Hello from Denali National Park! Sorry we haven’t posted anything for a few days — we thought to wait until it got dark…oh wait, it doesn’t get dark here this time of year!

Seriously, the real reason is sketchy internet service and no time to sort through pictures because we are busy taking more pictures!

Just to bring you up to speed on what we are up to:

On Thursday, we stopped in Skagway and took a trip to the Yukon, following (sort of) the route miners took during the Yukon Gold Rush. It is hard to imagine men and horses trying to make their way up this path and over the summit into the Yukon. But I guess the call of gold is strong.

Friday, we cruised through Glacier Bay — what spectacular scenery!

Saturday was an at sea day while we cruised across the Gulf of Alaska — and we just had a very lazy day (but no internet).

Sunday morning, we disembarked and traveled to Denali — more beautiful scenery. I know that sounds odd, but just everything is amazing to see — mountains, forests, rivers, waterfalls. wildlife. I honestly do not know how anyone manages to not spend all their time gawking!

We went through a section where there had been a recent forest fire. This particular fire burned through several thousand acres of forest, but is now controlled. There are other fires still burning near Fairbanks, but it seems like the firefighters are making progress. Here in Denali, we have heard it was pretty smoky a few days ago, but it is cleared out now.

This morning (Monday), we got started early for a ride to a nearby valley — on a Polaris Ranger (side by side ATV thing). Theo let me drive so he could take pictures. He might regret that decision now — all I am saying is that it is a good thing we had seatbelts and if you didn’t get muddy, you didn’t have a good time!

We are off in a bit to head into the park itself. We are hoping to check off the remainder of items on our wildlife sighting list.

We have a break in the action on Tuesday afternoon, so I hope to upload some more pictures.

Jean