Mt. McKinley in the Shrouds
Sunday, July 1 |
| Yesterday we got an early start on the dome train from Fairbanks down to Denali Park, home of Mt. McKinley. The terrain remained surprisingly flat for most of the trip, we managed to spot one moose, and entertained ourselves getting to know some of our companions, in particular two African American women, one from Detroit and one from Baltimore, who, like Chris and me, keep up a long-distance friendship going by traveling together. It turned out to be Cynthia's birthday, so I quickly muscled up balloons (ever since China I don't travel without them) and we had a jolly time. |
| Arriving at Denali, most people were hustled right off onto an eight-hour bus tour of the park, but since we are staying for two days, we headed for our hotel and a relaxing afternoon. We will do the eight-hour bus trip this afternoon. In the evening we saw a film on the northern lights which was prettier, with musical accompaniment, but not as enlightening as the lecture from the university. At dinner at a lively pizza joint we shared our table with a young couple who had been camping in the park for five days. Their description of the battle against the mosquitoes (even though they were wearing net-hats made us glad we were not taking on that challenge. |
| We ended the day back in our cabin where we shared a drink with Carolyn and Cynthia. Carolyn is the principal of a school in Detroit for those who have not finished high school-ages 16-25, the same type of school I taught in during my visit to South Africa. Cynthia owns four McDonald¼s franchises in Baltimore and is buying two more. We had a great time discussing everything from education to Al Sharpton to Cheney's health. Surely one of the great parts of any trip has to be the people you meet, whether they are Alaskan or not. |
| Tomorrow we will go rafting down a canyon in that murky glacial water (35 degrees) wearing special dry suits, and then continue by train to Anchorage. I am sure we will find Internet connections there. |
| Correction: the male-female ratio statewide is under 55% male. Other interesting facts, Denali Park is larger than Massachusetts. Mt. McKinley is not only the tallest mountain in North America, but stands the highest in the world, since it's base is not a plateau like Colorado or the Himalayas, but hardly above sea level. If we get to see it this afternoon, we will be at 2,000 feet and it will tower up to 20,000. No we are not climbing to the top... |
