We left Whitehorse yesterday and set out on 2 days of what’s really little more than a means to get us where we need to go.  We spent last night in Beaver Creek, a town that consists of a hotel, a gas station, and the houses of the people who work in the hotel and gas station.

Apart from a preoccupation with potholes and shortage-of-toilet-paper jokes, the highlight of any stay in Beaver Creek is the Rendezvous show at the Beaver Creek lodge.  I’ll say that the performers are talented enough, but the material is lacking.  Let’s leave it at that.

Yesterday was perhaps the best day of the trip.  We stopped at a mushers camp in the morning and learned a ton about sled dogs and how they live.  The dogs were awesome and very much people friendly.  I took of ton of snapshot style pictures of my wife and I playing with dogs.  I also got some good shots of a sled team pulling a 4 wheeler (which was not running, but in gear).  The dogs are smaller than you’d thing, and much more powerful than you’d imagine.

After leaving the sled camp we made our way to Kluane lake.  The water in the lake is varying shades of blue, and really, there aren’t words to describe it.  I took what I think may turn out to be the most incredible pictures I’ve ever taken.  Straight from the camera the colors are so vivid that if they weren’t my own I’d swear they’d been photoshopped.

Not 20 minutes after we left the side of the lake we came across what so far has been the highlight of the trip for me; a grizzly bear with her two cubs.  Taking pictures through bus glass makes gettting good shots difficult (and they weren’t about to let me off the bus to get closer to the bear).  None of the shots are great, but really, what can you say about watching a grizzly with her cubs in the wild.

This morning, having survived a night in rustic Beaver Creek we departed for Fairbanks.  The days activities were more touristy than Alaskan wilderness, culminating in a stop at the North Pole, which is basically the worst place on earth.  It’s like Christmas threw up.  Today has been the least interesting day of the trip, but again, with Alaska being so vast, to drive a bus load of people (most of whom are post-retirement age) for 16-20 hours straight is not the least bit realistic.  So, sometimes, the tours stop in less exciting places.

About an hour outside of Fairbanks we spotted a moose feeding in a field off the highway.  With the foliage between the coach and the moose, it was difficult to get any good shots (again, the bus windows don’t help).  Still, it was a moose (actually 2) and I was happy.  Not 5 minutes down the road, however; not 10 yards off the side of the highway was another moose feeding.  We all took several shots of the cow before I spotted her yearling peaking through the trees.  The young moose came out for a drink of water.  Just as with the Grizzlies, it’s an amazing experience to see these tremendous animals without the restriction of bars and concrete.

Tomorrow will be spent floating down rivers, panning for gold, and getting some museum culture.  Truthfully, none if it is anything I would have chosen for myself, but it’s part of the tour, and part of the things one does on Holland America Tours on their way to Denali.

On the plus side, the rustic hotels of the last few nights have been replaced by a suite at the Westmark Fairbanks.  We live in luxury for two nights before heading to what I hope will be equal accommodations just outside Denali.

Still to come, ATV adventures, glacier landings, horseback riding, and a wildlife safari through the park.

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