All Aboard!

Wednesday morning began with a quick bus ride back into Denali National Park so we could visit the Visitors' Center there. This center is only open from early May until late September when they move across the road to the Murie Science Center - a much smaller building and therefore easier/cheaper to heat. We saw a video on the "Heartbeat of Denali" so I guess that counts as seeing the mountain that is alledgedly out there somewhere.

We also learned the secrets to making the best blueberry pie!

Then back to the lodge to wait for a short bus trip back to the Visitors' Center...no, actually the train depot which is directly across the road from the Visitors' Center. This passenger train is, I believe, used exclusively for cruise line passengers traveling between the various lodges and/or port at Whittier. Each cruise line puts on exactly how many passenger cars they need for each run. This particular run Princess had the final two cars and the Weilers were allocated table space in the very last car.

All seats are upstairs in the viewing portion of the car and we take turns heading downstairs to the dining portion of the car for our lunch. The scenery is fantastic (though we didn't get to see too many animals), the meal great and our traveling companions (that we've come to know relatively well) provided great conversations. (Things I've learned: if the Denver area of Colorado is considered the more liberal side of the state, there is no crayon in the box sufficiently red enough for the western half of the state! Our retired friend from Colorado, who's wife is still a teacher with Texas Instruments, is Harley riding, gun owner/lover type who believes that Colorado really needs to enact the Arizona immigration law there.)

Near the half-way point of our trip, we passed two small lakes, one of which emptied to the north, the other to the south as we were passing the Continental Divide and the high point of the trip (~2900 ft.) with mountains there (visible) at only 5000 ft. (not much in the way of mountains for those of who travel I-90 via Snoqualmie Pass, ~3500 ft. , or Lookout Pass on the Idaho/Montana border which is considerably higher). We also passed the northbound passenger train where we slowed down so that the employees could pass notes, etc. to their counterparks (often roommates) on the other train. And after a leisurely (3 1/2 hr to go 120 miles - that's pretty darn leisurely!) our train ride ended in Talkeetna, Alaska (but more on that later).

~later, tw