Just Another Typical Three-Day Weekend...in Alaska

My husband and I have a bit of a travel itch, but limited vacation days.  This means we have to be a little creative to fit in as much travelling as possible.  We usually use the majority of our vacation time each year on an international trip and take weekend trips to closer destinations.  This year, we decided to use the Labor Day weekend to take our first trip to Alaska.  We spent a good portion of the weekend flying, hanging out in airports, and driving, but had an amazing, totally worth it, weekend.

On Friday after work, we caught a flight to Anchorage.  We arrived in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday, picked up our rental car, and headed for our hotel.  After a great (if not a bit too short) night's sleep, we hit the road for the four-ish-hour drive to Denali National Park.  It was an overcast and rainy day, and I'm typically one who instantly falls asleep on any car ride of 30 minutes or more, but even then, the scenery and colors were too amazing to catch any shut-eye on the drive.  They stay a picture is worth a thousand words, so consider this me saving 1,000 words.

We arrived at Denali National Park mid-afternoon, in time to tour the visitor center and then visit the sled dogs (because the park has portions designated as Federal Wilderness, in the winter, motorized machinery is not allowed in the park and the park rangers patrol the park by sled dog).  The dogs were adorable, if not a bit preoccupied by the squirrel hanging out in a nearby tree.

Our time with the sled dogs culminated with a demonstration of the dogs being harnessed and pulling a park ranger around a gravel circular road.

On Sunday, we got up at 5 a.m., grabbed a sack lunch at Subway, and boarded a shuttle bus for a 12-hour ride into and back out of the the park (personal vehicles are not allowed farther than 15 miles into the park except by special permit).  The day started out a little bit overcast and deary, but turned out to be a beautiful day complete with views of Mt McKinley, sightings of 10 grizzly bears, and five moose (now I just need to get myself a telephoto lens for my camera).

On Monday, we drove back to Anchorage to catch our flight home.  On the way, we happened across three moose crossing the road (I only got my camera out in time to catch the last one).

We had such a fantastic time.  We highly recommend Denali National Park, especially in the fall.  It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.  Now we just need to find time to visit the rest of Alaska!