Milepost 6-23-14   Denali Park, Alaska

We have been at Denali for a few days now and are enjoying the international flavor of the tourist scene.  Not only are the tourists from every place you can imagine, so are the seasonal workers.  We are camped right behind the ice cream shop where several Bulgarians are working this summer.  It’s one store in a long line-up of services offered along the boardwalk, from souvenirs to adventure trips to salmon bakes and pizza.

Any day on the boardwalk or the campground we may hear an assortment of languages spoken, from German to Japanese to Russian.

Not only are the inhabitants of this community a very diverse bunch, so are the sights and surroundings of the area.

This morning I went for a bike ride through the canyon where the whitewater rafters and kayakers venture, while on the high bluff above a train went by loaded with sightseers, and a helicopter took off to fly over the ridge to a glacier landing in the next valley.

It is a delightfully eclectic mix of sights and scenes here, that makes every day interesting in its own way.  It is very much unlike our environment in Michigan.  Even the wildlife is foreign to us.  We haven’t seen a whitetail deer in months, but yesterday were up close and personal to the caribou in the Denali high country.  Weird.

Summer solstice was a new experience for us, with a beautiful sunset after midnight that didn’t turn into nighttime…  the sun skimmed along sidewise just behind the mountain ridge and then came back up at around 3 am!

Every morning when I wake up I have to remind myself where I am… or just look out a window and let the mountains above the RV park do it for me.

I finally got to photograph Mt. McKinley yesterday – from 75 miles away with a telephoto lens!  I’m hoping to get closer on a flight-seeing trip sometime in the next few weeks.

So the Alaska vibe is a very eclectic one.  I’d say that if variety is the spice of life, the flavor of Denali is seasoned to perfection.  Great fun!