Denali

This morning before we left the hotel, a bear wandered through the parking lot.  Some of the people on our tour saw him.  Our bus driver was loading our bags onto the bus and looked to see the bear about a 100 feet or so from him.  Not what he expected at all.  The bear eventually went elsewhere and all was well.  It pays to watch your surroundings round here.  Once on board the bus, we headed toward Anchorage for a brief stop.  The bus let us off at a craft/flea market area.  We did a little shopping and bought cookies and drinks to take on the bus for later.  Cara saw a musician she particularly liked.  We had to stop and listen to his music and take a picture of him.  He was very good.

We stopped again a couple of hours later at a place called Miller's Market to stretch and check out their wonderful milk shakes.  Our tour guide, Brian, suggested the chocolate peanut butter shake.  It was delicious.  We traveled a bit more and stopped once again for a stretch at the Veterans' Memorial.  We arrived at the McKinley Village Lodge around 5:00.  It is nicer than the first place we stayed and the area reminds me a little of Colorado.  We had a first floor room with a little patio area outside.  About forty yards from that is a river with picnic tables on the bank.  Very pretty. Around the hotel notices were posted about a grizzly sighting.  Bears must like hotels.  We ate dinner at the hotel.  It was not so great.  Tomorrow we will try some place in town.