Well, this is backdated a couple of weeks, I know, but this is really better late than never. We spent the weekend in Denali National Park and Preserve, which is between Anchorage and Fairbanks (about 5 hours north of us) in the middle of Alaska. It is a 6.2 million acre park that contains Denali (Mt. McKinley is the official map name of the mountain), the tallest peak in North America at 20,320 feet.

Denali is, of course, the cornerstone of the park. But the park contains millions of scenic vistas of the Alaska range, and contains tons of wildlife. We saw grizzlies, caribou, moose, sheep, ptarmigan, golden eagles, northern harriers, lots of rabbits, and others I probably forgot to mention.

The park is only drivable up to mile 15. But the park road itself goes on for some 85-90 miles. It is generally only accessed by bus. So we took a shuttle out to Toklat (at about mile 57 - roughly a 6-hour round trip from the Wilderness Access Center .. or WAC). So from the bus we saw most of the wildlife.

In addition, you can hike almost anywhere in the park. There are only a few areas off-limits to hikers due to high bear populations or recovering habitat. So, of course, we took off on a couple of short hikes. Next season, we'll get in a few overnight hikes - we probably won't have the weather for that on our next trip.

Of course, we took hundreds of pictures taking over a gigabyte of storage. I've included a sample for you on the pics page.

Hello all, and sorry for such a lapse in updates!

We got our furniture last week, and we've been busy unpacking. I think I forgot how much stuff we have. It looks like we're going to have a garage sale to get rid of some things. I already sold our old washer and dryer on craig's list since our house came with a washer and dryer. So ... most of our spare time has been spent unpacking boxes and deciding what stuff to keep. I know, what a waste of an Alaska summer, but, it's about time we feel like we have a home again!

We have made it out a bit ... for our 5th anniversary (August 5), we went out on a trip to Fox Island for kayaking. We took a trip with Kenai Fjord Tours ...

12 PM - boat departs for Fox Island
1 PM - arrive at Fox Island for a salmon bake lunch
2 PM - gear up for kayaking and instruction
3 PM - depart on the kayaks - tour the Fox Island spit
6 PM - arrive back at the lodge for a bit more salmon
7 PM - depart the island for a wildlife tour
9:30 PM - arrive back in Seward

On the kayak tour, we saw puffins, common murre, a blad eagle, and even a sea otter! On the wildlife tour, we saw sea otters, seals, porpoises, and lots and lots of birds. What a great time!

I've put some pictures of both the tour (it was a bit rainy), and all of the blooming flowers near our house.

I'll try to keep you more up to date with our adventures. My in-laws are in town for a while, so we'll be doing some exploring of Denali, Homer, and other places too. Take care ... and until next time ...