Denali National Park

Denali National Park

At the first of the year you can enter a road lottery at Denali so you can drive through the park at the end of the season. It's only open for one day and we were lucky enough to both win. So Aaron gave his winning ticket to David (his photography buddy) and we waited excitedly for the day to come. I wasn't sure I would be able to go because I got really car sick while prego and it was a 6 hour drive and then another 80 miles to get to the end of the park. We didn't have to take a bus which was amazing, and I decided to load up on Zofran and hopefully sleep most of the car ride away. I'm so glad I went. Even though I wasn't feeling well, it was absolutely stunning! We saw tons of Grizzly Bears right off the road. Two even crossed right in front of our car. We saw some moose, caribou, and some beautiful migrating birds. We also got to take the puppies which was really fun!

We were having some awesome weather too. The colors of fall were in the air and when it should have been snowing, we got sunshine and warmer weather.

Fall Fungi

Our first Grizzly sighting. They make you stay in your car if they come within 50 feet of you.

Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in the world sits right behind those clouds. :( 

The Visitor's Center about halfway through

Sadie and me out for a walk about

I love this picture. This guy crossed right in front of us but he looked like he was singing as he made his way around the blueberry plants.

Headed for the hills

We stopped at the end of the road for some lunch. We checked out the lake and watched all the birds fly around us. It was beautiful.

A couple of Moose grazing in the distance

The gray jay that harassed us at lunch

David and Dakota

We spotted some Caribou behind us on the hill

On our way back. I wish we would have hiked more!

We saw a couple of bears in the distance

We stayed with this she bear for over an hour. Kodi loved seeing the bears. She would wag her tail and woof like she wanted to play with them.

She got really close to the road and stood up so she could see her audience better. 

She tried to dig up a ground squirrel but didn't have any luck

Crossing the road

We had a great time.