Today we got on the bus after breakfast to head to Denali
National Park. We drove for a
while and stopped at Nenana Cultural Center for a rest stop. The locals have a lottery going to pick
the day and hour that the ice will break-up in the Tanana River. We each bought a ticket – my choice was
5/1/14 at 8:08 PM. This year was
the latest the ice has broken and it happened on 5/20! As we traveled along, our tour guide
told us about a little town close to the park called Ferry. Ferry only has about 50 inhabitants,
but the town is split by the Nenana River and to get to the other side you have
to drive 12 miles up to the bridge and then drive 12 miles back. The people of the town used to cross on
the railroad trestle (in the middle of town) with their ATV’s until the
railroad decided that it was too dangerous and stopped that custom. People continued doing it until a large
fine was imposed on anyone who crossed the trestle. The town decided to get back at the railroad company so
every day when the train went by, the entire town would stand outside and moon
the train! This continued for 17
days until finally the railroad company caved and built a small bridge for the
residents of Ferry! The funny
thing was that our bus driver was from Ferry! We got to Denali National Park and found that we have a
beautiful hotel right on the Nenana River and looking at the mountains – it is
quite spectacular. Dinner tonight
was a dinner/show: The Music of Denali.
It was a bit hokey, but the young actors/waiters looked like they were
having a good time. The two
pictures for today are the view from our hotel window and a shot of the sky
from the bus. As you can see the
weather is very changeable – it started pouring about 2 seconds after I took
this shot!
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