The Start of Our Alaskan Journey: Anchorage and Denali Day One

Yes, today I'm FINALLY recapping my fabulous Alaskan trip. It was everything I had hoped for and more. I won't do too much writing, but will let most of the pictures do the talking. And yes, this and the posts to come will be very picture heavy, because words won't do the scenery justice.

The background info: Mama B's father decided he wanted to take a trip to Alaska and he offered to take our family with him. We booked our cruise on the Norwegian Sun for a seven day cruise, plus three days pre cruise in the Yukon. Norwegian took care of our pre-crusie lodging and transportation we just had to pay for different excursions in the Yukon.

Our journey started on June 28th, with an extremely early flight out of IAD to DEN, where we met Tone-Bone aka our grandfather, Tonythetiger. The first flight was money, on a 777, and the second flight wasn't too bad either. It was just an extremely long day of traveling as we went through five different time zones [big woof!]. We landed in Anchorage in the afternoon, but were pretty hungry as it was dinner time back at home. After we checked into our super cute hotel, we walked down the streets of the city, had a delicious dinner at Humpy's and cheersed our first night in Alaska.

Le Husband and I walked around for a bit, to find a store and take in the scenery. It was bright and sunny, and it was 10pm at night. After we our walk, it was time to set our suitcases outside our door and pass out. The next morning we were up bright and early for breakfast and a bus ride to the train station. On the way, we were able to catch a glimpse of gorgeous Mt McKinley aka Denali Mountain. There was recently a congressional decision to start using the original Alaskan name for the mountain, which I think is very fitting. We were extremely lucky to see Denali in all her glory as she is a very, very shy mountain, with only a 30% viewing window. Man, was she worth it!

DENALI MOUNTAIN

After numerous photo ops, it was time to get back on the bus and board the Alaskan Railroad. Yes, the same train on that Discovery show. We were seated in a glass domed car, with access to the back platform as well. The car was a bit warm, so most of the four hour ride was spent taking in the scenery on the back platform.

Our new homes ;)

Sissys

< 3

We finally arrived in Denali, Alaska and were bused to our hotel. We all were a tad bit tired, but we all changed quickly and headed to our first excursion, ATVing around the north side of the Denali National Park.  And yes, my 88 year old grandfather ATVed with us. The guides were incredibly knowledgeable and provided great information about the terrain. They even let us really floor the ATVs, which was awesome.

Coolest grandpa in the world :)!

amazing GIF courtesy of Babyspice

Yoga in Alaska.

Hands in the AIR!

Sneaky husband, taking silly pictures of me.

After a fantastical adventure, it was back the Denali 'main strip' for dinner, sight seeing and then a walk back to the Inn. Our full day finally came to a close and it was time to rest up for day number two.

Yes, I would be lunging up the hill ;)!

Next up: Denali National Park and white water rafting!

Have a fabulous day, friends!