RV Date 072499
Got up early because we have lots to do today! Started at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks museum. What a great place. The highlights include a stuffed 9 foot Alaskan brown bear (read grizzly!) and a 25000 year old steppe bison who was killed by a wolf and then frozen. He is perfectly preserved. He is blue in color because of the minerals in the water and dirt he froze in. Then they have the largest skull and tusks of a woolly mammoth we've ever seen. And there are the museum quality works of the natives - absolutely gorgeous beadwork and unique and beautiful basketweaving. We also saw a presentation on the northern lights. Have you ever had to have a blanket in a theater? This talk/video presentation was held outside in an igloo like structure and it was rather cool. Beautiful actual videos of the northern lights, which aren't visible now because there is no darkness. We decided a good money maker would be to organize a trip this New Year's Eve to celebrate the millennium and see the northern lights.
Next we went on the Paddlewheeler Discovery. Everyone said this would be the best thing we saw in Alaska and they may be right. The paddlewheeler goes down the Chena River to the Tanana. Along the way you see lots of beautiful homes, a native fish camp where they caught salmon with a fish wheel and talked with Susan Butcher - the woman who won the Iditarod 4 times. In fact the best t-shirt we've seen here says "Alaska where men are men and women win the Iditarod". When we turn into the Tanana River we notice the color goes from clear to brown. The guide said the Tanana carries 100,000 tons a day of finely powdered rock crushed by glaciers down to the Yukon delta. Right now is the end of the king salmon run and there are all kinds of small fishing boats where the rivers meet. On the way back we stop at an authentically reproduced native village. We see some of Susan Butcher's dogs run with the sled, we see all kinds of furs, reindeer, and clothing made out of the furs. The guides modeled a museum quality parka that was absolutely fantastic. Also there was a native woman who does beadwork. Some of her stuff is in the Smithsonian. It is beautiful beyond belief. We had just stopped at the village when a roll of film ran out. When we got that roll off, the camera froze up and would not snap anymore. We put new batteries in it - nothing. All this beautiful stuff and no camera! Is there some cosmic law that says the thing you need the most will break at 5 pm on a Friday?
When we got back to shore we went to Alaskaland for a Salmonbake. For a fixed price you get steak, ribs, salmon and halibut all cooked over an open fire. Plus you get all the salad fixings, coleslaw, beans, dessert and drinks. It was actually pretty good. The salmonbakes are everywhere up here so we had to try one.
We ate at the same table with a couple from Kansas who are on a land/sea cruise. We've run into many, many cruisers since we hit Fairbanks and many of them are foreign. How this works seems to be is they fly into Anchorage. Take a train for 8 hours to Denali. Take a 3 hour tour of Denali. Take a bus to Fairbanks. Spend one day here then go on to other places. After 10 to 14 days of this they get on a ship and cruise back to Vancouver. All of them that we saw seemed totally tired and stressed. The locals we talked to confirmed those observations. We don't think we'd recommend this as a way to see Alaska. We know we wouldn't want to travel in a way that was this regimented. But it does bring more tourists into these towns.
RV Date 072499
This day didn't start out too well. The cat's medication ran out 5 days ago so she was back with her infection early this morning - about 5:30 or so. Got up a 8 to find a vet. Found a really nice lady vet who did an ultrasound and found crystals in the bladder. Change of food and more antibiotics.
Next we went downtown to find a camera repair shop. Today is Golden Days parade so all the streets downtown are blocked. This is one of those small town parades where everyone turns out and sits on the curb rain or shine, and it rained most of the day. We parked as close as we could and walked in only to find that the camera repair place isn't open on Saturday. Someone recommended another place so we trek over there. The guy behind the counter doesn't have the knowledge or tools to fix the camera so we end up buying a new camera body. Another $300. Isn't plastic great?
We have tried and tried to find a place in this town to send e-mail. The park where we are staying says theirs is "broken"?!? The library has their own computers but can't figure out how to let us plug into their phone line. Ditto the local used book store. Finally we find a copy store that will let us log on. He turns out to be from Denver and was there last year attending Bronco and Avalanche games. The world really is a small place.
After such a cruddy morning we head out to Gold Dredge No. 8. This national historic site is a 5 story high dredge that was last used in 1959. This machine literally dredges the gold out of the ground and puts it through a big sluice box on board. One of the reasons they shut it down is because it is so noisy. The guide said it could easily be heard 15 miles away in Fairbanks. The highlight of the day, though, was getting to pan for gold. That was the one thing Andi wanted to do when she came to Alaska. So we both panned for gold and ended up with $17.55 worth. Of course, it only cost us $49 to get that $17.55 (two tickets to the attraction plus the cost of the jewelry to put it in). It was still lots of fun.
On the way to the gold dredge we stopped at a site built by Alyeska where the pipeline runs right next to the road. Now here we are out in the middle of nowhere where, as stated by some old Alaska law, THERE MUST BE A GIFT SHOP EVERY 10 MILES! No kidding, alongside this pipeline is a little hut where they are selling caps, t-shirts, maps and other trinkets promoting the pipeline. What a country!
Tonight we ate at our favorite place in Fairbanks. The locals tell us the chef here is the best in town right now. It is right here at the park where we are staying and is called River's Edge Restaurant. This guy can fix halibut like nobody's business. This is fast becoming our favorite fish. It is light, flaky and delicious. We would urge any of you who haven't tried it to do so. We had eaten breakfast there yesterday morning. At the next table were two couples from Lexington and one from Nicholasville. We didn't get a chance to talk to them because they were having a group meeting. Anyway, a great way to end the day.
Tomorrow we dash for the Arctic Circle.
RV Date 250799
Ok, so dash is the wrong word. Maybe the right word is crawl - very slowly! 11 hours to go 400 miles. We have never been on such a bad road. This is the Dalton Highway otherwise known as the "haul road", built by Aleyska to run provisions up to Prudhoe Bay. Big trucks travel this all the time and it sure shows. So filled with potholes that you couldn't miss them all. Plus it was raining most of the way so the truck got covered with about a half inch of muck everywhere. The highlight of the trip was we stopped for ice cream about 2/3 of the way up at the Yukon River. There in the middle of nowhere is a little restaurant (AND gift shop, of course!). This trip sure drives home how vast this country is. You can see for miles and miles and miles and still not see the next mountain range. We got to the Arctic Circle, took a few pictures and came on back. Probably wouldn't do that again.
RV Date 270799
Made it to Denali National Park yesterday and took the 8 hour tour today. A lady we met at the fireworks in Seattle told us to make sure we took the 8 hour tour - not the 3 hour tour. So we signed up for the 8 hour tour.
Of course, it rained all day and the road was absolutely awful. Also we were on an old school bus - nothing but the best from our National Park Service. By the end of the ride we both thought our tail bones would fall off!
But the good news is we saw lots of animals. Almost immediately we saw a grizzly bear sauntering up the road. We got great pictures of him. Saw another one later one just eating on the hillside. We also saw lots of caribou - some with huge antlers. Also saw Dall Sheep on the hillsides and ptarmigan on the sides of the road. Unfortunately, Mt. McKinley was totally obscured. But we understand that is the case most of the time. We could still see most of the landscape and get a good idea of how vast and beautiful this park is. All in all, we thought it was a wonderful day and one of the highlights of our trip.
Tomorrow off to Anchorage!
RV Date 280799
Today dawned bright and beautiful and not a cloud is the sky. We head south toward Anchorage and around the first curve is the most beautiful scene of Mt. McKinley you have ever seen. It is just breathtaking. Covered in white with, we think, a fresh dusting of snow last night. (It got COLD last night!) . It took us over 3 hours to go 100 miles because we stopped every 10 minutes to take another picture. All in all shot 2 rolls of this wonderful mountain from all different angles. Staying tonight in Anchorage.
Tomorrow we go on the long anticipated glacier voyage and head on down the Kenai Peninsula so Mack can fish for halibut!