Today we had our planned “flight-seeing” around Denali (also known as Mt. McKinley). Yesterday, some cloudy weather moved in, and when we woke up this morning, the fog was quite thick. This meant it was most likely that we would be bus-seeing our way back to Anchorage rather than flight-seeing.

However, our guide Sommer (yes, spelled “sommer” but pronounced “summer”) took us to the airport anyway. You could tell from her voice that she figured it was low odds.

Then, surprisingly, we got there and were told “we’re going”! They hastily assembled us into groups of 4 to 8 to board a fleet of small aircraft.

We shared our plane with another family and our pilot, Ed. Ed was a tad on the older side, which gave me some confidence relative to his flying ability, but less confidence relative to his longevity. Thankfully he (and we) made it through the relatively smooth flight.

Ed flew us right up to the base camp on Denali where we could see climbers’ tents (it’s almost the end of climbing season) and a small airplane parked on the glacier. He flew us over a pass and wove through the peaks, right up to the bottom of several massive mountains. Okay, I found myself clutching my seat for this part. Ed kept assuring us that the mountain was two miles away, and that the radar doesn’t lie. This gave me little comfort as I saw it looming in front of us.

The rest of the ride down to Anchorage was less white-knuckle, and after a bit of circling under the low cloud ceiling, we landed. I think Grace finally let go of the breath she had been holding for the last hour and a half.

We had a two hour break in Anchorage where we checked out the museum which had a nice display of native Alaskan information, some good stuff about the Alaska pipeline, and a wonderful contemporary art exhibit. Then, after an additional two hours on the bus, we arrived at our next hotel, the Kenai Princess.

The girls whooped with delighted at our rooms here … they look like little log cabins, each with a wood fireplace, sitting area, and balcony. And, our good luck – we’re close to the hot tub, which we fully expect to use after dinner.

-- Donna