ON TO THE ALYESKA RESORT IN GIRDWOOD!

We woke up early to say good-bye to the Denali Park Lodge and took one last look for moose along the river edge!  Again—NO GO, darn it!  We boarded the motor coach for a five hour trip to Girdwood, Alaska!

We made a quick stop to see the Alaska War Memorial.  Oh yea, HAPPY JULY 4th!!!

They sure grow BIG leaves in Alaska!  And flowers!  And fruit!  And vegetables!  Think about it—stuff grows like CRAZY here with all the long hours of sunshine!  Who knew?

Next stop was in Houston, Alaska for delicious ice cream!  Debbie, Mary and Judy were happy.  The moose was definitely not as happy as no one offered him a bite!  But he sure looked cute in his holiday garb!

We finally arrived back in Anchorage, home of the most gorgeous flowers EVER!  We had a couple of hours to mill around and have lunch!

We met Rod Perry, one of the seven original Iditarod mushers.  He was delightful!  And a talker!  We heard stories and learned he was an author (he was selling his book and other amazing books about the Iditarod.) Amazing man, but did I mention he was a talker?

We decided to eat at Tequila 61 after we talked way too long to Rod Perry!  There was no wait and we didn’t have any time left for a wait!  It was PERFECT lunch for everyone but Debbie, who didn’t get her lunch served until we were all finished and ready to go!  We made it back to the bus without a minute to spare!

Our fearless leaders, Zam and Big Al, were patiently waiting!

We arrived at the gorgeous Alyssa Resort in Girdwood and went immediately up the mountain on a tram!  What a beautiful sight to behold!

This is a glimpse of where we are staying, The Alyeska Resort.  You can’t really tell from the top of the mountain, but it is AMAZING and we’d love to stay there longer!

We checked into our rooms and took a trolley into the little village to a restaurant called Jack Sprat!  It had a great menu and the food and drinks were delicious! 

We had a leisurely evening looking around the resort and called it a night EARLY!  We were bushed after a long day traveling!  Tomorrow we head to Seward, Alaska, where we will board the Radiance of the Seas!  We cannot wait!!!