Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday we worked on our website and then went out for a meal for the evening. The table in our restaurant rocked,
so Helen tore a piece from her folded serviette and put it underneath one of the table legs to stabilise it. When our
meals were served, Helen went to put her serviette on her lap and realised that she had torn a circular hole right
out of the centre of it!! Not much use now!
On Tuesday, we got the 8-30 shuttle to the Denali and helped a young couple from Taiwan with their son Peter (4 yrs)
to get to the train station with all their luggage. We went on a short trail to Horseshoe lake and then Kirsten saw
Peter's toy train at a "Save the endangered ranger" stall in the park. A few minutes later, we saw his mom come
rushing along, obviously in stress because they'd lost the train and told her about it. She hurried off to the stall
and, train in hand, waved with obvious relief that she had found it. Peter must have been very upset!
Afterwards we walked to the research centre and watched videos on wolves and the Aurora Borealis. Then we walked up
to the Mount Healy overlook before getting back to the shuttle and the hostel.
On Wednesday, we went on our trip along the only road into the park. The road is 90 miles long (150km) and is only
open for park vehicles to cut down on environmental damage and create less disturbance for the wildlife. It was a
really sunny day but Mount McKinley was in the clouds.
It was an 11 hour tour. We saw 11 Grizzly bears - the first time we have seen them in real life - caribou, moose and
a calf and Dall sheep. On our way back we saw two Grizzly bear cubs on the road and realised that they had become
separated from their mother. She was at least a mile away and we saw her frantically racing across the river, and
through all the bushes to get to them. We were really surprised at how fast she was running. She was literally
tearing across the distance and in such a panic that she obviously thought her cubs were in mortal danger. There
were just a couple of tour busses on the road watching but mom wasn't to know that we meant no harm.
Well, mother and cubs were finally reunited and mom ran off back the way she had come with the two cubs desperately
trying to keep up with her! Boy were they in trouble!!
Day trip into Denali National Park.
The bus driver from our tour (appropriate name - Elton Parks!) had a stock of lollypops that he would throw out to
anyone walking along the road. They were mostly appreciated until he threw some out to two people who'd hoped to get
a ride back on the bus but couldn't because the bus was full. So Helen had to get out of the bus and go and pick them
up. One had been smashed because the bus had driven over it, but she was allowed to keep the other one!
We got back to the Wilderness Access Centre without any more excitement except that Kirsten started to come down with
a migraine. She lay down on a bench and we waited for the hostel shuttle. Once back at the hostel, on our way back to
our dorm, Kirsten was sick into a plastic bag. Helen put her to bed with some ice in a ziplock bag for her head and
then dealt with the plastic sick bag!
We were due to leave the next day but fortunately Kirsten was a lot better and we managed to get onto the 6-45am
shuttle to connect with the 8-30am coach back to Anchorage. We got a wonderful view of Mount McKinley on the way.
We went back to the same hostel in Anchorage and ordered a pizza to be delivered - it took a while because the
delivery guy thought Kirsten had said "hospital" instead of hostel!! Then we got our bag out of storage and repacked
our bags for the flight back to Vancouver island the next day.
Friday was a long travelling day, getting to the airport, flying to Vancouver and then on to Comox on Vancouver
Island where we were picked up at midnight by Heide (the ex-neighbours of Kirstens parents 30 years ago until they
moved to Canada). There was a lot to talk about as Heide and Dieter were on holiday when we arrived with Winnie at
the end of May, so we hadn't seen them for 3 years. We didn't get to bed until 2am!!
We stayed for more than a week, relaxing and getting various things sorted out. We also met "Sir Freddy", their
long-haired dachshund who is only 1 year old and the cutest thing you have ever seen. He greeted us on our first
night by racing around the lounge at a maniacal speed whilst we all stood there laughing!!
On Sunday, Helen babysitted Geoffrey (Kirsten's 2 year old) for 3 hours whilst Kirsten made cinnamon buns and later
Sir Freddy took us both for a walk!
