Sometimes it's easy to use words to describe an experience. Sometimes it's not. Today was one of those “not” days. While some are compelled to climb (and really, it's conquer) Mt. McKinley, others want to enjoy its majesty, its splendor, and quiet frankly its enormity. Denali is well recognized as the tallest mountain in North America, but did you know that by some it is considered the largest in the world. I don't remember the numbers and I don't have internet access in the room here, so I'll just try to explain the concept. Everest is recognized as the tallest mountain in the world; however, the base of Everest is farther above sea level than Denali. Therefore, the distance from the base Denali to the summit is greater than the distance from the base of Everest to the summit. The elevation of the base of Everest is already higher, so they count those feet. If you sliced Denali and Everest off at the base, and set them next to each other, Denali is higher. Just looking at it would look bigger. And its summit is much more difficult to reach because of the weather. Thought you might like that little bit of history.
All that being said, today, we flew past the Great Mountain and landed on Eldrige Glacier. Mt. McKinley is part of the Alaskan mountain. Many of the mountains in the range are above 10,000 feet, some above 15,000. We flew snuggled right up next to them as we viewed the Tokositna, the Ruth, the Buckskin, and the Eldrige glaciers. Much like the Grand Canyon, it really was difficult judging the size with nothing to use as a comparison. Twice, we saw another plane—nothing more than a tiny blip with the large, jagged granite monoliths in the backdrop. Truly awe-inspiring.
The food today, not so much. : ) Breakfast was stuffed blueberry French toast but it was more like a big cube of bread pudding—a bit too heavy for me. Lunch was at West Rib Pub—seafood chowder—easily the highlight of the day, using some smoked salmon, clams, and a few other assorted seafoods—it was delicious. We also had a caribou burger and fries—not memorable. For dinner, after having crab legs two nights in a row, I opted for a vegetable stack on grilled polenta with goat cheese—should have been good but wasn't. Tim had the crab legs. I should have gone for three in a row. For dessert, Tim got the blueberry ice cream this time; I got crème brûleé, it was very good.
Just as words cannot describe today's experience, neither can pictures, but I'll include a few just for fun! : )
(Update--computer was really slow last night. Just added the post and this one picture. Photo Album pictures to follow later.)
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