The next stop was Talkeetna, which is apparently the town on which the TV show Northern Exposure was based (it’s a great show, in case you haven’t seen it). Talkeetna has the best views of the south side of Denali, which is the Dena’ina name for Mt. McKinley. From left to right, the peaks are Foraker, Hunter, and Denali:

The next day we managed to get a good shot of the peak of Denali, which is 70% of the time obscured by clouds:

We also saw some pretty purple flowers known as lupins:

One thing about summer in Alaska is the length of the days. The sun rose at 4:30 AM and set at 11:42 PM. I stayed up to try and catch the peaks at sunset. Of course, the cloud cover was heavy, but the colors were gorgeous. Some of it sort of came out in my little point-and-shoot’s image: