Day 30 Fairbanks (8th September) Today was a fill in day as we before flying out for Montreal. To start with we went downtown and walked around a little (0°C) until we were able to catch the bus for North Pole. This is a town about 18km out of Fairbanks. The Mayor of North Pole is Santa Claus (he legally changed his name on being elected). We stopped at Santa's house and went in for a look around. It is filled with Christmas trees covered in ornamen...

Day 29 Denali to Fairbanks (7th September) After an early breakfast we took a quick walk down the road to the Denali National Park sign for a photo opportunity. A balmy 3°C. On the way there we saw a group of people readying for a ride down the rapids on the Nenana River. On our return they were setting out. The only good thing I could think was that the water would not be much colder that the air. We then headed back to our room to collect our gear...

Day 28 Denali National Park Early start today as we had to be at the main lodge by 6.45am ready to board our Tundra Wilderness Experience. The bus is an old school bus supposedly converted for tours. Not sure how it was converted. We think the original seats were still being used as they were quite narrow. Luckily Vince only needed to sit on half a seat so Margaret had plenty of room. Scott, our tour guide/bus driver, has a love for the park and he was fu...

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 o...

Day 26 Anchorage (4thSeptember) Up early and off to have a good breakfast as we had a 5-hour train trip to Anchorage ahead of us. We boarded the Cruise train by the dock. This is a domed window train with bench seats facing tables. As it was still dark when we boarded we did not really get a look at Seward (where the ship docked). Another overcast cloudy day did not really allow for us to make the most of windowed train carriage. On the outskirts of...