Bon Voyage!

July 6

Time to start the sea portion of our trip! The bad news is the cruise terminal is two hours from Anchorage, but the good news is that we travelled there by train. My dad was thrilled about the train ride -- it was like Christmas morning for him.

Dad in front of a train -- what could make him happier?

The train ride was awesome! We had seats this time instead of tables, and we followed the shore, which is a long stretch of quicksand instead of a sandy beach.

The muddy beach

Thirty minutes into the ride, someone spotted some Dall sheep clambering up a cliff, and the entire train grinded to a halt so we could see them. It was pretty fantastic to see them up close. We also saw some eagles soaring above the water, and into the trees.

But the best part was the scenery. We’d been inland for the past week, and used to seeing pretty lakes, creeks and rivers. Now we travelled along the coast, along ocean water, and towering above it, huge snow-capped mountains.

Have I mentioned that Alaska is beautiful?

We’d spent the last seven days sweating, and this was the first time I really felt like I was in Alaska proper. The weather was still gorgeous and sunny, but the snow and glaciers made it feel more…well, Arctic!

I scanned the scenery closely, taking in the mountains, water and wildflowers dominating the landscape. I searched and searched, but never saw a bear. :-(

This pic would be better with a BEAR in it!

We made a quick stop at a tiny little town, then went four miles deep into a tunnel. When we came out, we all screamed with delight -- we were up close (or, closer than we'd been yet) to a giant glacier!

Glacier -- a frozen river "flowing" down the mountain

Zooming in on the glacier

Suddenly the naturalist announced Whittier, and called for all cruise passengers to disembark. There was a frenzy as we gathered our belongings and climbed off the train.

There was a strong wind blowing as we got off, but it was a warm wind. Seems the hot inland weather had followed us to the coast! Our giddy group gathered for a shot next to the Alaska Railroad car, and then headed for the ship.

The Coral Princess sat in the harbor, shiny and beautiful. It was a smaller ship, but inviting. We couldn’t wait to get aboard.

We rushed through embarkation, and before long, were in line for lunch. The dining room wasn’t open yet, so we headed for the buffet, which besides having pretty good food, also had a nice view.

The afternoon was spent exploring the ship, running all over the place, trying to figure out which side was port and which side was starboard. Just as we finally agreed (port was the side with the even-numbered rooms), someone mentioned bow and aft. Who knew sides of the boat had so many names!

As we explored, we heard a loud bellow, which sounded like a foghorn. A minute later, my mind recognized the horn as a sea lion call, and we set about searching for it. Sure enough, a few moments later, we spotted our first Alaskan marine life lounging on a pipeline!

Hello, Mr. Sea Lion

I registered Mark for the onboard kid’s club -- he was thrilled to see video games, and I was thrilled to see a schedule that noted activities other than just video gaming. We also found the Ice Cream Bar, and though we’d just finished lunch, we couldn’t resist a cup of softserve.

Before we knew it, it was time for dinner. We headed down to the dining room, and met our super sweet server, Esther. She immediately took to Mark, and was surprised to hear he preferred the grown-up menu instead of the kid’s menu. (Lucky for me, he’s got a sophisticated palette for a 9-year-old -- when he actually agrees to eat.)

After dinner was the obligatory muster drill, where we found our stations and modeled our life jackets. Mark thought that was hilarious, but Kathleen later stated that if the boat did go down, there was no way she was jumping into that cold, glacial water. “I’m heading toward the nearest bar instead,” she told me. "I'm staying there until the life boats are ready."

It had been quite an eventful day, so we headed off to an early night. We were heading toward the College Fjords early the next morning, and I didn’t want to miss a minute of it.

Anchorage Away

July 5

No morning activities planned today, so I let Mark sleep in. Since our hotel’s claim to fame is being the closest lodge to Denali, I was hoping for a view of the mountain this morning. But alas, it never showed. (Apparently there are forest fires somewhere in the Yukon, and all you can see is a gray haze from their smoke.)

We packed up all our belongings and headed south to Anchorage. Today’s ride was a motorcoach, which means a fancy bus. (There are loads of school buses here in Alaska, which they use to transport tourist groups between hotels and national parks.) It was a 2 hour bus ride to Anchorage, through thick forests of lush green. The trees were cleared on either side of the road to prevent drivers from hitting any moose who simply stepped out of the forest and onto the road. (Moose are huge, and really dangerous to hit.) Vic got to see her first moose, and we saw another on our side of the bus.

We drove through Wasilla, home of Sarah Palin and 15,000 other Alaskans. It was the first time since I’d arrived that I felt like I could’ve been anywhere in the Lower 48 – there were fast food restaurants and chain stores EVERYWHERE. Truth be told, after a week in the wilderness, it was all kind of shocking. There were street lights and traffic, and even a big Wal-Mart, which we learned sold more duct tape than any other Wal-Mart in the country. They’d even sculpted a duct tape moose in honor of it.

However, there were other signs that reminded us we were not quite in a metropolitan city. We passed one fast food joint with one customer at the drive-through window -– a guy on his ATV!

The drive to Anchorage was pretty. Soon enough, we were in Anchorage. The bus dropped us off at our next stop -– a visit at the Alaska Heritage Museum. It was filled with artifacts from the original five Alaska tribes, including a huge totem. This one had a little funky monkey holding it up at the bottom.

Outside, there was a half-mile walk around a beautiful lake, with small huts all around.


Each hut housed native tools or treasures, and a native teenager who explained the significance of them. It was really cool to see the teenagers all dressed up and eager to discuss their heritage, instead of sullen and plugged into their iPods.

There was even a dance demonstration, starring an extended family from King Island. It included some uncles, parents and kids. The men played traditional drums made of walrus skin, while the kids and moms danced. It was very cool.

If Wasilla had surprised us as a “big” city, Anchorage downright shocked us. They had traffic lights, crowds and even a mall (which closed early, since it was Sunday).

The bus dropped us off at the Captain Cook hotel, which was most exciting because we met up with the rest of our tour group -- my parents, cousin Kathleen, and Monica. They all joined us for the cruise, and were as excited to be in Alaska as we’d been one week earlier.

Mark was really excited about his rollaway bed, which included a "seat belt" to keep him from falling out of bed. He's really looking forward to seeing the bed seat belts I've told him about on the boat.


We dropped off our bags, and headed out for a quick stroll around Anchorage. It seemed pretty busy, even for a Sunday night. Almost immediately, we found some fun photo opportunities.

Group shot with a moose

On our way to find the Yukon Gold

We found a really cute little cabin surrounded by beautiful flowers, and all the shops displayed enormous hanging flower pots outside. The midnite sun really does wonders for the flowers –- no matter where you look, there’s a ridiculously large flower pot blooming.

Dinner was at the Glacier Brewhouse, and was excellent. I’ve been eating fresh salmon and halibut the entire week, and the Brew House was no exception.

After dinner, most of the group retired to bed. Kathleen, however, was thrilled to be on vacation, and ready for a little sightseeing. And Mark was all full of energy, so the three of us took a walk.

Kathleen was totally freaked out by the amount of sun. She couldn’t get over how light it still was.

During our walk, we stumbled on a playground. Mark ran off to play with a couple other kids, and Kathleen and I admired the view of Cook Inlet. It was mostly swamp ground out to the ocean, the consistency of quicksand, so we admired it from afar, on a park bench.Pretty soon Mark informed us he was tired. Kathleen realized why – it was after 10 p.m.! That strong sunlight plays tricks on you – it felt like 4 p.m., not after 10. So we headed back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s big adventure -– our sea cruise!

Eagles galore!

July 4

Mark and I stayed up late packing last night, and decided to sleep in. We’d had enough early mornings and needed a good night’s rest.

After an early lunch, we boarded our motor coach to the Mt. McKinley Lodge. The bus took us along a 120 mile road of beautiful Alaskan countryside. We saw a mountain that formerly housed a glacier, and a giant igloo (an unfinished hotel, not an ice igloo!). We saw rivers and trees, and Edra even spotted a moose. We crossed over a bridge with giant ravines below, sheer drops that were pretty scary.

We saw everything but Denali, which was clouded in today. Apparently, it even clouded in yesterday afternoon, reported Edra, who’d met a couple on the Natural History Tour after ours. They’d been disappointed to miss the mountain, and we were even more thankful for our clear day and amazing views of it.

After 2 ½ hours, we arrived at the Princess Mt. McKinley Lodge. Of course, it’s beautiful here. The lodge rests high above the Chulitna river (we learned that all river names named by the Athabascans end with the letter “A”). And it being the Fourth of July, there was a celebration.

We skipped the celebration, which turned out to be a parade of the lodge staff. This is the smallest lodge by far, and the number of staff reflected that.

It’s light all night long here, so there were no fireworks, but the staff did their best to put on a show. They passed out popcorn to the guests, then joined the parade, which consisted of floats sponsored by each lodge department – Maintenance, Food & Beverage, Housekeeping, Transportation, and Administration.

There was also a special guest appearance for the Grand Marshall –- Sarah Palin (OK, a Palin lookalike -– who I’m pretty sure was a mustached man!). Considering she resigned from her governorship today, it was an ironic choice for Grand Marshall.

The "big" parade

Our hotel was literally in the middle of nowhere, so we boarded the 4 o’clock shuttle to the nearest town, Talkeetna. The driver didn’t want to disrupt the parade, so he left as it came down the path -- our bus actually started off the parade. Guests could vote best float, so as we passed the parade viewers, we waved and shouted, “Vote for us!”

The shuttle took an hour to drive us to Talkeetna, a small town about two or three blocks long. It was a tiny little place with 400-800 permanent residents and today, a lot of cruise passengers passing through.

Edra in downtown Talkeetna

You could definitely tell the locals from the tourists. The locals seem to have a sense of humor.

The town was very festive, with celebrations all along the river bank. We checked out the view where the Chulitna, Susitna and another river converged. It was a pretty but rapidly moving river.

A local pub hosted our dinner. Most of us picked one of the two local specialties -– caribou or halibut. The halibut came in tacos or sandwiches, and was excellent. Bill ordered his caribou as a chili cheeseburger, which he proclaimed delicious. Wende and Mark enjoyed their caribou in chili, while Edra savored the caribou tacos. (I sampled the caribou tacos –- tasted like lean hamburger.)

Dinner was a bit rushed, because we had another activity planned –- a jet boat along the river. I was a little nervous at first, especially when another jet boat flipped around the corner past us really fast. But we had a great driver who really knew his way around the river, and my fear soon dissipated.

The boat stopped suddenly when someone shouted. Turns out they saw an eagle’s nest, complete with a parent eagle sitting in it (couldn’t tell if it was the mama or the daddy, but the naturalist said they take equal responsibility). It was the most fabulous thing ever to see that eagle sitting in the tree. Next to the moose, it was my favorite moment yet.

Until five minutes later, when we passed a sandbar with another eagle. This eagle was sitting on a log, and was super close! It was magnificent, and huge. We later saw it fly off over the river, its humongous wings powering it far across the river.

I just couldn’t believe our luck. We were sighting the most incredible animals!

We exited the boat for a small hike through the woods. Our guide took us to a replica of an Athabascan bivouac, complete with dried bear pelts hanging from the walls. He also explained how the Athabascans cooked over an open roasting pit, which we think looked a little like this:

That meat might be a little tough

He then led us to another encampment, with more animal pelts and a small smoking cabin. PETA representatives would blow a gasket if they saw even half the animal furs and skins we’ve seen this week.

Would've preferred to see a live caribou...

We also saw some new vegetation we hadn’t seen before: ferns.

They're quite tasty sauteed in butter and garlic

Specifically, fiddlehead ferns, which flourish here. They were gorgeous.

The mosquitoes were out in full force here. I killed a humongous skeeter in Denali, but here they were small, abundant and aggressive. It was 80 degrees outside, but I put on my fleece sweatshirt. I figured I’d rather be hot than all bitten up.

We returned to the boat and headed back to the docks. I was eager to see the eagle in the nest again, but it was in a different tree. Still marveling over the majestic birds, I exited the boat, and stepped on to the sand. Suddenly, a few of us spotted another eagle, right off the dock, just a few yards away. Some smaller birds were dive bombing it, trying to chase it away, but the eagle resisted them. It headed straight for us, then turned, and repeated the move two or three times. That eagle flew right over us, wings spread out. We couldn’t believe our luck.

Eagle!!!

Then it was back onto the shuttle and headed toward the Mt. McKinley lodge again. It was still light out when we arrived, though more of a dusky sunlight than the bright-as-noon sunlight we experienced in Fairbanks.

Sunset at the Mt. McKinley Lodge. That's about as dark as it gets.

The lodge has a huge deck and chairs pointed directly at Denali. Because of the haze, we could only make out the tip of the mountain, but we saw the surrounding mountain ranges, including the sawtooth range (aka the moose tooth range). It was a beautiful night, with a beautiful view, even if we didn’t see the whole mountain (though I doubt any view could top the one we had yesterday). We enjoyed the view for a long while, until the mosquitoes got the best of us. I was shocked when I walked into our room to put Mark to bed, and realized it was 11:39 p.m.!!! No wonder he was whining up at the lodge, I realized. Kid was three hours past his bedtime!

But it’s all good. Tomorrow we head toward Anchorage for a night, and then on to the ship. We met an older lady who said she’d been freezing all week, which was the polar opposite of our Alaska adventure so far. A middle ground would be nice, since it’ll be odd going from 85 degree weather to much colder climes. But I don’t care, I’m just thrilled to start the second leg of our journey. The land portion was more than I could’ve hoped for, and probably the only thing that could top it is a calving glacier.

I’m hoping to report on that soon enough!

Sweatin’ in Alaska

July 3

Have I mentioned how great the weather’s been this past week? After all I’ve heard about rain and cold and layers for Alaska, we’ve experienced the exact opposite. I worried about freezing, and instead, it’s been clear, sunny, and on the verge of being downright hot.

And we’ve appreciated every moment of the sunshine! Made it feel like a real summer vacation.

Today was a really early day – our tour left at 6:30 a.m., which was a little rough because a) we had to get up at 5:15, and b) we drank a lot of free beer and stayed up late last night. But we did it, and were in the lobby just as the bus pulled up.

But the bus had other plans. Notably, it did not want to go on the Natural History Tour, and refused to start. And unfortunately, the Denali bus mechanics are on strike, so that slowed the recovery process a bit. However, we are on vacation so it takes more than a broken bus to ruin our day.

Once we got a replacement bus, we were on our way for the Natural History Tour. This was a school-bus ride 15 miles into Denali park, and it was – yes, you guessed it – AMAZING. The trees and mountains provided a breath-taking background, and our guide was funny and easy-going. He would drive a few miles down the road, then stop and have us search for wildlife. We didn’t see much at first, but then we saw probably the most majestic thing you can possibly see in the park – The Mountain. Denali itself, dwarfing the other mountains and covered in snow. It really was awesome, and I mean that in the “awe-inspiring” not “cool, dude” kind of way.

An amazing view of Denali -- this made our whole trip!

We’d been warned many times that we might not see Denali (aka Mt. McKinley). It has its own weather system and is frequently shrouded in clouds. The next lodge we’re travelling to even has a wake-up call system so that if the mountain does come out late at night, they’ll call you so you can see it.

But as I mentioned, good fortune is our travel companion this week, and the weather was picture perfect. We couldn’t have asked for a more sunny, clear day. And maybe 45 minutes into the park, there she was in all her glory. Denali, or The Great One in Athabascan (an Alaskan native tribe).

I could hardly believe our luck. We bounded out of the bus and immediately snapped up tons of pictures. Our driver then guided us back onto the bus and congratulated us on being one of the 25% of the summer tourists who’d see it.

We resumed our bus trip. We stopped at a little cabin in the woods swarming with mosquitoes and a man named Happy Harry. Happy Harry told us how the cabin is a replenishing station for the park rangers, and pointed out the bear-proof windows. They were wooden windows with nails sticking out of them and all around the window sills.

Bear-proof windows

Walking back to our bus, we spotted our first wildlife – a little hare. It was enough to spark our excitement.

Next, our guide spotted a mountaintop full of Dall sheep. He set up a telescope so we could see them (they were hard to see even with binoculars).

He also spotted a coyote down in the riverbank. It was being chased by a couple of gulls, who kept divebombing it.

We drove on some more, until we got to Primrose Point, one of our last stops. It was very cool – Denali looming in the background, and a smiling Athabascan woman next to us. She told us about the five tribes indigenous to Alaska, and specifically about her tribe, the Athabascan people. She was very wise, and spiritual, and I was really moved by her history. And then, when I thought it couldn’t get any better, she serenaded us with an Athabascan song. It was really inspiring.

We loaded the bus one last time for our return trip. However, Bryan, our guide, told us to keep looking out for wildlife. He was right – not five minutes later, we came across a stopped car, and saw the coyote run in front of it. Some cars on the other side stopped, and the little coyote got confused on where to go next, and just kept running. He ran right past our bus, on the side I was on. Too cool!

Coyote running past our bus

We also saw a caribou lying in a dry riverbank. The animals of Denali (caribou, moose, even the sled dogs) are all built for cold weather, and the heat was really taking a toll on them. That caribou just sat there in his heavy coat, trying to cool down. (He was kinda dumb though, because he was right in the hot sun!) Our last sighting was a ptarmigan, the state bird, and a bunch of her little chicks running into the bush.

One hot caribou -- they're built for -40 degree weather, not 80 above. The animals were having a hard time with the heat.

We grabbed a quick lunch after the tour, and boarded another school bus bound for the visitor center. We disembarked, then immediately loaded onto another bus headed to the ranger station for a sled dog demo. The sled dogs are the main source of transportation during the winter months, so it was kinda cool to hear about that. We also got to see the dogs race for about 10 seconds. Those were the cool things. The rest of the demo was pretty boring.

Edra considers a new career as a musher

We returned to the visitor center, where Mark, Edra, Kaye and I watched a really beautiful film about Denali’s four seasons. Unfortunately, we’d all been up since 5 o’clock this morning, and when they dimmed the lights, we almost dozed off. Kaye said, “We haven’t seen dark in a few days, and my body just wanted to go to sleep!” Talk about instinctual behavior, ours really kicked in then.

After the movie, we enjoyed ice cream cones out on the patio. We had a surprise guest, a little squirrel. He came right up to us and started cussing us out in squirrel language, chirping and squeaking and finishing off with a mad little chatter. Kaye said he was chastising us, and it certainly felt like it! I’ve never been yelled at by a squirrel before.

We headed back to the hotel for some down time, probably the first I’ve had in five days (there’s just so much to do, and so much sunshine to do it in! We saw people rafting down the river last night at 9:30). The Wawerchaks and Stricklands recommended the fancy restaurant at the hotel, so I thought I’d have a special Mark and Mom dinner there. Unfortunately, the first question Mark had was, “Is Amber coming?” The second was, “Is Edra coming?” and the third was, “Why not?” He is having such a blast with his aunties. I thought he’d be lonely being the only kid, but he is reveling in all the attention.

We returned from dinner to find the whole group relaxing at a table on the deck. They looked like they were having fun, so we joined them and enjoyed the fresh air and beautiful river flowing below. It was just another gorgeous night in another gorgeous Alaskan city.

So that’s it…think we’re caught up so far. WiFi’s been a little spotty, and I really have been having too much fun to stop very often. But we are having a FANTASTIC time, and just want to say –- if you’ve ever thought about visiting Alaska, DO IT! And if you visit, don’t just do the cruise, tour the interior, too. You won’t regret it!

Moose on the loose

July 2

Today we finally ventured out of Fairbanks. We headed south on the early train toward Denali, and I was almost shaking with excitement. (So excited that I woke up at 5:15 to ensure my bags –- and myself! -– made it on the train.)

The train was so cool. It had a glass dome top, so the windows extended from top to bottom. We were all thrilled to see Alaska roll by, with its tiny stunted trees and lush landscapes. (Because the harsh winters stunt their growth, the trees might only be 20 or 30 feet high, but 100 years old.)

The scenery was just breathtaking. We passed by rivers and swamps, past trees and open valleys. We went through little towns and even over a couple tall trestle bridges. We saw beaver homes, beaver dams and salmon wheels. And once, we even saw a moose along the swamp! Someone called out, “Moose!” and we all craned our necks to see. There it was, happily munching lily pads, and watching the train zoom past. The sight made us giddy, and we became even giddier when Amber pointed out a bald eagle on a tree top.

The train ride was about 4 ½ hours long. We spent the time playing cards, eating and hanging out on the open-air platform. The time flew by very quickly.

We made it to Denali, and took a short bus ride over to our hotel. After a quick lunch, the Stricklands, Edra, Mark and I decided to take a hike over at Horseshoe Lake.

It was another hot day, about 80 degrees. Everyone was in shock about the weather –- we’d expected cold, and even braced ourselves for a few rainy days (it rained for 42 days straight last summer). But here it was, 80 degrees and sunny all week long. We couldn’t have imagined better weather, and I NEVER imagined I’d be hot in Alaska! I even got a little red, and I said I wanted to print up a t-shirt that said, “I went to Alaska and all I got was this lousy sunburn.”

The heat didn’t bother us on the first half of the hike, which was all downhill. It was a gorgeous walk through the woods, quiet and peaceful. At one point, I heard a little rustling in the bushes and started to panic. I almost shrieked when a little critter jumped out of the bushes and freaked me out, until some passing hikers said, “It’s just a squirrel. We’ve been watching it the past few minutes.” See, just another reason to hate squirrels!

We made it to the bottom of the hill and were rewarded with an amazing lake view. (I know I describe everything as amazing, but truly, it all is! It’s so beautiful up here, words can’t describe it.) We found a little inlet where we noticed a swan across the lake. We kept walking until we came across another spot. We realized a beaver had dammed up part of the lake, and marveled at all the logs and sticks connecting one side of the lake to the other. Those are some industrious little rodents!

Here's a picture I took of a little beaver gnawing a hunk of wood:




Edra decided to coax the swan closer to us, and started mimicking swan calls. (Not that any of us really knew what swans sounded like.) It worked! The swan swam closer, and Amber and I went crazy taking photos. The swan then swam around to our original vantage point, so we followed it. We tried to be quiet, and were rewarded with some pretty close shots of the creamy white swan.



I noticed some people across the lake from us, and figured they were fishing, or just enjoying their view. But I realized that was not the case when Amber’s mom Cindy appeared, looking frantic, and waving her hand atop the side of her hand. This was a hand signal we’d jokingly practiced on our way down the mountain -– it was the sign for moose.

I thought she was kidding, but she kept on waving, and waved us to come over. We did, and then I about lost my breath. Standing in the water not 40 feet away was a female moose! It was the coolest thing I’d seen on an already incredible journey!

We’d been warned about moose the whole time we’ve been here. The guides all say the same thing –- if you see one, do NOT stop to take a picture. Hide behind a tree and get out of its sight. They weigh anywhere from 1200 to 1800 pounds, and will charge and stomp you if threatened.

So of course, the first thing we did was ignore that advice and start taking pictures. I tried to enjoy the beauty of the moment, but I couldn’t get the image of stampeding moose out of my head. I’m not proud to admit that I tried numerous times to get Mark to back up, finally hissing at him, “Mark, move! That moose will KILL you!”

Amber’s dad Bill had found an even closer spot to view the moose. We moved to the path we’d come down, and watched the moose standing in the water, chomping on lake vegetation. It eyed us a couple times, and more hikers stopped with their cameras. I kept trying to move Mark toward the bushes and away from the open areas, where I figured the moose would charge toward if spooked. But this is an animal suited for extreme cold, not heat, and she decided to stay exactly where she was, in the cool lake. She stood no more than 20 feet away from us.

Mark took a great shot of the moose!

Yeah, that's a giant MOOSE in front of us!

We hiked back up the mountain, even giddier than we’d been in the morning. We whispered “Moose!” to every hiker we encountered and pointed excitedly toward the lake. It was pretty cool to share our excitement with everyone we passed.

At the bus stop, we couldn’t stop talking about it. Every time someone asked how our hike was, we exclaimed, “We saw a moose!” It was a thrill saying it each time.

To recap, here's Amber showing the international sign for moose:

Here's what we were SUPPOSED to do if we saw a moose:


Here's what we did instead:


Back at the hotel, we were tired but happy. The Wawerchaks headed off to a nice dinner, but Mark, Edra and I decided to hold happy hour on the deck above the river. The view was phenomenal, the beer was free (the bartender was a fellow Angeleno), and the mood was happy.

We were there a long time, because the Wawerchaks came to find us. They wanted to go down to the hot tub, and I protested, because we had a 6:30 bus to catch in the morning. But I’m easily swayed, and I’d had a few beers, so I found myself in the hot tub, enjoying Alaska from another wonderful perspective. I did panic a little on the way back to our room, when I realized that though it was sunny and bright, it was 10:30 p.m., and my young son was nowhere near ready for bed.

But hey, we’re on vacation, and if that was my biggest worry, so be it. I stood 20 feet from a moose today –- nothing could ruin my good mood!

Rivers, planes and GOLD in them thar hills!

July 1, 2009

Today was the official beginning of our cruisetour. The beautiful weather has continued (it was in the 80s today!) and we are thankful for it. Of course, we are running out of t-shirts to wear, but it’s a small price to pay for all the sunshine.

For our first activity, we boarded an old stern wheel riverboat and cruised down the Chena river for three hours. It was really cool, because every 20 minutes or so, we’d stop for a demonstration of some kind.

The first one was a floatplane demo. We watched the plane taxi in the water alongside us, then rev up the engine and ascend. It was so cool! We could actually see the pilot in the cockpit as he flew right past us.

The next display was at Susan Butcher’s home. She was the first woman to win the Iditarod dog race, then she won it three more times. She died from cancer a couple years ago, but her husband and daughters still run the kennel, and they told us all about the dogs. They brought out some of the puppies, which were solo cute. Then they hooked up the adult dogs to an ATV with its engine removed. As soon as the dogs saw it, they went NUTS! They barked up a storm, running in circles around their dog houses, and jumping up on top of them. They were jumping everywhere, and they all wanted to pull the cart. It’s obvious how much they love to run and pull.

The next stop was at the end of the river, where the Chena meets the…um, other river whose name I now forget. But it was pretty cool to see, because it’s where the freshwater Chena river meets the other river of melted glacial runoff.

Our last stop was a replica of a Native Alaskan village. It was supposed to represent a typical Athabascan village, where the Athabascan people showed off their way of life. We saw them model beautiful fur coats, a salmon fishing wheel, little camping huts, and even reindeer. (My smart friend Edra informed us that reindeer are domesticated caribou – so they’re caribou out in the wild, and reindeer when they’re raised on a farm.)

Reindeer with BIG antlers

Athabaskan house

I thought the drying salmon looked good; Mark did not

Big bear, little boy

They brought the sled dogs over to the village, too, so Mark loved that. He was really excited to pet all the dogs. But those dogs are HYPER, and never stayed in one place for very long, so they were hard to pet.

Then it was back on the river boat for the cruise home. Edra and Mark decided they needed a little snack, so they purchased reindeer hot dogs to eat. Yeah, that’s right, REINDEER hot dogs! They were all right – a little fatty, but not all that different from a regular hot dog.

Now that's a good (reindeer) hot dog!

The narrator told us all about the homes along the river, and he seemed to know everyone who lived in them. Fairbanks is a pretty small town!

The tour ended back at our hotel in time for lunch. Then it was on to our second activity for the day, the El Dorado Gold Mine.

The mine was about 30 minutes outside of town. We drove out of the valley and up into the mountains, and made a short stop before the mine. We stopped to see the Alaska pipeline! The pipeline itself wasn’t that exciting, but it was interesting to learn that it runs the length of the whole state, and pumps out a million gallons of oil a day.

Vic sitting on the Alaskan Pipe Line

Mark, of course, missed it all. He was busy sleeping on the bus.

But he woke up in time for the gold mine. We hopped on a narrow gauge railroad car, and listened to a local guy relive the time he met Johnny Cash. It was certainly a high point in his life, and he relived it all for the next hour, even talking like Johnny Cash, and singing Johnny Cash songs.

The train dipped into a tunnel, then stopped inside the mine. A coal miner (a fake one) explained all about excavating for gold, but to be honest with you, I don’t remember much of it. He also narrated some other spots, telling how the miners lived and how they got the ore out of rocks they mined.

But the exciting part for us was the demo. The two hosts (who owned the mine and are proud Alaskans) were a couple of characters. The first was a woman named Yukon. She wore gold rings and bracelets, and carried around two gold nuggets worth $7000 in her jeans pocket. When the demo started up, she called out, “You hear that? That’s the sound of money!” She certainly seemed to love her job!

I can’t remember her partner’s name, but he was a crusty old character himself. He’s exactly what you’d picture an Alaskan man looks like. Funny hat, big beard, jeans and boots. He dumped a craneful of dirt into a sluice, and ten sent a high-pressure waterfall through it to wash out the dirt. Then he handed over the trapped dirt to his interns, who showed us how to pan for gold.
They panned out about $35 worth in just a few minutes.

Then came the really fun part – WE got to pan for gold! It was hilarious! No one in our group really knew what we were doing. We dumped the little bag of dirt into our pans, then swirled water around the pans waiting for the gold flakes to appear. The interns finally helped us separate the gold flakes out. Edra was hilarious – she had a big pile of gold flakes, $24 worth! But she turned to help Wende, and as she did, she almost tipped her whole pan into the water. Luckily, she’s got good reflexes and saved it.

Here’s the nugget I found – it weighed 19 ounces and clocked in with a value of $40,000:

Eureka!

Just kidding…Wende was the big winner, with $25 worth of gold. I had a whopping $4.50 worth, and Mark panned an even more impressive $3. He mistakenly handed over a little container of rocks he’d saved, so that the guy weighing the containers eyes grew really big (until I explained it was rocks, not gold nuggets).

Our first moose sighting!

Then it was back on the train for the end of the tour. They mine staff all came outside to wave goodbye and wish us well. Some even helped lock the car doors. We waved back at them, and prepared for the journey back. It took all of two minutes, and the staff we’d just left walked right beside the train, unlatching the doors as we arrived. We were really cracking up at that.

We decided on a nice dinner out tonight, and cabbed it over to the Pump House. It was right on the river, with a spectacular view. I also liked the garden outside, which was rich and colorful. The growing season in Alaska is short – only 100 days, but the sun shines 24 hours a day during those days. As a result, enormous flowers and leafy vegetables fill the flower boxes and gardens (cabbage grows to 20 pounds!).

Here’s the garden in front of the Pump House:

By the time we finished, we were full and happy, but not tired. Then someone mentioned it was 9:30, and I gasped. It seriously looked like it was 2 p.m., not almost 10.

I don’t know if I could live in Alaska, with its extreme weather – four hours of sun during winter, and no dark during summer. But it sure is fun to vacation here – you can tour and explore the state until all hours of the night with unlimited energy. Even the mere suggestion of light has kept me awake these past few days. There’s a little sliver that peaks in through a gap in the curtains, and I’ve woken at all hours, amazed to see it’s still sunny. My body loves the endless hours to fill with activities, but it’s starting to mess with my head a little bit.

Raise your hand if you’ve been to the North Pole!

Today was a really exciting day, because at the end of it I got to say, “The North Pole? Santa’s house? Oh yeah, I’ve been there!”

Yeah, THAT North Pole. And THAT Santa!

But let me backtrack a little…

It’s our first full day in Fairbanks, and we rented a mini-van to make the most of it. I picked it up at 9 a.m., and returned it 12 hours later.

During that 12 hours, Amber and her parents (collectively, the Stricklands), Edra, Mark and I piled in and out of that van approximately 372 times. But our first and most exciting journey was to North Pole, Alaska, where it’s Christmas year round.
North Pole was about 20 minutes from Fairbanks. It was a pretty drive, green and loads of trees everywhere. There was almost no traffic on the highway, which in itself was a nice relief from congested California.

We knew we were getting close when we saw the Universal Welding company sign, held up by two 20-foot candy canes. Santa was close!

We exited in North Pole, and followed the signs onto Santa Claus Lane. All the light posts were candy canes, too, as were any kind of pilings or poles sticking out of the ground. We passed the North Pole post office, which receives all the letters to Santa at Christmas. Somehow we took a wrong turn and ended up in a neighborhood, but even that was fun. We turned left on Snowman Ave., and passed Santa’s Senior Center. We also passed a house with Christmas lights and trees in the front yard, which made us laugh.

We finally found a local shuttle driver who pointed us in the right direction. Soon enough we saw a ginormous Santa Claus, next to the Santa Claus House. The passengers in our car were downright giddy with excitement.



We spent the next hour browsing in the shop, and reading the letters decorating the walls -- letters children to Santa. But the highlight was meeting the Jolly Old Elf himself!!

With jingle bells ringing and Christmas carols in the background, Santa made his entrance. He ho ho hoed into the building, and headed straight for Mark. Grasping Mark’s hand in his, he told him very earnestly “Merry Christmas!” and continued on.
It felt like meeting a rock star!

Mark sat on Santa’s lap and talked to him for a bit, then Santa took a picture with all of us. We were laughing the whole morning.

We made a quick detour to see the reindeer out back, and then it was off to our next destination. We stopped for a quick lunch, which we ate outside because it was so nice (70 degrees and sunny!). We couldn’t believe our luck with the weather – everybody had on short-sleeved shirts, and when we ran into the Wawerchaks later, they were wearing flip-flops! In Alaska!

Vicki in flip flops

After lunch, we drove to the museum at the University of Alaska. It was a gorgeous building, and the exhibits inside were amazing. Lots of stuffed arctic animals and hands-on touching stuff. We all dug it a lot.

Plugs to keep car engines from freezing in winter

Mark contemplating Fairbanks

But we weren’t even halfway done with our day. We had a car, and intended to use every minute of it! Our next stop was at the Large Animal Research Station (LARS), which studies musk ox, reindeer and caribou. We could see the animals in the distance. They had huge heads and fur all the way to the ground – they kinda looked like compact little buffalo with ram’s horns drooping down. I was excited to take a tour, but we saw a tour in action and they were nowhere near the animals. Standing in the sun for an hour while the musk ox were still far away didn’t sound like any fun, so we bailed on the tour.

But all was not lost! Amber read about a local place that made homemade ice cream, so we headed over there for our next stop. The ice cream was amazing! They had all sorts of crazy flavors – cinnamon showers, carrot cake, chocolate walnut, kahlua just to name a few. Mark and I ordered the Nanook Nosh, which was vanilla ice cream infused with chocolate, caramel and honey swirls. It was outta this world! It was hot by this time, 84 degrees, so we sat in the sun, eating ice cream and marveling how wonderful Alaska is.

We dropped Edra back at the hotel after that, then headed back out to Pioneer Park (this was not a relaxing day at the beach kinda vacation!). Pioneer Park was funny – half public park with playgrounds and local kids, and half old town with tiny museums and tourists. We wandered the streets, reading about each little cabin. Mark and Amber stopped to play checkers outside one cabin, and then we found the cabin we’d been searching for.

It was a place called 40 Below Fairbanks. For five bucks, we donned giant parkas and entered a small, refrigerated room that was about (you guessed it) 40 degrees BELOW zero. Seriously!!! I’ve never been that cold in all my life. I was wearing cotton pants, and my legs instantly chilled. Next were my ungloved hands, which fumbled clumsily with the camera. The girl working there sent us in with cups of hot water, which we tossed into the chilled air. The water turned into an icy mist before our eyes! That was really cool. There was a banana in there, which you could hammer a nail with, and a thermometer which showed it was actually about 45 degrees below zero.

My eyelashes and nostrils froze quickly. I tried to be brave, but I’ll admit it, I was the first one to run from the building. I could hear Mark shouting, “Party pooper!” as I rushed out of the cold, almost tripping as my glasses fogged up from the sudden temperature change (from 40 below to 84 above zero!). Amber came out next, and after a while, her dad Bill and Mark. Mark apparently wanted to stay in even longer, but Bill was done.

Here’s us inside in our parkas:

45 degrees BELOW zero! And we paid for this!

Mark throwing boiling water into the air -- and watching it turn to an icy mist!

In the 80 degree weather afterwards

We perused Pioneer Park for a bit, looking in the museums. Then we wandered over to the Salmon Bake, which had been very highly reviewed.

It was a bit of a bust – very touristy, and the salmon wasn’t all that great. The halibut was good, but fried. They also had fried cod (the halibut was better) and prime rib (Mark said just okay). It was pricey and touristy, and we vowed not to make that mistake again.

It was nearing time to take the car back, and we were all pretty tired. After one last stop at the local Safeway, I dropped the crew off at the hotel and then returned the car. Amber had sent the hotel shuttle after me, and as we drove back, I marveled at how light it still was. If I’d returned from any other vacation day at 9 p.m., it would’ve been dark, and I would feel exhausted. But the sunshine messes with you here – your body says it’s tired, but your brain says it’s till daylight. And you can’t decide whether to go to bed or keep playing!

It’s now 11 p.m., and still light as it was at noon. But I’m going to bed anyway – got another big day tomorrow, sunny night or not!