June 29

We got up early to catch the Alaskan Railroad Gold Star train from Fairbanks to Anchorage.  This is Pat in front of the Train Station in Fairbanks.

They have a very extensive model railroad set up at one end of the depot in Fairbanks.  There were at least 6 trains all running simultaneously on various different tracks and some on the same tracks.

We upgraded our level of service on the train and had assigned seats in an observation car and our own dinning room just for our car.  They served us three free meals and a couple free drinks.  It made the 12 hour ride very pleasant.  We are now at the Guesthouse Inn for a couple days in Anchorage.

June 28

It was raining when we got up but it cleared up by mid morning.  This morning we took the River Discovery tour on a real sternwheel boat on the Chena River at Fairbanks.

As part of the tour, we saw a float plane demonstration, a dog sled demonstration and visited a recreated Athabaskan camp.

In the afternoon we did a walking tour of Fairbanks.  We walked along the Chena River and visited several Museums.

June 27

Today was our first day of significant rain all day.  We took the opportunity to visit indoor attractions in Fairbanks.  We spent the morning at the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center.  In addition to a 40 minute movie on Northern Lights, they had many exhibits.

After lunch, we went to the University of Alaska Museum of the  North.  We saw three 30 minute films:  Discovering dinosaur bones in Alaska, Whale migration and research and another film on the Northern Lights.  They had an extensive art collection and many exhibits on the local people, local animals, dinosaurs and whaling.

The Brown Bear pictured stood 8ft 9in tall.

June 26

Well the day started with a big surprise!!  We received an email at 8:30 am that our 11:50 am Alaska Air flight from Barrow to Fairbanks was canceled.  I immediately called Alaska Air lines to see what they could do.  After spending several minutes on the phone, the agent confirmed the flight was canceled and came up with a 6pm flight from Barrow to Anchorage and a 11pm flight from Anchorage to Fairbanks.

In the process of discussing the suggested changes, I asked if there were any options through Prudhoe Bay.  She put me on hold for about 10 minutes and when she returned to the line she started apologizing profusely.  As it turned out, there was a mix up and the Prudhoe Bay flights were canceled. She returned our flight to the originally scheduled flight and all worked out and we are now in Fairbanks.
Go figure!!!

Interesting fact about the planes they use to fly to the small Northern towns like Barrow and Prudhoe Bay is that passengers board from the back of the aircraft.  There is a solid wall divider between rows 15 and 16.  There is additional cargo where rows 1 through 15 would normally be.  Passengers sit in rows 16 to the rear of the plane.

One additional point of interest.  In the debate over the pronunciation of Barrow, i.e., "bear-o" vs "bar-o", after surveying a significant sample of locals, it must be concluded that "bear-o" is the correct local vernacular.

June 25

We started the day in Barrow with an early morning walk in a light fog.  We walked about 5 blocks from our hotel to the shore of the Arctic Ocean.  There was a lot of pack ice that had blown in to shore.  The winds changed to off shore late in the morning, the sky was clear and sunny and by early evening most of the ice was about 1/2 to 3/4ths of a mile off shore.

We picked up a rental car at 10 am and were on the go until 10 pm (ya gotta love that 24 hours of day light).  We hit every sight there was to see.  The picture below is of the skull of a 51 foot Bowhead Whale.

There were many sites with whale bones around the city.  One site that is seen often in promotional material is the whale bone arch.  Note that picture was taken earlier in the day and the pack ice is still near shore.

We drove out on the road that travels along the Ocean on a spit to the Northeast of town to where the road ended at presumably the most Northern point in the USA.

June 24

We woke up this morning and it was raining.  Probably just as well as it would have been more depressing to return the RV on a nice day.  We certainly enjoyed the new experience.

The return process went quickly and smoothly.

Currently we are hanging out at the Anchorage airport waiting for our flight to Barrow, Ak to start the next phase of our trip.

If things go according to plan, we will be in Barrow about 7:30 pm local time (10:30 MN time).  More to follow.....  we made it!!

June 23

We took some time off from packing and cleaning the RV to go to Beluga Point.

We strolled around and did a little scramble to the tops of the rock formations hoping to catch a glimpse of a Beluga, but no such luck.

We stopped at McHugh Creek to do some hiking and observe the creek cascading into Turnagain Arm.

We are back at Golden Nugget RV Park to do the finishing cleanup touches on the RV as we will return it tomorrow.

June 22

Today was a pretty much get organized day as Greg and Sandy were flying out tonight to go back home.  We had a leisurely breakfast working on finishing off as many left overs as we could.

We went to two rock shops and had lunch in the Post Office parking lot working on more left overs as Greg and Pat each packed up another box of rocks (oh sorry), I meant "gems"....

We did a little hiking (strolling) in Earth Quake Park

to pass the time until we met Monique and Greg and Aunt Julie (Gary's wife) for dinner.  Monique and Greg brought some fish for Greg and Sandy to take back.  They finished packing in the parking lot and we took them to the airport.

We said our good byes and they were off with bags in tow.

We had a great time and really enjoyed their company.  We will miss them on the rest of our trip but we will see them again in the fall.

June 21

Uncle Gary made us a great breakfast of eggs, toast, bacon and a huge cinnamon bun.  We had a nice leisurely breakfast waiting for the day to warm up a little before he took us out for a boat ride on the Kenai river.  It was a beautiful day!!

After our boat ride, we had some of Q's delicious home made chili for lunch.  We chatted for a while and then started back to Anchorage.

On the way to Anchorage, we stopped at Bird Point on the Turnagain Arm to watch the tidal bore come in from Cook Inlet.  If you enlarge the photo below, you can just make out the bore crossing a sand bar in the distance just to the right of the brim on Pat's hat.

We are back in the Golden Nugget RV Park in Anchorage where we started 20 days ago.

June 20

Today was "gem" hunting day.  We left Homer and went to three beaches to the North.  We started at the farthest North which was Captain Cook State Park and worked our way back to  Soldotna.

We drove back to Sandy's Uncle Gary's fishing place (cottage), in Soldotna.  Gary prepared a super dinner of halibut, with smoked Salmon and all the fixens. We had an excellent meal, a walk around the area and an interesting discussion around the campfire.

June 19

We started out another day with one of Greg's great breakfasts.  Monique and her Greg joined us for breakfast too.   It was raining in the morning so we were not in a big hurry to start the day.

After breakfast we headed to Bishop's Beach to search for "gems".  We were looking for the coal veins in the cliffs about two miles north of the beach entrance for micro amber embedded in the coal. We stopped for a break and low and behold we found a large chunk of coal that washed free from the cliffs.  (We are sitting on it)

We found a few very small pieces of amber and of course other cool gems on the beach.

We stopped at the Islands and Ocean Visitor Center and then stopped at a couple micro breweries before meeting up with Monique and Greg at the Salty Dawg.

We all went to the end of the Spit to have dinner at the Chart Room.

June 18

Today was zip line day.  We went to their location in Seward and signed in and then got shuttled a few miles  out of town.  We went through some on ground training  and an easy line to get the hang of it. There were eight of us and we loaded in a pickup truck and got a ride to the top of the line. There were 7 lines, the longest being about 1300 feet, three bridges and two repels.  This is a pic on one of the tree top platforms.

We left Seward and headed for our next destination, Homer. We are camped on the Homer Spit, a slender finger of land jutting out into the sea, with Sandy's sister Monique (A.K.A.,Q) and her husband Greg and their three Samoyed dogs.  We got in late and Q had a super dinner prepared for us so we did not have to cook.  We all went for a hike/gem search after dinner.

June 17

Greg made another one of his spectacular breakfasts to start the day.  Pat and Greg have been collecting a lot of "gems" (rocks) so they each put a box together and they mailed them home today. We took about a mile stroll along the water from our campsite into the downtown area to look around and have lunch.  On the way back there was a sea otter swimming about 30 feet from shore.

We went to Kenai Fjords National Park to hike along Exit Glacier.  The terrain prevented us from getting out on the glacier but we hiked up through nearby snow fields for some super views of the glacier.  The hike was about 5 miles round trip, with an elevation gain of 2000 feet.  The trip down went a lot faster "Step Sliding" (glissading) across the snow fields.

June 16

We got up at 5 am to get ready and get checked in at the Ferry Terminal for our Ferry trip with the RV  from Valdez to Whitter.  We were scheduled to leave at 7am but departed about 45 minutes late.  We saw Otters, dolphins, lots of waterfalls, several glaciers ang Greg saw a whale spouting off in the distance.  The Ferry ride was close to 6 hours.

Our destination today was Seward.  After we arrived at Whittier, the only way out of town to continue to Seward was to travel through a 2.5 mile single lane tunnel.

On our way to Seward, we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.  They had Bison, Elk, Musk Ox, Black Bear, Black Tail Deer, Lynx and Bald Eagle but the animals that got the most attention were the Brown Bears.

June 15

We left Kenny Lake and headed to Valdez.  We saw this black bear standing in the middle of the road.

We stopped at Worthington Glacier and spent a couple hours hiking.  We hiked to the base of the ice line and then up on the glacier. We hiked up to the long skinny rock patch in the center of the lower portion of the glacier.

!

We have seen many waterfalls but the Bridal Veil Falls a few miles from Valdez has been the most spectacular to date.

June 14

First stop today was at a Yak farm.  We did not tour there but stopped along the road to take a couple pictures.

Next stop was Chitina Airport .  To get to Kennicot Copper mine we decided to take a 1/2 hour flight in and out instead of a 2+ hour shuttle ride each way.

We had a great time touring the mine and will have many pictures on our website after our trip.
After we got back to the airport, we went in to Chitina to explore and have dinner.  We came upon these three having dinner in the lake.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Tracey!!!!!!!

June 13

We started the day with one of Greg's special omelettes.  Our first stop was at a Musk Ox farm.  We had a guided tour of the farm.  They had four babies this spring.

The next stop was Matamuska Glacier.  We got to drive within about 1/2 mile from the glacier.  We spent about two hours hiking on the glacier and finally got chased off by the rain.

We are now camped at Kenny Lake Mercantile about 30 miles Northwest of Chitna, AK.

June 12

We left Montana Creek Campground and headed back North a couple miles to stop at a gas station to flush the tanks and take on fuel.  We turned back South and stopped at Wasilla for groceries for the next portion on our trip.

We stopped at Monique and Greg's house in Eagle River.  Monique is Sandy's sister.  Sandy had been visiting with Monique the last couple days and will join us for the rest of the RV portion on the trip.

Greg and Monique made a great dinner for all of us.  This was the first time I ever had a Reindeer hot dog.  The ribs were super too! This is a view from their deck of Cook Inlet.

We will camp in their driveway tonight and continue on our trip tomorrow morning.

June 11

Today was pretty much a driving day. We needed to head back toward Anchorage to connect with Sandy, Greg's wife.  We stopped for gas at Nenana which created a new experience for me.  Prior to today, I never spent more than $100 to fill a gas tank. To fill about 3/4ths of the RV tank cost $110.

We stopped at the farmers market in Nenana and had a great time talking to the folks there and hearing their stories about the area.  We met Nenana's very own "Grizzly Adams".  More to follow on that later on the website.

To break up the drive, we stopped a couple times to go "gem hunting".  At one stop we were told by the locals there that we missed a bear sighting by about 5 minutes.  At that same stop, we took some time out from gem hunting to leave "our mark".

June 10

First stop this morning was Santa Claus House in North Pole, AK.  Santa was not there so I got to sit in his chair.

We left there and headed for Chena Hot Springs.  We toured the Aurora Ice Museum.  Everything inside (tables, bar stools, bed, igloo, sculptures, etc) was made of ice and kept at a temperature of 25 degrees.  There was even an xylophone made of ice that actually played.  They gave us big parkas that we could use during the tour to keep warm.

We toured their geothermal power plant, green houses and grounds.  We saw 7 reindeer  (in pens), goats and chickens and spent about an hour swimming in their hot spring pool.

We drove back to Fairbanks.  We stopped for a couple pictures of the Pipeline, had dinner at the Silver Gulch Brewing Company and are now camped at the Rivers Edge RV Park in Fairbanks.

June 9

Greg fixed us a big breakfast before we pulled out of the campsite.  We went "Gem Hunting" for an hour or so before we headed to Fairbanks.  We saw 5 Loons and a Red Fox along the way.

We stopped at the Georgeson Botanical Garden which is on the University of Alaska campus in Fairbanks.

We also saw a Caribou at the University but he was in a cage.

We stopped at the Silver Gulch Brewery for some beer tasting before we went to the "world famous" Turtle Club for dinner.

We are spending the night at the Riverview RV Park in of all places, North Pole, AK.

June 8

Today was Bus day in Denali.  You can only travel 15 miles into the park by private transport unless you are camping at one of the more interior campgrounds.  We are camped just a couple miles inside the park.  Today we took a park shuttle bus 84 miles into the park to Wonder Lake.  The round trip took about 12 hours.

We hiked about a mile to the bus pickup point at 6:15 am and saw a Mommy Moose and her two babies bedded down in the campground area.

The trip was great!!  We saw many Caribou.  We stopped counting after 70 and we were only half way in.  We saw a Red Fox, Golden Eagle, Moose, two Marmot, 17 adult Dall Sheet and two babys.

We saw 2 single Grizzly bears.  The high spot of the trip was when we saw a Mother Grizzly Bear and her two babies on the way out and on the way back.

It was a great day in the park!!!

Reality set in however when l got back to the campsite after a long day and found out it was my turn to do laundry.  The good news is, my number will not be up again for several days.

June 7

As we left the campground this morning, we saw this little guy and his mother.

Today we spent the day hiking at Savage River and Mountain Vista Rest Area.  We drove the RV to each location.  It was nice to spend the morning hiking and return back to the RV to make lunch.  During our afternoon hiking, we were showered with a BB size hail storm for a few minutes.

We also took in the late afternoon Sled Dog Demonstration.

We saw another or perhaps the same baby moose when we returned to the campground.  In any event, the Moose count is at 8.

June 6

We went for about a 45 minute walk this morning in the rain with a Streamoligest from the Salmon Research Center in Talkeetna.  It was a very interesting walk and we learned a lot.  There were only the three of us and an intern in training.

We got back to the RV about 10:15 and we're on the road by about 10:30 am.  We are getting pretty good at flushing the tanks and preparing the RV for travel.  Of course we had to stop at the Flying Squirrel Bakery as we passed by it on the Spur getting back to the highway.  We stopped a little later for groceries, gas and lunch and headed for Denali.

We saw two moose along the drive and checked in at the visitor center and the campground to get a site and info on the park shuttles.  On our way to the camp site, we saw this guy.  That makes three so far!!

June 5

Today we took the Hurricane train from Talkeetna to Hurricane Gulch, about 57 miles each way.  We started about 365 feet and got to about 1300 feet at the gulch. This train is the last "flag stop train" running in the US. That means the train will stop anywhere people want to get off or it will stop anywhere people are waving a flag to let the Engineer know that they want to get on.  Also, it is a tourist train and it will stop anywhere a passenger wants to take a picture of the scenery or wildlife.  Greg spotted a black bear and her 2 cubs and called out and the train stopped and backed up so everyone on the train could go to the open baggage car doors and take pictires of the bears.  We stopped at the middle of the Hurricane Gulch bridge,  296 feet above the Gulch Stream, so everyone could take pictures before the train started back to Talkeetna.

On our return trip , we stopped along the way at the home of one of the local authors, Shannon Cartwright.  She has authored many children's books and is living alone in the Alaskan wilderness.  The only way to get to her home is via the train.  Several of us got off the train and hiked a hundred yards to her home and she gave us a tour of her place. (More to follow on our website when we get home).

June 4

We left Wasilla and continued our journey North toward Denali.  We took a little detour on the Talkeetna Spur Road to visit Talkeetna.  A little South of Talkeetna we came upon the Denali Brewing Company.  It was a little early in the morning to be sampling beer but we forced a couple down anyway.

We continued on towards Talkeetna and had lunch at the Flying Squirrel Bakery and Cafe.  We spent the afternoon exploring Talkeetna.

June 3

We picked up Pat's brother Greg from the Anchorage airport and started heading North.  After lunch, our first stop was Independence Historical Mine.  The entrance road was closed so we had about a 1.5 mile hike up to the Visitor Center which was also closed.  We hiked around the site for an hour or so and returned to the RV.  We stopped for the night near Wasilla.