The morning after the wedding we packed up the car, dropped off the key, and headed to the Picnic Box for our last breakfast in the Anchorage area. I noticed in Alaska that some places that look a little shabby on the outside have a nicer interior and really good food. I had the rhubarb waffle which was delicious. The restaurant was not as busy as yesterday, but I suppose there were more people going out for breakfast on a Sunday. This little place had local art work on the walls - the most expensive was $500 framed. I saw a couple that I would have liked for our house in Sneem - landscapes in particular. But figured it would be a pain to get them home to Cape Cod and worse getting them to Ireland.
The back of the Picnic Box was so much nicer looking than the front!! That's Dan wondering what I am doing!
I thought this was a clever idea - small flower pots attached to that piece of wood. I'd like to do that in my back yard! I love the colorful small pots.
Apparently, the best Mimosas in Girdwood are at the Picnic Box!
I wonder if anyone rides this bicycle built for two?
Lots of strawberry plants among the flowers in Girwood!
So colorful!
I was so fascinated with the outside of the Picnic Box, but look at this bathroom inside!! Below is the sign near the faucet.
Interesting bathroom decor!!
Goodbye Girdwood!!
What more can I say? We passed these signs everywhere!
Mt. McKinley/Denali peeked at us as we headed north to Anchorage. That is where we are headed - Denali.
We never did get to see the bore tide come in; the tide was in now and was hiding the mudflats as we said goodbye to them.
We stopped in Anchorage - Dan and Amanda dropped off the completed Marriage License where they had picked it up just a few days ago. They were told everything was in order - a certified copy will be mailed to them. Hurray!
Next stop was the shop where Amanda had bought the red jacket and blue vest for Dan. They returned the jacket, and we were on our way!
I remember how excited Dan was whenever he saw Mount Ranier when we visited the northwestern states a couple of years ago. Sometimes we wondered if we were really seeing it because we were so far away. It became an old friend. Denali on the other hand is playing tricks on us - it is peeking at us now and again as we drive along - is that really it?
There was never too much traffic - compared to Boston or Cape Cod traffic anyway - until we neared Wasilla. Talk about development! Anything you need was located along the main highway in Wasilla and its outskirts! We found the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce, and I jumped out. I was very disappointed to find that it was closed on Tuesdays. Even more so when I looked through the windows and did not see the lifesize cut out of Sarah Palin!! From the very start as were were planning this trip, I said that I wanted to take a picture with that cut out. I am certainly not a Sarah Palin fan - I'm a Democrat - but that cut out was probably going to be the only celebrity we would meet in Alaska!! I had read about the cut out in a 2016 Alaska guidebook - we arrived too late!
To ease my disappointment, we stopped at Diary Queen!! I hadn't even been to Diary Queen in Falmouth this summer! I consoled myself with a mini Heath Bar blizzard. Dan and Amanda also ordered ice cream. Mairead ordered a corn dog. The three of us were finished our ice cream and still no sign of the corn dog. You give and pay for your order at the counter, and the guy gives you a number - then your order is delivered to your table. Mairead finally went up to the guy - he told her that there were a lot of orders - wait your turn - I guess he told us! So we did.
I seldom go to MacDonald's, Burger King, or Dunkin Donuts - but when I do, I always go inside. I figure there is no rush, and it is a little exercise - I'm not sure why people would want to wait in long drive thru lines. But I have noticed that more resources are given to drive through than to walk in customers. What's up with that?! And this seems to be what happened with the corn dog - this Dairy Queen had a drive up window. There were staff running in and out of the back door delivering orders as we sat watching them and waiting.
That notorious corn dog finally arrived. We headed back to the car and hit the road.
Fireworks were a big deal in Wasilla - we passed several outlets.
Today was a long day of driving - Dan and I took turns. At some points all we could see were acres of pine trees. Then we would see mountains. One thing we didn't see was Moose! Despite the signs!
And then it happened - suddenly we came upon a lot of cars pulled over on both sides of the road - people were lining the opposite side of the road. So I quickly turned in as Dan was yelling to be careful of the tires on the jagged shoulder.
What is it? People had their cameras and phones out - one fellow had his camera on a tripod and was letting people take a look through it.
Everyone cheered when the moose lifted his head out of the water!
After this interlude of excitement, we hit the road a gain. We were hungry now so we started looking for somewhere to grab a bite.
This looked like an interesting spot so we pulled in. It was a nice break although I didn't really go for the fried halibut and fries.
We kept looking for Denali; we thought we could see it here and there. We passed the entrance to Denali and all the shops a little further north from the entrance on our way to our motel in Healey.
I never took any pictures of our Denali Park Hotel - it was a very interesting place. It originally had been a 2 story hotel - the National Park Service used to own it. It has old railway cars - one is used as the lobby/check in. There are 4 buildings with about 12 rooms in each building. Here is a link for a look at it:
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We checked in - Dan and Amanda were in one building - Mairead and I were in another. It was kind of a cute room. The woman at the desk told me that moose sometimes wander in the back of the motel in the morning!!
Mairead and I did a run to a local mart for Dan and Amanda - they were hunkering down for the night. The clerk was from Bulgaria! A J1 visa worker. What the heck was he doing in this wilderness! Then Mairead and I drove back to the shops before the entrance to Denali National Park and poked around. We had arrived in Healey about 7 pm. The shops were closing at 9 pm. Mairead wanted to go back to a couple of shops in the morning.
Healey is further north than Anchorage so there was a chance of seeing the Northern Lights - I got up every 2 hours to check outside, but it was a no go. Same thing in the morning - no moose!
We checked out of the motel and took a right out of the parking lot. The motel clerk had told me last night that there was a good place to eat about a mile down the road - it served breakfast, lunch and dinner. So the four of us tried out Black Diamond this morning.
It was a very nice place - clean and airy with animal heads mounted on the walls - made us really feel like we were really in Alaska!
The food was terrific - Dan and Amanda shared an Alaska Benedict and a Crabby Benedict. I had a Sourdough Scramble with local vegetables; Mairead went for the Reindeer Sausage and eggs. And it only came to $53! So cheap compared to breakfast yesterday morning in Girdwood that came to about $80!
We tore ourselves away from Black Diamond and headed back to Denali.
Small picnic and playground area near Black Diamond.
Parks Highway runs alongside this river where Mairead and I saw people white water rafting last evening.
We dropped Amanda off at the shops where Mairead and I had gone last night - she had some business calls to make. Dan, Mairead and I headed into the national park.
There are a couple of ways to visit Denali National Park - you can go on a tour bus for 8+ hours, you can take hop on hop off shuttle buses into the park, or you can drive yourself the first 15 miles to Savage River. We had decided to drive to mile 9 and 11 which have viewing points of Denali - we had been told and read that there is no view of Denali from Savage river. We were heading to Fairbanks today and had voted against an 8 hour tour.
What wild life? We have only seen that one moose and the animals in a wild life preserve since we arrived.
As we headed into the park and passed acres and acres of pine trees, I was quite happy we weren't going on an 8 hour tour - Really! - you see one pine tree ... I didn't need to travel into the park to see miles of them - we passed enough of them on Parks Highway yesterday.
We arrived at the mile 9 viewing point - there it was or was it? Yes, that is it! Denali is snow covered, and it was a little difficult at first to make it out because of the clouds. I think Danno said it was still 70 miles away from us, and it was soaring into the clouds now. There was a pick up truck with a gal sitting on top of the cab - she was taking pictures of her friend who was down in the field with Denali in the background - they were laughing and having a great time.
This is snow covered Denali - formerly Mt. Mckinley.
Mairead snapping Denali.
Then we drove down to mile 11 - we had to walk down a path to the viewing area, but we did get another look at that monster! I can't imagine how high that mountain can be when it is so tall at such a far distance.
We dove back to the shops - Mairead ran off to see the shops she didn't get to see last night. Dan and I filled up the car with gasoline. We stopped into a nearby convenience store to use the facilities. As I say: never pass up a clean bathroom when you are traveling!
The clerk at the register was from Serbia - I started talking to him when I was paying for water. It was his 3rd year in Alaska on a J1 visa. He said he has friends who work for hotels - the hotels put them up. He said he has housing, but he has to take a shuttle at the end of the night, and it is a 30 minute drive. I told him about all the J1s that we have in Cape Cod and in particular the ones in Falmouth. He said that he and his friends work a morning shift in one place and then work another shift in one of the shops. All these J1s that I have met are very hard workers.
Dan and I went into a burger joint - Denali Doghouse - and ordered burgers. We were going to eat outside, but there was a very cool breeze. Mairead met up with us, and we went inside to eat.
The Doghouse has the yellow sign.
When we met Amanda, she had some exciting news - she had bought a mink trimmed cape at a fabulous bargain! It was so soft!!
Shopping done, bellies full, we jumped back into the car and headed for Fairbanks!!
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