Here we are camped right along the edge of the river, just two miles from the park entrance. Pretty neat! When we awoke this morning, Bob looked up at one of the surrounding mountains and found a little fog which makes for a pretty effect.
After breakfast, we take a drive around to see what is in this area. Our first stop is the train station. We find thousands of tourists who come up on the cruise ships and take the train to Denali. The cars are huge and buses plentiful.
Next we notice the scenery and resorts. There is very little of anything else than the big resorts mostly owned by the cruise ship lines, and in some cases Indian tribes.
The views from the resorts are pretty fantastic. Still exhausted from either our colds or bouts with Cottonwood trees, we return to the coach for a nap. Just minutes after our return, our doorbell rings, and there stand Brian and Donita Lawhead, who were on their way back to Fairbanks after a weekend of camping. They recognized the Popeye Express and stopped by to say hello again. What a nice surprise!
We hadn't noticed it before, but look at the reflection of the mountaintops and sky in our windshield. And, just across the river lies the railroad tracks providing us the entertainment of watching the trains head back and forth from Fairbanks. It's an expensive park, but we like this location.
Finally, to end our day, we return to the Visitor Center to listen to a talk by Shelton Johnson, author of
Gloryland, the story of a black Indian who becomes a buffalo soldier. We had learned about the buffalo soldiers in prior visits to many of our wonderful national parks. Shelton Johnson is a terrific speaker and an inspiration to many inner city children.
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Shelton Johnson is the park ranger who wrote to Oprah and inspired her to do a campout trip to Yosemite Park. It was a wonderful and very funny show with Shelton.
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