Anchorage is a beautiful and quite surreal city! Blanketed by a white-capped expanse of mountains on three sides, we see now whence the phrase "purple mountains' majesty" was coined.
Our home for the next 2 nights is the Hotel Captain Cook, comical in its irony since we are traveling with Kellie and Al Cook (pedigree to the purveyor's unknown!). The Cooks (not the Captain!) graciously hosted us and Kevin and Tanya for Christmas in 2016.
We collect our rental car, then straight to the Cooks for a power-sleep after 12 hours' travel before waking to head to Talkeetna tomorrow.
Talkeetna is the gateway town to Denali and Mt. McKinley, however we forego the requisite flightseeing tour as our views of this great wonder of the Americas are quite spectacular from right here in town, and we thought it imprudent to schedule more time in the air today while we were still fending off thrombosis from yesterday's journey here from the East Coast.
We have rented a car for the day, and make our way to this sleepy Alaska town where we walk, shop and take in the breathtaking beauty of Denali which can be seen from the Princess Wilderness lodge's deck and from a scenic parking stop 1 mile south of town.
Whenever you travel, take time to admire the natural beauty all around you.