Camping at Denali

Joelle and I went camping with some friends out to a state park at Denali. In case you don't know, Denali is the Alaska Native name for Mt. McKinley which is the tallest peak in North America. The park is over 2 million acres. IT'S HUGE! This was Joelle's first time camping and she loved it!

We did campfires and Joelle ate her first smores:
We found out our first evening that the sun NEVER sets as far north as we were. The sun shines high in the sky 24/7! So unless you check your watch you really have no idea what time it is. Joelle and I went to bed in our tent with the sun shining bright. I woke up often wondering if it was time to get up, checked my watched and realized it was only 2am! Finally when my watch read after 7am (and Joelle was ready to get up), we would crawl out of our tent. The sunshine really screws you up!

It was cold in the mornings (maybe in the 40's) but really nice in the later afternoons and evenings (high 60's to mid 70's). Here's a picture of Joelle in the morning:

We took a short bus ride to the Denali Visitor's Center and then another bus ride to a working dog sled kennel.
On our drive back home to Ft. Richardson we stopped at some Denali viewing areas. We saw some amazing views of Denali! I had a friend take a picture of me and Joelle in front of the mountain....sorry we're not in focus, but Denali is!
This trip was definitely a lot of hard work having to set up and tear down camp by myself, with a toddler running around....and pregnant. Luckily we did not bring the dogs with us (I could not have handled all that!). We will definitely be doing this trip again next year with Justin and baby girl #2. It really is a great place to camp!