We left Denali NP at about 7:30 AM on a Princess bus for the short ride to Fairbanks. Our driver, Christine was very engaging and pointed out some points of interest on the way. Of particular interest was her own story. While she and her husband were living in a four level house in Colorado, they visited Alaska on vacation. After their visit, they decided they belonged in Alaska, so they packed up their two teen aged sons and whatever they could pack into their car and moved into a one room cabin near Fairbanks. There they lived for more than 10 years until an inheritance allowed them to build a larger house. In many ways her story was similar to others we heard. Many of the older Alaskans we encountered had come to visit and returned to stay. I can understand that. Alaska is clearly a place with a lot of appeal -- particularly for the independent minded who want to get away from the ordinary.
Fairbanks is the second largest city in Alaska, but is far behind Anchorage with a population of just over 31,000. It is a completely different city. Where Anchorage is very cosmopolitan with lots of high rise buildings, Fairbanks seems more rustic with a lot of older buildings still around along with the new modern ones. We quickly found out that the weather in Fairbanks was much more moderate than Anchorage or Denali. While it was in the 30s when we left Denali and even snowed on us on the way, it was in the 60s in Fairbanks. Fairbanks is in the interior of the state (unlike Anchorage which is right on the ocean) and it is at a much lower elevation than Denali.
When we arrived in downtown Fairbanks, Mary's aunt and cousin were there to meet us. We all went to a place called The Co-op Diner for lunch. It was indeed an old diner with diner type food. After lunch we walked to an old cemetery near by that is no longer used for new burials. We saw lots of old graves from the late 19th and early 20th century. While we were walking around, an older man came over and introduced himself as a caretaker and unofficial greeter. He talked a bit about the history of the cemetery and pointed out some graves of interest. After leaving the cemetery, we walked to a plaza in the center of downtown. One area there is dedicated to the Russian and American aviators who patrolled the skies in the area during World War II. The other area is called Golden Heart Plaza and has a large statue of an Eskimo family. This plaza was dedicated for the silver anniversary of Alaska's statehood. Note that next year marks the 50th anniversary.
After returning to our bus, we went to the Riverboat Discovery for a cruise on the Chena River. The cruise was very interesting. It was a bit like a ride at Disney World in that a lot of things were staged to give us a view of Alaskan life past and present. There was a demonstration of a bush pilot taking off from and landing on the river. Several houses were pointed out that included everything from log cabins to modern mansions. Many of the older houses had yards full of "stuff". Alaskans apparently never throw anything away since it is so hard to get things there in the first place. We made a stop at the late Susan Butcher's sled dog kennel where her husband and two daughters talked about and demonstrated the process of training sled dogs for racing. When one of the daughters hooked up the dogs to a training vehicle (an ATV with no motor), all the dogs went crazy! They all wanted to go. When the tie down was released from the vehicle, they took off like a shot and were out of sight in seconds. Further downstream, we saw another bush pilot take off and land using nothing more than a hundred feet on a sand bar in the river. Then we stopped and disembarked at an Athabascan Indian culture center. There a guide showed us various aspects of Athabascan life before contact. The Athabascan Indians occupied the majority of the interior of Alaska as compared to the tribes (commonly referred to as Eskimos) who occupied the coastal areas. One of the highlights of the center was a woman who hand makes traditional clothing using the traditional hides and methods of assembly and decoration. They displayed a beautiful parka she had made. They also gave a presentation about trapping and the various animals they would trap and the typical uses for the hides and furs. After reboarding the boat, we went by a fishing camp to see an example of a fish wheel which was used to catch fish using the river's current for power. The wheel acted as a continuous "dip net" during a salmon run. A woman there demonstrated how a salmon would be prepared for smoking and drying. She cleaned and fileted a salmon in less than three minutes.
At the end of the cruise we returned to our bus for a ride to the Princess Fairbanks Hotel near the airport. After settling into our room we went to dinner in the resturant in the hotel then went for a walk around the hotel grounds. We went to bed at 10:00 in bright sunlight. We're getting somewhat used to that now.
Pictures are on Picasa.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
26 May 2008 -- Denali NP
Denali National Park and Preserve has only one road (George Parks Highway) and it goes only 91 miles into the park. Private vehicles are only allowed to go 15 miles up that road. Beyond that the only way to see the park is on foot (it's a big park), by bicycle or on special buses operated by the National Park Service. The park is primarily a wilderness. Of course it's main feature is Denali Mountain (Mt. McKinley). Access for climbers is primarily through the town of Talkeetna where aircraft take the climbers and their gear to the first staging area on the mountain. The bottom line is that there are not a lot of people in the park. There are, however, a lot of animals.
Our ride into the park (about 50 miles up the road) left the Princess Denali lodge at about 7:20 AM while the temperature was in the 20s. The bus driver was very good about providing information and spotting wildlife. Since there is little to no traffic on the road, she was able to stop whenever wildlife was spotted. She encouraged the passengers to call out if they saw anything. Very soon we saw snowshoe hares and willow ptarmigan (the state bird). The driver had previously scoped out the location of a great horned owl nest just off the road, and she stopped for that. I got some great pictures of the mother owl keeping an eye on things while the little white owlet peeked over the edge of the nest.
We saw a good sized herd of caribou that was fairly close to the road. The caribou were already growing their antlers. The caribou is the only member of the deer family that has antlers on the females, so all the adults had antlers. Mary spotted something white in a bush a little way from the road. The driver said it was hare parts. She said the hares jump up into the tops of the bushes in order to catch a passing predator. :)
We saw dall sheep mostly in the distance. Dall sheep are like mountain goats and are seen mostly in the high, rocky areas of the mountains. The dall sheep is really the reason for the existence of the park. Before the park was created, the sheep were hunted extensively. Conservationist George Parks came to the area and, fearing for the fate of the species, lobbied for the creation of the park and game preserve. It took many years, but the park was finally chartered by congress in 1916.
The scenery was fabulous along the road. In some areas the road was narrow and winding and cut into the side of steep hills. I was glad I wasn't driving and was able to enjoy the view and take pictures. How many pictures of mountains can a person take? With a big enough memory card, a lot!
We spotted a few grizzlies far off from the road. One was walking along a river flat in the bottom of a valley far below us. We stopped to watch as we could see two hikers in the area walking toward the bear. The bear and hikers were far enough apart that neither could see the other for quite some time. Eventually, the hikers did see the bear and veered off their course to stay away from it. The bear just kept going as it had been. At the turn around, we stopped at a rest area that had some moose and caribou antlers. It is amazing how heavy the moose antlers are. We were able to see a couple of grizzlies digging up roots on the side of a ridge in the distance. It also snowed on us there. It was fine light snow that did not accumulate at all. The temperature was in the 40s.
On the way back down to the lodge, we saw another grizzly fairly close to the road. This one seemed to be prowling around in the underbrush. The really interesting thing was we also saw a red fox that was following the bear around. Maybe the fox was just waiting for the bear to uncover something tasty.
We got back down to the entrance to the park around 2:30 PM and spent some time at the visitors center. Following that, we hiked about 2.5 miles back to the lodge. We ate dinner in the King Salmon restaurant in the evening. I had (you guessed it) salmon. It was my first introduction to potato chip crusted salmon. That is a fairly common way of preparing it in the restaurants, and it was very good.
One of the side effects of long day light hours that we started noticing is that we would check the time and realize it was already 10:00 PM or some other such late hour when we thought it was only about 6 or 7. It just seemed hard to go to bed while it was so light out.
Our ride into the park (about 50 miles up the road) left the Princess Denali lodge at about 7:20 AM while the temperature was in the 20s. The bus driver was very good about providing information and spotting wildlife. Since there is little to no traffic on the road, she was able to stop whenever wildlife was spotted. She encouraged the passengers to call out if they saw anything. Very soon we saw snowshoe hares and willow ptarmigan (the state bird). The driver had previously scoped out the location of a great horned owl nest just off the road, and she stopped for that. I got some great pictures of the mother owl keeping an eye on things while the little white owlet peeked over the edge of the nest.
We saw a good sized herd of caribou that was fairly close to the road. The caribou were already growing their antlers. The caribou is the only member of the deer family that has antlers on the females, so all the adults had antlers. Mary spotted something white in a bush a little way from the road. The driver said it was hare parts. She said the hares jump up into the tops of the bushes in order to catch a passing predator. :)
We saw dall sheep mostly in the distance. Dall sheep are like mountain goats and are seen mostly in the high, rocky areas of the mountains. The dall sheep is really the reason for the existence of the park. Before the park was created, the sheep were hunted extensively. Conservationist George Parks came to the area and, fearing for the fate of the species, lobbied for the creation of the park and game preserve. It took many years, but the park was finally chartered by congress in 1916.
The scenery was fabulous along the road. In some areas the road was narrow and winding and cut into the side of steep hills. I was glad I wasn't driving and was able to enjoy the view and take pictures. How many pictures of mountains can a person take? With a big enough memory card, a lot!
We spotted a few grizzlies far off from the road. One was walking along a river flat in the bottom of a valley far below us. We stopped to watch as we could see two hikers in the area walking toward the bear. The bear and hikers were far enough apart that neither could see the other for quite some time. Eventually, the hikers did see the bear and veered off their course to stay away from it. The bear just kept going as it had been. At the turn around, we stopped at a rest area that had some moose and caribou antlers. It is amazing how heavy the moose antlers are. We were able to see a couple of grizzlies digging up roots on the side of a ridge in the distance. It also snowed on us there. It was fine light snow that did not accumulate at all. The temperature was in the 40s.
On the way back down to the lodge, we saw another grizzly fairly close to the road. This one seemed to be prowling around in the underbrush. The really interesting thing was we also saw a red fox that was following the bear around. Maybe the fox was just waiting for the bear to uncover something tasty.
We got back down to the entrance to the park around 2:30 PM and spent some time at the visitors center. Following that, we hiked about 2.5 miles back to the lodge. We ate dinner in the King Salmon restaurant in the evening. I had (you guessed it) salmon. It was my first introduction to potato chip crusted salmon. That is a fairly common way of preparing it in the restaurants, and it was very good.
One of the side effects of long day light hours that we started noticing is that we would check the time and realize it was already 10:00 PM or some other such late hour when we thought it was only about 6 or 7. It just seemed hard to go to bed while it was so light out.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
25 May 2008 -- Anchorage to Denali by Rail
We were up at 5:00 AM (remember this was 9 AM EDT). We went for a short walk about in the area around our hotel. We planned to eat breakfast on the train. Princess took us to the train depot by bus and we boarded the Princess Super Dome Car we were assigned to. The car was attached (along with several other cars belonging to Princess and other cruise lines) to an Alaska Rail Road train. We were assigned a table in the car along with another couple. It turned out that this couple was also going on the trip to Prudhoe Bay. In fact, we met several other travelers on the same car who were also going to Prudhoe. The train started out heading north at a fairly slow speed. I don't believe it ever exceeded about 40 mph, and often went slower than that. Much of the way, the train rocked and swayed a good deal. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was somewhat tiring. We had a Princess guide on the car with us who pointed out various sites of interest along the way. The "suburbs" of Anchorage extend out about 50 miles. Most of these small towns were more like villages. We passed through the town of Wasilla which is the actual start of the Iditerod sled dog race. Although the official start is in Anchorage, that is just for show. After a short trek, the whole shebang is trucked out to Wasilla where the actual race begins. The rail route primarily followed valleys between the Alaska mountain range to the west and the Talkeetna range to the east. As we approached the Denali National Park area, we got into more mountainous regions.
We had breakfast and lunch on the train. We were pretty hungry by the time we were able to go to the dining area for breakfast. I decided to get right into the Alaskan salmon and had a salmon burrito for breakfast. For lunch I had a salmon BLT which was really a SLT. It was quite good.
We made a brief stop in the town of Talkeetna. Talkeetna is a very "Alaska" looking town. It is supposedly the inspiration for the town in the TV series "Northern Exposure" (one of my favorite shows from the past). You could almost identify the real buildings that matched the ones in the show.
During the trip, the train would slow whenever there was wild life to see. We ended up seeing eight black bears including a sow with three cubs and a few moose. We also slowed as we approached and crossed the Hurricane Gulch Trestle Bridge. This bridge lies on a curve so you can see it as the train starts across and after crossing. The bridge was built in 1921 and is 941 feet long. More impressive is the fact that the tracks are 296 feet above the Chulitna River. It is the largest trestle bridge in North America.
We arrived in Denali NP around 4:00 PM. We rested a bit and tried to recover from the swaying of the train. We then went for an invigorating walk / hike on a bike path along the river. It was a beautiful, clear afternoon. It was quite windy with the temperature in the 50s. The windbreakers and fleece sweaters we brought worked well to keep us warm. We walked about 4 miles and by the time we got back to the room, we were very tired. We ended up just eating nutrition bars for dinner and going to bed at about 9:00 PM. We both slept very well. Check out the pictures we have posted on Picassa.
We had breakfast and lunch on the train. We were pretty hungry by the time we were able to go to the dining area for breakfast. I decided to get right into the Alaskan salmon and had a salmon burrito for breakfast. For lunch I had a salmon BLT which was really a SLT. It was quite good.
We made a brief stop in the town of Talkeetna. Talkeetna is a very "Alaska" looking town. It is supposedly the inspiration for the town in the TV series "Northern Exposure" (one of my favorite shows from the past). You could almost identify the real buildings that matched the ones in the show.
During the trip, the train would slow whenever there was wild life to see. We ended up seeing eight black bears including a sow with three cubs and a few moose. We also slowed as we approached and crossed the Hurricane Gulch Trestle Bridge. This bridge lies on a curve so you can see it as the train starts across and after crossing. The bridge was built in 1921 and is 941 feet long. More impressive is the fact that the tracks are 296 feet above the Chulitna River. It is the largest trestle bridge in North America.
We arrived in Denali NP around 4:00 PM. We rested a bit and tried to recover from the swaying of the train. We then went for an invigorating walk / hike on a bike path along the river. It was a beautiful, clear afternoon. It was quite windy with the temperature in the 50s. The windbreakers and fleece sweaters we brought worked well to keep us warm. We walked about 4 miles and by the time we got back to the room, we were very tired. We ended up just eating nutrition bars for dinner and going to bed at about 9:00 PM. We both slept very well. Check out the pictures we have posted on Picassa.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Alaska 2008
We just completed a two week Alaska vacation comprised of a one week land tour followed by a one week cruise. We kept a daily log of events and I will transcribe that here. The log is fairly long, so I will probably have to make multiple blog entries, but I will try to keep it organized so it is not too confusing.
24 May 2008 - After years of waiting and months of planning, we are on our way. We flew Delta from Dulles to Atlanta. Then, after a two hour lay over, it was on to Anchorage. The flight was mostly smooth but cloudy. We could not see the ground at all until we got into the Canadian Rockies. Then it was extremely clear and the view was phenomenal. We saw completely snow-covered mountains as far as the horizon. Some of the mountains appeared to be volcanoes, but I can find no reference to volcanoes in the Rockies. They must have just been shaped like volcanoes. We also saw a number of glaciers which really looked neat from that far up. They looked like huge rivers of ice. Well, I guess that's what they are. We also saw large, deep canyons / gorges. It was quite a sight.
After a 7 1/2 hour flight, we arrived in Anchorage in the rain at around 5:30 PM AKDT (Alaska Daylight Time, 4 hours behind EDT). The Princess representative met us, but we had to wait about an hour for our bags. Finally, we were on the bus bound for the Captain Cook hotel. When we arrived at the hotel, our driver went in to get an outfitter while we waited on the bus. About that time two women walked by on the sidewalk and Mary went nuts. It was her cousin from Fairbanks and an aunt who had come to Alaska to visit her. Mary jumped up and fought her way out of the bus to stop them. It turns out they were in Anchorage for a show and were on their way there. Mary convinced them that they should keep their plans because we were mainly interested in getting to bed as soon as possible. We promised to get together in Fairbanks if possible. Presently, we got to our room which was very nice and on an upper floor with a great view. After a quick dinner in the hotel and a brief walk around the area, we returned to our room about 9:30. It was hard to believe how late it was since it was so light out (except for the cloudiness), but we were extremely tired. Our bodies were thinking it was more like 1:30 AM. It got dark around 12:30 AM and started getting light again around 3:00 AM.
24 May 2008 - After years of waiting and months of planning, we are on our way. We flew Delta from Dulles to Atlanta. Then, after a two hour lay over, it was on to Anchorage. The flight was mostly smooth but cloudy. We could not see the ground at all until we got into the Canadian Rockies. Then it was extremely clear and the view was phenomenal. We saw completely snow-covered mountains as far as the horizon. Some of the mountains appeared to be volcanoes, but I can find no reference to volcanoes in the Rockies. They must have just been shaped like volcanoes. We also saw a number of glaciers which really looked neat from that far up. They looked like huge rivers of ice. Well, I guess that's what they are. We also saw large, deep canyons / gorges. It was quite a sight.
After a 7 1/2 hour flight, we arrived in Anchorage in the rain at around 5:30 PM AKDT (Alaska Daylight Time, 4 hours behind EDT). The Princess representative met us, but we had to wait about an hour for our bags. Finally, we were on the bus bound for the Captain Cook hotel. When we arrived at the hotel, our driver went in to get an outfitter while we waited on the bus. About that time two women walked by on the sidewalk and Mary went nuts. It was her cousin from Fairbanks and an aunt who had come to Alaska to visit her. Mary jumped up and fought her way out of the bus to stop them. It turns out they were in Anchorage for a show and were on their way there. Mary convinced them that they should keep their plans because we were mainly interested in getting to bed as soon as possible. We promised to get together in Fairbanks if possible. Presently, we got to our room which was very nice and on an upper floor with a great view. After a quick dinner in the hotel and a brief walk around the area, we returned to our room about 9:30. It was hard to believe how late it was since it was so light out (except for the cloudiness), but we were extremely tired. Our bodies were thinking it was more like 1:30 AM. It got dark around 12:30 AM and started getting light again around 3:00 AM.
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