had! It reminds me of when we went with grandma, grandpa and Aunt Andrea :) The views from the Mt. top are gorgeous! Can't wait to see more from the ship!!!
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