Copper River Lodge

Princess was really thinking ahead when they purchased the land in Alaska to build these lodges. They are the only ones who can extend their cruise into the interior of the state which makes them incredibly far ahead in this travel/tourism game.

The Copper River Wilderness Lodge seems out in the middle of nowhere but it is just south of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (more on that later). A fairly remote location (which we found out makes life sometimes challenging for restaurant staff. This morning our waitress asked if we were through with the ketchup bottle explaining that they had not yet received their shipment of ketchup and so she needed to squeeze the little packets into this bottle to refill it!)

The view from the central lodge area (and indeed our hotel room) looks directly across a valley at (from left to right) the Mts. Drum, Zanetti, Wrangell and Blackburn. Or so they tell us...apparently the sun was out on Friday and naturally we didn't arrive until Saturday night. It has rained all morning here but the skies are starting to lift a bit and my view from the upstairs lobby area is of a mountain range with what looks like fresh snow and topped by the clouds.

Even though it has been a rainy day, people have found something to occupy their time. In the morning Gerry & I went dogsledding (really fun! - but would have been even more fun in snow!) and to visit the park (more on both of these later).

The Lodge has a wonderful great room with (what would be) an excellent view, a large stone fireplace and a crackly fire (with real wood - no gas or "lincoln" logs here!) and it is a cozy place to curl up with a book (like Gerry here - it's good to be on vacation), play a board game, build a puzzle or visit with new friends over a glass of wine or Alaska Amber Ale.

Our view is unspoiled by power lines of any kind - there simply aren't any. If you want power out in this wilderness, you make your own (with I would imagine a REALLY BIG generator that is located somewhere on the large property away from guests). But they do have unlimited free access to the internet.

There are two restaurants - "Two Rivers" a more formal dining room where you can actually make reservations and the "Whistle Stop" bar/restaurant where the worst kept secret is that you can order off either menu without having to get all dressed up for dinner! Last night we enjoyed salmon (Gerry) and halibut (me) and it was delicious! Of course the fact that it was only about 9 hours from being caught to being on our plate might have had something to do with that.

~later, tw