We left Denali behind as we headed south to Anchorage. The drive was beautiful and we made several stops along the way to take in the sights. We had a great bus driver (her name was Anna Heim-can't forget it-just think Disneyland!) who would stop and pull over whenever anyone thought they spotted any wildlife off in the distance. Mark yelled to stop as he thought he saw a moose or caribou off in the distance. Sure enough, people started saying they could see it. Funny thing though, what Mark thought was the moose, wasn't, and even though others said it was there, he couldn't spot it! Power of suggestion??

We stopped at the Iditarod Trail Headquarters in Wasilla and checked out the new puppies (Chelcie was madly texting me to bring one home) and took a ride in the wagon pulled by the dogs.

Next stop was to the Eklutna Indian Village to visit its unique cemetary of colorful "Spirit Houses." Quite colorful indeed! Here's a little history for you - "Eklutna Cemetery, dating back to 1650, became a historical park in the 1980's and consists of a small museum and gift shop, prayer chapels, two Russian Orthodox churches, and the cemetery that is still used today. More than 100 brightly-colored "spirit houses" are on the burial ground, a custom that combines Athabascan and Russian Orthodox practices."

We then pulled into Anchorage for a one night stay as our last land stop before boarding the ship. In the morning we went to see "AurorA - Alaska's Great Northern Lights" which is as close as we got to seeing the Aurora Borealis. Pictures were beautiful though! Then we took a sightseeing tour of Anchorage before heading for the ship.