It is so unexpected when you look at your watch and the time is so much later than you would think. When we got back to our room tonight and thinking it was about 8 o'clock - I said well now what are we going to do? Allan looked at his watch, it was 11 o'clock and still daylight outside!! I'm going to bed! Good Night.
Great music, story telling and humour
Who do you think won the bar maid - this guy! I think he may even have taken he teeth out to play the part!
The fellow on the left (with the hat) was also chosen at random from the crowd - not so good! But that made the scene even more funny!
Now this fellow was picked at random from the crowd - he was a natural and played his part so well!
Following our rest after the Denali Park tour we attended the "Cabin Night Dinner Theatre" What a hoot!
We enjoyed an all you can eat meal served family - style including Alaskan Salmon, BBQ ribs, vegetables, baked beans, biscuits and blueberry cobbler. What a meal! Following dinner we were entertained by a cast of professional actors/actresses as they took on the characters of Fannie Quigley and her friends to portray a true to life Gold Rush tale of adventure in the early 1900's Alaska.
A picture just doesn't put distance in its proper perspective
Here is another photo of our resort - Grande Denali Lodge. At the bottom of this picture you will notice a mirror - the road up to the Lodge is very steep and it zig-zags back and for up the mountain causing several blind corners - a mirror is placed on each corner so drivers can see around the corner.
By the time we got closer to Mt. McKinley this is what happened! She hid behind clouds!!
The Doll's sheep are in small flocks, without the zoom lens they are small white spots on the mountains above the tree line. This is for protective reasons, they can see predators that might be coming toward them.
The Red Fox
Doll's sheep a little further away
A Doll's sheep
We had a packed lunch provided to us on the trip - we were not allowed to eat outside of the bus. They don't want the birds or animals to have food other than what is naturally provided to them in the park.
The scenery is so beautiful - everywhere you look there is another photo opportunity. Oh, and another point of interest - there is a limited number of professional photographers to be given permits to be in the park in a year.
This is known as a braided river - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braided_river for more information on braided rivers
Our tour took us 62 miles into the park one way, we did get to see moose, caribou, wolves, grizzly bears - one walked down the road in front of a bus (going in our opposite direction) very unconcerned that he was holding up traffic. You see, the buses can not pass animals if they are on the road, the drivers have to follow or wait until the animal has decided on his/her own to wonder off into the fields of forested area. No one can do anything to cause undo stress to the animals. We were also fortunate enough to see many birds including the eagle.
Mt. McKinley (previously known as Denali Mountain) in the distance - this mountain is so big it has its own weather pattern. It is the highest mountain peak in North America and the elevation is 20,320 feet above sea level. This picture is taken miles away from it.
This is the parks officer who welcomed us to the park, all vehicles are required to stop at the check point both coming into the park and leaving. There are only 400 vehicles per day allowed into the 6 million acre park. They have strict regulations in place to protect the parkland and the wildlife within it.
The snowshoe hare
Here you see the Willow PtarmiganToday we took a bus into the Denali Park - what a day! We managed to see all the animals the parks boasts, except for the lynx! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, she talked the whole 8 hours and was always telling us something of interest and spotting the various animals, birds and other points of interest. There was a video camera on the bus which she used to zoom in on the subject and it was then displayed on a screen in the bus for everyone to see. If you came without binoculars - no need to worry, she had it under control.
Early morning views from the Lodge on June 3rd 
The lodge is located on the Sugarloaf Mountain, the road twists and turns up the mountain, when you come to the lodge you get a panoramic view of the surrounding Denali wilderness and the Nenana River Canyon.
A few pics of the Grande Denali Lodge where we stayed for 2 nights.