23 May 2026
Today started bright and early at 1am!
I’m intrigued by the whole “it doesn’t get dark here” phenomenon and wanted to go for a midnight walk. It was dark enough for the moon to be visible, but you could still see the glow of where the sun had set just below the horizon.
We’ll be meeting our train later this morning, so I got up nice and early (but after sunrise) to go for one last walk:
I’m gonna miss these mountains!
Moose poop message, still intact:
Farewell, Denali:
Hello, train!
This will be our car:
It’s enclosed in glass!!!
Perfect for taking in these views:
You can order breakfast and lunch on the train, so we headed downstairs:
for a bit of breakfast:
The upside of the dining car meant I could hop from side to side, following the views:
But this part of the trip was so beautiful!
I basically just wolfed down my cinnamon roll so I could get back to the views:
Mountain reflections:
Between each car is a little outdoor viewing area:
It was pretty windy though, so we retreated back inside so I could add a few more layers
Viewing platform at the back:
A bit cool and windy, but if you stay tucked near the wall, it’s not too bad.
I think I’ll be spending most of my time out here!
Somewhere back there, on a clear day, you can see Denali:
Swans!
As of a couple weeks ago, this was as far as the train could go- there was a serious ice floe dam up to the level of the tracks:
Ice dam remains:
Fun fact: this is a single track, so if there’s an oncoming train, one has to pull off and let the other pass, which meant our conductor had to hop off and manually throw the switch to divert our train and let another pass:
I retreated back inside when it started raining, then sleeting:
I think some of the folks on our train were from warmer climates, because there were several people quite enthralled with the snow.
As we got closer to Anchorage, the trees started getting greener:
They’re working on building a new bridge to span this gap:
A long 8+ hours later, we disembarked in Anchorage!
Got checked into our (strangely large) hotel room:
and left to find some dinner:
They had some fun sounding sodas- Birch Beer (which was like root beer, but more Christmassy- almost spiced? we liked this one) and Citrus Spruce Tip (which was very limey, almost cleanery, though the green was fun. Not as much of a fan of this one)
Fish tacos for me, fish and chips for Matt.
We wandered through town for a bit:
But even though it’s still bright and sunny, I’m going to try to go to bed at a decent time- I haven’t been sleeping well- Denali was gorgeous and I just wanted to be out and about exploring!
So good night for now, Anchorage!