Got up very early Wednesday a.m. for 7:30 a.m. departure to train station in Fairbanks. We boarded a train with dome window seats and enjoyed a lovely ride through the Alaskan wilderness to Denali National Park. We saw a few moose along the way but nothing else in terms of wildlife. Once we hit Denali, the Nenana River guided our train. ‘Na’ means ‘river’ in Athabaskan, we were told, and ‘ne’ means ‘between’ so it literally means River Between Two Rivers and no, I don’t know which two rivers it would be between. The river is glacier fed and so looks like watered down grey paint due to all the silt. I remember seeing this in Banff in Canada – it’s so odd when we are used to crystal clear California snow fed rivers or muddy Midwestern rivers.

I am here, again, sounding like a commercial for Princess Tours but the hotel we are staying at in Denali is four star. Princess owns damn near everything – the ships, the buses, the hotels, and maybe even the train cars, I don’t know. But because of that everything is seamless, you travel from point A to point B without having to think much beyond “what time are we supposed to meet the tour?” Our room looks out over the river and miles of trees and Denali’s mountains. Mt. McKinley is not in view but we will be in a better position to view it – should the weather gods allow us the privilege – at our next stop. We will be here for two nights. They sell t-shirts saying “I’m a thirty-percenter” meaning only thirty percent of the people who come through actually see Mt. McKinley. Hey, I’m a one percenter, having hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, so neener neener neener. Still and all I’m hopeful after today’s scattered sunshine that we will get a peek.

Once we got settled in our room we bickered for awhile until we got something in our stomachs and then decided on a 3.5 mile hike. I am still nervous about bears and at times when we hadn’t passed a soul for a long time on the trail I started getting really nervous. I sang a few songs, all the while worrying that the sweet soprano with which I have been blessed would bring them out of the woods like some Disney princess siren song. That’s how weird I get hiking in bear country. It gets under my skin.

No Disney princess would do what I did in the woods though, and I had absolutely no choice, no bathroom being at my disposal just when I needed it most. The rich food I’ve been eating all week decided to play games with my digestive tract Right In The Middle of Nowhere, Alaska, USA. I realize that’s too much information but I can’t think of another time in my life when I had no choice in the matter – it was make like a bear or… I apologize but this is a journal after all. I’ll move on now, no pun intended. Let me just say though that I’ve been referring to this trip as a second honeymoon. I’m not so sure our first honeymoon would have included such indelicacies in front of my spouse. And Mom, you’ll be pleased to know I was carrying my own mini-Kleenex pack. Otherwise this story would not have been fit for the high class publication that is favoritephilosopher.com.

The hike went on much longer than I expected, and near the end when the sun started to move just a touch into the “not noontime” mode, I felt like it was dinnertime and that surely the bears would be out. I scanned the woods constantly on both sides of the path. At one point when I was feeling particularly vulnerable, not having seen a human for awhile and in the low brush (the Denali pamphlet tells you to be especially aware in the low brush, so I was ESPECIALLY AWARE IN THE LOW BRUSH) – a young woman came towards us jogging on the trail – I didn’t see or hear her until the last minute and so of course I startled and audibly gasped. She apologized and I felt like a completely idiot.

I wish I could say that the enormous expenditure of the hike balanced out my caloric intake for the day, but alas I craved a soft serve ice cream cone which we found in the Denali version of a boardwalk just across the highway from our hotel. It includes an ice cream shop, a few junk stores, a few adventure tour operator kiosks, a few regional type restaurants and oddly enough, a Subway sandwich shop. We didn’t have time to stop there before catching the shuttle to our trailhead at the visitor center, but wish we had since our pannini sandwiches cost a tidy sum of $25 at the visitor center cafe. Subway would have been cheaper and better for us to boot.

Also in the little boardwalk imposter is a fabric shop – oh dear, my downfall made worse by the fact that it was Alaskan fabric prints, many unique and unavailable in any quilt shop I’ve ever visited. Al went in with me and together we chose a pattern for a lovely wall hanging quilt that included the fabric – it will make a nice memento of our trip. Terri will of course be the beneficiary of some fat quarters (quilters jargon, dude). I had to finally just leave and let Al pay for the choices because I felt myself getting stoned on the beautiful fabric, most cut out in perfect little fat quarter pieces, like colorful candy begging me to take home each and every one.

Now I sit here at my window, looking out at the endless untouched nothingness that is Alaska. I think because there is such beauty in California, I sometimes cannot grasp that I am in Alaska, except for one thing – it just goes on and on and on and on. You know, I kind of figured when I’d see Alaska that would be it – I wouldn’t need to return. Now I’m not so sure about that…it’s almost too much to grasp in one visit, like the art in Italy – the sheer quantity is too great, you can only absorb it with your senses, not your intellect, and assume that it will change you in subtle ways and inform your life view.

Tomorrow…deeper into Denali, more hiking, the Music of Denali “dinner show” – Al said they threw his hiking schedule off a bit because they changed the dinner from tonight to tomorrow night. As we passed the hall tonight I heard the crowd singing Happy Birthday and realized that was why it was changed – tomorrow is Al’s birthday, and the travel agent who booked our tour noted that and said she’d make sure that Princess knew it too…something tells me there’s a little public embarrassment due Al’s way tomorrow night.