Train Ride from Whittier Alaska to Anchorage Alaska May 21, 2023

Arrive: 1:00 am

The ship arrived shortly after midnight in Whittier, Alaska.  While we were sleeping 
the crew was busy loading our luggage and getting everything ready for our land tour. 

The above map shows the land portion of our tips and the type of transport. Part
of our journey is by train.  The Alaska Railroad belongs to one of the most 
important and also famous in the US.   

We had a number of train rides.  One in Skagway, I didn't talk much about it in my 

Skagway Post. It wasn't that I didn't like the train ride. It was amazing and the initial 

plan was to do a separate post because there was so much to write about.  

[Trivia question, why is the Glacier Water so blue?]

If you ever do the White Pass Railway [photo above and below] make sure you read

The Klondike Stampede by Tappan Adney. Here is a link to the PDF version, in case 

you just want to take a look. For me, the book was desert dry and I really struggled 

through it, but it was worth the pain, it made the ride that much more interesting.

 

We made our way to Anchorage via train and then the following day via train to Denali.

On our train ride to Denali, we had an excellent guide. 

He really knew his history, had a great eye for spotting wildlife, and was just a little 

bundle of contagious energy. 

Every time he pointed something out, I eagerly snapped a photo planning to write 

about it later.  We saw Eagles, the summit of Denali which usually isn't visible, so 

we officially entered the 30% club. We also saw the house of Shara Palin, moose, 

caribou and best of all we saw the Dr. Seuss Tower.  I took photo after photo after 

photo and looking at my photos now, I have photos of trees, trees, trees, trees, and 

more trees. I used my mobile and you may remember from this post, the mobile just 

doesn't capture things the way a camera does. Below are some of my lucky shots. 

Is it not amazing the reflection of the mountains in the water?

The other amazing thing we discovered is how truly small the world really is.  Isaiah, 

the waiter on our train is also the waiter during the winter month at Citro Bistro, one 

of our favorite places in Vero Beach. 

The following trees are, yes dead trees. However, these trees died due to the  

subterranean fires / underground fires also known as zombie wildfires in 2019. 

The NC Art Museum has an amazing exhibit showing aerial photos of these subterranean 

fires using multispectral imaging by photographer Richard Mosse. His images are not

of the Alaska fires but I didn't know about underground fires until I saw the exhibit.