lois on the road

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Fairbanks To Denali

Fairbanks to Denali

Arrived in Fairbanks (North Pole Alaska) around noon and started to explore. Where else would you expect to find Santa Claus’ house, and street names such as Santa Claus Lane, Kris Kringle Drive and Snowman Lane to name a few. We soon noticed the car was making a noise, so off to the Seekins Ford garage. A stone was lodged in the brake somewhere and they fixed us up at no charge. Pretty nice of them!

Took pictures of the pipeline and drove a few of the back roads looking for moose, no luck tonight. Woke up to rain and temps in the 50s so the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska sounded pretty good, and it was! We went to view the muskox first, at a university run farm, then we spent the entire afternoon in the museum. They had Alaska’s largest public display of gold, many wildlife exhibits, and a lot of information on the native peoples, and their crafts. There was also an awesome art gallery.

Fri the 19^th was a rest day for us, We went to the North Pole Visitors center Where the very nice girl, a transplant from Atlanta GA, directed us to a nice community of log homes with sod roofs, I commented on the rhubarb growing everywhere and she invited me to pull some in front of the center, She said she had never tasted it, I got enough for a custard and baked it that afternoon. We went to a laundry mat for the first time in years, we have a washer dryer in the rv but since we are dry camping we thought it would be easier to get it all done at one time. Shocker” the washers were $8.50, and the dryers were .70 for 6 minutes. Well at least it didn’t take as long as it would have in the motorhome, and I met an interesting character, a fellow who dumpster dives and sells his findings at flea markets. There are two military bases near here, Eielson Air Force Base, and Fort Wainwright Army Base, when the soldiers get orders, they leave a lot of their belongings behind, as it is not sensible to pay to ship them, hence he finds a lot of good things. He told me of the Fairbanks dumpster war in 2009, when a councilman wanted to impose a fine on anyone caught raiding the dumpsters. Five hundred dumpster people showed up at the meeting and the councilman even voted aghast his own proposal. and left town in less than 2 weeks.

Friday we went to the Golden Days at Pioneer Park, Where they had a flower show, and quilt show, in addition to the other attractions there. The park is set up like an early village in Alaska, with little shops in the homes, many of which were moved here from other places in the community. There is also a large sternwheeler on display. They have a nice Salmon bake there but we partook last time we were here so decided on some Greek food tonight. From there we went to the WEIO Games WORLD ESKIMO INDIAN OLYMPICS, The auditorium was filled with Eskimo artists selling jewelry, carved tusks, fur coats, drums and much more. The games are representative of the skills the Indians needed to survive the unforgiving Arctic. Blanket toss, the athlete who jumps the highest with the most grace wins this one, Greased Pole Walk: a test of balance needed to cross wet logs across creeks or reach a fish wheel, Ear Pull, they sit facing each other with twine looped around their ears and tug as they lean backwards until the string comes loose or someone gives up. This is a test of the ability to endure pain. There are also dances and costume contests, many more games. Took another ride moose hunting with no luck, Norm says they don’t come out during the rain, but I think they can’t bed down forever and that’s how long I think it’s going to rain here!

Sat we woke up to rain again, we attended the pioneer days parade and afterward another moose hunt! We ended up at the downtown Visitors center where we viewed 3 movies and looked through a very interesting display we went home to Mickey and are getting ready to head south toward Denali tomorrow.

Well we left our campsite at North Pole Sun. 7/22, and headed south on Parks Highway (#3). It is about 121 miles to Denali from Fairbanks and 348 mi to Anchorage. After about 40 miles Norms keen eye spotted Skinny Dicks! He had remembered seeing a pin from there in the University of The North Museum. We had both commented on the pin because it had two polar bears on it and I collect Pins from places we’ve visited for my badge sash. In the museum it was on a model outhouse.

He hunted a pullout and we went back for a pin. It was quite the place. We met a couple from Easton PA there who had heard about it in Anchorage at a comedy performance. They were out of pins but had one earring that they kindly gave me, it will work just fine I can replace the back. They were suprised to learn thier pin was in the museum, and said they would order more.

We arrived at a pull out, six miles north of the Park road, around noon in plenty of time for a drive to Savage River in the park. This is as far as you are allowed to drive your car. If you want to go any farther you must take a park bus. The big attraction is the bus trip 92 miles to Kantishna an old gold mining site and Wonder Lake where there is a good viewing point of Mount McKinley or Denali (the high one), 20,320 ft. high! The Bus trip is 12 hours long and depending on the weather you may be among the 70% who don’t get to see the mountain. We were so lucky last time we were here to see it 3 times; the sky is so full of clouds we decided not to take the bus this time. 12 hours on a school type bus just doesn’t sound that good to me. The Caribou/ Reindeer did show themselves along the Savage river. After leaving the park we took another ride on Stampede Trail, the road taken by the fellow in the book and 2006 movie “Into the Wild”. There are some beautiful views from there and BINGO, we saw a moose.

Monday we went to Denali Visitors Center then took the bus to the Dog Sled Demonstration. The dogs were all sleeping when we arrived but did they ever perk up when the ranger got the sled out. They love to pull! After that we drove south, about 12 miles, to locate a bakery that we had stopped at in 2002 and see if the same people were running it. Back then by the road was a bakery and up on a hill there was a very nice restaurant.

We got to know the mother of the folks who were operating the restaurant; she ran the bakery and baked the bread and pies for the restaurant. She is from Oregon and doesn’t come up any more for the summers. The two boys who were teenagers at the time have taken the bakery over and now it’s a pizza and Pub, and they do a great business (the name is The Perch for those of you coming after). We stopped for a pizza and it was excellent. The place on the hill is only open for breakfast; they said they had staff problems. They also have a few cottages for rent. It’s interesting to see the changes 10 years makes. Back to Denali to go to Savage River again, this time we hiked the loop, I like my walking sticks, saw more Caribou but no sheep. We talked with some folks who were on a Fantasy Caravan who had taken the bus and they didn’t get to see the mountain, but said the trip was worth the ride.

Quilt show at Fairbanks

My favorite below has beading

Olympic games

Fairbanks Golden Days Parade

Sod roofed homes in North Pole

Part of the largest display of gold in Alaska

Pump House Restaurant

Getting our Motorhome stone chips repaired

Pipeline North of Fairbanks

Sod Roofed Houses at North Pole AK

Largest display of gold in AK at the Museum of the North

Pump House Restaurant

Getting the dings fixed in the motorhome windshield

Our stop for a pin

Sleepy sled dogs

Wide awake when they thought they were going to get to pull the sled

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Haines to Juneau to Fairbanks

Eaglen Haines
Sat. July15-18 Haines to Juneau to Fairbanks

Norm really enjoyed his massage with Lee, the same therapist he had gotten one from in 2002. She gave him a package of smoked salmon straight off the smoker, it is scrumptious. In the evening we took another ride to view the eagles. The population of Eagles year-round is about 350 but in the autumn it swells to 3,500 making it the largest gathering of Bald Eagles in the world. They can spot a fish a mile away and dive up to 100 mph to get it! We also toured Ft Seward, built in 1903 in response to a border dispute with Canada. It was there we almost pulled an Allen and Gene! There were several white tents set up on the parade grounds, with music coming from them and lines of people waiting to get in. They were grilling salmon so we ask what was going on. It turned out to be a memorial service for one of their local fishermen. Glad we didn’t stand in line too long.
We got up Sat to bright sunshine and a great day for our 8:30 Fjord Express to Juneau. The catamaran picked up folks in Skagway before coming for the 8 of us leaving from Haines. Skagway is just ½ hour away by water on the Catamaran, 353 miles by land. We were docked in Juneau by 11:45 where a bus picked us up and took us the remaining way into downtown Juneau. The driver, the boat captain’s brother, gave us a short tour of the downtown area then left us to our own devises for three hours. Norm and I toured the Capitol building, ate lunch and did a little shopping. The shops are very nice there, a lot of them filled with native items, I found the best bead shop, called “Peer Amid Beads”. They have more colors of seed beads than I have seen anywhere. The city sits below a mountain and the flats, where everything is built, is created from crushed rock taken out of the mountain from mining. Land downtown is scarce; the library is built on the fourth floor of a parking garage! There were two cruise ships docked downtown. The bus driver told us of a murder that occurred in the red light district, the guilty party shot a man who was mistreating a lady of the evening, he got 3 years for man slaughter, but while in prison he killed a guard, and this landed him life. He later became known as the Birdman of Alcatraz.
From downtown Juneau we boarded the bus and went to see the Mendenhall Glacier. It is beautiful, with a waterfall on its right side. We had 1 ½ hours to hike the trails then back to the boat where we saw a whale from the bus. Our trip on the Linn Canal was filled with whale watching, Eagle spotting and two really good stops to view the sea lions. The salmon were jumping as they swam up the canal searching for their spawning stream. It was 12 hours since we left Mickey and he sure was glad to see us.
Sun morning the trip out of Haines was sunny and warm. We stopped for about an hour to watch a mother grizzly bear and her two cubs. I’m sure we will never get an opportunity like that again. I couldn’t get enough and exhausted the battery on the camera! We toured a small but well done nature museum in Burwash Landing, and then drove by Kluane Lake with its deep blue water. It’s the largest lake in the Yukon at 154 square miles. We boondocked at an overlook and were joined by 3 other RVs.
I guess now would be a good time to mention the travel conditions. The roads have been 2 lane with a lot of them tar and chipped. The worst thing about them is the construction areas that are just stoned. Here is where we have picked up our chips in the windshields, I haven’t counted lately but on the motorhome passenger side we have two dandies, there are several on the car but that is cracked anyway so we know we’ll be replacing that one. The speed limit has usually been around 50-55 mph except for construction, and we are usually going slower to spot wildlife. We stopped for gas in Tok AK today $ 4.26 per gal, much better than the Yukon. I told Norm this morning that the moose have been avoiding us and just about then he spotted a mother and her baby on the side of the road ahead. Till I got the camera out she crossed the road and headed into the bush, I just managed one poor shot. Again we are boondocked a little south of Delta Junction which is the end of the Alaskan Highway, 96 miles south east of Fairbanks. A red fox just stopped in front of the motorhome, he had dinner in his mouth, What Luck! On to Fairbanks, stopping at Delta Junction for a photo of the end of the Alcan sign, and again at the Knotty shop, a gift shop that sells burled wood. We arrived at the North Pole and are camping at the same place we stayed at in 2002.