Today is a big day – we are heading to Denali National Park, home to Denali – the highest mountain in all of North America and the third tallest mountain in the world. Denali was formally known as Mt. McKinley but the name was changed to Denali, not too long ago in 2015. Spoiler alert: We never saw the mountain, it was an overcast day, but there is so much more to Denali than the mountain.
It's back on the train and heading out for today's adventure. Up to this point, whenever we boarded the train, we were in Gold Star class with those big, beautiful windows and the open bar. For today, we are in Adventure Class, more of the budget variety. The reason is that we were on a different set of trains that were taking us off in a different direction than the Gold Star trains go. We are going out into the wild to animals (caged) and the Spencer Glacier Whistle Stop.
The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, more commonly known as the plain old Iditarod, is an annual long-distance sled dog race held in Alaska in early March. It travels from Anchorage to Nome and is about 938 miles long. Mushers and a team of between 12 and 16 dogs, of which at least 5 must be on the towline at the finish line, cover the distance in 8-15 days or more. The Iditarod began in 1973 as an event to test the best sled dog mushers and teams but evolved into today's highly competitive race. Wiki
We are going to go dog sledding or perhaps the better term would be dog carting since there is no snow.
Arriving in Seward, Alaska, at 11:20, we were safely ensconced on the mighty ship, the Callisto Voyager for the Kenai Fjords National Park tour at 11:30. I was glad to hear it was a six hour boat ride. I get a little nervous when it is a three hour tour (Gilligan's Island reference for you younger readers). We are off to see a tidewater glacier and maybe, just maybe, whales!
