Decided that we couldn't miss the opportunity to see the other sights of Denali, so we started out by going to the visitor center and catching a bus to their Dog Kennel, where we watched yet another demonstration of how much sled dogs love their work. This time, it was a pretty laid back session, with the dogs only going on short run around the track before stopping for a photo op in front of the crowd. This was preceded by a short presentation by one of the young female rangers, and the dogs were obviously not racing dogs, but rather heavier pack dogs, more Malamute types. Didn't learn anything really new, but it's always fun to see what kind of digs the dogs have, and to see the 3-week old puppy curled up with Mama. After we got back, we decided we had to see Denali Central, which is really just a row of retail shops set up along the main highway, but Hubby had seen a Fish and Chips shop the other day, which got him in the mood. We also wanted to get into one of the two musical revues they perform here, but one, Cabin Nite, would only let us in for both the meal and the show, but their menu wasn't suitable, and we didn't need that much food, so we passed. The Denali Music Revue, however, let us in their 5:30 show after dinner was served, and didn't even charge us because they had a whole table of no shows, and didn't seem to mind slipping us in (though they had told us the show only was $15 each, which we would have paid), so we saw the show for free. The show was okay, nothing to write home about, not as good as the one in Fairbanks, but typical community theatre level work with a show designed to educate. By now, we've done enough homework where there wasn't really anything new for us, but I'm sure many of the tour folks hadn't heard it all yet, so I guess they were entertained. In any event, we had our fish and chips (actually a sample of fried salmon, which I wouldn't recommend, fried halibut, which seems a waste of really nice fish, and cod, the standard and excellent fish for the purpose), and we had our musical revue, so our trip to Denali was all but complete. We got back to the campground around 8:30, and I took a walk, discovering a great and historical trail down to the original site of the Savage River Campground, with placards once again describing the history of the place, with photos of how it looked in the 20's and 30's, really a tent city. Beautiful views of the mountain range, though non of Denali itself, being the elusive and shy mountain that it is. Once I got back to camp, another quiet evening, very nice!
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