Weather: Very hot, a beautiful day
We packed up early at Maclaren Lodge and some of the group went canoeing on a small lake for part of the morning, where as I slept in a little and then went into the local restaurant to have a quick look on the internet.
When I came back to camp Lauren, Gwendolyn and Bradford were in hysterics. Chuck had seen this moose and had told those three to come quickly and have a look. The moose had turned around and so, to try to get it's attention, Chuck tried an animal mating call (basically blowing a raspberry). The theory was that the moose would hear the call and not recognise it, therefore remain in it's current location whilst it worked out what the call was ... in reality the moose bolted and ran out of sight.
I could have stayed at Maclaren Lodge for another couple of nights, it was so beautiful; however we had to head off, and by mid-morning we were off to Denali National Park. On the way we were going to stop at a bakery and try a legendary Alaskan cinnamon roll.
When we arrived at the 'glorified shed' (the bakery) we went into the bar and placed our order. I like cake and so I ordered a cinnamon roll and then sat down at the far end of the bar. The bar was pretty cool; there were loads of flies on the windows (which was a little disconcerting) and dollar notes lined all the walls of the pub (seems wallpaper is pretty expensive around here). As the cinnamon rolls came out others got there's first (due to my location in the bar) but I didn't mind waiting .... until the lady said that there was only one left and asked who had ordered one. I put my hand up and so did a Dutch woman on the trip; Lauren tried to stand up for me and said that she had heard me order the roll first however I said to the Dutch lady that, because there was only one left, why don't we half it. She replied by saying that she was sorry but she was very hungry and proceeded to take the cake and eat it all. I was well annoyed ... I was almost inclined to remind her that we helped liberate her country during the second world war but I thought better of it (didn't talk to her much for the rest of the trip). Eddie, our guide, having seen the above episode take place, gave me a bit of his cake and it was lovely ... so at least I got to try it.
Being a little annoyed I got back on the bus and we headed to Denail National Park. Getting there at a good time we first headed to the visitors centre for a 'heads up' on the park (including a video on how to deal with bears) before going to our campsite and setting up camp.
The campsite was amazing; each plot had a covered way which was supposed to be for eating under, however we put our tents under it. The bathrooms were wooden huts which where really clean and very modern (they had moose antlers as handles ... which the moose looses each spring before growing new antlers, therefore no moose were hurt in getting the antlers).
It was my groups turn to cook and we were having a BBQ; my job was to make burgers by getting a lump on mince in my hands and working it into a round burger shape. I immediately thought of my brother (as he hates uncooked meat) whilst doing this and, after I had finished making the burgers, I washed my hands thoroughly before having something to eat. For the rest of the night the group just chatted around the fire (I also tried to teach these colonials how to speak English properly but it was very difficult) before heading to bed.
Tomorrow Denali Park
Toodle Pip!
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