Alaska, Here We Come!!! Part 3 (Whittier to Fairbanks)

(Wait a minute! Where did this photo of Mt. McKinley come from? We didn't see it on this trip...)

Whittier ~ Fairbanks:

We got up very early and got off the ship in Whittier at 7:00am. I was kind of sad that our cruise had ended... It sure was a nice cruise trip, despite the rainy weather, though.

Whittier is a VERY tiny town in Prince Williams Sound with the population of about 200 people. Not very far from College Fjord. This town has two huge buildings, which seems so out of place for such a tiny town.



Begich Towers

Buckner Building

Here is the story of Whittier (article from Internet)

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During World War II the United States Army constructed a military facility, complete with port and railroad terminus near the glacier and named the facility Camp Sullivan. The spur of the Alaska Railroad to Camp Sullivan was completed in 1943 and the port became the entrance for United States soldiers into Alaska. The port remained an active army facility until 1960.

The two huge buildings that dominate Whittier were built after World War II. The Hodge Building (now Begich Towers) was built for housing soldiers and the Buckner Building, completed in 1953. Both buildings were at one time the largest buildings in Alaska. The Begich Building is now a condominium, and houses nearly all of Whittier's residents. The port remained an active Army facility until 1960. Whittier was incorporated in 1969.

When Buckner Building was first built, it had housing for 1,000, as well as a cafeteria, theater, classrooms, radio station, jail, hospital, library, PX, and more -- it was rightly called "a city under one roof." However, after being damaged in the 1964 earthquake, it was totally abandoned when the Army left.

The town was severely damaged by tsunamis triggered by the 1964 Good Friday Earthquake; thirteen people died due to waves that reached 13 m (43 ft).^[3]

Whittier is a popular port of call for cruise ships, as it has connections to Anchorage and the interior of Alaska by both highway and rail. It is the embarkation/debarkation point of the Denali Express nonstop rail service to and from Denali National Park operated by Princess Tours. Whittier is also popular with tourists, sport fishermen and hunters.^[

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We got on a bus  and headed out for Denali National Park. There is a tunnel called Whittier Tunnel. From Whittier, this tunnel is the only land access to the other cities. It is part of the Portage Glacier Highway and at 13,300 feet (4,050 m), is the second longest highway tunnel, and longest combined rail and highway tunnel, in North America.

Waiting for our turn to go into the tunnel.  The tunnel is a very narrow one -
just wide enough for a train or a bus - but not both.  So you may have to wait
for up to an hour for the tunnel to open in your direction.

I just can't get over how big a cruise ship is.

Whittier Airport! (And Whittier airplane?)

Hanging glacier on the side of the road.

Inside the tunnel. Can you see the railroad track?

Our bus driver/guide. He explained about
a lot of things all the way to Denali.

Do you remember Portage Glacier? My goodness, it has receded
so much that I was shocked... It used to be a tidewater glacier when
we were there ten years ago, but now it is a hanging glacier. All
the ices that were floating on this lakes are gone now.

Remember this visitor center? No ice floating in the lake any more...

Wasilla Train Depot. Home of Sarah Palin.

Well, the weather didn't cooperate on this day, so we couldn't see Mt. McKinley... But I didn't want Terry, Maureen and Ken (or you) to think Mt. McKinley was just an imaginary, legendary mountain that people just say exists. So here are some photos of Mt. McKinley that I took on the last year's trip, so I can prove that Mt. McKinley actually does exist. This is what you see, if you have a nice weather.

We finally arrived in Denali after 6 hours on the road. We stayed at Princess Denali Lodge. It was a beautiful lodge.

Lobby of the lodge.

Front desk

They had beautiful flowers at this lodge. You wouldn't believe
how big flowers grow here. Any flowers were about five times
bigger than our flowers in Utah! Unbelievable!
For example,  dahlia was as big as my face!

This lodge has a big property - just outside of the park boundary.

They have a free shuttle at the lodge to your room, because it is
such a big property.

Right next to Nenana River

Off to Fairbanks! 4 hour train ride.

They took us to Denali train depot on these buses.

Denali Train Depot

Each of these waiting rooms(?) is assigned to a different car on the train.

Scott sitting in a waiting room.

Here comes the train!

We kept running across this really cute couple!

Must have been honeymooners(?)

I don't remember exactly what these radars are called, but
something like "Anti-ballistic Missile Early Warning Radar"
It will detect a missile, if North Korea, Russia or China launches
a missile, I think. Or something like that. It is such a top secret
 base, even the families of employees can't go into this base.



Fairbanks Alaska Railway Depot
We finally arrived after 4 hours!