Our flight from Fairbanks did not leave until late in the day. We had time to do some sightseeing and decided to take a cab to the Museum at the University of Alaska. It was a good choice. We spent several hours there looking at their varied exhibits. Our 1st flight was from Fairbanks back to Anchorage. The flight from Anchorage back to DC did not leave until about midnight. We were amazed at how busy the Anchorage airport was at that time of night. I sat on the ...

We had a day full of tours. In the morning we went to a gold mine where we were able to pan for gold, visited the Alaska Pipeline where we were told about how it was built and is maintained. We then went to a park where they are preserving Native Alaska culture. In the afternoon we went on a rive boat ride on the China River. From the boat we were given demonstrations of dog sledding and salmon smoking. It was cloudy but not too cool and was not raining. There wa...

We spent the morning on a bus tour into Denali National Park. Private vehicles are no longer allowed. We saw lots of beautiful scenery and some wildlife, but no bears. It was cloudy and cool with rain showers. We then got back on the train for the trip up to Fairbanks. We checked into the hotel there which was quite luxurious.

In the morning we took the train up to a station near the entrance to Denali National park. After a short bus ride we checked into the Denali Princess Lodge which was nice but not as fancy as the Mt. McKinley Lodge. It was cloudy, misty and quite cool. We went on a raft trip down the river. We chose the less advanced of the two trips offered. It was pretty, but lasted too long since there was not much excitement or varied scenery. We were really really cold. We a...

We spent a relaxing day exploring the area around the lodge. The lodge had a huge deck with a great view of Mt. McKinley. That evening I woke bonnie up at 11:45 PM so she could see the mountain in the daylight that was still there at midnight.