North to Alaska: Day 12

Alaska Day 12

Denali to Anchorage

9/4/11

Our train ride down to Anchorage wasn’t until noon so after sleeping in, we decided to walk the three mile path over to the park and the train depot to get just a brief amount of movement in our legs before the 8 hour train ride. When it appeared that we were further away than we thought, we picked up the pace a bit so as not to be left behind. As it turned out, we made it in plenty of time.

The ride was fairly uneventful. Again the scenery was stunning and we had a great view of it in our domed car. They offered two meals on this ride but we ended up just opting for dinner. We sat across from a couple from Sioux Falls, SD who were very nice and worked for Sanford Health. They let it slip that Sanford’s plan is to buy up every clinic available. They made it sound like this was akin to Sherman’s march to the sea and if we were in Sanford’s path we’d soon be bought up also. Watch out Mayo.

We noticed as we got closer to Anchorage, there were more signs of civilization to be seen with the occasional river boat or house on the lake. Kris made the astute observation that it was funny to see cars stopped for us as at railroad crossings as opposed to the other way around. My only regret was that we were eating at the time we passed through Wasilla. Someone who had seen it described it as a strip mall, and no, there were no sightings of Sarah Palin vigorously waving to us as we headed through town. We did however see some moose along the way along with some trumpeter swans.

Eventually we made it to Anchorage and were transferred to our hotel, the Hilton. (There was a Westmark in town, but it was full.) We said a sad goodbye to Randy, but before we departed we filled out an evaluation form giving him excellent ratings and some effusive praise in the comment section. He wanted to get invited back to work next year by Holland America and I assured him that if our comments were any indication, he’d not only get invited back but they might even ask him to run the company.

When we headed off to our room, no longer under the protective wing of Randy our tour guide, we felt that indeed our trip was coming to an end, in fact it was likely that we’d soon again have to carry our own luggage. After a brief sojourn to the bar, we retired to our room. One of the peculiarities about the way the Hilton was constructed was that the rooms are at 90 degree angles to each other so you could look out the window and see right into your neighbor’s room. Next to us, sitting at a desk, we could see one of our photo obsessed fellow passengers busy at his computer likely culling through the ten thousand pictures he had taken that day. (My grand total for the trip was 762, of which 53 of them inexplicably were of me posing shirtless in front of the bathroom mirror.) Later that night, I took a peak out the window, and there he was at 3 in the morning still plugging away at his computer. I’m glad I’m not that guy.