Holidays

Throwback Thursday! Ten years ago over the Independence Day Holiday, Damsel and I flew to Anchorage for an Alaska-by-rail tour. We left LAX, connected through Portland and got to Anchorage mid-afternoon. The day we got there, there was a street fair in town a couple of blocks from the hotel. We hung out there for a while and came back for the buffet at the hotel later.

The next morning we embarked on the first leg of the trip winding up at Denali National Park where we stayed that night. There were plenty of museums, a dog sledding exhibit and other activities to entertain us. On the Fourth of July, they shot off fireworks at nine PM, but they were difficult to see in the sunlight (land of the midnight sun and all that). Our hotel cabin was on the south bank of the Denali River.

The following morning, we waited in the rain while the train pulled into the station at Denali. You can see the rainfall in the photo above. Click on the image to enlarge.

The rain stopped a little way up the tracks and it was clear all the way to Fairbanks. We spent a good evening at the hotel that night, taking a break from the TV entertainment to go outside and truly witness the midnight sun. Wow!

The next day was a flight from Fairbanks to Portland and thence back to LAX where we rescued the truck from the parking lot and headed back home. It’s really hard to realize that was ten years ago.