Riverboat cruise yesterday..

Unbelievable day yesterday! Got on a riverboat yesterday on the Chema River and cruised past some million dollar homes.  These hardy souls live here year round including the 40 below times.  In Good for them.  Our guide told us that some of the 50 foot lots on the river sell for $100,000.  In addition, most of the homes have nice boats as well as sea planes parked in front of them. One in every six people in Alaska have his/her pilots license.

We didn't just cruise up and down the river either.  We stopped at a kennel and watched sled dogs being trained. We stopped at a reproduction of a native Alaskan village where they caught salmon in the river and smoked them to preserve them.  The captain on board gave a running narrative and I wish I could retain a fourth of it.  Found out there are more moose than people in Alaska and they are big critters that you really don't want to mess with at all.  

When we left the riverboat in the afternoon we got on the bus and headed to Denali National Park. The ride is 2-1/2 hours and as you approach you get closer and closer to the foothills of the mountains.  Due to the tectonic plate movement, the mountains are actually growing 2 inches a year.  We watched closely but could not detect any movement.  This area is on a fault and there are 75-100 earthquakes a day but aren't felt since they are not that strong.

We awoke this AM to a brisk 40ish temp.  However, I love the air in the mountains and it is so refreshing.

Waiting for the bus right now to take us on our tundra tour in Denali.  The park is 660,000 acres.  Hope we don't get lost.