Alaska

A month or so ago, Mom asked me if we would be going to the North Pole.  I humoured her and said that I didn't believe we would but anything was possible.  Believe it or not, on the edge of Fairbanks, lies the town of North Pole, complete with Santa's house.  Apparently all the mail that is sent from around the world to Santa Claus, arrives here.  Mom, you are a genius and a clairvoyant!  Who knew what you knew???  We didn't visit Santa but we did do a drive-by shooting (pic not gun you silly geese!) of the signs.

North Pole Exit

Our campground was in the city of Fairbanks, on the edge of a river.  It was a lovely site and we decided not to drive the Dalton Highway (another one of THOSE highways) along-side the Alaska pipeline and to Deadhorse, the most northerly point in the U.S. and therefore, had lots of time to explore Fairbanks and area.  The camper next to us housed two adorable Swiss women who softly called out "Happy Canada Day" on July 1st.  We were gob-smacked and asked them  how they knew.....they'd seen it on Twitter that day.  We asked them to join us for a few glasses of wine and to tell us about their lives and travels. We were having such fun, the sun was shining and all was wonderful, when a man appeared and quietly told us that he was trying to sleep and could we "keep it down a bit".  We were all embarrassed and when we looked at our watches, discovered that it was midnight.  Damned midnight sun!!!  They told us to check out the Bush-mail flights and the next day we booked our flight.  Bush-mail flights take you to places where no roads go, the villages are remote and aboriginal and they rely on the bush-mail planes to bring them what they need...any item they need.

Our Swiss trouble-makers

Our first attempt at a flight was a bit of a cloudy day and we arrived at the airport and were met by a man with a somewhat (!!) Hollywood name of Ed Peebles.  Yes, Ed Peebles does exist outside of filmdom, was a pilot from a young age and came to Alaska in 1971, just prior to the Alaska Pipeline being built.  He is now semi-retired and the marketing manager for Warbelow Airlines.  He gave us a wonderful commentary on the history of the people of Alaska and the pipeline.  The building of the pipeline had been held up by clever and newly educated aboriginal people who discovered that they had bargaining power.  The '50's and '60's brought many of them to colleges and universities and they discovered that the snake-oil salesmen of yesteryear (read:  government) who took their land, needed a blinding dose of reality.  They stalled the attempts to railroad the pipeline through Alaska and demanded a price for the property that was taken from them in earlier times.  In the end, the government still owns the majority of the property, however the aboriginal tribes received millions of acres of land.  The deal was passed in congress by one vote and the government condition was that reservations would be gone and that the aboriginal communities would set up their own companies and hold shares, to be independent and contributing citizens of America.  The aboriginal tribes of Alaska are among the wealthiest citizens of the U.S.  Canadian First Nations peoples are working towards a mix of what works in Alaska and what will work in Canada.

When the pipeline first opened it's valves, 2.1 million barrels of oil flowed every single day.  Today, 600,000 barrels flow and everyone recognizes that it's time is coming to an end.  Mining on the coast is now becoming the focus.  The road, built for the pipeline, has now (graciously) been "given" back to the state of Alaska, by the oil companies.  Who wants to maintain a road that will eventually lead to nowhere??  The focus of big business is now on the west coast of the state, where zinc has been discovered.  A new focus and a much more educated aboriginal population.  Film at 11:00!!!

Ed Peebles explained how a famous American linguist created a mp of Alaska
with the regions and languages
of the resident peoples.  

Directly in front of us, visitors from Sidney, Australia,
and directly in front of them, a man and his son from North Pole

Overcast day....an omen of the kind of day it would be

Low clouds and rain forced us to land in Coldfoot, well short of
our destination of Anuktuvuk Pass.  This is the restaurant.

Coldfoot Hotel...ahaaa

This is the parking lot and as good as it gets.
Inside the restaurant were photo's of vehicles that
didn't make it up the Dalton Highway ...nasty photos that
made us grateful we didn't attempt the trip

Why???  Easy isn't it?  Who wants bullets flying
through the Alaska Pipeline???

Alaska Pipeline

Forced to return to Fairbanks, we were promised another attempt after the July 4th celebration.  Weather was beautiful on July 5th and we tried again....listening once again to Ed Peebles 40 minute presentation.

On top of the little terminal building, a raven...a good omen

See the water beside the runway?  Runway for
sea planes

Anuktuvuk Pass.  They have roads within the village
and slightly beyond with vehicles and ATV's

Airport terminal and Village Liaison/Teleconference Centre

This is Mike.  His grandmother was born in Inuvik.
He works at seasonal construction and is a guide to
visitors.  The school in Anuktuvuk Pass has over 100 children
in a population of 400 and teaches kindergarten to Grade 12.
College education is provided by internet (better than what
we've seen in our most recent travels) and almost
everyone has a cell phone

There were 6 of us on the inbound flight and just
Bob and me on the outbound.  Matt, our pilot, took us as low as 200
feet above the tundra and through the mountain passes.  It was
thrilling!

Cool Matt!  We think he's done this before.

Next time:  The tacky side of Alaska and the beautiful Dinali National Park