We were impressed with how everything was arranged so smoothly to get off the ship – at our final port Whittier. It was very early when we left in the morning, before light and it was overcast and drizzly.

We walked straight from the ship to the train, the station is located at the port and we were on our way to Talkeetna, a town situated in the Denali National Park.

The train actually begins in Seward in the Gulf of Alaska, then it stops in Whittier, Anchorage, Denali and finishes in Fairbanks, there is commentary the whole way, about the area, the wildlife, and the history of the rail.   The train was amazing, we were seated at tables, and the windows went overhead, for surrounding views.

As we head inland, the countryside colours of the leaves are starting to change as Autumn approaches, there is still fireweed in bloom – it is a tall pink/red flower found along the edge of the rail track, and at times we see the country flower - the little blue forget-me-knot.

I learnt about permafrost, the soil that is permanently frozen from about 2 foot below the soil, there are only certain types of vegetation that grows in this soil so it is easy to see where it is.

We look out for the wildlife big five; wolves, moose, caribou, Dall's sheep, and of course the berry-guzzling (blueberries actually) grizzly bears.

There are plenty of bears in the 190 parks, and the way to remember of how we handle things, if by chance we see a bear too close is as follows:

If it’s Black – Fight Back – Black Bears are smaller, don’t run, but yell at it, throw something on the ground, scare it off – remember no use climbing a tree as they climb trees well.

If it’s Brown – Stay Down – Brown Bears are the big ones (the grizzly) don’t run, stay still – look tall, they can’t climb trees but they will shake them if you are in one!!

Moose courtesy – while moose are happy to pose for a picture or two, stay at least 50 feet away from them, never feed, if the ears go back it’s angry, afraid and may charge, back off pronto, moose kick their feet in front as well as hind feet. And if a moose does charge get behind a tree, you can run around the trunk faster than the gangly creature. Moose are not protected, they generally ignore people activities, and they are more interested in food, young trees mainly Alder and Willow which grows in the permafrost. Many of the locals find moose tasty; a whole family can enjoy steaks all winter long, courtesy of a single moose.

We pass through Anchorage, which is the largest city of Alaska, and then we go for some time before we pass a few small towns, Palmer and Wasilla, where noticeably nearly every house has a small aircraft in their backyard instead of a boat.  

Russia and the US signed a treaty selling Alaska to the US for $7.2 million in 1867, the deal was considered a great achievement of diplomacy at the time.   By and large, Russia discovered the region and owned it for 126 years.   From 1976 Alaska residents that have lived within the state for a full calendar year and have not been sentenced with a conviction, receive a yearly dividend called a PDF – Permanent Development Fund. Shortly after the oil from Alaska’s North Slope began flowing to market through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, the Permanent Fund was created. It was designed to be an investment where at least 25% of the oil money would be put into a dedicated fund for future generations, who would no longer have oil as a resource. The locals talk about the fund being a nice little package each year, some years quite high over a thousand dollars each.

Breakfast is served, a big warm cinnamon roll.   Mum and Dad have bacon and egg muffin. Lunch later on is fresh turkey and salad rolls in baskets. You can walk through the train to the bar area and onto viewing outside areas, we mostly stayed at our table because it was nice and warm and it was a perfect setting without having to move.

We arrive midday, for another well organised bus trip to the centre of town, our bags all were tagged on the boat and sent ahead to the Lodge, so we didn’t have to lug bags everywhere.

We spent the afternoon wondering the one street of Talkeetna, a small pioneer town (about 800 residents, the town swells in the summer with tourists) that has maintained its rustic spirit, with log restaurants, shops and accommodation.    They did have a small craft market, where we met a lady that was selling porcupine quill earrings, she told us where to look for them, surprisingly up in the trees at this time of year, their pines moult and they have soft fur, they are very different to our echidnas.

We stopped at the Roadhouse Bakery for a hot chocolate/coffee and chocolate turtles – yummo!   Inside was like a cabin with fireplace, piano and lounge in corner and lots of different sized tables and chairs, it was really cosy.    The people if not running tourist ventures, are seasonal trappers and noticeably a lot of crafty people too, there were lots of little log cabin shops with works of art in them for sale.

4.30pm we were on the regular free service bus to the lodge - it takes about an hour to get to the McKinley Princess Lodge on Trapper Creek.

Mount McKinley is the tallest mountain in North America, standing 20,320 feet high and from the lodge the views were spectacular, the sun came out for us to see it!!   

The lodge is your typical timber, log fires, leather lounges, moose horns, and old ski equipment/shoes on the walls.   An inviting warm feel.

It has everything you need onsite, an al carte restaurant (Mountain View) with big windows looking towards the mountains, a pub type restaurant (Grizzly Bar), a grill (Alaskan Grill), and a sandwich/coffee bar. There was also an outside coffee/drinks bar that serves a group of outdoor fire places, where you toast marshmallows on the fire which they call S’mores over here.

They also have hot tubs which are outside looking out to the mountains.

The lodge has regular State Park Naturalist presentations, which we joined before dinner about the 1964 earthquake which was very interesting, we didn’t know Alaska coastline was part of the Ring of Fire. There are over 1000 earthquakes a year, and currently there is 52 active volcanoes.   The Naturalists also have nature walks of the native cultures, geology and ecology during the day. They do suggest to do the scheduled walks with Rangers because of the amount of Bears, Moose in the area for safety.