Alaska - Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge

The Mt. McKinley Wilderness Lodge reminded me of what you'd picture when you think of a log cabin in the woods camping experience. This sign is mounted in this precise location because they use it as a visual guide. To spot the true Mt. McKinley, you look through the posts of this sign like a window frame. The peak of Mt. McKinley is so often shrouded by the clouds that they refer to those lucky enough to see it as members of the 30% club.

Nearby the sign was this labeled illustration so you could identify each of the other peaks as well.

Just imagine the peak of Mt. McKinley in the valley in the center between the other mountains.

Here comes the welcoming committee. Must be a family owned business.

You'll find several travelers from other itineraries at each of these lodges so there's always a display of extra luggage tags free for the taking. Just choose the one with the code corresponding to your next destination. Really helpful if one tears or you've picked up an extra bag worth of souvenirs at this point.

The lobby of the main building had several items on display showcasing what it's like for climbers who come to try and scale Mt. McKinley.

The main building also had tons of comfy furniture to relax, especially when you try to get into the full service restaurant on the property and have to reserve a time slot.

Nice bank of free to use computers. I admit it took some getting used to after all the traveling we'd done to not have to worry about going over loyalty level internet minutes or using cellular on our phones to get online like you would for a foreign country.

There also was a little café for coffee, breakfast pastries, and to go items like mini cereal bowls.

The main building had an outdoor patio along the front windows with Adirondack style chairs (you can see a little bit of it in my lobby picture) so a small group of guests had brought their drinks and appetizer snacks outside. Nature soon provided its own entertainment as we all watched this brazen squirrel sneak up while they stood at the railing, snatch a fry off their plate, and scurry away to enjoy his prize. They'd turn back, he'd duck back under the patio railing. They turned their backs again and he'd scurry right back up taking the next fry and so on. Eventually they took to tossing him the fries directly.

A telescope to help you try and join the 30% club

There was several campfire pits around the property to sit around and enjoy each other's company.

There was also laundry facilities for a fee in small rooms at the end of each hall in the guest room buildings.

I hope this isn't what's offered when you ask for extra blankets.

It seems I neglected to take pictures of our hotel room but it was a very basic double bed room. We were glad that we hadn't bothered to book any tours this evening because shortly after dinner it started pouring rain. It was funny watching all the people hanging out by the campfire freak out and suddenly scatter for cover. However, relaxing in our room encountered a snafu when we discovered that we had no remote for the TV. We called down to the front desk and soon had one delivered. The employee who delivered it told us that they keep having to replace the remotes because people are stealing them. I've heard of people stealing towels and bathrobes but TV remotes? Is there some button pushing fetish I don't know about?

Time for dinner at the 20,320' Alaskan Grill restaurant:

Dad's appetizer of several different kinds of sausages. I remember reindeer being one of the choices but when the dish arrived, there was no way to tell which was which. I sampled a small piece of each kind so at some point, I tried reindeer sausage this evening. No, it doesn't taste like chicken.

If there's a pasta, especially with shrimp and scallops, on the menu I'll usually end up trying it. 

We split this brownie a la mode dessert.