An Alaskan adventure we won't soon forget - cruise and land tour - June 25 - July 7

[jmele999]

Day 3 - The Kantishna Experience in Denali National Park

 

On the way to the second rest stop we saw more wildlife.

 

 

 

The second rest stop is located at the Toklat River (Mile 53). The scenery is great and there are restroom facilities here too.

 

 

 

After leaving the rest stop, we came face-to-face with a caribou that walked right next to our bus.

 

 

[jmele999]

Day 3 - The Kantishna Experience in Denali National Park

 

Our next stop was the Eielson Visitor Center (Mile 53). It is a very nice visitor center with great exhibits about the park and beautiful views.

 

 

 

 

 

Can anybody find Mount Mckinley hiding in the clouds in the picture below?

 

[jmele999]

Day 3 - The Kantishna Experience in Denali National Park

 

We spent 30 minutes at the visitor center and then drove to the Kantishna Roadhouse passing by Wonder Lake. It took about one hour to drive from the Eielson Visitor Center (Mile 56) to the Kantishna Roadhouse (Mile 92).

 

 

 

You can spend the night at the Kantishna Roadhouse in one of these cabins.

 

 

[languages1]

awsome. thanks again. You are doing such an impresive job

[OhJinkies]

I'm really enjoying your review. I have been planning my own Alaska cruise and DIY land tour for 2017. Can't wait to see what you have in store for the rest of your trip! I'm a big planner too, and already have lots of notes about where I want to go and what I want to see!

[cruiseclues]

Really Great Photo Review...Photos are Fantastic...Like the size of your print, too. :):):):)

[Dawn1004]

We completely agree with your approach. It only takes one time for something to go amiss and you will see how handy that binder can be.

 

Thanks for the review.:cool:

 

 

I also do a book with all our itinerary.

 

Thing weighs a heap (in hand luggage) first part of holiday.

 

I love putting the folder together and filling it up with things - hotel bookings, tour booking, maps etc etc.

 

Quite a few ppl put these on a usb instead of printing a hard copy - but we don't take a computer with a usb slot - only the ipad (wish they had the usb slots)

 

Back to reading the review - we're recently back from our holiday to US and Canada (finishing the 5 weeks with a 10 night cruise on NCL Pearl Vancouver-Alaska-Seattle) absolutely fantastic - 2nd Alaskan cruise can't get enough of Alaska and soak up every Alaskan review too!

 

Thanks to the OP looks like this will be a good review. :)

[js4rq]

Enjoying your cruise photo review so far! :D

[jenseib]

Wow! What a stunning landscape. I now kind of wish we did a one way cruise with some of this included....though I knew my husband couldn't take off more time than we have alotted already. Maybe in a few years i can convince him to do a land tour as well.

[ourfamilylovescruising]

great review Thanks for taking the time:D

[jmele999]

Thanks to all for the comments. Glad to hear that you are all enjoying the review - it is my way of paying back to those who provide so much information on these boards.

 

I will return tonight to finish up the review of our adventure in Denali National Park, followed by Day 4 (Denali to Anchorage) and then start reviewing the cruise portion of the trip.

[mimmy52]

I wish we had enough time at Denali to do the Kantishna Experience. It looks fantastic. We'll be on a Princess cruise tour departing Vancouver July 18 so I'll probably be gone before your review is finished. I know how time consuming they are and I really appreciate your time in creating it.

[jmele999]

Day 2 - Kantishna Roadhouse

 

So let's continue with the review. As soon as we arrived at the Kantishna Roadhose at 12:30 pm we were directed to a dinning hall where lunch was waiting for us. Lunch was very tasty, but nothing impressive considering that it was a vegetable soup and a turkey wrap. I wish that they would have offered other lunch options such as a salmon bake.

 

 

 

After lunch we had free time to enjoy the grounds and were told to meet up at 2:00 pm so that we can enjoy one of two activities - gold panning or a dog sled demonstration. We were very impressed with the conditions of the grounds around the roadhouse - definitely a place that I would consider spending at night or two.

 

 

 

 

 

Above is the creek they use for gold panning.

[jmele999]

Day 3 - Dog sled demonstration at the Kantishna Roadhouse

 

At 2:00 pm we met up with the rest of the group at the library of the roadhouse/hotel for the dog sled demonstration. The first part of the demonstration was based on a discussion regarding dog sledding and the Iditarod race (see map below). It is a greluing 979-mile race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. The guy (cannot remember his name) doing the demonstration is a Iditarod junior champion and was planning on doing the race in 2017 or 2018.

 

 

 

Then it was time for us to meet the dogs and for the demonstration.

 

 

 

 

After the demonstration, we boarded the bus at 3:00 pm and the staff of the roadhouse lined up outside to say good-bye to us. Overall, we had a great time at the roadhouse.

 

Edited July 12, 2015 by jmele999

[jmele999]

Day 3 - The long road back - Denali National Park

 

After enjoying a very nice afternoon at the roadhouse we started the long ride back. The drive back was faster because we only stopped once for a restroom break. Here are some the pictures of the scenery and wildlife.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jmele999]

Day 3 - Kantishna Experience - Denali National Park - The end

 

Following an exciting, but long day in Denali National Park, we were dropped off at the Princess Wilderness Lodge at 7:15 pm. Based on previous research, we had selected to have dinner at the 49th State Brewery Compary, which is located less than one mile from the Alaskan Spruce Cabins. One of the things that I enjoyed about the brewery comparny is how rustic the place is - a true Alaskan experience.

 

 

 

Since we were at a brewery we knew that we wanted to try some beers, but we were too tired and hungry to get a beer sampler for each of us so we decided to only get one sampler and get a pint of the beer that we liked.

 

 

Dinner at the brewery was very good, but unfortunately it was all consumed before I had a chance to take a picture. If you go there, I highly suggest that you try the smoked salmon burger - It was delicious.

 

After dinner we went back to cabin to enjoy some of the wine and beer that we had from the night before and went to bed early.

 

End of Day 3.

 

Next - Day 4 - Travel from Denali to Anchorage.

[jmele999]

Day 4 - Travel day - Denali to Anchorage

 

We got up around 7:00 am, packed up the SUV, and decided to put gas in the car where we met a very nice fellow.

 

 

 

We attended 9:00 am mass at a church less than one mile from the cabins.

 

 

 

 

Our last stop before heading back to Anchorage was the Denali Visitor Center. If your time allows, you should plan to stop by the visitor center as they have very nice exhibits.

 

 

 

[jmele999]

Day 4. Denali to Anchorage - Where can we eat?

 

We finally managed to leave the Denali Visitor Center at 11:30 am and immediately started talking about lunch. I had previously informed everyone that we could have lunch at a small town called Cantwell, which is located just five miles south of the entrace to Denali National Park. However, when we drove through the small town, there were no restaurants so we decided to continue driving. We tried using our cell phones to find a restaurant, but there were either no restaurants around or we had no cell signal. An hour into the drive, we started eating the snacks that we had purchased at the gas station in Denali - the super size bag of popcorn came in handy. Two hours into the drive (near Talkeetna) we came accross the restaurant below.

 

 

However, we walked out of the place as quickly as we had walked in - the place was awful. Luckily, we were only two miles away from the road leading to Talkeetna so we decided to stop in Talkeetna for lunch.

 

 

We picked the first place we found as we were extremely hungry and it turned out to be a great place with a nice deck.

 

 

 

 

The beers were cold and we shared the special of the day as an appertizer - bison chili, which was rich and delicious.

 

[jmele999]

Day 4 - Talkeetna

 

Here are some pictures of Talkeetna. It looks like a very nice town and we look forward to spending more time there when we return to Alaska.

 

 

 

 

[jmele999]

Day 4 - Back in Anchorage

 

 

We left Talkeetna at 3:30 pm and managed to get to the airport in Anchorage by 5:00 pm to return our rental car. We also picked up a different car for our drive the next day from Anchorage to Seward as it was cheaper to have two different rental cars. After leaving the airport we went back to the Anchorage Hampton Inn to meet the rest of our group who did not join us on the trip to Denali.

 

Our now group of eight had a quiet dinner at Friday's and rested to prepare for embarkation day.

 

 

Overall impression of Denali National Park

 

We feel that the overall experience of seeing wildlife, the ever-changing landscape of the park, and Mount Mckinley was great, but at times we were bored when there was nothing to see. However, the trip was worth our time and the cost of the excursion. Everyone should experience Denali National Park at least once in their lifetime.

 

Overall grade: B+

 

Next - Cruising Day 1 - Anchorage to Seward and we go cruising :)

[Vicki'sMom]

Loving this! Amazing photos! :)

[languages1]

your picture essay travel is wonderful. Keep it coming

[jmele999]

Loving this! Amazing photos! :)

 

Thanks. We purchased a new camera as a Christmas gift to ourselves and we were really looking forward to this trip to try it out.

[jmele999]

your picture essay travel is wonderful. Keep it coming

 

Thanks. A few notes and pictures from the drive from Anchorage to Seward and then will begin with the actual cruise review.

[laurabegorrah]

Your Denali pics are AMAZING! I can't wait to see the rest of the trip!