Denali National Park

Memorial Day Weekend 2008

Mount McKinley from Wonder Lake. This is the highest peak in the U.S. at 20,000+ feet. Can you see the grayish Mountains in the foreground? Those mountains remind of the magestic mountains in Utah . . . making McKinley all the more spectacular.



There are so many Lakes in Denali National Park.

Weekend Itinerary:

Friday--All day packing. Do you ever wonder why you have to pack your entire house for a weekend away? And does it ever get easier to pack an entire family for a trip? I seriously spent all morning packing five little boys, myself, the food, the paper products, the entertainment, the emergency entertainment, and all other necessary camping supplies (perk to Alaskan camping is that you don't need lanterns!)

5:00 departure time. . . turned into 6:00 departure time.

The Hopkin family, who we adore, swung by our house and we began our caravan to adventure. We made it about 1 mile down the road before the brakes on their rented motorhome went out. Adventure averted to the Eagle River Campground just three or so miles away.

We spent the evening there. The kids could have cared less if we were five minutes from home or five hours. They played pickle (but with a football rather than a baseball), played down at the river, and giggled in the bed together. Warner woke up at midnight and needed some extra love. It didn't take more than two minutes for me to hop into the van and head home to our warm warm for bottles and comfy crib for him.

Saturday-- With a new rental Motorhome for the Hopkins we 11:00 a.m. leave for Denali National Park. The drive there is spectacular with green pinetrees and aspens and mountains galore.

arrive, set up camp, roast hot dogs, smores, talk until way too late.

sunday--breakfast burritos, attempt to "clean-up" for church. arrive at the heely branch only to discover that church time has been changed from 11:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

with lunches packed, we head into Denali National Park. The visitor center there is really neat and interactive. The boys had a great time working on Junior Ranger packets. They also had backpacks there to check out with binoculars, thermometers, compasses, colored pencils and chalk, postcards, and books, and maps, and much more.

On our drive we say moose and eagles and hawks.

You cannot go camping without tinfoil dinners. YUM! The dutch oven bread was a special treat (thanks Karen!!!) as was the cherry cobbler. The kids loved playing Blink, our family's new favorite game.

Church successfully attended second time around. M. Hopkin's church attire will go down in the record books. Eric said that their smoke filled clothing filled up every inch of the small church building.

Monday--Horseshoe Lake and Pizza in Denali.

I had such a great, great, great, great time. The pop-up trailer was perfect. Our family fits in there with room to spare. One morning I woke up and my feet were cold and frozen . . . so i turned on the heater!!! What luxury.

Alaskan camping: No one goes to bed early. In fact, you stay up later when camping. We never were in bed before midnight. The light is energizing. Also, those late night trips to the bathroom. . . in complete light? No need to fear that something is lurking in the dark. If it is lurking, you'll be able to see it plain as day before it eats your face off. Phew!