Mom's Visit: Day 1

My mother was brave enough to visit Alaska when the sun isn't out 24 hours a day, which meant that she would have an opportunity to see the Northern Lights as well as some snow. There wasn't too much white stuff around for her arrival, so it didn't provide any challenges, but rather the snow added a little character to her visit.

After getting in late, I woke Mom up saying that the skies were clear out and that we should head down to Denali to see the tallest mountain in North America. It's only about a 90 mile drive, so we put together a lunch and headed south.

Unfortunately, the further south we went, the cloudier the skies became, and the snow started to fall. By then, we were too far into our trip to turn around, so we continued. None the less, it was pretty, so we stopped to take many pictures in the snow. One of the Alaska railroad tressle...


...one of the Nenana River Canyon, which was freezing before our very eyes...


and many more before stopping in the Park to buy postcards of the mountain we weren't able to see because it was enshrouded in clouds. The Park Ranger who helped us suggested headed just a few more miles south to see if the weather was any different on the other side of the range. Smart lady!



Continuing south to Cantwell afforded us the opportunity to view sunny skies and see the top of Denali (even if it was obscured just slightly by a few wisps of clouds) as well as the rest of the Alaska Range while we stopped on the roadside to eat our lunch. We experienced many kinds of weather on that first day and ended it by having Mette over for dinner to tell her about our day's adventure.

PS No, that last picture is not Denali but is a picture of the Alaska Range and the view from our lunch spot.