Day 8 - Denali National Park

This morning we are in the motor-coach for our drive from Fairbanks to Denali.  It's only about 120 miles and, allowing for stops, should have only taken maybe 3 hours or so, but there was a lot of road construction going on, causing lots of delays, so the trip seemed to last FOREVER!  

Here's some of the scenery we saw along the way . . . .

Still so surprised that everything is SO GREEN!
And as usual, it was raining off and on.

Finally we arrived at our hotel in Denali - really nice in a rustic, wooded setting . . .

McKinley Chalet Resort

There were little trails leading to the "outbuildings"
 where most of the rooms were.
Our room, of course, was in the farthest away building.
We always laugh because we nearly always get the farthest away rooms!
Cause we are the active ones, no doubt!!!

The grounds are so large, there are shuttle buses
to take you back and forth to the main lodge.

In any case, the whole place was really nice, with several restaurants, a gift shop (of course), a photo studio, and I can't even remember what all else.  Our room was one of the nicest we had on the trip, but somehow never made it into a photo.

But . . . . none of this mattered at the moment.  Because of all the construction delays, our bus arrived much later than planned, and only minutes before we were due to go on our ATV adventure.  So, before we checked into our room or anything else, we had to scurry off the bus and run into the lobby to find where to meet our guide.  We were so afraid we would miss out on this excursion, but thankfully, it worked out.  So while we were still out of breath and trying to get our adrenalin level back down to normal, we were whisked off to our next adventure.

Neither of us had ever driven an ATV before, and I at least was a bit apprehensive about the whole thing. We were shown into a room to watch a movie about how to operate the ATV, safety, signals, courtesy, etc. While the movie was going on, the guides were busy outfitting another group for their adventure, and the noise level was  . . . well, let's just say we couldn't hear the movie.  So whatever information there was was pretty much useless.

Next it was our turn to be outfitted.  And oh my, we definitely were a fashion statement!  They gave me a yellow set of overalls and a matching yellow jacket - very fashion-forward!  They gave Carol a lovely olive-drab jumpsuit.  Our outfits were completed with helmets and goggles (for me, because in all the craziness back at the hotel I had forgotten to grab my sunglasses), and wait till you see the fancy footwear! But for sure, our clothes were protected and that's the important part I guess.

Next we, and several other people who were also going along, were shown to the ATV's, where we were told to turn the key and GO!  What?  No practice?  No trial run?  We did have to navigate our way through some cones, which somehow we managed to accomplish, and then we were off on the ride.

I guess we're off . . . . ????

Carol and I were at the back of the pack, she behind me, and one of the guides was behind her.  I was pretty shaky and just following whatever path the people in front of me were taking.  Carol on the other hand, was making her own path through all the puddles and over all the rocks.  When we came to our first stopping place, she informed me that I was a chicken!  What?  No way!  So from that point on, I too hit all the puddles and rocks and whatever was in the way and OH, WAS IT EVER A BLAST!!!!!

Here's a few pics of our little off-road journey . . . Soon after we accomplished the cones, and while we're still uncertain about the whole thing, there was a photographer in the bush snapping photos .. .

So here's me

And here's Carol

Here we are at our first stop - aren't we lovely?

Another look

Back on and  ready to go.
Check out that fancy footwear I mentioned earlier-
a new use for grocery bags!

Carol has a matching pair.  Aren't they lovely?
They did the job though!

At this point, they made us move up to the front of the pack.
Darn!  I really liked it in the back!!!

We stopped by this dry creek at the base of this huge pile of dirt?  Sand?  Whatever, it was left behind by glaciers who knows how long ago.  One of our guides picked up a pretty nice rock from the creek bed that  appeared to have some gold in it, and gave it to one of the guys on the trip.

A view of the "road" we were traveling over -
just a tad bumpy (but so fun!!)

Another view of the terrain

One of the mud puddles just before we went through it

We also went through this creek

Our guides, Ernest & Craig.  Really nice, funny,
and very helpful and patient with us novices!

Looking back across the valley to that dirt or sand mountain
where we had been earlier

Beautiful clouds

What a fun afternoon!  And not one drop of mud on our clothes anywhere.  We had so much fun going over rocks, into ditches, through streams and mud puddles  . . . . can we do it again?

Back at the hotel we had just a short time to locate our room, freshen up, and then we were off again for a dinner/show called Cabin Nite.

Cabin Nite

This was really fun too.  It's in one of the log buildings on the property (which we didn't realize and almost missed the bus to get there - that's a whole other story that I'll spare you from).  Inside, everyone was seated at long tables and the food was served family style - delicious salmon and ribs, plus several sides, and it was all you can eat.  Dessert was some sort of mixed-berry pie, served hot out of a cast-iron skillet and topped with whipped cream.  Delish!  The servers were also the actors who put on a really fun show consisting of story-telling and songs, lots of laughs and silliness.

The cast/servers

A perfect way to end our first day in Denali.  Stay tuned for more tomorrow . . . .