Fairbanks - Days 1 and 2

June 23-24 - Today we didn't really have an agenda, so we checked out Fairbanks.  We drove down to the Visitor's Center, which had moved since the last time we were here.  The new Center is really nice, has great exhibits, and the people were really helpful.  Then we did some shopping errands -- RV store, electronics store, Walmart -- that kind of stuff.  We found a great Mexican restaurant for lunch - Gallo's, I think it was.  Joe and I were craving Mexican food since it had been quite a while since we have had any.  However, Marilyn fixed chicken and beef enchalidas for dinner, so we got it twice in the same day.  We drove out to the airport to check in for the Prudhoe Bay excursion, and had a really enjoyable, laid-back day.  Thursday, we decided we should take in some of the activities available here, so Joe, Mazie and I drove up to Chena Hot Springs.  It was about 60 miles northeast, but through some pretty country.  And we found a cooperative moose along the way, enjoying her lunch in a pond.

We watched her for about 10 minutes, then realized she had a calf over on the bank. 

The baby is hard to see, but it is just above the tall yellowish bush on the right.  Joe took an zoomed in photo, but it is blurry.  However, you can see both of them.

Then we headed on up the Chena Hot Springs Resort and relaxed in the very hot water.  I'm not sure what the temperature was, but it was too warm for me to stay in very long, and it even had "hot spots" on top of that!

It had a fountain in the middle which sprayed a little bit cooler water.  And it had another "fountain" that really pounded you.

They also had a cool pool that we hit on the way out, just to get our body temperature back down.  It has been about 75-77 in Fairbanks anyhow, so we needed to cool back down.

This resort had a lot to offer in addition to the hot springs.  They offered trail rides, there was an ice sculpture museum (which we did not go to), and other resort-types of things. 

Then we headed back toward Fairbanks, but we stopped for our first gold-panning attempt at a river that looked promising.

Joe gave us lessons on how to swirl the sand in the pan, but we didn't have any luck here.  So we headed on down the road, then we stopped at another river just to take a look.  We didn't pan here, but we did see some small fish in the water.  Joe thought he could sit here all day (see him cooling his feet in his new insulated boots). 

I thought I should test the water again, since I hadn't done that for a few days.  This is the North Fork of the Chena River.  Yep, the water here is cold too.

Mazie found a little fish bobber on the bank, so she stuck it in Joe's shoe.  She even carried his shoes over to a picnic table so he could put them on.  But he found the bobber before he shoved his foot in.

Joe said we needed to find a river with black sand (like he's made a fortune panning for gold!), so we stopped at one more river to give it a try.  This time he stayed on bear duty while Mazie and I got our boots back on.  We worked really hard at it, but no luck, again.

 So we took off our boots and got back in the car. Joe spotted a moose in the back of a pond just as we drove past.  Then, lo and behold, there was another moose just crossing the road.  She was headed to a pond too, so we watched her for a few minutes.

By now it was getting close to 5:00 p.m., which must be their active time, because down the road a few miles we had to stop to keep from hitting one as she crossed the road.

We saw an eagle flying overhead also.  So, 5 moose, an eagle, and hot springs.  It was a good day for us.  It's now 10:45 p.m., sun is still shining, and we are getting picked up at 5:45 a.m. for the flight to Prudhoe Bay.  Sure hope we can get to sleep.

Kaylee, the moose is male (see the antlers), so maybe he could be "Prince" instead of Princess.  What do you think?  You can think about it for a few days because be on the computer again until Monday.

Tok to Fairbanks

Tuesday, June 22 - This morning we left Tok and headed to Fairbanks, with stops along the way.  We are back in beautiful mountain scenery again, roaring rivers and creeks.  It wasn't raining, but there were low clouds in the mountain valleys. 

We crossed the Richardson River, which is what Alaska calls a braided river -- very spread out with numerous channels, usually runs gray in color due to the glacier water that feeds them.  This river still had ice on it.

We had a pretty easy drive today, with just a few stretches of road construction.  Shortly before Delta Junction, we stopped at Delta Meat & Sausage Co., a meat packing company featuring Alaska meats.  They had samples of sausages with elk, yak, reindeer, and buffalo.  We all bought a little bit of meat, then took a loop road through some barley fields that brought us into Delta Junction, where the Al-Can Highway ends.  Joe and I had stopped here on our 2004 trip to Alaska, but we stopped again.  They had added two mosquitoes to their outside decor.

If you look closely, you can see that the mosquito stinger is going into Joe's arm.  They had a rocket on display  in the visitor center made by Boeing, so we thought Jeff would be interested in that.

We thought this milestone deserved a group picture.

There is a herd of bison in this area, but we never saw any.  We did see some fields of cattle that were owned by the meat packing place we stopped at.  Dave had told us there was a place in Delta Junction had served wonderful buffalo burgers, so we stopped there for lunch, but would you believe, they were out of buffalo burgers that day!  The waitress said that was the only thing they were out of.  We told her we had driven 4000 miles just for buffalo burgers, but she didn't offer to go out and slaughter one, so we had burgers and fish.  However, they did have lilacs blooming right beside the building, so it wasn't a total loss.  Of course, I helped myself to one for the road.

After leaving Delta Junction, we had our first glimpse of the Alaska pipeline.  We will eventually see lots of miles of this, but it was exciting to see it again for the first time on this trip.

Our next stop was at the Knotty Shop, an interesting gift shop featuring a lot of stuff made out of knotted wood.  It also had a nice wildlife museum, and very good ice cream.  Bridgette's uncle had recommended their ice cream, so we had to give that a try.  They had wooden animals in the front made out of the knotted wood.  We thought this caribou was the best one.

We intended to stop next at the North Pole, but it was getting late in the day, so we headed on into Fairbanks.  We intend to drive back down to it in the next few days, because Kaylee wants me to talk to Santa for her.  We passed Eielson Air Force Base just outside of town and got to see a couple fighter jets take off.

We are staying at the River's Edge RV Resort, near the airport in Fairbanks.  It is a pretty nice campground, right on the Chena River, but they have the campers crowded pretty close together, and the sites are not very big.  We will be here for at least 6 days, so it would have been nice to have a little more room, but it is pretty full.  Marilyn and I took at walk down by the river.  Here's a picture taken at 10:15 at night.  Notice the sun shining through the trees.

There are only a few minutes between sunset and sunrise right now, but none of us have been able to stay up late enough to watch.  Marilyn and I saw a beaver (we think) swimming in the river, but a boat came by and it went under before we got to check it out further.

We didn't know if it was a beaver or an otter, but the staff at the visitors center said it was most likely a beaver.  Here's another picture of the river, it was probably 10:30 p.m. when I took this shot.  Joe and I bought some material today to try to block the light from the bedroom windows in the RV so we can get to sleep. 

We haven't seen much wildlife since we crossed into Alaska.  In fact, other than that beaver, the only thing we have seen is this squirrel, which was right outside the RV.

 I'm really hoping we see something a little larger in the next few days!

Tok, Alaska

Sunday and Monday, June 20-21. We made it to Tok on Sunday, continuing on the Al-Can Highway into Canada.  The little creek at the campground we stayed at last night had brownish water running through it.  The Milepost says the tea-colored water is the result of tannins absorbed by the water as it flows through muskeg.  I don't know what tannins or muskeg are, but I thought this was interesting.  This part of the drive did not offer as much scenery, and no wildlife for us, although Collins and Marilyn reported that they spotted a moose with a calf.  There were some cuts in the highway through sand dunes, and a nice view of lakes in the Chisana River valley.

We arrived in Tok about 11:00 a.m., and booked in at the Sourdough Campground.  David has been eager to try sourdough pancakes, so that was the deciding factor.  Then we drove around, went to lunch, then stopped at the Visitor's Center and several gift shops.  We did add to our wildlife collection -- we now have a moose.  Cody and Kaylee -- we can't come up with a name for our new moose, so we thought maybe you two could name it.

We intended to head to Delta Juction on Monday, but it rained all night and well into the day, so Marilyn suggested we stay put for the day. Dave and Mazie had the sourdough pancakes for breakfast, but Mazie said they were overrated, so Joe and I went to Fast Eddie's for breakfast.  Mazie and I found a beauty salon and got haircuts, and Joe shopped the Napa store.  The crank on our tv antenna broke yesterday, so he was on the hunt for a replacement, but he ended up buying a small pair of vice grips to hold it together, and we can get by with that until we hit a big city.

Collins, Joe and I are booked on a tour up to Prudhoe Bay for Friday out of Fairbanks, flying up and riding back in a van.  It's a 3-day, 2 night excursion.  Joe and Collins have really wanted to make this trip, so we all hope it turns out to be a good one, because it was quite expensive.

Jeff, it's a good thing you bought a fishing boat, because Joe found one for you up here today.  You still might want to consider it.

We played cards this afternoon, and I took a nap.  We are planning on heading out in the morning for Delta Junction (105 miles), and Collins is hoping to get some fishing in up there.  Hopefully, the rain is over.

Haines Junction to Alaska

Saturday, June 19 - This morning we headed out to cover the last segment of the Al-Can Highway through Canada.  At the campground in Haines Junction where we stayed last night were 2 old Fords, a '29 and a '31, that had been completely restored and were pulling little trailers.  The travelers were from Kentucky and were headed for the Arctic Circle.  They had been on the road for 17 days, and were hoping to make the round trip in 2 1/2 months.

It was an interesting, scenic drive, but the road deteriorated greatly the last half of the day.  We drove for miles past Kluane Lake, the largest lake in the Yukon Territory, covering approximately 154 square miles.  It is another beautiful lake.

We stopped at Sheep Mountain Visitor Information Center across from this lake where there is a primary winter and spring range and lambing area of a dall sheep population of approximately 300. The entire mountain range supports 3000-4000 dall sheep. It was a nice center, and it had spotting scopes and high-powered binoculars set out to view the sheep if they chose to appear at the top.  While we were there, a helicopter landed and then took off to go count the sheep.  No sheep were visible when we first got there, but eventually 3 little white spots appears on the ridge of the mountain, and we got to see three sheep.

And Cody and Kaylee, look what we came upon next -- a mama grizzly bear with her cub, grazing right next to the road.  That was sooo cool!  That baby bear was adorable.

Brenda and Jeff, we found you another Tin Cup, actually it is Tin Cup Lake.  It's about 95 miles northwest of Haines Junction, Yukon, so you might need more than 2 weeks of vacation for this trip.

Bumping along the road, we came upon some stopped traffic and lo and behold, there was a huge moose in a pond.  It was a little ways off the road, so we only got long-range pictures.  But in the same pond, on the other side, a mama moose and two calves were coming down the bank to get in the water.  Then a few miles further, we spotted a huge bull moose, in another pond.  My pictures of this one are all a little blurry because I use the telephoto, but I did get some pictures.

Then we continued on our rough road, often slowing down to 20 mph, trying to find the smoothest spot in the road.  Parts of this section were just gravel, so dust was pretty thick.  We have had several days of sunshine so that weather front must have finally passed on.  We crossed into Alaska about 2:20 Alaska time (we are now an hour behind Arizona time) and found a campground for the night.  As soon as we got parked, Joe and I hosed off the car and RV, then settled in for the night. We are heading for Tok in the morning.

Skagway

Thursday, June 17 -- We hit the Al-Can Highway about 8:15 this morning.  There is very little traffic on this highway, we might meet a vehicle, usually an RV, every 3-4 miles, with an occasional semi thrown in.  There are lots of lakes, rivers, and creeks, and some have some interesting names.  We crossed "Screw Creek" this morning, which Joe thought was noteworthy.  We've seen very little road kill in Canada, but this morning we came upon 3 ravens eating 3 dead ravens in the road.  Must be a story about the three dead ones, maybe they were all deaf or something.  Since I posted the wrong bridge picture for Hazelton, I have another bridge picture for Eric.  This is the Nisutlin Bay Bridge, longest water span on the Alaska Highway at 1,917 feet.  This bay  flows into Teslin Lake.

We drove for many miles along beautiful Telsin Lake, which is 86 miles long.  This lake averages 2 miles across and has an average depth of 194 feet.   It was laying like glass, Joe thought someone should be waterskiing on it.  You can see the reflection of the clouds and mountains in the water.

Then we made a "pie" stop for Dave at the Yukon Motel & Lakeshore RV Park.  It was over-advertised regarding the pie -- they only had 2 pieces, and one of them was burnt, which Dave had and got for free.  But it also had a Wildlife Gallery, which was very nicely done.  Cody, the picture of the polar bear is just for you -- in case Grandpa doesn't get to see a real one (or get a picture of a real one).

I really like the stuff bear on the porch.  I told Joe I really wanted it, but he didn't think it would fit on our dash.  Then, inside, I found a moose I really liked too, but Joe gave me the same answer.

At this point, the decison was made about Skagway.  Joe and I ventured off on our own Excellent Adventure to Skagway, and Dave and Collins and the M&M girls headed to Whitehorse, in the hope that we will rejoin them tomorrow night at Haines Junction.  So we split off at Jakes Corner (yes, Canada has a Jakes Corner too).

We finally crossed a river with a marina and boats, and we saw one boat heading out, so somebody does occasionally use these rivers.  The road was good, with just an occasional gravel patch, and the scenery got better and better.

We had lunch at a beutiful rest area at Bove Island in Tagish Lake.  This picture is taken from the table inside the RV (Brenda, see the tea glass).

The scenery got even better from then one.  Beautiful mountains, the lake, and then river beside us for miles, so left-over structures from old gold-mining sites.

The mountains in front of us were striped with snow -- Joe called them "zebra mountains."

Then we came into an area called "tormented valley," a rocky desolate "moonscape" of stunted trees and small lakes.  Our pictures don't do this justice, it was very pretty and very interesting.  Joe thought it looked like volcano rock, or the renmants of a glacier hundreds of years ago.  The Milepost states that "the subalpine landscape represents a transition zone between the treed lower elevations and the true alpine above treeline.  The small, twisted alpine firs are shaped by a combination of heavy snow burying their lower branches and icy winds sculpting their upper branches."There were numerous waterfalls on the other side of the highway, pouring into creeks that ran into these small lakes.

Then we got to Skagway, a very small, touristy town.  There were 3 cruise ships in port.

 
We hit some of the gift shops and drove out to an old Gold Rush Cemetery.  Then we found another out-of-town road that went back to some historic site, so we took that one.  The road looked like something out of Deliverance, and there was an old one-lane wooden bridge, that I didn't think we should cross.  Joe said, "get over it, Wilma, the water isn't that deep."  That wasn't very reassuring.  There was a sign that pointed us down a side road to some tidal flats, so we thought we should check that out for John and Bridgette.

However, Joe redeemed himself by finding me a BEAR!!!  Our first sighting of a grizzly, and we got to watch him for probably 15 minutes.  He first crossed the road in front of us and went into some evergreen trees, but then we saw him come out of those trees, and then he got into a little pond and was eating the roots along the bank, or he was taking a bath.  It was extremely cool.  He finished his time in the water then started grazing toward some more trees.  There was a dog sled camp at the end of this road, and the dogs must have gotten a whiff of the bear because they ALL started barking, which spooked the bear.  We got to see him take off running across this little road (I screwed up the camera and didn't get any pictures of that).  But it was all very exciting.

Finally we headed back to go down to the ferry to book our reservation to Haines tomorrow, and then we had dinner (halibut again).  We leave at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, have to be at the dock at 5:50 a.m.  Fortunately, today we are in Alaska timezone, so we gained an hour, which we will lose when we cross back into the Yukon tomorrow. But it never really gets dark here, so we are having a little trouble getting to sleep.  We spent some time today trying to darken the bedroom by hanging some dark towels over the windows.  We'll see if that helps tonight.