Alaska Trip - 2007 - Week 3

Our abode in Fairbanks at 11:30 PM on 7/11/2007	Alska Pipeline over the Tanana River close to Fairbanks	Mom and me with Mr. and Mrs. Claus at the North Pole	Jeanne and Mom posing with Susan Butchers Sled
Discovery 2 paddlewheel boat leaving ahead of us.	Float plane demonstration on the Chena	What every house needs in Alaska	Dave Monson demonstrating the pulling power of the dogs
Girl in the village displaying a timber wolf pelt.	A beautiful fur coat	Girl showing the sunburst hood on the fur coat	Dixie Alexander's Fish camp.

Day 17 - July 13 - Tour to Barrow on the Arctic Ocean

It was up bright and early today for Mom and I as we had to be at the airport at 6:00 AM for our 7:30 flight to Barrow on the Arctic Ocean. The flight first made a stop at Deadhorse Airport on the North Slope of Alaska at Prudhoe Bay. The flight was full but a lot of those on board were going to Prudhoe. One couple had decided to take a day trip to Barrow in a standby status. When the plane got to Prudhoe, they had to get off the plane to make sure that all the Prudhoe tickets with reservations got on first and then they were re-seated after it became clear that seats were available. The flight after dropping us off at Barrow was continuing on to Anchorage and a lot of oil field workers did get on the plane. Barrow receives most of its cargo by plane so only the seats from row 19 and back were reserved for passengers. The front part of the plane was blocked off and carried cargo.

We arrived in Barrow to find out that we had to take an extended walk across the tarmac to get into the terminal. The runways there are being extended and the planes had to park some distance from the terminal. At the terminal we were greeted by our guides Bunna and Ryan who first steered us to the restrooms and then to the bus parked across the street. There were approximately 16 people on the bus with about 5 staying overnight and the rest of us were daytrippers. Bunna we found out was 7/8  Inupiat Native. He had a thick head of long black hair and in some ways resembled the face on the tail of the Alaska airline planes. He was full of good humor kept up an interesting banter about Inupiat life at Barrow. He said that Barrow has a population of about 5000 of which about 65 % are natives. Many of the natives still practice the old ways but to some degree have adopted newer ways when necessary. For example, dog sleds have been replaced by ATV's. Outboard motors are used on boats for the most parts while at other times the older wooden frame boats with animal skin for the sides and bottom are used. Throughout the day he kept pitching the thought of taking a dip in the Arctic Ocean and becoming a member of the Polar Bear Club. 6 people signed up for this exercise which I will cover later.

We drove around Barrow and Bunna showed off the sights as they were . Most of the buildings were wooden framed and they were at all different angels to each other. Nothing like the straight, rectangular lineup we see at our homes. Bunna explained that there were approximately 1300 students in the school system which takes in students from a large area. Riding out to the cemetery area we stoopped for some pictures only to find out that the stop also involved maintenance to the tour bus - low antifreeze. Speaking of freeze, the temperature on landing was 48 but there was a stiff wind that made it a lot cooler. By noon the wind had dropped and it was comfortable outside. However by 3:00 PM the wind really picked up and the temperature dropped some so it was not comfortable with only a light jacket. Mom and I had sweatshirts do ward of the wind and the chill.

After lunch at Pepe's Mexican Restaurant we drove out to the Inupiat Heritage Center to take in a small museum, look at and purchase some local crafts and also to see a dance performance by the youngsters of the community. They performed various dances to the tune of drums and vocal chanting/singing. The kids did a great job and at the end it was the spectators turn to join them. Mom and I did as did others. The performance was finished by a blanket toss with the spectators helping out with the pulls on the rope handles on the blanket. After the show we were given time to wander over to the Grocery Store just to look around. A gallon of milk was $9.00. A 3-4 lb chicken was around $14.00. Bananas were $2.00 a pound. We got to talk to the manager of the store and he explained that all of the food comes in by air and that is why it was so expensive. Between the middle of July and August, barges bring in the bulk products such as fuel and building materials as well as cars and ATV's. We noticed that there were 4 wheel drive ATV's in the supermarket for $7800.

Bunna spent a lot of time talking about the whaling done at Barrow. By agreement with the International Whaling Comission the natives of Barrow were allowed to take 51 whales last year. He also explained seal hunting and showed us several places where seal meat was hanging up to dry. Also there were many whale bone displays around the town of Barrow to show the importance of the whale to the natives. By now it was getting on to 4:00 PM and we hadn't witnessed the swimming which was taken care of directly. The victims were taken back to Pepe's restaurant (swimming headquarters in Barrow) where they paid a $10.00 entrance fee and filled out a club membership application. The victims were then given time to change into their bathing regalia and met at the beach on the other side of the road by the spectators and a guy from Pepe's holding towels for the victims. He said that he doesn't understand why people do this when there is counseling available locally. Anyhow all of the signer uppers did go into the 37 degree water and fully submerged themselves in order to qualify for the club. It was something to see their faces when they came up out of the water.

I found out that liquor is available in Barrow but then only to the residents of the town. Visitors can not buy it in the restaurants and only locals can have it in their possession for their own use. Each individual must have a license to possess alcoholic beverages. Also only natives can hunt without a limit for game other than regulated whaling and that non-natives after about 6 years can get a residents license that has limits on it. At the appointed time Bunna dropped us back at the airport and we arrived back at Fairbanks at 8;00 PM. A long but exciting day.

Alaska Airline plane Fairbanks	Bunna and Ryan our guides	Scene in Barrow	Scene in Barrow
Ryan and AAA man fixing up the tour bus out in the boonies	competing technologies - Communications and cemeteries	Polar Bear at the hotel with $240 per night luxury rooms	Beach scene at Barrow
Whale display at the Heritage center	fancy Beadwork at the heritage Center	Girls showing us how to dance the Inupiat way	Two year old modeling a fur coat
At the grocery store - fur lined outer garment - $1000 - it was warm	Fish camp at Barrow -	Water temp - 37 F - Some of the candidates for insanity	Mom and I at a whale bone display

 Day 18 - July 14 - Fairbanks, AK to Denali area - Miles Driven 144

  We started the day by visiting the Fairbanks visitors center, on the day we were leaving Fairbanks. We needed to find an activity for the morning that would give us a plenty of time for the short drive to the Denali area. At the Visitors Center there was a memorial statue to the WWII pilots who flew the Fairbanks to USSR route with military aid as part of the Lend Lease program. An impressive memorial. We also decided on the Large Animal Research Center which is a part of the University of Alaska. The center does research on the Musk Ox as well as Caribou. Musk Ox became extinct in Alaska due to over hunting and were re-introduced in Alaska by acquiring 35 musk ox from Greenland. The number has now grown to over 4000 and they are hunted again on a limited by permit basis only. Musk ox provide a very fine wool called Quiviut which is very soft and is eight times warmer than sheep wool. The university sells the wool for $25.00 an ounce to a Native Co-op who market the wool as either finished garments or raw wool. The center breeds musk ox but only for their own research, they are not reintroduced in the wild.

The Caribou pens held caribou as well as reindeer which are really domesticated caribou. The guide was feeding the caribou with lichens which is a moss and algae. The caribou thrive on this matter and are able to produce enough fat to survive the harsh conditions they live in. It was raining pretty hard when we got to the center but we were given large umbrellas to use while walking along the tour.

From the research center we set off down the Parks Highway towards Anchorage and stopped for lunch in Nenana at Two Choices Restaurant. The choices are "Take it or Leave It". It is owned by a woman who according to the waitress (she called herself a slave) now owns half the town. According to the write-up in the menu, the woman on the way to Alaska was separated of her belongings by some unscrupulous people and with only two dollars in her pocket parlayed that into a subsistence by playing pool for money.  The town itself looks like a sleepy place with the State of Alaska Railroad Museum at the end of the main road. There were several gift shops which according to the slave are owned by the restaurant owner.

We arrived at our destination of Healy at around 3:00 PM. For the evening we had reservations for the Black Diamond Covered Wagon Adventure which involves a ride in a canvas covered wagon with rubber tires for about a distance of two miles to a dining cabin set up in the woods. For dinner they fed us beans, potato salad, cold slaw, corn, roast beef, chicken and ribs with beverages of wine, coffee, hot chocolate etc. For desert  they had apple cobbler. the covered wagon ride went thru some beautiful country and the guide on the wagon talked about the history of Healy and some of the odd fellows that lived as trappers and miners in the area. There is a coal mine operating in Healy which supplies coal to the Alaska Power companies. Some of the customers on the wagon were all worked up about the cruise companies not using Alaskan people as employees at the Denali Park lodges and other venues. The guide was greatly appreciative of this opinion but we noted that a very large percentage of the people working for the Covered Wagon company spoke with an accent. Perhaps they were escapees from the cruise companies. It all sounded like the Walmart argument.

July 13 at 11:30 PM	Memorial to the Alaska Soviet Lend Lease fliers during WWII	Route of the Lend Lease Airlift - Fairbanks to Russia	Musk Ox at the Research Center
What happens to bad Musk Ox????	Caribou at the Research Center	Two Choices Restaurant in Nenana - Take It or Leave it	Covered Wagon ride
Along the route of the Covered Wagon Ride	Jeanne and one of our horses at the dining pavillion	Along the route of the Covered Wagon Ride	Along the route of the Covered Wagon Ride

 Day 19 - July 15 - Denali National Park - Miles driven 66 miles

When I awoke this morning it was my birthday. No I am not looking for gifts, just making a note. Another of my numerous birthdays when we have been on the road. sure don't feel like 68. Today was our day to visit Denali National Park with its tallest mountain in North America, Mt. McKinley. They say there is a mountain here by that name, it is described and shown on postcards and literature throughout the park but we couldn't see it. If you can't see it it isn't there. Actually McKinley being that high makes it's own environment which on most days is almost complete cloud cover. We will take their word that it is there.

My original plans for the visit to the park included a bus ride into the back country but past experience on school bus type non reclining seats was not positive so we decided to not risk our backs for the rest of the trip. My plan for today included (1) visiting the McKinley sled dog kennels and get to see some more huskies in action, (2) take a hike on at least one of the hiking trails and (3) taking a ride out to the Savage River which is 15 miles into the park and the deepest one can get with a private vehicle. Beyond that point it is all bus tours.

We arrived at the park just in time to take the a shuttle bus to the kennels and see the 10:00 AM sled dog demonstration. At the kennels you were given a period of time to pet the dogs and just roam around. While on our dinner wagon ride last night we heard the other patrons talking about the dog Gucci at the kennels having iven birth to 9 pups the day before. We looked her up and sure enough she was in her house nursing some tiny pups. The pups will probably not come outside for a few weeks. What makes Gucci so special is that she was donated to the NPS Kennels at Denali by Susan Butcher  - a four time Iditarod race winner. Sled dogs at Denali do not race but they are a vitall part of the winter patrols in the park. The next part of the demonstration included the harnessing of 5 dogs to a sled on wheels and then running them around the track. In Fairbanks we saw a 12 team pull an ATV at a fast pace. While the number of dogs here was more than a half smaller, it was still amazing to see the strength and speed of the smaller team. One thing we noticed here was that at Denali the dogs looked bigger than the Fairbanks dogs and on top of that some of them had the blue eyes associated with the husky breed.

We returned to the visitors center where I left my traveling companions to take a hike on the Horseshoe Lake Trail and return to the visitors center vial the Tiaiga Trail. The trip on the Horseshoe trail was easy on the way out - mostly downhill and steep in spots. The way back tougher with most of the walking going uphill. The Tiaiga Trail connects the Horseshead trail to the Mount Healy trailhead which is a steep trail to the top of the landmark mountain with its square like a castle top. I did not attempt it. The hike to the lake was scenic and I got to see that the lake is really a big beaver pond as one end is dammed up by logs stuffed into the dam by a beaver. One of the other walkers mentioned that he had seen a beaver head on the lake. I didn't see it but I did see a large hare.

Upon return from the approximately 5 mile hike I saw that the Alaska Railway train was in from Faribanks. It was being met by tons of Princess and Holland America busses which were dropping off people departing Denali and picking up others arriving for their stay. After lunch at the Great Alaska Fish and Chip Company, we took the 15 mile ride to Savage River where we turned around and left the park without seeing the elusive Mt. McKinley. McKinley is a pretty park with a lot of activities. We only had the one day here and to see the whole thing would take a minimum of 3 days.

In the evening Mom and I attended mass at the St. Mary of Guadalupe RC church which was only a block down the gravel road. A nice service. Tomorrow on to Soldotna. 

Gucci's Pups	The five dogs really pulled this sled fast.	After the run around the track	Buck - the only sled dog you could feed - with donations
On the Horseshoe Lake Trail	On the Horseshoe Lake Trail	On the Horseshoe Lake Trail	Alaska Rail Road at Denali Depot
Savage River - end of the road for us	Strange Rock formation at Savage River	Granite Peaks with snow in the distance - not Mt. McKinley	Just another mountain in Denali

Day 20 - July 16 - Healy,AK to Soldotna, AK - Miles Driven 440

Today turned out to be the day that Mt. McKinley made believers out of us. We woke early to a bright sunny day and got on the road by 7:00 AM for the 400+ mile drive to Soldotna on the Kenai Peninsula.  After about an hour on the road or 60 miles down the road towards Anchorage we rounded a bend and to our left in all its splendor in a bright sunshine stood Mt. McKinley fully exposed without a cloud cover. Based upon map scales we were approximately 60 miles away from the peak. It was a beautiful sight. The guide book said that approximately 50 miles down the road was a better viewing point. It was called the "North View Point within the Denali State Park. This viewpoint was closer to the mountain but differed in that there were intermediate ranges in front of Mt. McKinley so that only the crown of the highest peak was exposed. The total profile was exposed on the first stop. It was still nice. We then continued another 30 miles down the road to the South Viewing Point still within the Denali State Park as opposed to the National Park. The view here was as spectacular as the first. From map scales again the peak was at least 40 miles away.

After getting our eyes full of the mountain we headed to Talkeetna, AK for no particular reason. Mom and I had been there on our first trip to Alaska in the 90's and had visited the Moose Dropping festival. On the way into town we were blessed with another clear view of the mountain. I remembered that when we were here in the 90's we stopped at this same viewpoint and we couldn't even see the base of the mountain because of the clouds. It also turned out that the past weekend had been the "Moose Dropping" festival and Mom was able to get some super prices on some shirts and things.

After lunch in Wasilla at an Arby's we headed through Anchorage on the Seward Highway. The views of the Chugach Mountains and Turnagain Arm were spectacular. We stopped at the Beggich, Boggs visitors center at Portage Glacier. This was another stop that Mom and I had made in the 90's and we were interested to see how much the glacier had receeded. From what we saw, the glacier had stepped back quite a bit. The guide at the Forest Service desk said that the glacier was still within the lake formed by the melt and was not just retreating up the mountain. It was an enjoyable re-visit. Further down the road we ran into a construction zone and experienced a 20 minute delay. Something to remember when we return this way on Saturday. We arrived in Soldotna at around 6:15 PM. Considering that we spent most of the day in the van we were pretty tired after this great day.

Mt.McKinley the first sighting -over 60 miles away	Mt. McKinley from the North View stop. Still at least 40 miles away	Zoom into the summit from the North View Point	Mt. McKinley from the South View Point	Mt. McKinley from the South View Point
From Talkeetna - in 90's the mountain wasn't visible from here	The Chugach Mountains and Turnagain Arm	The Chugach Mountains and Turnagain Arm	Portage Glacier from the Beggich, Boggs visitors center	Me and Smokey at the Beggich, Boggs visitors center

 Day 21 - July 17 - Around Soldotna and Kenai - Miles driven 60

Our first stop for the day was the visitors center to pick up some literature and then head over to the "Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church". The first church was built in Ft. St. Nicholas (now Kenai) in 1849 and rebuilt with the present structure in 1895 when the original building fell into disrepair. The Kenai area was originally a Russian settlement and the Russian influence still exists here as the church is still active with about 100 souls as mentioned by the retired orthodox priest leading a tour of the church. We were here in Kenai in the 1990's and were glad to re-visit the site again. All I remembered about the church was the blue ceiling of the sanctuary. It was still there. The altar wall is decorated with beautiful Icons which were acquired from St. Petersburg for the second church. The chandelier in the middle of the altar has an interesting history. For the rebuild of the church, the crystal was sent out to be cleaned and in the process disappeared  never to be seen again. As it is the chandelier weighs 1400 lbs with its heavy brass structure. I find this site to be a joy to behold. We are glad that we came back to drink in its beauty. The retired priest leading the tour said that he had been married 53 years. Priests can be married but if the wife dies, he can not re-marry. Many of the widowed priests then join the monasteries with the hope of becoming a bishop. Obviously bishops can not be married. I mentioned that I was Latvian and the priest immediately picked up on the Seinfeld episode where George was going to convert to the Latvian Orthodox Church. While the Seinfeld episode intended to deal with a fictional religion, little did they know that there actually is a Latvian Orthodox Church that is led by the Metropolitan of Riga. That was a new one on me also.

From the church it was off to see various sites including of course the dreaded shopping opportunities. We visited the bluffs overlooking the beach at Kenai on the Cook Inlet and could see a fish camp on the beach with nets strung out in the inlet from anchor posts on the beach. Across the inlet we could see the tops of one of the many volcanoes that are on the opposite shore from the Kenai area. These volcanoes are still active.

For lunch we headed over to the Kenai Landing which is on the grounds of the now mostly idle Libby - McNeil - Libby cannery on the Kenai River. Some of the buildings have been sold to private interests that now operate a hotel, restaurant and retail complex while the fish dock is still in operation and a much smaller canning operation exists in other buildings. The retail buildings were sparsely occupied and I wondered how they stay in business there. We walked out on the fish pier where silvery salmon were being offloaded and weighed before heading to be processed or sold. The rest of the day was spent relaxing from yesterdays long drive.

Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church	Altar Wall with Icons of the Holly Assumption of the Virgin Mary Church in Kenai	Icon in the Church	Doors with Icons made in St. Petersbug, russia in the 1890's
Icons on Altar Wall or Screen	Dolls from Russia in the gift shop	Rear view of the church	Fish camp on the beach at Kenai
Volcano opposite Kenai across the Cook Inlet	Fish sorting table at Kenai Landing	Bins of fish at Kenai Landing getting ready for weighing	View of fishing inlet at Kenai Landing and the ever present seagulls.

Alaska Trip Summary

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