My love affair with Alaska continues.
I know it's been a while since I've posted, but when you're in love time stands still.
But alas, duty calls, and I feel myself getting further and further behind on my blog, and I really want to share this very very special place with you. So, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!
I am currently on my own tour of the Kenai Peninsula which is just South of Anchorage. I hired a dodgy little car from the local guy and had the MARVELLOUS gals at Salmon Berry Tours in Anchorage put a little program together for me...so I'm off exploring in the wilderness...but I digress, I need to go back before I can go forward.
I left you last time in Denali National Park. The next 36 hours were full of excitement, beauty, great ice-cream and an energetic hike!
The morning after those last pics, I had a wonderful helicopter tour of the Denali National Park. Nick, our German pilot, took us up on top of the world to see the spectacular views of the mountains, and even an amazing glacier crawling down a mountain. You can see the first three pics above are of us soaring high, and the third one is the breathtaking glacier. Nick took us closer so we could see the ice close up and its surreal blue colour...it was an unforgettable experience and a must do if you get here.
After that amazing ride, I took off for a bit of a hike in the local area before catching my bus to McKinley. I just took the local paths to get to the post office. On my way back, I ran across the sign above about being wary of bears and moose. I actually laughed out loud when I saw it...see a bear or moose here??? This close to civilisation???? Must be for the tourists!! Hmmmmm...as I made my way out of the bush (forest), I was met by two women who greeted me with a "well here comes a brave soul", and I laughed. Apparently they had just been on the same path and run into a moose! Now moose here are more deadly than bears. Bears run away most of the time as soon as you talk, but a moose may charge and apparently a kick to the body by a moose is a very bad thing...more people are killed by moose than bears in Alaska every year!!! Go figure. Note to self: take notice of local signs.
That afternoon I was on the bus on my way to McKinley to see the famous Mt McKinley. Mt McKinley is the highest peak in North America, and as I've heard on more than one occasion, it's actually taller than Mount Everest from the base to the tip, it's just that Everest starts much higher up than McKinley. I didn't know that.
So, I rocked in to my rather flash digs at the McKinley Princess Lodge (well, I am a Princess!), and in the lobby area we had floor to ceiling views of the wonderful mountain. I have to admit, at first I was like "mountain schmountain"...and then she came out to show herself, and it was....absolutely spectacular. She took my breath away. I actually stayed up for 3 hours until midnight to watch the sun set (well as much as it sets here in Summer) behind her...and it was a sight to behold. I have two pics above there for you, and they don't do her justice. She looks like a movie set, and being out there on the deck in the cold to watch her open up to her fans was indescribable. I won't even try.
That evening, though, before sitting down to watch Her Majesty, I ducked down to the town of Talkeetna. It's a 45 mins bus ride from the Lodge and is the cutest, quaintest town. Apparently, the show Northern Exposure was first filmed here before the set was made in Seattle. It takes about 10 mins to walk up and down the main street! It's laid back, dogs in the street, families out and about, lots of bars, and a heap of cafes. One wonderful surprise though, you can see above, was Wake and Shake, a little hole-in-the-wall ice-cream parlour. They make their own ice-cream in that wacky looking machine out the front of their stall. It looks like John Deer meets Annie's Ice-Cream! The guy makes it out there every day, the motor churns the ice cream which is made from all local organic ingredients. The ingredients are put into a steel cylinder then wacked in the wooden bowl packed in ice and salt then churned by the motor! COOOOOOL!!! After some discussion with people already eating their ice-cream, I went with strawberry. It was divineeeeeeeeeee....so creamy, not very sweet at all (which is surprising for this counry), you could taste the real strawberries in it...oh my, it was good.
Post-ice-cream it was back to the Lodge for the spectacular viewing of Her Ladyship. Then off to sleep ready for my big day of hiking the next day.
Now everyone here talks about "layers". You have to dress in "layers". Which I did, and in fact I do every day. T-shirt, then my long sleeve cardie, then my polartech jacket I had to buy here, then my gortex jacket, I also had to buy for Alaska. I even had two layers of socks on!!!! And guess what??? I used all my layers!!! Yes, the locals are correct - LAYER, LAYER, LAYER!!!
So the hike was FABULOSO. We had Freddy, the best guide in the world - he knew everything, from what you could and couldn't eat, touch, smell, use as toilet paper...to which animals are where and why. He's an ex-school teacher who spends his nomadic life wandering around the world...a very very cool guy. We hiked about 7 miles up a mountain. We saw a very cool Porcupine (my first - man those suckers are big), we saw a dam built by beavers and their "lodge", and we saw and tasted a heap of edible plants...and of course we saw that amazing scenery you can see above. I can't tell you how often I look around me here and just start to cry. The sheer beauty and majesty of these mountains, every where I go, is just something you have to see in person. Photos just don't deliver the goods. I can see mountains now, from inside the bakery I'm in as I type. They are across the water, with snow, and are breathtaking. Sigh. Sigh again. And a big sigh as I remember what a great group of people I hiked with - Americans and a couple from England, different ages, and so much fun. Eleven of us in total. Thank you guys for a magic day. I bloody loved it.
And so ends my trip to Denali. I got the bus back to Anchorage that evening, and settled back into my hotel...and ready for more Alaskan adventures. Sigh...I'm sooooooo in love....
No comments:
Post a Comment