We got started early at the lovely Hubert H Humprey Terminal at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport. We continued the party on the aeroplane. The party also included canasta and the sammichsammich. We landed in Las Vegas, and were greeted at the airport by a limo driver holding a sign reading TEAM AWESOME.

We hopped in our limo and broke out the champagne. We got to Excalibur, checked into our widely-scattered rooms (which they told us would be together), and regrouped half an hour later, ready for action.

We had dinner. We drank tequila-based beverages. We video-gambled at New York New York. We wandered up the strip and eventually found ourselves in the Barbary Coast, the lesser-known pirate casino. While most of our crew headed for more games, Matt and I circled the casino and stopped cold at the entrance to the bar. There, onstage, was a cover band with a keytar. We were ecstatic. After a series of hair-metal ballads, and as if it was not already the best day ever, they launched into Faithfully. We died of joy.

…And then were resurrected to go across the street to the Flamingo. Katie and Wendy ran over to play the Wheel of Fortune, so I grabbed a seat, put in $10, hit ‘max bet’, cashed out, and walked away with $81. We watched poker for a while, and headed back to the hotel sometime around 3am.

Sunday morning, we had brunch at Tom’s Diner in Denver. I fell in love in an instant.

We drove around and saw the city, then headed to Pepsi Center to see the Dalai Lama.

It’s hard to explain what it’s like being in the same building with him. I started crying the second he walked out on stage. He’s such an amazing combination of absolute serenity and goofiness. I loved him. It was over way too soon, but I feel like his insights and just the memory of being there are going to stick with me forever.

After the event, we wandered downtown and found ourselves in the middle of Oktoberfest in Larimer Square. There were shots of Jagermeister, polkaing, and a tshirt that reads polka like you’ve got a pair. I intend to wear it to Gasthof’s.

We walked around downtown Denver, checking out the shops and local sights. There was a huge hispanic festival going on in a park, but we didn’t know what it was about. We walked back down towards Pepsi center and encountered the halfway-to-St-Patrick’s-Day party at the Pour House. We met a bunch of dudes from Wisconsin and ended up having a singalong to Don’t Stop Believin’ with the entire bar. It was perfect.

Afterwards, we had a very late dinner downtown, and had a very sleepy return to our hotel.

We awoke at 5:30am (which happily felt like sleeping in), and checked out of the hotel. We got us some Starbucks downtown, then stopped at a supermarket for the supplies we felt might be hard to come by in Denali. They were playing Don’t Stop Believin’ over the loudspeaker, just for me. I also stocked up on decongestants, because I’d stopped being able to breathe since we’d gotten to Alaska.

We were well up the Parks highway by 8:30am, passing through the few suburbs of Anchorage, and then out into what felt like the middle of nowhere. It looked kind of like northern Wisconsin for a while; pine trees, cabins, and the occasional tavern. We stopped at Montana Creek to look around and climb under the railroad trestle, then headed to Talkeetna, a little town about 15 miles off the highway. It’s reportedly the model for the town in the show “Northern Exposure”.

talkeetna mermoose

Talkeetna is ridiculously cute. It’s all outfitters, gift shops, a famous old general store, and restaurants. Everyone is friendly. We wandered around a bunch of artsy little shops, stopped to talk to Stubbs the cat, the mayor and mascot of Talkeetna (as one of the locals informed us), and walked up to see the depot where the Alaska Railroad pulls up along the Susitna River.

this tiny airport is where almost all Mount McKinley/Denali climbing expeditions begin.

stubbs!

We had lunch out on the patio at the West Rib Pub, then wandered around the town some more.

We went back out to the Parks highway and continued towards Denali. We stopped at a few overlooks in Denali State Park, where we encountered our first bear warning signs, and got our first (very limited) view of Denali.

in denali state park

my obligatory sideview photo

We reached Denali National Park around 6:30pm, and drove up to our hotel, located in the little community across the highway from the park entrance, which doesn’t even have a name; directions are given based on the mile marker on the Parks Highway.

The Denalis Crow’s Nest was spectacular. It’s a bunch of cute little cabins lining the side of Sugarloaf Mountain. Ours was on the fourth tier at the far end, with a great view of Mount Healy and the park entrance. It was set up like a rustic hotel room inside, and had a couple of chairs and little table out front on the deck. We couldn’t have picked a better place to stay.

the denali party cabin (ours is the last on the left)

We unpacked and went downstairs to the Overlook Bar and Grill for dinner. We sat on the patio drinking girly drinks from milk bottles and staring at the park. It was kind of hard to believe we were actually there. After dinner, we went up and sat on the patio, reading. We had trouble deciding when to go to bed, because the sunset never actually happened.