This year the National Parks are offering a special pass, where military members and families can visit all 397 national parks for free! (Find out more!) We took advantage of it this past weekend, and went to Denali National Park.
On the way down, we did some geocaching as well as made a stop in Nenana for lunch at a little cafe & inn called “Rough Woods.”
When I got back in the truck after one geocache find, I discovered I had a stowaway.
Something interesting and uniquely Alaskan that we saw in Nenana, was a display of drying fish. The sign explained how after the fish freeze dries in the winter, the fish can be consumed bones and all, because the bones have become brittle.
Just outside the park, is a small village of sorts…a commercial village with shops, restaurants, tours and lodges. We stopped to get my husband a Harley-Davidson t-shirt from the Denali HD shop…since he wasn’t able to come with us due to work.
On the boardwalk, some musicians entertained the visitors.
Inside the Visitor Center of the park, we stopped to get our military pass, and looked at the nature displays.
Then we got back in the truck and started our beautiful drive in.
Sadly, the only big animal we saw on this day, was a lone caribou.
But we did see a bunch of little critters, too. This is a baby Herring Gull.
Arctic Ground Squirrel.
Willow Ptarmigan – this is the mama. She had a whole clutch of babies running around!
It was such a beautiful place, even if it was too cloudy to see “The Mountain” herself
All you can do is just look around and absorb the beauty.
On the way home, we saw a single bull moose.
We can’t wait for our next trip, which will be this weekend to Valdez!!!
You’ll be able to see more photos from this trip on Wednesday.
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