Just Desserts for Horseshoe Lake?

If you are a stickler for colloquial expressions, you may notice that just deserts is spelled incorrectly in the title for this post, although "deserts" would be pronounced the same as the sweet treats at the end of a meal.

According to Merriam-Webster, "deserts" in this instance refers to a deserved reward or punishment, not deserts like the Sahara and Mojave. 

I've generally heard the phrase used to describe a negative outcome, but it can be a positive reward.

Having not heard the term casually invoked in years, perhaps I should infer that it has already been relegated to the grammar scrapyard of common language.

A lesson I learned without direct instruction in school is that sometimes I just need to start somewhere...anywhere... when writing anything.  Once in college I wrote a history report by adding titles and names from Beatles lyrics wherever I could squeeze them in, after beginning with "Dear Prudence."  

Along those lines, I thought I would just start with the desserts we enjoyed on the day Gina, Laszlo and Emma joined us in Denali.  So, with writer's block now a starter's block, I will get to the subject at hand.

Having completed the Horseshoe Lake Trail on top of five miles Julie and I hiked in the morning, delicious desserts on the deck with at Grizzly Burger did feel like well-earned rewards.  Then again, the whole meal with family on a deck with a panoramic view was a treat.

We actually had our desserts alongside our entrees, because the desserts were milk shakes containing unexpected ingredients.

"Oh Captain My Captain" is the one that jumped out at me.  In addition to ice cream, it contained Cap'n Crunch Cereal and Captain Morgan Spiced Rum.

Laszlo ordered "Peanut Butter Cup," with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups swirled in.  He opted out of Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey as included in the "Boozy" version for $6 more.  After all, Laszlo faced a long drive to Fairbanks after dinner.

I was about to order the one that most amused me, but Julie said she drew the line at including Cap'n Crunch Cereal, no matter how much she may like our friend Captain Morgan in the Boozy version we could have shared.

Instead, we went with "Blueberry Hill."  It blends in blueberries and Anchorage Distillery Blueberry Vodka.

Those choices were tasty.

When the meals came, Gina ordered "Oh Captain My Captain," sharing a few sips with me.

As Julie accurately commented, "You realize Gina only ordered that so you could taste it." But Gina no doubt enjoyed it, too.

Delicious!  I must confess that I always have liked Cap'n Crunch Cereal, choosing Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch when the kids were growing up (and it was on sale).  These days, my cereal consumption tends to be oatmeal, and occasionally Raisin Bran, if I'm feeling wild.

But as I say, we all felt like we had earned our Just Desserts on that day.

On their Alaska Railroad trip the prior day, Gina asked Laszlo if passing through Denali National Park on that train counted for his goal of visiting every National Park in the USA.

He clarify that to qualify as visiting a park, he needed to hike a trail and pick up a map.

Mission accomplished on the challenging Horseshoe Lake Trail.

Hiking up and down the undulating path, we got quite a workout before spotting Horseshoe Lake.  

The lake is a lovely iridescent blue site from a distance and up close.

At one angle when we were standing beside the lake, it became a brilliant teal.

Then it changed colors again, depending on the sunlight and shadows playing through the trees.

We spotted what looked like an uneven, makeshift bridge over a beaver dam at a narrow part of the lake.

Bravely (sort of) taking the challenge of possibly getting our shoes (or more of us) soaked, we chose our steps wisely.

We made it without becoming submerged before beginning our uphill trek back to the trailhead.

While Gina and Emma literally raced uphill, I was dragging up the rear near the end, but we made it back to the Park's Visitor Center.

I should note that Denali National Park makes it easy for families to choose among various trails beginning right at the Visitor Center.  Julie and I would embark on another great hike the next morning that conveniently began near to where we concluded our Horseshoe Lake hike.

Rather than calling it quits, however, we decided to take the free park bus out to the Mountain Vista Trail, to see if we could spy the peak of Denali in the distance.

Laszlo snapped this photo, and Gina took the one of the shake at the top.

While the smoke had not completely cleared, we thought we might have better luck than Julie and I had that morning.

Laszlo and I might have seen its outline in the distance, but not a clear sighting as hoped.  Not clear enough to pick up with a phone camera.  Still, we enjoyed a pleasant, relatively flat cooldown walk after the short bus ride.

We walked across the road by that trail to the Cabin Loop Trail, a flat .8 mile loop trail, proving that we had not pooped out entirely on the Horseshoe Lake Trail.

After the hike, we rode the bus back to the Princess Denali Wilderness Lodge for the aforementioned dinner.  Staying at either the Princess or Holland America Lodges makes access to the park a snap.

While Julie and I could simply walk next door to Holland America Denali Lodge to listen to live campfire music before turning in, the others had a long drive ahead of them to reach Fairbanks.

Another pic by Laszlo

Perhaps we'll all return again one day on an Alaska Cruise Tour, so we can all enjoy more time exploring Alaska.

In looking at the volume of photos snapped on this day, I will note that once again that I take fewer pictures when I'm with loved ones than when sightseeing with just Julie.  Much of what is happening is interpersonal and spur of the moment, too immediate to interrupt for a photo op.  We thoroughly enjoyed our wonderful day in Denali.

More of Julie's Photos

More of Wes's Photos

More of Laszlo's Photos