July 23, 2009 Seattle to Anchorage to Mt. McKinley Princess Lodge

Up early again, then 3 hours on the airplane to Anchorage -- and another 1 hour time change.

Spent about 3 hours in the downtown Anchorage area sightseeing and shopping. We were all just amazed by the profusion and healthy look of all the flowers!

The above "sod house", note the roof, is the Anchorage Visitor Center.

We found that some of our familial ancestors had been here before us and made good! Here's proof!

Of course, we found time for lunch in a local place recommended by a local merchant:

The bus ride to the Lodge took 3 hours and the last town we passed through was 50 miles from the Lodge! The Lodge is so far out it is off "the power grid" and has to provide all of its own power with generators.

Why be out here? Because they wanted to be near Mt McKinley, the highest point in North America. They really play it up, too. This picture of one of the restaurants on the property makes the point:

The "20320" is not the zip code, its the height of My McKinley. The altitude of the Lodge is about 700 feet, so Mt McKinley is mighty impressive from here, if we ever get to see it through the clouds and rain......

We could see the "foot hills", as the locals call them -- the 12,000 to 14,000 foot high mountains that "guard" Mt McKinley. In the picture below, MT Mckinley is directly behind these mountains, hidden by the clouds -- it rises at least another MILE above these.

That's it for today -- 11 PM local time and it is still light outside........

Hope you all are well and happy.

MMG and DDG