Day 5: We awoke early, left our awesome campsite behind and headed up to Anchorage to meet up with the Virginia half of the family. The kids were super excited to see their cousins! We arrived at the motorhome rental place to switch out our RV (long story as to why) and were greeted by 3 very excited cousins. We even got to see uncle C again as he was in Anchorage for a part for his airplane. After several hours of switching RV's, loading up RV's and grocery shopping we were off. We headed for Denali National Park taking the Parks Hwy north. The first hour took us through the Mat-Su Valley, Wasilla, and Houston kind of the "suburbs" of Anchorage. After that we were pretty much "in the boonies". I found this drive to be not nearly as pretty or entertaining as the Kenai Peninsula. The road was flat and straight and there were pine trees on both sides. We did still find amusement in reading our mile by mile account of the hwy in "the Milepost". We arrived in Denali around dinner time in the pouring down rain! After finding our campsite we cooked dinner for the masses. The kids were exhausted and went to bed early but the adults toughed it out in the rain next to a campfire.
Day 6: I awoke to the sound of rain pounding the roof and decided to go back to sleep instead of walking up to the visitor center to explore. The rain continued throughout the morning. G and I did manage to take a short hike to Riley Creek while everyone was getting ready for the day. I must say, I was constantly checking my surroundings for BIG BEARS. We pulled out at 11am and headed for the park road to drive as far as we could. The park road is only open to the public for about 15 miles. After that you need to have a special pass or be on a tour bus. The park road is 90 miles long. The tour buses make stops along the way and stop for wildlife viewing. The trips can be as short as 4 hrs or as long as 13. We decided that the kids might not last or worse yet torture everyone on board so decided to do the short drive in our RV. We managed to see several moose on our drive unfortunately it was too cloudy to spot Mt. McKinely. We then headed to the visitor center and caught a bus to a sled dog demonstration. The kids were able to pet many of the dogs and we got to watch a team in action and learn about their training. After this the weather started to clear so we headed back out the park road to see if we could get a glimpse of the mountain, no luck but we did find a great picnic spot for dinner. After dinner we headed north to Fairbanks spotting several moose on the side of the highway. I enjoyed this part of the drive as there were lots of mountains and valleys with beautiful views. We arrived in Fairbanks around 9 pm in total daylight. Uncle D had found us a great campsite on a river with ducks! The kids enjoyed feeding and chasing the ducks. After putting the kids to bed we were able to enjoy some adult time. We tried to hang outside but got too cold and headed inside.
Day 7: Our first stop in Fairbanks was about 15 miles outside in a town called the North Pole. We went to Santa's House, a tourist trap, but kinda cute. The whole town had candy cane street lights. Santa's "vacation" house, as we called it, was essentially a store. Santa did make his appearance and delighted the kids with hugs and pictures. We also were able to see some of his reindeer in the back. After this we headed to the University of Alaska Fairbanks to see the Museum of the North. A beautiful campus and great views! We watch a few short movies and explored the exhibits. We then headed to Pioneer Park where the kids were able to play, ride a train and we experienced -40 below. BRRRR. Big A didn't quite make it all the way into the large freezer they use to give you "the experience". Little A, G and I however tolerated it for about 5 min. It wasn't nearly as bad as I would have thought but my hands did start to hurt pretty quickly. We watched hot water evaporate before hitting the ground and used a banana as a hammer. Definitely a cool experience. The Virginia V's decided to head back down towards Anchorage and we wanted to stay one more night in Fairbanks. So after many tears we parted ways. G and I decided to check out a brewery just north of town for dinner. The Sliver Gulch Brewery had both yummy beer and yummy food.
Pictures: 1. Campsite in Fairbanks. 2. Where Mt McKinely should be. 3. Moose in Denali
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