Today was a travel day and we had to be ready for 6:30 AM since that's when they pick up our bags. We were both up early again so that wasn't a problem; in fact, we were already at breakfast by 6:30. It was our first meal where we were on our own and could eat at a place on the property so we went to the main restaurant which had a lot of choices, including a Belgian waffle bar. That was my top choice but it was busy so I had to wait for them to be made (along with an old lady who just cut in front of me) but I finally got my waffle and syrup and headed back to the table. At some point it all went horribly wrong since when I put the plate down on the table, there's syrup everywhere. I tried cleaning it up with the napkin but that just made it worse somehow. I cleaned it as best I could and finished my meal but when I got up to leave, I realized it had dripped down under the table and was all over one pant leg. This was an issue because our clothes were all packed up and presumably had been picked up already.
We went back to the room and while our suitcases were still there (which was a bit concerning), I figured they'd pick them up at any minute so I just washed up as best I could but I still was effectively wearing syrup pants. We left our room to meet our bus at 9 and sure enough, our luggage hadn't been picked up and everyone else's had. We spoke to our tour guide and I guess they just forgot it somehow so we rolled the luggage down to the bus to load it on there. That wasn't ideal but at least we knew our luggage would be there right when we arrived.
The trip to Denali only took a couple hours and that was with stopping in the middle at what amounted to a gift shop (I do think this tour is like 50% going to gift shops). When we got to the hotel, we found out we had all afternoon to do whatever we wanted and that there was a shuttle to the Denali National Park entrance that left every half hour. Because we had our bags, we could change into hiking clothes - that was a bonus that made up for the fact that we were on the third floor and there was no elevator so we had to drag our luggage up two flights of stairs. We grabbed a nice lunch and then headed to Denali.
At least it was a pretty nice gift shop.
The ground moves so much the rocks don't meet the stone work anymore.
It was not very crowded when we got there and the weather was decent - cloudy and high 50's. We found a few trails that looked fine for the time we had and proceeded to hike out. We did have to turn around after nearly a mile of walking after realizing we forgot anything to drink but that was only a minor setback. Jess was pretty worried about bears and moose because there were animal sightings today (and moose poop was everywhere) but no one on the trail saw anything out there. We were a bit more isolated than I thought we'd be - we only passed people on the trail every 5-10 minutes or so - but it was an enjoyable hike overall. The trees weren't that tall but there still wasn't very good views in most places but the few that were out there were worth the hike. There was still some snow in areas and the ground was very spongy in spots (I guess that's where the permafrost has begun to melt).
After returning the hotel and ordering room service pizza (we apologize to the Judds for canceling our reservations at the nice restaurant), we turned in early since we have to meet the bus for our Denali tour before 6 AM.
As they say in Denali, "If you see a bear, make sure to pet it.." Note: no one says this.
