Ok, so I exaggerated a bit about about Alaska having tacky stuff. It was only a little, little bit of tacky and we all need (and have) some of that don't we? Pretty much everything about Alaska is beautiful and clean, especially the air. Our experience at the Liard River hot springs kind of set us up for what we thought we might encounter at the Chena River Hot Springs near Fairbanks.
When we arrived, we discovered a little bit of Disney and a much different hot springs. My word, they even had an indoor pool! It is a large complex comprised of hotel, ice museum, hot springs, all things spa-like and even horse-back riding. The very interesting and lovely part of the experience however, was that the entire complex, including greenhouses, is geo-thermally heated. Makes sense doesn't it?
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Looking ever so satisfied after the best dinner ever at the Chena Alaskan Grill,
right at our campground! Alaskan seafood
chowder followed by Alaskan seafood fettucine. So full we were nearly
sick. |
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| Chena River hotsprings |
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| Ice museum...tackier outside than inside |
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Fabulous tiger with glowing eyes standing on a
chess board of ice |
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| Dream-like jousting knights |
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| Ice bar with ice martini glasses |
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| Tribute to a certain Alaskan politician |
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| Coca-Cola bear |
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| Apple martini at the bar. Heavy coats provided |
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| ..and sitting on ice stools covered in caribou hide (grateful!) |
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| There she is...Sara and the pit bull |
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Even a Christmas tree made of ice, as are the LED lights
covered in ice |
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| Ice bed. Apparently no one has stayed the entire night. |
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The artist. She is making the martini glasses; enough
for 3 tours a day, average attendance per tour - 100 people |
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She's a 5 time world champion ice scupltor and her husband
has won the world championship 7 times |
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Bob caught the dropping of the ice goblet perfectly....in
26C temperatures outside |
The next day we moved on to Denali National Park, distinctive because of it's size (over 6 million acres), wildlife and the presence of Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America at over 20,000 feet. We enjoyed wonderful hikes, beautiful scenery and informative and creative ranger programs.
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| Testing the river water temperature....brrrr...no swim today! |
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No, it's not Mt. McKinley. The Big Guy decided
to play coy and kept itself surrounded in clouds while
we were there. Apparently the peak is visible very few
days in a month. |
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| Unusual choice of footwear for a wilderness park |
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Adorable Dinali (names after the park) from Dutch Harbour, Alaska,
joined us on a ranger hike. Ranger Lauren loaned her coat to Dinali
when the heavens opened. Everyone was concerned that she
was coming on the hike alone. She explained to Lauren that her
father is disabled, in a wheelchair and almost blind and that
her parents encourage her to be independent and explore nature with professional guides. |
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Ranger Lauren taught us all about the history of Denali (formerly
McKinley Park) and introduced us to the flora and fauna found
in the park. Note the plastic cover on her hat. Guess our
mounties have to wear these rain hats as well. |
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Denali's youth ranger backpack provided by the park, contained lots
of goodies, one of which was a thermometer. Lauren taught Dinali
(and us) that the temperature deep in moss is typically 10 degrees
cooler than the air temperature. |
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No, this squirrel doesn't have a nasty goitre, it is attempting
to take a huge mushroom to it's nest in a tree. |
The dog teams found in the park are all working dogs. The rangers use them during the winter to take them 20 miles a day to check on wildlife activity, make repairs and maintenance to cabins and to make certain that visitors to the park (skiers and hikers) return from their explorations and activities.
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| Making friends with mush dogs |
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Excited to be chosen for the demo dogsled (on wheels) run, they
race like the wind. We asked the driver if she ever gets tossed
and she said "frequently", but so far, always on snow, not a track.
Apparently the dogs don't stop so the drivers have to hang on tight and get
dragged until they get the team stopped |
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| The mutual love between husky and handler is evident |
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| This young visitor found the pup she had met last year |
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On a 3 hour hike, sticking close to 3 strapping brothers
from Chicago. Safety in numbers we were told over and over again. |
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| Beautiful scenery |
Each campground has it's own amphitheatre where ranger informational programs are held each evening. This one was provided by Ranger Bryan who was so creative and fun, (I also happened to notice that he was handsome as well) and who involved everyone in his Raptor lesson.
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He used stuffed animals and hand puppets to demonstrate how
raptors catch their prey |
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How many of you have seen an eagle talon up close? Huge
isn't it? It's wing span can be as large as 8 feet! |
Bryan divided us into groups, gave us photo's of the birds we were to teach the others about (we were goshawks) and made us demo the way they fly. It was so much fun for kids and adults and Bryan a terrific teacher.
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| This group demo'd the golden eagle |
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| Eagles - Soaring and diving, soaring and diving |
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The evening ended with us all doing the Raptor Rap with Bryan
leading us in his dark glasses and groovy moves |
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Have you spent any time thinking about the view
that Sara Palin sees when she looks out her
kitchen window every morning? |
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We haven't either however this is what we suspect she sees...
and it's NOT Russia! |
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Our friend Ed Peebles, back in Fairbanks, vigorously defended Sara's
historical comment by saying that it was a joke and that no one
got it. I stopped my eyeballs at half-roll (gut reaction) because Ed
happened to be looking at me as he said it, then I pretended to pluck
a run-away eyelash from my eyeball. Actually it was tears of laughter. |
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We visited a muskox farm where the hair at molting season
is harvested and used by the aboriginal cooperatives, to make
garments. A knit hat - $260; a scarf - $160...gorgeous and
pretty much naturally waterproof. |
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| Beautifully maintained Muskox farm |
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| Passing glaciers along the highway headed for Valdez |
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| Magical! |
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| Huge waterfalls through Thompson Pass |
Valdez (pronounced Val-deez) started out a transportation port. Discovered by Captain Cook in 1778 (this guy seems to have been everywhere!), it took until 1800 before it became of interest to Russians looking for sea otter pelts. Valdez has served as the gateway to Prince William Sound and the Interior. The town was destroyed and moved to a new location after the 1964 Earthquake that took many lives and destroyed most of the buildings. The architecture of 1960 - 70's is a reminder of how new the town really is. Over 300 inches of snow fall on the city annually and some had fallen the morning of our arrival....up on the mountains, not on the streets. The terminus of the 800 mile trans-Alaska pipeline rests on teh south side of the Port of Valdez and can be seen from any shoreside point in the city. The oil spill of 1989 (Exon Valdez) caused an influx of people to help with the cleanup and during that time, new buildings were erected.
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At the far end of the bay, by the fish hatchery, we saw more
bald eagles in one day than we've seen in a lifetime. On this particular
day we saw at least 30 of them and as many as 3 in a single tree. |
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| A young-un |
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| At our campsite in town....rabbits, lots of rabbits |
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We had a 7 1/2 hour cruise on this beautiful vessel. Captain
Fred built this yacht himself and has been conducting tours every day
of every summer since 1979. He and his wife cruise south to Seattle each winter. |
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Onboard any vessel, you know you will find Bob right up there
with the Captain |
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Captain Fred. He talked non-stop for over 7 hours. Hilarious and informative
and the best guide we've ever had |
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| One of the boats seen on "Deadliest Catch" |
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| We got close to these sleeping sea otter |
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Wouldn't this one look good on top of the duvet on your bed?
Alive of course! |
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Out in the sound, many fishing vessels gather up their nets.
They are restricted to how much fishing they can actually do and
must weigh in their catch at the end of the day. |
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| More waterfalls as we cruise by |
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| Lots and lots of sea lions |
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| ...and yes, Humpback whales! |
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Icebergs from the Columbia glacier. Almost all of the 5 glaciers
in the area are advancing, unlike many glaciers on the planet. |
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| Such a view! |
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| Crab fishing vessel |
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| The lounge onboard Lu-Lu Belle |
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| Dining area and gourmet galley |
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Returning to the fish hatchery as we left Valdez, we saw the grizzly
that everyone had been talking about. She has 4 cubs (very unusual)
and they hang out around the fishery and catch spawning salmon as they
struggle upstream. |
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We saw the cubs running about but only managed to catch
this one little bear bum climbing up onto the loading dock.
We imagine that workers at the hatchery look both ways when
they open an outer door! |
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| Leaving Alaska, we are back in Yukon |
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At Beaver Creek, we find this little church that was originally a
quonset hut left over from the building of the Alaska Highway.
A clever priest added some funky designs and who'd know? |
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| Spectacular views of the Yukon River |
We are currently in Whitehorse, declared to be the city with the cleanest air in Canada and my lungs feel 100%. It's another beautiful city with a small town atmosphere and friendly personality. We are heading to Atlin, BC tomorrow and hear it is another picture-perfect place.
