Denali and Seward
The drive from Anchorage to Denali has to be one of the more spectacular that there is anywhere. The mountains are HUGE, and they rise from sea level to 20,306 ft over the space of 150 miles. Apparently only 14% of visitors to the park get to see the mountain (it's in the clouds the rest of the time), so we were fortunate to have a clear sunny day.
Fireweed (the purple flower seen above) as the state flower of Alaska and was seen everywhere.
Denali-
highest peak in N. America
At Denali Park we took the shuttle bus in to Wonder Lake (90 miles one way) to see the interior of the park. It's an 11 hour round trip, with chances to see lots of wildlife. The fox came within 20 feet of the bus.
Sometimes the critters occupied the roadway--this caribou held up traffic for 15 min until he decided to leave.
The Willow Ptarimagan's above are the Alaska state bird. They are a lot like California quail in behavior.
There were lots
of grizzly bears-- this one was trying to catch a ground squirrel right outside
the bus. We also saw moose
From Deanli we drove down to the coast of Prince William Sound to Seward, where we enjoyed the seafood and took a glacier/fjiord tour. I have to say this was about the nicest Holiday Inn Express I've ever stayed in!
We saw both Stellar's sea loin and harbor seals (above) and porpoises, puffins, and murre's (below)
Both humpback and killer whales were spotted.