Alaska Day 4: Anchorage

We have the option this morning to either book an excursion in Denali or roam around the lodge grounds on our own. The previous day left us exhausted so we slept in late and explored the grounds at McKinley Village. It helps that the Nenana River is right outside our room. This is definitely the place to stay in Denali.
http://www.denaliparkresorts.com/lodging-food/mckinley-village-lodge.cfm

After our leisurely morning, we were back on the train and one step closer to the cruise part of our Alaskan adventure.


To our surprise, the ride leaving Denali was much more scenic! To top that off, the clouds covering Mount McKinley (aka Denali-"the high one") finally cleared up. The guide on the train told us that only 5% of tourists actually see McKinley.

Mount McKinley

Unfortunately our high spirits were short-lived as we quickly entered the neverending dust bowl. They had to turn down the AC so that it wouldn't overheat and break down. This was when I started to resent the domed ceiling as the sun heated up the car.

Check out the dust!

Dust infiltrated the car

All was well by dinner time, and I was ready to be impressed by the much promoted pork tenderloin. Indeed I was impressed. It was super juicy, which I was grateful for because my mouth was dry from the dust bowl episode. I've never been fond of bourbon sauce because it's always too sweet for me, but their bourbon sauce was more smokey than sweet. The veggies that were paired up with the meat were nice and light. I especially enjoyed the yellow carrots.

Pork loin baked with bourbon sauce and topped with escalloped apples with garden vegetables and maple glazed sweet potatoes

We ended our dining car experience with a deliciously creamy and light-as-air Alaskan berries cake. It turned out to be the best dessert we had from our entire Alaska trip!

Once we arrived in Anchorage, I was immediately reminded of Seattle. The dark clouds hovering above us ominously, the lush green vegetation, the vibrant flowers, the marina look and feel of the city definitely gave me a sense of déjà vu.

Flowers in Town Square Park

A very charming characteristic of Anchorage is the abundance of colorful murals in the downtown area.

Wyland Whale Mural (1994) painted freehand

I wish we had more time in Anchorage to explore beyond downtown. The Eyewitness travel book notes quite a few spots I would have liked to visit such as the Alaska Native Heritage Center, St. Innocent Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Alaska Wildberry Products (world's largest chocolate waterfall), and the Anchorage Weekend Market.

Alaska Day 3: Denali National Park

We took a 4 hour train ride on the McKinley Explorer, the world's largest passenger cars, from Fairbanks to Denali National Park early morn, going from 400 ft in elevation to 2000 ft. The spruce trees we passed by eventually turned into clusters of 4ft tall trees due to the permafrost that forces the roots closer to the surface. Other than the spruce trees, the train kept the Alaskan Mountain Range in sight through most of our journey. I was excited about taking my first train ride in the U.S., but was underwhelmed because the view never changed like I had expected based on pictures in travel guides. I had the impression that I would be surprised by every turn we took. Perhaps that would have happened if we had done an independent roadtrip through Alaska.




Breakfast in the dining car was an event. It feels sophisticated to not dine at your seat for once in any kind of transportation. Breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs, reindeer sausage, hash browns, toast and coffee.


The view finally started to change as we approached closer to Denali at higher elevations, allowing us to finally see beyond the treeline. The environment looks dry because Denali is located in an arctic tundra, which has characteristics of a desert.At around 2PM, we took a 4 hour long natural history tour that was quite wretched. I recommend doing the 5AM natural history tour instead because the chance of wildlife sighting is much higher when the temperature is cooler. The natural history bus tour gets you inside parts of the park and preserve area where private vehicles can not venture.

We spent so much time looking for wildlife and guesstimating the location of Mount McKinley during the hottest time of the day and not seeing anything that we missed out on simply enjoying a more varied viewing of the park's sights.



The best view we were taken to was at Primrose Ridge.

Athabascan Nature Interpreter at Primrose Ridge

After a long day, we decided on having dinner at our lodge's restaurant, The Gold Rush Dining Room. The seafood chowder was too rich and sweet and served luke warm. I had the ale battered halibut next, which salvaged my dinner experience there. Unfortunately mom had the way too thickly breaded crab cakes: more cakey than crabby.

Alaska crab, clams, halibut, salmon, & smoked corn in cream broth with bacon, thyme and Yukon Gold potatoes

Ale Battered Alaskan Halibut

Bristol Bay Crab Cakes with tomato-horseradish compote and garlic aioli

Our conversation recapping the day was cynical to say the least. We had such expectations for the abundance of wildlife and incomparable natural sights that we would see in Alaska and practically none of the expectations were met! I felt horrid being so harsh, but I simply couldn't pull the "Emperor's New Clothes" on myself and say that it's all there and that I'm just being ignorant of Alaska's beauty. I know that the lack of wildlife sighting was due to bad timing, and that can't be helped. However, the landscape can not be described as majestic like in brochures and travel guides. Yes, everything is big here, but the permafrost really hinders the growth and variety of the plants here. You really have to stay in Alaska at least a year to see nature in all four seasons to appreciate its very understated beauty.

I hate permafrost