Not Douglas

Wouldn't you love to know the story behind this sign which we spotted on the side of a building?
I especially like the again part.

Did you know that Fairbanks was a trading post set up by E. T. Barnette in 1901, and named in honor of Charles Fairbanks, the senior Senator from Indiana?

How's this for an example of cutting a road through the forest? 

Yesterday we spent a few informative hours at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum and learned even more about the huge state and all of its wildlife.  Some of it flew out of my brain before we even left the parking lot, but a little bit of it might stick around for a while.
  At least until we get to the next stop.

This more clearly explains why the roads are so undulating and challenging. 

How would this look with a cheesehead,
 snuggled around a Packer fan on a December day at Lambeau?  

This sign is kind of difficult to read.  President Harding was the first President to visit  Alaska, and on July 15, 1923 drove the Golden Spike to celebrate the completion of the Alaska Railroad.     
He continued on to San Francisco, where he died on August 2, 1923, in Room 8064, the Presidential suite of the Palace Hotel.  It's still not certain of the cause - everything from food poisoning, to congestive heart failure, to cerebral apoplexy have been suggested.  His wife refused to allow an autopsy on the husband who was known to have extra-marital affairs.  Hmm.

Al making campaign promises that won't be kept. 

ps  Doesn't cerebral apoplexy sound like something that happens to most of us every once in a while?

Way Up North

Before we could leave Denali there was work to do.  Al's always fiddling with some important tool.

We did made one more stop in the park to see the sled dogs, who are put to work by the rangers to haul supplies in and out of the park.  Motorized vehicles are only allowed on the one road, which doesn't access much of the huge area, so the dogs are important, and seem to love their jobs.

This one is patiently waiting his turn to work.  The minute the mushers brought out the harness every dog began jumping and barking - "Take me, take me, take me!" 

A whole 'nother way to RV. 

It rained most of the time we were on the gravel construction road and was kind of
fascinating to watch the mud accumulate and run down that big hip.

Mr. Clean set right to work. 

Now we're in Fairbanks for a few days, the most Northern destination of our itinerary.
We're just a couple hundred miles from the Arctic Circle -
for around $400 per person we could fly there to get a certificate of accomplishment.
  Or not. 

The Great One

Denali is the Athabascan name for the impressive Mt. McKinley, which is nearly four miles high! 
The National Park is about the same size as New Hampshire, Vermont, or Massachusetts and is home to about 2,000 caribou and 2,000 moose, among hundreds of other animals.  Our eight-hour bus trip to the Eielson Visitor Center (where the view is the best) gave us sightings of two caribou, two bears, a dozen mountain sheep, a ptarmigan family, and marmot.   

Here was our view of the mountain today.  They say the chance of seeing it is about 30% so at least we are in the majority.  Disappointing, but it's a gorgeous park, even in the rain and fog.
Maybe we'll see it next time.

The wildlife sightings were all too far away to get good shots but it was still fun to
see them out in the wild where they belong.

Tomorrow we move to Fairbanks so might have a better connection and I can tell you more.   

More Talkeetna

Did I mention ice cream?  This sure beats all that crank, crank, cranking, doesn't it?

We visited a Birch Syrup farm where they tap in the spring, much like the maple tree,
but a less sweet result.  It takes 110 gallons of birch sap to make one gallon of syrup,
compared to 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of syrup. 

This is the fancy machine that converts that sap into about 16 ounces of syrup per tree. 

Harvest was 21 days in the spring, but this is how it looked.

Did you know that Alaska has 3,000,000 lakes?

Talkeetna

This is a charming and very old town where the Talkeetna and Susitana Rivers meet.
For decades it has been the staging area for Denali climbers and is filled with cute little shops selling products of local artists.  But that part can be said for most of Alaska, because there are lots of creative people here.  Make it in the long winter, sell it in the short summer.

 

 

This is the traditional dress of Native women.  Looks comfy, doesn't it?
  I could have another pint of ice cream and not even notice it.

There is another storm a-brewing, but so far the thunder has only produced a few sprinkles.

Mush

Wasilla is home of the Iditarod Headquarters so today we learned a little bit about it,
but there is at least a ton more information at www.iditarod.com if you care. 

Joe must have been quite a guy.

You'll notice that he moved to Alaska in 1948, which was a marvelous year for so many things.

This caught my attention but so far these ominous clouds haven't produced anything.
We have been so very lucky about avoiding rain but you just never know.   

Lonely, Now We're So Lonely

Yesterday we drove from Seward to Anchorage, with a stop at the Portage Glacier Visitor Center.
They had a display about insects of the area and Al is pretty sure this is the size of the mosquito who keeps tormenting him.  Could be.

They also wanted us to know about Alaska's weather records. 
Do you want to move to Thompson Pass?  How about Prospect Creek?

 

Homer had a lot of excitement for one day.
His first glacier (all the other times we left him in one RV park or another, waiting for our return.)

His first airport! 
There was a lot of head-turning when we pulled up and Al unloaded the flowers because the suitcases were behind them, but the onlookers didn't know that.

My photo skills failed me because of the sadness, but don't Teri and Willie look a little too excited to be leaving us?  It's very quiet now.  Al is going to have to adapt himself to cooking for two instead of four, but from the looks of us, he's been cooking for seven.  Teri is thin,, but three of us seem to have gotten a bit porky.  So now we have to deal with the loss of our playmates and the loss of sticky buns and ice cream and chips and all the other calories-don't-count-on-vacation goodies that have been abundant for a couple of weeks.  What makes that fair?
After dropping them off at 9:30 we decided that because it wasn't dark, we might as well drive for a while, so headed North to Wasilla where we found a park  that had space for us.  It's very strange to realize that it's midnight when it's not dark and you see people working in their gardens.   

In or Out

This is the Exit Glacier, which used to be the way most people left the Harding Icefield, but now it's the way most people enter what is left of it. We all walked the path/trail to see it almost up close and personal.  We saw some brave (crazy) people who did the very long trek to walk on it, but viewing is enough for me.  Willie was trying to find a way to get some of the ice for his gin -
isn't that the purpose of ice?

This kind of puts it in perspective.

Life with Al is always this kind of conundrum.

Yet another beautiful view from Seward. 
Now it's time to plan another fun day.  As soon as I finish the laundry - doncha hate real life?

Out of Homer in Homer

Yesterday we stopped at the Salty Dawg for cocktails before dinner, but I resisted the temptation to hang my bra among all the other stuff on their ceilings and walls.
Wouldn't it be fun to know how much money is tacked up there.

We weren't the only ones going to dinner.

 

Here we are on the way out of Homer with Homer.  It was just a little bit sad. 

Now we're in Seward with more stunning views.  If there is a place in Alaska that isn't pretty we haven't found it yet, but have about another month to keep looking. 

If only you were here now.  It's cocktail time, Al is cooking some of Willie's fresh salmon, Teri is doing laundry, Willie is planning tomorrow's activities, and you know what I'm doing.