Eielson Visitor's Center in Denali Park

Today we went on our Denali Park Adventure!

Getting on the bus at 7:30 a.m. for our trip to Eielson Visitor's Center

Soon after we left the Wilderness Access Center on the bus.  We saw a moose.  (It's the brown dot in the middle of the picture. Please disregard the black dot in the pic...stupid camera! :)

And a lynx.  (Well Luke and I didn't see the lynx, but his parents did...and of course it happened so fast no one got any pictures of it...)  But I thought it was funny to watch all the other people on the bus try to see the lynx...

And then we saw another moose.

After about 15 miles the 2 lane, paved road ends, and it's a narrow dirt road the rest of the way.  There aren't many trails in the park.  But if you ever want to get off the bus and explore, you are welcome to do so.  You can explore wherever you want!  We stayed on the bus tho...

Teklanika-- our first rest stop

Me and Luke :) 

The Teklanika River

After our first rest stop we saw our first grizzly bear.  It was a first for me!

We were really close, but unfortunately there were some trees in the way.  Lame!

After that we saw another grizzly bear with 2 cubs.  (once again...they are the brown dots in the middle of the picture...)

Then we went up Polychrome Pass.  It was beautiful!  And straight down on the one side...Crazy!

The bus stopped at the top so we could get off and take pictures.

Polychrome pass overlook

We found some forget-me-nots there.  They are so pretty!

Our next rest stop was at Tolkat River.

Luke and his parents

Where we saw some sheep in the distance...

Dall Sheep

Very cool!  But it was time to move on again.  We saw another grizzly bear with 2 cubs.

You can't see the 2 cubs...but they were there.  I promise!

We we also saw some caribou!

I really need a fancy camera...don't I?  Everything just looks like a brown dot in the middle of the picture...oh well!

Finally we made it to Eielson Visitor's Center.  The bus we came up on only stayed there for 30 minutes.  We decided to stay there longer and take a different bus back.

There is a cabin in the park that artists can go stay in and be an artist-in-residence.  One of the requirements is that they have to donate their work to the park.  And then it goes on display at Eielson Visitors center.

This is a quilt

A painting (that Luke and I really like)

Another quilt/fabric art piece depicting the seasons in Denali.  Along with all the flowers and animals found in the park.  It was an amazing piece!

There is a place you can stand (according to your height) in the visitors center, where they have the Denali peaks etched in the glass.  That way if it's cloudy (like it was today), you can go stand on your height marker, and see where Denali would be if it wasn't cloudy.  (It's cloudy there a lot!)

After we explored the visitor's center, we went on a short nature walk.

Boyd and Thais on the trail

Eielson Visitor's Center

Squeak squeakin' squeaker... (Looks too much like a prairie dog for my liking...)  

This is on the roof of the visitor's center.

We  saw some very pretty flowers.

Eventually we decided to get on a bus to go back.  Since our bus left already, we had to get on a list with the bus coordinator so we could get on a different bus to go back.  They've got the bus system down pretty good there!

On the way back we saw a grizzly bear and cubs again (it was one of the same groups we saw on our way up there...but we got better pictures this time)

They are so cute!  It's weird to think that they aren't fluffy and cuddly.  Well they are fluffy.  But not cuddly!

After seeing those bears, things weren't very exciting...  Until we looked back and saw that the clouds had lifted and we could see Denali.  The bus driver stopped so we all could take a look and get a picture.

And when we were almost back to the Wilderness access center we got to see another moose.  He was a bit mangy...  (I think he looks like a paint horse.)

We got off the bus at the Denali Park Visitor's Center so we could go to the bookstore there.  And then we walked back along the bike path to our car at the Wilderness Access Center.

I love this picture of Luke!  Yay for having such an awesome husband!

Cotton grass along the trail.

What an amazing in Denali Park!!!!