Day 27 Train to Denali (5th September)

Up, dressed and breakfasted (cereal in a cup, eaten with a plastic fork!) then down to get on the shuttle at 7.45am. What is a short drive on a map (a 5 block drive) was a round the world trip due to Anchorage's one-way street system.

Arriving at the train "depot" we sat on the bus for about 15 minutes until the train came the 100 metres down the track to where we would alight. Another domed window train but this one is a double decker. Seating upstairs with toilets and dining downstairs. There is small café/bar upstairs where drinks and light snacks could be purchased. Kristal was our on-board carriage guide and Trent, our barman.

Not only did Kristal give us both geographical and historical information on the areas were travelling through but she entertained us with jokes. Vince has claimed after listening to Kristal's jokes no one can ever complain about his jokes.

The further north we travelled the more we could see the autumn tones appearing in the trees. We also passed through some small communities. These communities, in some cases, consisted of only one home. In these "towns" the locals would come out and wave as we passed by. One town consisted of one home which was called the local "city hall".

Fun facts about some of the towns we passed through:

• Wasilla - this town spelt backwards says "all I saw"

• Talkeetna - this town has had a cat as the mayor for a number of years. The cat is 18 years old and so recently retired from public office/appearance and is living at its private address.

We passed over Hurricane Gulch on a trestle bridge 296 feet above Hurricane Creek. Due to the style of bridge you cannot see the bridge so as Kristal commented "you are floating in the air across the gulch."

While we were able to get some good photos of our trip on the train to Denali, we were accompanied by a consistent drizzle.

On arrival at Denali train depot we were shuttled to the McKinley Chalet where we were to stay for the next two nights. After leaving our things in our room we went for a look around the extensive property. Due to rain we cut the exploration short and headed across the road in search of some milk for our breakfast. We also discovered a pizza/alehouse so stopped there for dinner before heading back for a relatively early night.