Category: States

Anchorage Alaska

Alaska vacation day 11

To conclude our Princess cruise-land tour, we stayed at the Hotel Captain Cook in downtown Anchorage. The rest of our vacation we were on our own plans!
The view of downtown Anchorage from our room.
Sculptures honoring Captain James Cook’s explorations.
5th Avenue, Anchorage’s main street for shops and restaurants.
Balto sculpture. A 700-mile dog sled relay was set up to deliver serum to Nome after an outbreak of diptheria in 1925. Balto led the final leg of the relay into Nome, so he became a hero, and the subject of several movies. The first leg of the relay was led by Togo, the subject of another movie. This relay was the inspiration for the Iditarod race, which is held yearly.
Alaska became our 49th state in 1959, signed into law by President Dwight Eisenhower.
Cook Inlet.
Statue of Captain Cook looking out over Cook Inlet.
Captain James Cook statue. Captain Cook was a British explorer who led three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, from Antarctica to Alaska, to Hawaii and Australia and New Zealand.
Selfie sign at the Anchorage Airport.
Statue of Senator Ted Stevens.
The plane that would fly us to Barrow.

Mt. Denali!

Alaska vacation day 10

Mt. Denali (Mt. McKinley prior to 2016). This is the tallest point in North America – 23,320 feet above sea level! There are three high peaks here. Denali translates to “The Tall One”, Mt. Foraker (native name: Menlale translates to “Denali’s wife”) at 17,400 feet , and Mt. Hunter (native name: Begguya translates to “Denali’s child”) at 14,573 feet.

Behind these clouds in the distance is Mt. Denali.
Also, behind these clouds in the distance is Mt. Denali.
September 4, 2023: “The Mountain” came out in full view for us! This is a spectacular view, as seen from the deck of our lodge! This came out later in the day of our glacier landing flight. We thank God for giving us this sight and the glacier landing flight in one day.
Photo op spot at the lodge!
The Mountain at sunset.
The Mountain at dusk.
Mt. Denali is in the center, and to the left (outside of the picture) is Mt. Foraker, the third highest peak in the USA at 17,400 feet above sea level, and the tallest point in the picture to the left of Mt. Denali is Mt. Hunter, at 14,573 feet.
Mt. Foraker.
Mt. Hunter.
Highest peak here is Mt. Silverthrone, 13,220 feet.

Denali Glacier Landing

Alaska vacation day 10

This was by far the highlight of our entire vacation! After fretting all morning about weather conditions, God cleared away the clouds and rain just in time for us to take a small plane flight to land on a glacier in the shadow of Mt. Denali!

Here is the plane we flew in.
As we took off, we flew over the Susitna River.
Our pilot.
Our copilot…me! The pilot asked if anyone wanted to sit in the copilot’s seat and I volunteered! This was a very wise decision! The views up front were spectacular! Oh, and I was very careful not to touch anything, even though the yoke was right in front of me! Mt. Denali is right in front of me here! This was an incredible experience!
Mt. Denali appeared as we climbed above the clouds.
Flying over these mountains was an incredible experience. Several of these mountains are between 10,000 and 14,000 feet high. They are snow covered year-round. One of many glaciers is seen on the left of this picture.
Another glacier.
A long wide glacier.
It was amazing to look down on this mountain scene.
Another big glacier.
Three glaciers here. So beautiful!
Such a steep drop!
Base camp glacier. It is from this location where climbers t start their climb to the top of Mt. Denali.
We have landed on Ruth Glacier! About a foot of new (overnight) snow, on top of about 4,000 feet of ice. It was about 35 degrees here, so the snow was great for…
…snowballs!
MJ in front of our plane on Ruby Glacier.
Our plane’s skis.
From Ruth Glacier, Mt. Denali’s peak!
This is quite a story here. What you see is a luxury “unique” hotel, situated on a ridge above Ruby Glacier overlooking the Sheldon Amphitheater. This is the Sheldon Chalet. If you look closely, you see a helicopter, which is the only access to this hotel.

There is more. Accommodation is for up to 10 guests, and the all-inclusive stay includes an inbound and outbound helicopter flightseeing (not optional) tour from Talkeetna or Anchorage, Alaska. Gourmet delicacies are prepared by their world-class chef. As of 2023, the price is $75,000 per couple (or up to four people) for a 3-night minimum.

For more details, go here: https://www.uniqhotels.com/sheldon-chalet

Looking down our runway on Ruth Glacier, joining with two other glaciers!
Another view of Mt. Denali just above the clouds.
Another glacier winding its way around mountains.
Mt. Denali’s peak again.
Zooming in on a glacier.
And yet another glacier.

McKinley Princess Lodge

Alaska vacation day 10

After two nights at the Denali Princess Lodge, we took a bus for a 2 hour trip to the McKinley Princess Lodge, for one night. It poured rain the entire trip, and it was looking doubtful for any Mt. Denali sighting. Both lodges are part of the Princess Cruise Lines family.

This is the great room at McKinley Princess Lodge. All these chairs are pointing west, looking out of a large window pointed at Mt. Denali. When we arrived, we were about 2 hours from leaving for our Denali Glacier Landing airplane trip. The weather did not seem like it would cooperate. See the next post to find out how it went.
People enjoying the fire pits. There is a concession stand selling popcorn and beverages. Alaska has a law that minors are not even allowed in the same room where alcoholic beverages are sold/consumed.
More lush vegetation. Alaska has a short summer, and hence a short growing season, but when it is growing the plants are beautiful!
Mushrooms outside our door. Looks like something from Mario Brothers.
I turned on the night setting to my camera, and the Big Dipper with Northern Star became clear. This is also the state flag of Alaska.
We ate here. Twice. It was good.
Alaskan Snow Crab.
Bush plane.
Mountain climbing gear.

Denali Princess Lodge

Alaska vacation days 8-9

This was our lodge for 2 nights at Denali. Since we were four hours late arriving, we didn’t get to do or see anything the first night.
If you are interested in buying a bronze sculpture of a humpback whale, the lodge has it for sale! The price is $10,495.95!
We ate at the King Salmon Restaurant…
…and here is a salmon chandelier!
Landscaping at and around the lodge was lush and colorful!
Here is a giant dahlia!
Nenana River.
For dinner, we went to the “Songs of Denali” Dinner Theater show.
It was an entertaining evening. They were very talented.
The cast of the show, which is a musical story about early efforts at climbing Mt. Denali.