The last four days of the trip were very peaceful and relaxed. We drove from Anchorage to Denali on Saturday, and ventured into the park as far as we could. Along the way, we saw four moose including one that ran right in front of us and a bear. At about Mile 10, we were  stopped by park rangers and asked to turn around because of an ‘active bear’; we later learned the definition of ‘active’ – the bear had attacked a hiker, slashing her side and biting a chunk out of her leg. Here’s the story.

Most of Sunday was spent on a school bus, bouncing along the pitted muddy road that is the only way into the park. We took an 8-hour tour to Eielson Visitor Center, at mile 66 of the 90-mile road. This is typically the best place to see Denali, the tallest mountain in North America. But not this day. It was rainy and chilly, with a low fog hanging over the mountains. Still, the ride was beautiful, and we saw more wildlife – five bears including a momma and her two cubs and what apparently is a really unusual sighting – a wolf walking along the road. The trip was great and marred only by the fact that about 20 of the same group that had been on the ship with us was on the bus. They were loud, they were slow to follow rules, and they brought along smelly food that they pulled out about halfway through. After about 10 days of these folks has brought us to the point of  just rolling our eyes and moving on. So irritating. The day was still great, and we topped it off with an excellent pizza at a local pub.

Monday saw the return trip to Anchorage, a surprising lack of wildlife and the return of the sun. We walked along a great trail in Anchorage and then discovered that Anchorage is home to one of the top 10 pizzas in the United States – #3 actually – as voted by Trip Advisor. And the Moose’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria did not disappoint. We actually discovered we’ve already eaten at the #10 spot – John’s Pizza in NYC. And that the #1 pizza in the U.S. is made by the same family that makes our fave pizza in Houston – Grimaldi’s. Trying the rest of the top 10 may just become a conquest for us!

Our last day in Alaska – Tuesday – was marked by yet more rain. We had hoped to take a bike ride on the great trails around Anchorage, but instead we went to a wildlife conservation center and took a beautiful drive that took us past glaciers, inlets and through a 2.5-mile tunnel to Whittier. Our plane left Anchorage at 8:30 p.m. local time, and we arrived in Houston at 6:30 a.m., ready to be home.

It was a fantastic trip, and fueled our desire to travel and see more of the world. In fact, plans for next year’s trip are already started to form!

We hope you’ve enjoyed our trip blog. We’ll keep doing this when we travel, and I’ll keep blogging about other items as well. Stay tuned …