Today was one of the adventures I had been looking forward to, the 8 hour trip through the countryside from Denali to Anchorage aboard the McKinley Express. The snow had stopped, but it was still cold rain when we left.

  Still, the ride was magnificent and the further we rode in the glass dome cars the clearer the sky became. How many times can you say this land is magnificent !!! The snow capped mountains have won my heart, although, they did say that this time of year the snow is usually gone off the mountains, but with our snow storms the last two days, we get to see the green trees in front of the snow capped mountains… There is always a silver lining.
  We had a wonderful lunch on the train and then the dessert!! Back up in the viewing car, our guide suddenly spotted Denali looming out of the clouds. Of course everyone ran to take photos and we thought that the obvious white peak promenently standing out on the horizon was Denali and snapped away, but no, the mountain we were centering on was Mt. Hunter (Denali’s child). Denali is actually the mountain to the right of the picture with his head in the clouds, 6,000 feet taller than Mt. Hunter.
   Lunch
 Denali has his head in the clouds on the right.

Once we arrived in Anchorage, we made a quick trip to the room and then went off to walk part of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. We had great fun watching sea gulls harass an eagle, who was mostly unperturbed almost like he was dealing with typical childish behavior best left ignored. We ended our walk at a lovely area called Westchester Lagoon that was the perfect place for families with loads of playground equipment, benches, waterfowl and bike paths.  Again THE VIEW!!!!!

   
 Westchester Lagoon

This really is the land of Midnight sun. Walking back to the hotel at 10:30PM, I snapped is shot of brightly colored flowers in a little corner park. Notice the shadows from the sun!