Denali National Park, Alaska

We arrived in the town of Cantwell, just south of Denali National Park and found a place to camp for the night. It was dinner time and everyone was a little cranky and tired from a long day on the road with flat tires to slow us down. Of course, when we called to see if the local kennel had room for a 7:30pm tour to visit the Alaskan Huskies, everyone's spirits perked right up!

We spent two hours learning about the Iditarod Sled Dog Race which covers 1000 miles from Anchorage to Nome, AK every winter. The owners were waiting with 4 week old puppies for each of us to hold when we arrived and I think they could have said anything and the kids would have loved it! We met the puppies, racing dogs and watched the team in action. We learned all about dog mushing and the challenges of caring for so many dogs. It was very hard to leave the puppies behind and we had to check Heidi more than once to make sure she didn't have any hidden up her sleeves.

The next day we ventured into Denali National Park. We toured the displays at the Visitors' Centre and then went out for a hike by Savage River. The girls were enchanted by ground squirrels along the trail, but what really got their attention was the huge grizzly bear on the hillside. We watched it from a safe distance on the other side of the river, but some folks ended up too close for comfort and you can see one couple dashing away as the bear descends the grassy slope above the parking lot. You will also spy our gray truck with the aluminum boat on top, so we had to wait for the grizzly to move away before we could get back to our vehicle. While we were watching the grizzly, we also spied two caribou just in front of us drinking from the river and a ptarmigan underfoot while walking through the bush. Denali is a magical place and we were sad to say goodbye as the girls ended the day by being sworn in as Junior Rangers.

Denali National Park