Frontier Days Rodeo in Cheyenne

Mike was in Cheyenne for work today, and the Frontier Days Rodeo was going on so we both went to the rodeo after lunch. Neither of us had been to a rodeo before, so this was a lot of fun.

Sitting in the stands watching bull riding, bronco riding, calf roping, and calf wrestling.

Walking along one of the strips. 

Hiking in Boulder

A quick hike near the Flatirons after my Google meeting.

Rocky Mountain National Park

Hiked up from Bear Lake to Emerald Lake today.

Goodbye Alaska

Our trip is over and we are now in our own bed at home, getting ready for our next trip (Colorado in 2 days).

Alaska and the Yukon consist of a narrow ribbons of highway, surrounded immediately by absolute wilderness and punctuated by tourist traps. Lots of RV parks, RV's, buses and adventure motorcycles. Seems like this is on the bucket list of a lot of retirees.

Here are a few parting shots:

My morning view of Sherry, all tucked away in her sleeping bag.

Alaska from the window of the plane as we head home. This is around 11pm - sunset is still a while away.

Some large glacier out of the window of the plane. I think that it is this one in Wranagell -St Elias park. 

Denali National Park

We spent a total of four nights in Denali - the first and last at a run-down RV campground outside of the park, and two nights at Savage River campground inside the park. In Denali, you can only drive as far as Savage River, and then you need to take the shuttle buses the rest of the way. Savage River is about 15 miles in, and the road goes a total of about 90 miles in. Round trip from the visitor's center, out to Wonder Lake at the end, and back again is 11 hours on the bus.

There are 3 shuttle types inside of the park: the camper bus, the shuttle bus and the tour buses. Camper and shuttle mostly go back and forth, stopping for wildlife and getting a minimum of commentary. The camper bus just has more room in the back for gear. The tour buses have a guide who provides commentary the whole time. All of the buses are school bus designs with the old-time sliding windows, no AC and bench seats. Very middle-school.

Sherry and I chose to camp out at Wonder Lake and return the next day, so we spent one day in Savage River, took the shuttle to Wonder Lake, came back the next afternoon and then located the Tortoise bus packed up and moved down towards the visitor center. After that, we spent our last night at the crappy RV park and had a final supper at the brewpub. Our last day was a drive from Denali to Anchorage where we took a redeye home via Chicago.

We did not get a good view of Denali from Wonder Lake. The mountain was covered in clouds. Like a good stripper, we got shown little pieces of the mountain from time to time, but never saw the whole thing.

Denali days are driven by the shuttle schedule. I took pictures of a lot of them. Shuttles operate inside of the park, and separate shuttles operate outside. 

Sherry showing off a big chunk of Alaskan crab. This is where we watched the World Cup USA game.

Campsite at mile 12.8 where the bus parked for two nights. We only spent one night here and then went off to Wonder Lake

Wonder Lake campground at mile 83. We took the 4-hour "camping bus" shuttle from Savage River out to Wonder Lake. We saw caribou and grizzly along the way.  

Heading back from Wonder Lake to find the Tortoise.

Moose outside of the visitor center.

Denali, at last, showing itself. This is from the drive home. 

Sherry and Denali

Our campsite at Savage River.

The last supper at the 49th State Brewing Company

From Chena to Fairbanks to Denali

We left Chena and drove to Fairbanks for a quick bite and a visit to the Museum of the North. The museum was worth the visit if you find yourself in Fairbanks. After that, we drove the 2 hours to our campsite in Healy Alaska, about 10 miles outside of the Denali gate. We arrived late, it was raining, and the campsite (Miner's Market RV Park and Campground) was a dump. Toilets didn't work, washing machines were expensive and broken, lots of RV's full of seasonal workers - nice people but late night party people. The tent camping facilities were really bad, and some of the tents were in deep puddles after the rains.

The only saving feature of the campground was the awesome 49th State Brewing Company brewpub that was about 100 meters away. Other than that, we just woke up in the morning, packed our stuff, and drove into Denali National Park. After the visitor's center and the wilderness center, the bus drove off to the campground at Savage River. Several of us opted to walk back to town instead, and watch the World Cup.

Museum of the North

Chena Hot Springs

From Chicken, we did a night drive to Chena River State Recreation Area, near Angel Rocks, where we had breakfast before going on the hot springs. The mosquitoes in this little area were the worst that we had encountered. The first people out of the bus were like the marines coming out of the landing craft on Omaha beach - immediately attacked by the swarm. People were still in their pajamas and night-drive attire and were completely unprepared for the onslaught.

Once properly dressed, we had breakfast and hiked the Angel Rocks trail and then continued on to Chena Hot Springs. Chena is pretty swank, and it is a vacation destination with cabins and activities and a nice place to eat. It was definitely the nicest hot springs of the 4 or 5 that we had visited.

Antoine entering the big, hot, beautiful pool.

More from Chena