The Last Frontier: Day 2

Jason and I have to wake up super early this morning to catch the shuttle over to the Alaska Railroad Depot. We'll be boarding a train at 8:00 am and riding it for 4 hours over to Denali National Park. The first couple of hours or so on the train are pretty uneventful...not a whole lot to see but a bunch of trees on either side. There was supposedly a moose next to the train at one point, but by the time I was looking in the right direction it had already taken off into the woods.

About 30 minutes away from Denali the landscaping changes drastically. All of a sudden we are in the mountains and near the Nunana River.

Once our train arrives in Denali, Jason and I quickly realize we are in the minority in a couple of ways. 1) We didn't travel to Alaska via a cruise and 2) We are not members of the AARP. I kid, but seriously, up to this point in our trip we have not seen another couple even remotely near our age.

We catch a shuttle over to our hotel, check in, unload our bags and get ready to get on a helicopter to Yanert Glacier. After yesterday's little "incident" aboard the paper airplane, I'm a little apprehensive about how my stomach will handle the helicopter. Thanks to a miracle patch given to me by a fellow nausea-prone tourist, I don't feel a thing on that helicopter and I'm able to enjoy the amazing landscaping around me.

We get out of the helicopter on top of the glacier and walk around a bit. It was so beautiful and overwhelming...and then we come upon a couple of pools of water with the bluest hue you could imagine. I've never seen water so blue. Amazing.

 

I could stay up on the glacier forever. It's so beautiful and by far my favorite spot on the trip up to this point. Soon the pilot tells us it's time to go and Jason and I reluctantly board the helicopter. He takes a different route back to Denali, weaving in and out of the mountains, up and down the peaks, and all the while I'm saying a prayer of thankfulness for the friendly tourist and her miracle patch.

So far, the wildlife in Alaska has proven to be sparse. Aside from the disappearing moose on the train ride, the only animals Jason and I see are some dall sheep from the helicopter. I don't really count them...they look like cookie crumbs from where we are. But we are not going to panic yet. We still have an ATV tour tomorrow morning and in the afternoon we are planning to go hiking in the middle of Denali National Park. We're bound to see something there, right??

**A funny side note: We arrive back at our hotel after the helicopter tour around 6 pm. Jason and I are exhausted so we decide to set the alarm for 8 pm and take a little snooze before dinner. We must have been more tired then we thought because that alarm went off and had nothing on us. I don't know who turned it off but what I do know is that I wake up and the clock says 10:30 pm. Jason and I are still completely clothed, down to our shoes, ready to go to dinner. I wish that I had the next 10 or 15 minutes on video because it was a flurry of disorganized conversation and actions. I nudge Jason, tell him it's 10:30, and he says should we go to dinner? I inform him that I doubt any restaurants are open and we should just go to bed. At that point, I realize I have my shoes on and make the decision to change clothes. My brain is seriously confused (I suppose because it's 10:30 and bright outside) and I think it's already the next day. So, naturally, I start putting on my clothes that I have planned to wear for the following day's activities. About half way through I realize I should, in fact, be putting on my jammies instead. I manage to do this, quickly get back in bed, and don't wake up until 8 am the next morning. We must have been tired :-)