Day 10 - 08/29/25 - Denali to Anchorage

 Some days have unexpected surprises and today was definitely one of them. We woke up just before 7 o'clock in order to put our luggage out and then dressed and prepared for our day. with everything packed, we gathered up our things and made our way to the shuttle pick up point. It was raining quite hard and fortunately we were able to get right on the shuttle which after a few stop was totally full. We were dropped off in the lobby around 7:30 AM and it was very crowded. We found a place to sit and then get it off to the coffee and snack bar to purchase some breakfast items. Our meal voucher was good for $25 each and we stocked up with sodas, fruit, hot breakfast sandwiches, and other small items for breakfast. We ended up sitting with a couple couples from Kansas and they are going to be on our return cruise to Vancouver as well. We have a great discussion with them.


Around 8:30 AM or show group was called out and we boarded one of the school buses normally use for the tundra tour. It took us out to the railway station where we boarded our rail car. What was interesting on this particular trip was that we only had People filling about 1/2 of the car. On all of the previous three trips the car has been totally full. We had a narrator-tour guide person as well as a bartender assigned to us for the day. Additionally, there was a lady that handled the meal arrangements. It was continuing to rain as we departed the station headed south to Anchorage. It as tough to photograph.



And then it happened. We came around the corner at a slow rate of speed in a known slide zone, and the engineer brought the train to a halt as there had been a small landslide that put debris across the tracks. The conductor tried sign up some of logs , but that was not profitable endeavor. So we ended up backing the train up a couple miles to a siding so that a work train could pass by us. Initially an hour went by and nothing happened and finally the Holland America representative for the train came to the car and said we were entitled to a free nonalcoholic drink for our inconvenience. Another hour went by and we were still there, but we had a great view of a couple mountains that received fresh snow overnight, the first of the season.  Then a few minutes later, the train resumed its Journey southbound. I was able to get a few pictures of the slide area, and the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.

Slide Area

As we continued south, the weather got increasingly better. Finally near Talkeetna we were able to get a brief view of Denali. It would be the only view that we had on this trip. 



At Talkeetna a number of people got off to go on Princess excursions as Princess has a lodge here. We only had to pull over and allow one northbound train pass by so the rest of the trip went pretty smooth and by the time we reached Anchorage, we were pretty close to on time arriving around 6:30 PM. A motor coach was waiting for us and it was us up the hill to the Capt. Cook hotel. The Captain Cook hotel is the nicest hotel in Anchorage and it's where all the presidents of the United States stay. Staying in this hotel since the 1970s and it's really nice. I had tried to get one more night in the hotel as the tour that we're on actually ends tomorrow and most people fly home. We, however, our staying an extra day, but the room cost was over $600 so I found a room at the Hilton at half the price and much closer to the train depot which will catch on Sunday.


We are toyed with the idea of renting a car and driving down to Seward just to check out that port. We learned that the only car rental in downtown Anchorage was enterprise car rental located about 18 blocks east of the hotel. While it was closed, we decided to walk there to see what it was like to go there and we walk there and back quite easily which surprise the Holkand America representatives in the lobby. We ended up our evening eating in the Whale Tail restaurant in the hotel where we enjoyed snow crab legs, and a salad. Afterwards, we once again packed up our items in preparation for vacating the hotel in the morning.


Officially this 10 day excursion was over and the next trip is about to begin. Once again we went to bed earlier than we are accustomed to because we needed to be up early. I highly recommend the Denali tours and especially with the Travel with Alan tour agency as he puts together some great and relatively inexpensive packages. In fact, we are taking another one of his tours in England in a little over a month.

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