07/15/2010 - Thursday (Posted 07/16/2010)

Today was another exciting day, in two different ways. First we took the morning tour / train travel on the White Pass and Yukon Route (see photo above), and second it is our last full day in Alaska.

The rail excursion lasted a little over 3 hours, even though it was listed as 3.5 - 4 hours. It left Skagway at sea level, and traveled uphill to the White Pass summit at an elevation of 2,8888 feet. Most of the rail line was on the edge of the mountains (see photo). I missed mentioning, and will now before I forget, that the road down into the valley and Skagway was much the same, cut out of the edge of the mountain.

The rail line is fairly well know and on weekends uses steam power on the line. The rail line of 20 miles up these mountains was built in 2 years, 2 months and 2 days and was built because of the gold stampede.

The train returned shortly before noon so we spent the rest of the day walking around town (other photo is of one of the town buildings - all are of this era).

Signed:

The Wayward Traveler.

07/14/2010 - Wednesday (posted on 07/16/2010)

I must apologize as somewhat the normal it seemes. The hotel today did not have free WI-FI wireless Internet so I did not update the blog, nor will until I can get free access. I hope you understand.

Today was to be a long travel day, slightly over 500 miles. from Tok to Skagway. the majority of today's ride and drive is on the Alaska Highway. having driven on most of this portion of the highway when we left Haines we know that it will be somewhat slow going with all the non-repaired road damages.

I did not take any photographs today as there was nothing out of the new ordinary. We crossed into Yukon, Canada near the town of Beaver Creek. We eventually crossed into British Columbia and headed south to Skagway. The road from Whitehorse down to Skagway is a mountainous and curvy road, passing over and around many mountains, avalanche areas, small mountain lakes and even some very long ones.

We arrived in Skagway almost evening time. After getting our rooms we walked around town for a little. It was windy and quite chilly. As soon as the cruise ships left the town was almost empty and most of the stores closed.


Until tomorrow:

Signed:
The Wayward Travelers.

07/13/2010 - Tuesday - Excitement! (updated 07/16)

Today got off to an unusual start. Once you read the following you will understand why I did not include any photographs. (p.s. I added photo taken at Delta Junction, the northern end of the Alaska Highway, on 07/16).

We got up at our usual time, 3 hours after sunrise, but I bet still before a lot of people where even thinking about getting up.

Since we were leaving Fairbanks and driving to Tok today I took somethings down to the car as soon as I got around. Judy and I then waited for Frank & Karen. They are usually up early as well. Last night we set a time of 9:00 to leave since it is only about a 4 hour (200 mile) drive).

While waiting for them I started reading the paper in the hotel lobby. Low and behold, the road we are to be taking tomorrow, from Tok to Dawson City, was closed because rain washed out several sections of the road and a few bridges. Now the excitement started.

I contacted our travel agent to reschedule several hotel reservations and one tour, moving everything closer by 3 days. We had to remove the two nights in Dawson City and one night in Whitehorse. This will shorten our total trip by 3 days. When I called the agent I had to leave a voice phone message, and I followed up with an e-mail. Excitement #1.

The four of us then took a walk several blocks for breakfast since that is all we were able to do at the time.

As we were approaching the breakfast cafe our agent phoned us back - the hotel reservation cancellations and the new changes in Skagway (hotel and tour) were changed - all this in less than an hour.

After breakfast and before checking out of the hotel we all went back to our rooms to finish packing and brush our teeth, etc. The water department shut off the water because of some work being done outside of the hotel. Excitement #2.

There was another interesting item this morning. When we got out of our room and to the hotel lobby we could smell smoke. It turned out that over the weekend there was a small forest fire near Fort Wainwright (on the eastern edge of Fairbanks). The fire was put out, but not completely. Over the night last night the wind evidently re-ignited some hot spots. The was the odor of burring wood as well as wood ash all over the car. Excitement #3.

As we were leaving Fairbanks, between there and North Pole (yes, there is a North Pole in Alaska) there was a blue-gray haze covering the road that we had to drive through.

Along the way we stopped at a pipeline viewpoint where the pipeline crossed a fiver on a suspension bridge. this was just a few miles north of Delta Junction, the official end of the Alaska Highway.

After arriving at Tok and checking in at the hotel I phoned the hotels that I made reservations for (from Watson Lake to Belle Fourche), a total of 5 hotels. I was able to move the reservations 3 days sooner. So, if you are following our schedule you can take the two days at Dawson City and the day at Whitehorse out (3 days).

Well, that was enough excitement for today.


Signed:
The Wayward Travelers.

07/12/2010 - Monday

Today was another day of leisure activities.

We stopped at an Alaskan Pipeline Information area alongside the highway just north of Fairbanks. There were two examples of 'pigs'. These are 'bullet' shaped items that are pushed through the pipeline by the oil and they clean the inside pipe. There were also information boards about how the construction of the above ground pipeline was designed, mainly to prevent damage to the permafrost.

Next we drove about 60 miles east of Fairbanks to an area named Chena Hot Springs. There are hot water springs in the area, now on private land. Karen availed herself of the opportunity and went in the hot spring pool.

Next stop was the mandatory shopping at North Pole, a small community just southeast of Fairbanks.

From here it was back towards Fairbanks and looking for a place for supper. We settled on a small restaurant named 'The Cookie Bowl'. It is a small family style restaurant. the food was good as were the prices.

This evening Judy and Russ are planning on attending a show at the Fairbanks Visitor Center about the Asthanbasan natives.


Signed:
The Wayward Travelers.

07/11/2010 - Sunday

Today was an easy day, one with no previous plans except to determine what we wanted to do.

The hotel only had a buffet breakfast so Judy and I drove over to a 'Fred Meyer' store and had a coffee and pastry at the Starbucks counter. Frank and Karen decided to walk around town to see what they could find.

We started by catching up on the laundry. After that I went and had the oil changed in the car. So far we traveled just under 6,000 miles.

Judy and I then drove along 'Farmer Loop' road which was listed as prime Moose spotting area. Yep, we did not spot any.

We also caught up on our paperwork - travel notes, etc., and cleaned up the back of the van a little. We also planned our activities for tomorrow.

Mid afternoon we drove over to a Denny's for supper.

Late afternoon we took a local free shuttle up to the 'Museum of the North' which is part of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. The museum has many displays of the Native Alaskans, by area of the state (lower east, central, southwestern, etc.) and well as historical items from the modern settlement of Alaska.

OBSERVATION:
I do not remember if I mentioned this before, especially in the last few days. It is different living in an area where there is so much daylight. I know that it is only at this time of the year up here. For example, today's times are:
Sunrise 3:35 am
Sunset 12:15 am
Amount of sunlight 20 hours, 40 minutes.
Amount of 'dusk' type light 3 hours, 20 minutes
(It did not really get dark)


We get busy in the evening, but cannot tell that it is somewhat late when we look out the window, we need to look at a clock. Another example. This morning (?) I woke up around 3:30 and it was bright. I looked a the clock and went back to sleep. If I was home I probably would have gotten up with as much light as there was.
The people who live here all year long must have an interesting time adjusting to the major swings in day light and nighttime.


Signed:
The Wayward Travelers.

07/10/2010 - Saturday - Denali to Fairbanks

Today was an easy day.

We took our time this morning to get ready for our drive to Fairbanks as it is only around 120 miles or so. There was a light rain as we were leaving, but it stopped shortly after. However, it remained cloudy the balance of the day.

Within a few miles of leaving we stopped to take photographs of the two different moose with calves that you see in the photos above. They were the only wildlife we saw today.

After checking in at the hotel and stopping at the visitor center we went to Pioneer Park, a city park that had historical buildings moved from Fairbanks and the surrounding area to this area. some of the buildings were 'museum' in nature and some were set up as stores (food, crafts, etc.). The majority of the buildings were of log construction.

From here we went to the LARS facility, a working area of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.

LARS stands for Large Animal Research Station. Here were Musk Ox as well as caribou. Unfortunately if you wanted to see other than a few Musk Ox they keep by the road you had to take a tour that they charged you for. we passed on that.

We then drove about 2 miles to another UofA facility where some reindeer (versus Caribou) are kept by the road. I did not take any photos at either of these two places because of the fences.

Back to our hotel and supper at Big Daddy's B-B-Q. Our recommendation - skip this place - the advertised 'fall off the bone' B-B-Q ribs were very crispy and tough.

A sign in the hotel lobby had the statistics for today:

Sunrise: 03:35 a.m.

Sunset: 12:15 a.m.

Hours of sunlight: 20 hours, 39 minutes, 48 seconds.

As of now it appears that this area of Alaska is loosing about 5 to 6 minutes of sunlight a day.

Signed:

The Wayward Traveler

07/09/2010 - Friday - Denali (Posted 07/10)

Today was a busy day. We got up at 5:00 a.m. so we could have our continental breakfast at the hotel and be ready for our tour bus at 6:10 a.m.

We had signed up for a 13 hour bus tour, Kantishna Roadhouse, that takes one through the park, from the park entrance to a private lodge 90 miles into the park, a lunch at the roadhouse, and then back out.

I included only a few photographs today. Most of the photographs of animals that I took were at a distance and I need to work on those photographs on my other computer since that is where my better photo-editing software is.

The photographs above are (in order):

Moose (Bull) in a pond,

Karen and Judy panning for gold,

Sled dogs in action,

Mt. McKinley / Denali from about 75 - 80 miles away, and

Mt. McKinley / Denali from the last visitor's center, approximately 45 miles away.

In summary, following are the animals we had the opportunity to see on our travels today:

Moose,

Grizzly (not close), one with two cubs,

Golden Eagle,

Caribou,

Dall Sheep,

Wolf (only Karen in our group of four saw it, several others on the bus did as well).

At the Kantishna Roadhouse we had the option of either gold panning or a sled dog demonstration. Judy, Karen and I chose the gold panning, Frank just watched. Both Judy and Karen found some gold in their pan, I did not.

The road out and back was very narrow and winding. Parts of it were also on the edge of steep drop-offs.

We were returned to our motel about 7:15 p.m. - a long day.

For supper we went back to Denali Gulch, but ate at Prospector Pizza - a much 'safer' eating place.

Signed;

The Wayward Travelers.