Part II: Denali

The purpose of our Alaska adventure was to celebrate Karen’s parents’ 60th anniversary in grand style. So over the next couple days, the rest of the Oxriders – Sharon and Wes from Ohio and John, Anne, Everett, Isabelle and AnneGray from North Carolina – joined us in Fairbanks, the starting point for our journey that would end in Vancouver.

Our first morning and early afternoon were spent on a riverboat on the Chena River. And then we were off by bus to Denali, just a few hours away.

Through Karen’s contacts at the National Park Service, we enjoyed a private, ranger-guided interpretive hike in the evening. We hiked to and from Horseshoe Lake, enjoying it so much that half of our group missed the last bus from the park back to the hotel.

Those of us in the lollygagger group were saved from the long walk back to the hotel only by Anne Oxrider’s powers of persuasion. After arriving back at the hotel, she talked the bus driver into doing a return trip to pick the rest of us up – after she’d already clocked out.

While waiting for the entire family to gather, we made a quick stop at the city of North Pole. That's us with Karen's parents and sister Sharon and brother-in-law Wes. Oh, and Santa. Really.

Couldn't resist.

The whole family on the hike to Horseshoe Lake.

Look, there's caribou! No, reindeer! No, caribou!

 Believe it or not, North America's highest peak is 14 miles  behind us. Yeah, we couldn't see it thought the clouds, either. But it was still spectacular. (And aren't those girls the cutest?)

South of Anchorage, approaching the Kenai Peninsula.

Our boat awaits. This is at Whittier.

Next up, the cruise south to Vancouver.