We had to get up about 8:30 so that we could finish packing and put our luggage outside the room by 09:00. We showered and dressed. So far every hotel we have been in has a slow shower drain. I wonder if this is a law in Alaska? :-)
While we waited for the shuttle they came and collected all the luggage. We noticed they had two trucks. We made sure they put our luggage in the correct truck. After the mess-up with the luggage tags, we wanted to make sure. Steve saw a really interesting sign outside of the cabin.
The shuttle arrived and we rode around the property. We finally arrived at the front lobby. We decided to eat a hearty breakfast at their cafe. They had a buffet to choose from. The food was ok, but nothing to write home about. At least the food was filling. We heard from other guests that the hotel had no tea pots because they broke them all last year and had not reordered any. Also someone mentioned they ran out of cocktail napkins. This was their second day of operation for the season. Somebody in their order/management department needs to go back to training on how to properly stock a hotel and restaurant. There is really no excuse for all the little hitches we encountered.
An observation was made, that bears repeating. "We spent two days in one of the most beautiful places in the world and all people were talking about was how bad the hotel service was, how bad the food was and how disorganized the hotel and holland american staff was." I want to note, that even though we had all these problems, other couples had worse problems. Reservations were not confirmed for side trips and staff could not be found in their offices during their operation hours.
Denali is one of the most beautiful places in the world that we have seen. I highly recommend making the trip. I would just suggest you make sure you always have food with you, as you may not be able to buy food when your hunger pains start. Also, make sure you confirm all your reservations a day before and check with managers/supervisors when asking questions. I would not rely on Holland America to be organized at this part of the trip. It could be that we were the first trip of the season, but they really were so disorganized I am amazed that they have been doing this for more than one year. The issue seems to be that no one returns to Alaska for a second season, so all the employees are "new". The bad part about going so early in the season was the inexperienced and unprepared staff; the good thing was that it was not crowded at all. It was a pleasure to have the place practically to ourselves with very little crowds, no l ines, etc... This was a definite plus.
We waited in the lobby for the bus to take us to the train station. A lot of guests were talking about their experiences. Both good and bad. We heard some horror stories about the people who missed their helicopter flight because of messed up reservations. We also heard about more problems with the food service in the restaurants. It was not all bad, we did hear about people's great side trips.
We rode the bus to the train station and unloaded. Steve got some great pics of the train pulling into the station. Steve talked to one of the train workers. They mentioned that sometime the rails will get cold enough that they shrink enough that there can be a 2 foot gap between the rails. They solve this problem by taking a rope soaked in Kerosene and placing it next to the rails and lighting it on fire. This heats the rails and they expand back together. Pretty ingenious if you ask me.
The train arrived and all of a sudden there was a lot of seat assignment confusion because the tickets were hand written and seats duplicated. There were four couples all with our seating numbers.
The train departed for our 8-hour train ride to Anchorage. It was a long trip, but it was a lot of fun. We saw caribou, ducks, eagles and swans. There were some eagles sitting in trees which looked like golf balls with their white heads..
We had a late lunch / early dinner. The times for lunch were too early to eat so we decided to eat the very first seating for dinner. Apparently, a bear was spotted while we ate. We never saw it. The food was really good. The food on the train seems to be one of the best meals people have had in the last few days.
We learned about the mud-flats along the way. Apparently when the tide goes out, all the silt from the glaciers remains and creates a sort of quicksand. If someone gets caught in them, there is no way to get them out safely. They do have a way to get people out, but it involves pumping air into the mud until enough pressure is built up that they are shot out of the mud, about 30 feet in the air. You might end up with broken bones, but at least you're alive. So the thing to remember is to NEVER go out on the mud flats.
We took a nap on the train and slept for a few hours. It's amazing how tired you get doing nothing. Our train ride was coming to an end as we arrived in Anchorage. We unloaded the train and boarded a bus to the hotel. We got our room package with our keys. We had been invited to dinner with our friends. We had just enough time to go to the room and change for dinner. Our luggage was there! Yeah! At least that went smoothly.
We walk a short ten blocks to dinner at "Simon & Seforts". The dinner was good. We had a great view of the ocean and the mountains. We met another couple from Florida (Sonny and Kimberly). Dinner went pretty smoothly considering that we had ten people. We had three anniversaries to celebrate and one birthday. The restaurant gave us free desert. If we are lucky we can milk this for the rest of the trip. :-)
The walk back to the hotel was very relaxing. On the way back we saw a sign that said "Once in a blue moose." It was a cute sign.
We arrived back at the hotel and got ready for bed. The Padres lost again! I don't think they won a single game since we left. Gee, what a surprise.