Signs

Our weather the last two days has been mostly rain, so the "heavy" touristing has been postponed. But I pulled together a few miscellaneous pictures from our stay in the Denali area:

In 1897, a local prospector re-named the huge mountain peak we know today as Denali to "Mount McKinley" in honor of the President -- even though McKinley had no connection to the area. The original park was also named Mt. McKinley National Park. In 1980, the park and the mountain were officially re-named Denali, although a lot of references to Mt. McKinley remain. Here is the original entry sign:

The Alaska Railroad runs though Denali, and historically was an important transportation hub for the area. Today, half the visitors to Denali still arrive by train -- that is the most common way cruise ships get visitors to the park. But how did they originally get the engines to the track?

This has got to be the best name ever for a big ditch:

And finally, John and I stopped at the Salmon Bake for a snack and beer:

They had great antler-art:

And John got one out of two instructions right!

The sign outside says, "An eating and drinking landmark since 1984." Landmark? Landmarks are old things! Things our grandparents would have seen! And I was 32 in 1984, so that must make me... retired!