Sure enough, the nice robot lady called us at 4:30 and we
actually got up. There was a healthy
herd of us who wanted to be “first” in the buffet line (restaurants are closed
today) and a certain amount of chaos ensued.
There’s never been a well-defined route through the buffet, and with the
norovirus-transmission-control in effect we couldn’t serve ourselves. So a lot of swirling and growling as lines
dealt with folks coming in from unexpected vectors, and the servers (who
usually only have to refill depleted containers) tried to get food onto each
plate as well as their usual duties. Net
result? I lost Angie for several long
minutes! But finally she emerged from
the mob, and we finished breakfast in good time to get back to the room and amble
down to our usual dining room, to await further instructions.
One thing the printed instructions had made PAINFULLY clear
was that we had to have a tiny little tab torn off of the end of a yellow
baggage tag, in order to be cleared off of the boat. Seriously, this thing was maybe an inch by a
half-inch. And we’re supposed to have
that out along with our “cruise card,” whatever we’re carrying as a tote, and
the spare jacket we don’t need to wear?
Finally we are told to process out of the room and down the
gangplank. Again our cruise card is
scanned and the photo perused to see if we look like ourselves. Down the gangplank, into a tarp-shrouded
tunnel, out to the train. Did anyone, at
ANY time, ask for the little yellow chit?
Sigh…..
A gray day, but no rain and very clement temperatures. The sun is trying to peek out, and we are
assured that once we’re through the tunnels enroute to Anchorage, the weather
WILL change – no matter WHAT it was in Whittier. We feel right at home with THAT forecast!
We were supposed to have boarding passes for the train, and
what we DID have was tour tickets. That
did identify us enough to be told we were in car 2, but upon arrival there the
agent couldn’t find us on her chart to tell us what table we were
assigned. Back to the entry point, find
the major-domess, and learn we’re at Table 16.
Back to car #2, where the agent is falling over herself apologizing as
she, too, has found us assigned to Table 16.
So on we go.
There was ever-so-slightly more room than had been
advertised to stow our carry-on (“personal item” in airline parlance), but once
it was underneath the seat, there was no accessing it again. The car was laid out as a dining car, with
tables-for-four, two facing two. The
table was generous … but totally occluded access to the floor. So there was some re-arranging to pull out
the few things that would be needed enroute.
Our tablemates were a California couple who were celebrating their son’s
graduation from Berkeley – HE had sent them on the cruise/tour. What a guy!
Sadly, the mom was afflicted with motion sickness and while she did her
best to be friendly, clearly it was a rough ride for her.
Finally the train pulled out northbound. There had been an engine on each end, so we
found ourselves facing the rear of the train.
Not my preferred view, but sometimes it was helpful as things were
spotted we had an extra moment to locate them.
Included in this eventually were some Dall sheep way up high on a
mountainside, several trumpeter swans, a bald eagle, and an osprey nest. Some saw a moose early on, but we weren’t
able to find it. (We also saw a bunch of
“stealth” fighters out on maneuvers—impressive planes.) The windows in the car stretched from elbow
height up and curved to the middle of the ceiling, so the viewing was
spectacular.
The first point of interest was a tunnel which was shared by
trains and cars – long staging areas on either side for motor vehicles to wait
their turn if a train was using the tunnel.
We didn’t really get it figured out, didn’t seem right that the cars
would drive right on the tracks, but in any event it was quite an engineering
feat. One perquisite included was a
series of actual ROOMS every half-mile or so, where folks who couldn’t proceed
past an accident or breakdown ahead could muster and enjoy light, seating,
ventilation, even a supply of food and beverage. Ventilation in the tunnel itself is powered
by jet-engine fans, to ensure the air is good.
Welcome to Alaska indeed!
There was plenty of commentary about the various towns and
their up-and-down history. Many, of
course, had begun as Gold Rush centers and then survived the major changes as
that era ended. Various rivers were
either glacier-fed (silty, no fish) or just snowmelt (clear, good salmon
country). We passed Wasilla and were
able to observe a certain lakefront residence protected by a 16’ fence (the
Palin Palisade?). We all waved at Don,
who parks his truck on an access road near the tracks and waves at EVERY
Princess train going by (he’s rumored to be wooing one of the service
team). We split a sandwich and enjoyed a
Klon, OOPS! – Alaska Bar for dessert.
Finally we pulled up a couple miles short of Talkeetna and
sought out our assigned motorcoach. We
lucked into an exit row and enjoyed some leg room for a change. Our driver encouraged us relentlessly to get
off the bus in town, but we were just not up for it. Eventually a smaller group of holdouts was
moved from another bus to ours and, reasonably full, we set off for the
McKinley Princess Lodge. Not too far
into that trip, we really DID see a moose – an apparent juvenile who seemed to
be looking for Mom. Right by the side of
the road, just like he belonged there, and not in the least interested in this
monstrous machine buzzing by him.
The “lodge” now has over two dozen buildings. We were dropped at the main office and waited
for the on-site shuttle to arrive. As it
happened, our assigned building was the very last stop, but we found our room
without trouble. It’s very nice to
contemplate two DOUBLE beds and lots of space; while the ship’s stateroom was
comfortable for its type, this is just PLAIN comfortable.
After getting organized for a bit, we set out to reconnoiter
dinner and resolve other questions.
There’s an internet room (wi-fi, naturally, currently was down), several
restaurants, a gift shop with a nice range of goods including a generous
assortment of Native-made art, and a theater alternating a movie about the
Denali area and one about the aurora
borealis. We’ll see that latter one
this evening, just in case the show does not occur for us in the natural world.
Ambling back to the room, we hoped to find our luggage. Not there yet, but it did get delivered a bit
after 5P. We de-tagged the famous yellow
tags as well as the tagboard “meet me tonight” one, and put on the snazzy
orange-and-white diagonal striped ones.
These guys have crowd control and administration down to a pretty fine
point!
The mountain (universally referred to as “She”) has cloaked
herself in clouds at the moment, as is her habit. We’ve put ourselves on the list to be called
should she shake off her cloak and reveal a good view. We’re warned that this call could be at any
hour, but with a whopping 30% chance of seeing her, we figure we’d best get up
and look if she’s willing to be seen. I
am wondering if she’s off having a beer somewhere with her Hawaiian sister,
Pele.
We had a good dinner at the bar-and-grill between our
building and the main lodge, and met up with some tablemates from the ship as
well. Angie enjoyed crab-enriched
mac’n’cheese and a seafood salad/lettuce wrap … served with a quarter-head
wedge of iceberg lettuce so she could roll her own. I tucked into “NOT potato skins!” (wedges
dolled up with potato-skin fixings) and a personal pizza with a sprinkling of
reindeer sausage. That seemed to call
for a beer, so I took advantage of our server’s knowledge to discover that the
local beer on tap was a light, floral lager and NOT a hoppy IPA. I need to study up before I join the beer
professionals in Pasadena! Now we’re
kind of yawning, but committed to staying awake for the 9P movie – then to bed
for sure.
The little theater was downstairs in the main lodge, and
tragically overheated. We had to keep an
eye out for each other so as not to nod off.
The show had been put together by a local photographer who was the first
to have documented the auroras in panoramic format. He had set his work to classical music, and
it was a dramatic and impressive show.
Some of the frames were video, which was even more impressive. We were happy we had made the effort to see
it.
Tomorrow we have to check out by 11, our bus to the Denali
Lodge departs at 2P. We figure to have a
late breakfast, then set up in some of the three ROWS of comfortable chairs set
up to view the mountain, and hope for the best.
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