Alaska 2008: Day 8 (Driving to Denali)

We were up way too early on Sunday, as the cruise portion of our tour had
come to an end. We left the Zaandam at around 7:45am and were quickly loaded
onto a nice motorcoach for a grueling 8 hour ride to Denali National Park.
The ride was scenic, but the driver wouldn’t stop talking, much to the dismay
of his passengers.

I managed to actually take a nap, and when I woke up, we
were about to stop to take a look at Mt. McKinley. The mountain is not a common
sight in Alaska, but we lucked out today — we could see it fairly well. A
while later we pulled into the "town" of Denali, where we checked in to our
hotel.

There’s really no "night" this time of year — the sun is up something
like 20 hours a day. It’s a bit odd being outside at 11pm with "afternoon"
lighting still in effect.

I’ve got a few interesting pictures from our long bus journey after the link.

Our ride… actually a nice bus

We stopped at a wildlife sanctuary not far out of Seward. This coyote looks kind
of mean here…

And more relaxed in this shot

This is how I like my bear encounters — with two fences in-between us!

This brown bear is freakin’ huge… and he apparently likes to eat hot dogs

The moose has to be one of the least attractive animals on earth

See what I mean?

A black bear, like what you’d bump into in Yosemite

Not easy to see, but Denali, also known as Mt. McKinley, is in the background

Another look at Mt. McKinley

Extreme close-up. The peak on the left is over 20,000 feet tall.

Everything is so green here

Our home for our two nights in Denali

Umm, yuck?

Next up: Denali National Park!