I'm sitting in our campground in Dawson City, Yukon after having gone over the top-of-the-world highway from Chicken, Alaska today. If you remember back several weeks ago, we came to Dawson City in hopes of traveling the Dempster Highway to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada, but the road was washed out. And as I said before, all my Mom wanted to do this year was to travel the Dempster Highway then take a flight to a fly in village, Tuktoyuktuk, Northwest Territories where she could put her foot into the Arctic ocean. So several weeks ago it seemed as if the dream wasn't going to work out, but things have changed and for the better. As we traveled throughout Alaska, we kept an eye on the weather for this part of the world and it looked better and better each day. Then we all made the decision to try this one more time before really giving up so I'm thrilled to announce that it's a go. Yeah!!!!!!
Tomorrow morning, Monday, we leave Dawson City for the 25 mile drive to the start of the Dempster highway. Our plan is to go to about the half way mark which is Eagle Plains, a town of about 8 people, then the next day finish the highway to Inuvik. The road is all gravel with two river crossings for a total of 417 miles from start to finish. Then once we arrive in Inuvik, we'll go to the Nova hotel to make plans for a Wednesday flight to Tuktoyuktuk. The flight is roughly an hour then we travel through the town to explore for several hours and of course we get to play in the Arctic ocean. Even as I write this, I cannot believe this is finally going to happen. I guess I didn't give up in my heart so I hoped our luck would turn around. And it did!!!!!
We'll keep you posted as we get wifi which will be spotty at best. But for now just wanted to give you a brief update as to some very exciting news.
Once again, I want to thank all of you for following along on our trip as it's been a great adventure. It's always fun to share the trip with all of you. Also, please feel free to leave us comments since it's fun to know what you have to say. Don't be shy-I know you want to comment!!!!!
Monday, July 29, 2013
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Hello from Ptarmig . . . wait how do you spell that?
Oops, we are actually in Chicken, Alaska. We read a sign last night that had interesting facts about Chicken. One of the facts was that the original settlers wanted to name the town after the local bird which "filled many pots" in this area. Unfortunately, it seems no one could spell Ptarmigan hence Chicken was born.
We intend to drive until about 7 pm tonight. That should get us at least to the Tombstone Territorial Park on the Dempster highway and perhaps North of that. Assuming the Dempster is open we will not have internet access until at least Inuvik (Which is 400 miles of dirt road North of Dawson City). Worst case, we won't have internet until we get to Whitehorse sometime towards the end of this week or beginning of next week.
A couple more interesting facts about Chicken before we head out of here. The road is closed in the winter, only about 15 hardy souls hang in here year round. The summer population "swells" to about 30 or so. There are no cell phone towers here. Kids do correspondence, no schools. Finally, and most depressingly, there is not a flush toilet to be found!
We intend to drive until about 7 pm tonight. That should get us at least to the Tombstone Territorial Park on the Dempster highway and perhaps North of that. Assuming the Dempster is open we will not have internet access until at least Inuvik (Which is 400 miles of dirt road North of Dawson City). Worst case, we won't have internet until we get to Whitehorse sometime towards the end of this week or beginning of next week.
A couple more interesting facts about Chicken before we head out of here. The road is closed in the winter, only about 15 hardy souls hang in here year round. The summer population "swells" to about 30 or so. There are no cell phone towers here. Kids do correspondence, no schools. Finally, and most depressingly, there is not a flush toilet to be found!
Saturday, July 27, 2013
On the road to Inuvik once more
We start this morning here in Fairbanks. We will hit the Farmers market again then it's off to attempt Inuvik once more. This means another trip over the Top of the World highway! Then Dawson City, then up the Dempster highway. Hopefully it will be open this time. It also means we probably won't have interent service for a week or so.
I managed to get the video of the Hyder, Alaska 4th of July parade posted on my first night here. (The ISP was not amused, I got kicked off the internet for 24 hours for abusing the band width limits.) If you have 6 minutes to spare it is quite the event. You can find it here.
Here's the latest updates for our travel maps. First, from the Visitors Center in Denali back to our Campground in Teklanika.
I managed to get the video of the Hyder, Alaska 4th of July parade posted on my first night here. (The ISP was not amused, I got kicked off the internet for 24 hours for abusing the band width limits.) If you have 6 minutes to spare it is quite the event. You can find it here.
Here's the latest updates for our travel maps. First, from the Visitors Center in Denali back to our Campground in Teklanika.
Day Miles: Almost 30
Trip Miles: 8,123
Next, here's the map from Teklanika up to Fairbanks.
Day Miles: 150
Trip Miles: 8,273
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Denali was spectacular - again
For the third year in a row we happened to be near Mount Denali on a perfect day. We took the shuttle bus from our campsite in Teklanika River out to the Eielson visitor center. It was a cloudless day, one of only 2 such days this July.
We are back at Riley Creek now and have to get going but I wanted to get some quick information up. A video from the Eielson visitor center can be found here. A video from the Polychrome overlook on the ride out can be found here.
I also got some Flickr photos uploaded. You can find several more pictures of Mount Denali as well as some wildlife we saw along the way here. Gotta run - off to Fairbanks tomorrow.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
First night in Denali - yes we saw the mountain again!
We have made it back up the Parks highway to Denali National Park. Once again, we were lucky enough to the mountain. As you may have read in this blog in last year or two we have been advised that the mountain is only visible about 20 days a year. For the third year in a row we have been here while it was out. This year, we only saw it from the RV as it was quickly clouded over. I did manage to get some video of it but it's not on my computer yet so it won't be uploaded tonight.
We have our campsite for tonight set up and we have our passes for the drive out to Teklanika River campground tomorrow. We have also purchased a bus pass that will allow us to go out to the Eielson Visitor Center on monday. Eielson is 66 miles into the park and about an 8 hour round trip bus ride from our campground in Teklanika. This is all very exciting!
There is a ranger program at 7:30 tonight so I am going to put this post up and then head over to that. I did manage to get some additional picture posted on Flickr. This link will take you to my sets page and you can see what the most recent uploads are. The Homer and Salty Dog pictures are there for sure and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation center pictures are loading as I type this. I am also hoping to get some additional video on youtube. We have started a new series called One minute on the road. In these clips I hold the Flip Video up and shoot out the front window for roughly a minute. They are pretty shaky but it will hopefully bring you right into the RV with us as we travel around Alaska and Canada. You will see the tag 1MOTR in front of these videos. This link will take you to my recent uploads page on youtube.
Here's today's map;
Day total - 207
Trip Total - 8,093
We have our campsite for tonight set up and we have our passes for the drive out to Teklanika River campground tomorrow. We have also purchased a bus pass that will allow us to go out to the Eielson Visitor Center on monday. Eielson is 66 miles into the park and about an 8 hour round trip bus ride from our campground in Teklanika. This is all very exciting!
There is a ranger program at 7:30 tonight so I am going to put this post up and then head over to that. I did manage to get some additional picture posted on Flickr. This link will take you to my sets page and you can see what the most recent uploads are. The Homer and Salty Dog pictures are there for sure and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation center pictures are loading as I type this. I am also hoping to get some additional video on youtube. We have started a new series called One minute on the road. In these clips I hold the Flip Video up and shoot out the front window for roughly a minute. They are pretty shaky but it will hopefully bring you right into the RV with us as we travel around Alaska and Canada. You will see the tag 1MOTR in front of these videos. This link will take you to my recent uploads page on youtube.
Here's today's map;
Day total - 207
Trip Total - 8,093
Getting Ready for Denali
Tonight we are back in Palmer. We spent 3 fun days down in Homer. It was a bit cold and windy this year and there were way way more campers than in years past but we still had a good time. Kim and I even got a bike ride in last night. And, of course, we got into the Salty Dawg for a cold one before we closed out our stay in Homer.
The drive to Homer was fairly uneventful. We stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and then at Beluga Point where we had lunch. While we were at Beluga we saw some sheep high up on the mountainside. The tide was also coming in so we saw some amazing whirlpools and tidal activity. I have some video of the water (the sheep had to be viewed through binoculars so no pics of them) and Kim took lots of photo's - maybe we will get some posted later tonight.
As I mentioned in a previous post we have 5 nights lined up in Denali National Park. We arrive tomorrow the 20th and spend the first night at the Riley Creek campground. Riley Creek is the first campground at the park, situated right inside the national park boundary. It is fairly close to the visitor center, we have stayed there each of the last two years. The next three nights should be fascinating! We have reserved a spot in the Teklanika River campground. This campground is 29 miles into the park! It is about 16 miles past the point where all private vehicles have to turn around. The campground requires a three night minimum stay, and you can't move your vehicle once you arrive. There is internet available at the store in Riley Creek but I highly doubt there will be access back in Teklanika River. Assuming we do not get eaten by a bear or other wild animal we should be checking in next weekend. If you haven't signed up to get notifications via email now might be a good time to do that.
Here's today's map:
The drive to Homer was fairly uneventful. We stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and then at Beluga Point where we had lunch. While we were at Beluga we saw some sheep high up on the mountainside. The tide was also coming in so we saw some amazing whirlpools and tidal activity. I have some video of the water (the sheep had to be viewed through binoculars so no pics of them) and Kim took lots of photo's - maybe we will get some posted later tonight.
As I mentioned in a previous post we have 5 nights lined up in Denali National Park. We arrive tomorrow the 20th and spend the first night at the Riley Creek campground. Riley Creek is the first campground at the park, situated right inside the national park boundary. It is fairly close to the visitor center, we have stayed there each of the last two years. The next three nights should be fascinating! We have reserved a spot in the Teklanika River campground. This campground is 29 miles into the park! It is about 16 miles past the point where all private vehicles have to turn around. The campground requires a three night minimum stay, and you can't move your vehicle once you arrive. There is internet available at the store in Riley Creek but I highly doubt there will be access back in Teklanika River. Assuming we do not get eaten by a bear or other wild animal we should be checking in next weekend. If you haven't signed up to get notifications via email now might be a good time to do that.
Here's today's map:
Day Miles - 263
Trip Miles - 7,886
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
We made it to Homer
Good Morning from Homer Alaska;
We arrived yesterday and it's more crowded here this year than it has been for the last two years combined! We will be here for the next two nights as well. Which means two more nights to hang out at the Salty Dawg Saloon!
We left Fairbanks on Monday and drove down to Palmer. We spent one night there and then continued on to Homer. We have a beautiful campsite looking over Kachemak bay.
Fairbanks to Palmer;
View Larger Map
Day Mils - 329
Trip Total - 7,361
Palmer to Homer;
View Larger Map
Day Miles - 262
Trip Total - 7,623
We stopped to let the dogs out on our way down yesterday and there was a moose a couple hundred yards ahead of us. Kim and her Mom walked the dogs while I headed down to get some pics. Most of them are great shots of the body, it was eating and wouldn't lift it's head up! Internet is not so great here but we have lots of pictures and video to post. Maybe we can find some place with fast internet and get some stuff posted in the next couple of days.
Friday we head back North - we have 5 nights reserved in Denali starting Saturday. That part of the trip deserves it's own post so more later on that!
We arrived yesterday and it's more crowded here this year than it has been for the last two years combined! We will be here for the next two nights as well. Which means two more nights to hang out at the Salty Dawg Saloon!
We left Fairbanks on Monday and drove down to Palmer. We spent one night there and then continued on to Homer. We have a beautiful campsite looking over Kachemak bay.
Fairbanks to Palmer;
View Larger Map
Day Mils - 329
Trip Total - 7,361
Palmer to Homer;
View Larger Map
Day Miles - 262
Trip Total - 7,623
We stopped to let the dogs out on our way down yesterday and there was a moose a couple hundred yards ahead of us. Kim and her Mom walked the dogs while I headed down to get some pics. Most of them are great shots of the body, it was eating and wouldn't lift it's head up! Internet is not so great here but we have lots of pictures and video to post. Maybe we can find some place with fast internet and get some stuff posted in the next couple of days.
Friday we head back North - we have 5 nights reserved in Denali starting Saturday. That part of the trip deserves it's own post so more later on that!
Monday, July 15, 2013
Leaving Fairbanks right now
It's 10:45 and we need to be out of this campsite by 11 so here's a quick post to recap our last day here in Fairbanks. I finally got my round in at NorthStar golf course. Played really well for me and I saw at least 2 moose and possibly a third one as well. (The third sighting may have been the same one I saw the first time) I didn't get a good picture of the second moose but I can tell you he was not happy to see me! His ears stated twitching and he was staring me down so I took the long way around and had no problem. You can see my scorecard here, and if you scroll down from the card you will see 10 or so pictures of the course and the moose!
While I was playing Kim got in about a 15 mile bike ride! She rode all the way over to the Farmers Market and got herself a nice old school wood frame! Don't tell her I said this but it is kind of cool looking.
Meanwhile, Gerry had a full day of reading her book and watching the dogs! We are headed to the Parks highway and south towards Palmer.
Cheers!
While I was playing Kim got in about a 15 mile bike ride! She rode all the way over to the Farmers Market and got herself a nice old school wood frame! Don't tell her I said this but it is kind of cool looking.
Meanwhile, Gerry had a full day of reading her book and watching the dogs! We are headed to the Parks highway and south towards Palmer.
Cheers!
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Things to do in Fairbanks - catching up on miles driven
Greetings anyone still checking in;
Today we find ourselves in Fairbanks, Alaska. It is sunny and beautiful outside this morning. There are several things to do up here. Among the items we hope to get to are: the local Farmers Market, the Large Animal Research center, Creamers Field, (an old dairy that's now a bird sanctuary) and then possibly 18 holes of golf later this afternoon. Word has it that you can make tee times up to midnight, unfortunately, I can't seem to stay awake that late any more so if I go it will have to be earlier.
We drove up from Tok yesterday, here's the map:
Kim reminded me that I was putting up the daily and total mileage with my cross country posts. I seem to have forgotten about it since we left Santa Rosa. I am going to take advantage of our fast internet here to get caught up.
Yesterdays drive was about 202 miles which brings our trip total up to over 7,000 since we left Florida!
I have already posted maps for the drives listed below so I'll just put mileage totals here;
Santa Rosa to Rocky Point Resort in Oregon - Day Miles 398 - Total since we left Florida 4,100
RPR in Oregon to Viento State Park - Day 288 - Trip 4,388
Viento to Harrison Hot Springs - Day 371 - Trip 4,759
Harrison to Hixon, BC - Day 378 - Trip 5,137
Hixon, BC to Kitwanga, BC - Day 337 - Trip 5,474
Kitwanga, BC to Hyder, Alaska - Day 186 - Trip 5,660
Hyder, Ak to Deese Lake, BC - Day 253 - Trip 5,913
Deese Lake, BC to Whitehorse, Yukon - Day 396 - Trip 6,309
Whitehorse, YK to Dawson City, Yk - Day 331 - Trip 6,640
Dawson City, Yk to Tok Junction, Alaska - Day 190 (ish) - Trip 6,830
Tok, Ak to Fairbanks, Alaska - Day 202 - Total 7,032
Today we find ourselves in Fairbanks, Alaska. It is sunny and beautiful outside this morning. There are several things to do up here. Among the items we hope to get to are: the local Farmers Market, the Large Animal Research center, Creamers Field, (an old dairy that's now a bird sanctuary) and then possibly 18 holes of golf later this afternoon. Word has it that you can make tee times up to midnight, unfortunately, I can't seem to stay awake that late any more so if I go it will have to be earlier.
We drove up from Tok yesterday, here's the map:
Yesterdays drive was about 202 miles which brings our trip total up to over 7,000 since we left Florida!
I have already posted maps for the drives listed below so I'll just put mileage totals here;
Santa Rosa to Rocky Point Resort in Oregon - Day Miles 398 - Total since we left Florida 4,100
RPR in Oregon to Viento State Park - Day 288 - Trip 4,388
Viento to Harrison Hot Springs - Day 371 - Trip 4,759
Harrison to Hixon, BC - Day 378 - Trip 5,137
Hixon, BC to Kitwanga, BC - Day 337 - Trip 5,474
Kitwanga, BC to Hyder, Alaska - Day 186 - Trip 5,660
Hyder, Ak to Deese Lake, BC - Day 253 - Trip 5,913
Deese Lake, BC to Whitehorse, Yukon - Day 396 - Trip 6,309
Whitehorse, YK to Dawson City, Yk - Day 331 - Trip 6,640
Dawson City, Yk to Tok Junction, Alaska - Day 190 (ish) - Trip 6,830
Tok, Ak to Fairbanks, Alaska - Day 202 - Total 7,032
It's 10:30 p.m. and I need my sunglasses!!!!
Greetings from Fairbanks-the interior of Alaska and land of the midnight sun
We technically stepped into Alaska on July 4th, but we really arrived into the main part of the state yesterday after leaving the Yukon Territory. Getting to the state of Alaska takes a lot of patience and many, many miles of driving every kind of road you can imagine. There are lots of paved roads, but then there are parts with gravel only, torn up pieces of gravel and road base, construction galore, and everything else in between. But having finally arrived into Alaska and seeing all it's beauty makes all those miles worth it.
I know Doug has been posting quite often to keep you all up to date, but I thought I would fill in the blanks as to the actual details and such. First of all, I'm really upset and sad because as of now, we can't get up to the Arctic ocean which was my Mom's biggest dream this year. In order to actually get to that part of the world requires a trip up the Dempster highway which is about a 400 miles dirt and gravel road to Inuvik, Northwest Territories. The road passes through some incredibly gorgeous country that seems unreal with all it's beauty. At the end of the Dempster brings you to the town of Inuvik, and from there you take a one hour plane ride to Tuktoyuktuk. The town of Tuktoyuktuk lies right on the Arctic ocean where you take a tour which includes a visit to the town's ice house constructed out of the permafrost. Plus the tour actually takes you to the ocean where you can join the polar group by putting your foot, half your body, all of your body, or your body and no clothes into the Arctic ocean. Crazy huh? Just seeing that part of the world has been on my Mom's bucket list for quite a while and now we may not be able to go. Why? Being this far up north means that you live life according to the weather and the conditions around you and that being said, the Dempster highway is currently closed. There are two river crossings by ferry and they are closed due to high winds. Plus there has been a lot of rain so there are several washouts on the road which makes it impassable. So for now, until something else changes, Tuktoyuktuk is not within reach and that breaks my heart. My Mom never asks for much and this was something she looked forward to all year. Maybe something will change and the road will reopen plus we'll have time that we can still make this happen. All I remember my Mom telling me last year was that she was afraid she would die and not see the Arctic ocean. Sorry to go on and on, but as you can tell, I'm so frustrated and saddened so thank you for listening!
We left Dawson City, Yukon early, and I mean early, Thursday morning for Alaska. There was a caravan in our campground of about 24 RVs that were leaving Dawson City and the ferry over the Yukon river only takes about 2-3 RVs at a time so we thought it best to get out of there before the big backup and possibly a 4 hour wait. But getting up so early was a little tough! We did make it across the river though and funny enough, we were the only RV on the ferry. It was great.
The road to Alaska from Dawson City is called Top of the World highway and it lives up to it's name and then some. At every turn there are incredible views of the Yukon river and valleys below. The road is mostly gravel with some paved areas, but overall it's a great road. You actually feel like you're on top of the world with such expansive views all around. Then about 65 miles down the road is the US/Canadian border. The US border, as you can see from our pictures on flickr, is the northern most border in the US with only 2 people living there. Now, who do you think the border agent pissed off to get that post? I mean it's in the middle of nowhere, only yourself and one other person, and during the summer, the temperatures average about 40 degrees. But thankfully for the agent, the border closes during the winter as the road gets many feet of snow for about 8 months.
The first town after crossing the border into Alaska is Chicken which is a town but not a town. There are maybe 25 people or so living there during the summer months, but maybe 10 at the most during the winter and it's usually cold year round. There's a post office, several RV campgrounds, a gift shop, and a restaurant or two, but that's about it. And how it got the name of Chicken you ask-well it was originally called Ptarmigan, but nobody could spell it hence it became Chicken. I always love that story!!
From Chicken, we arrived into a town called Tok which is famous for all the dog mushers living there. It's really not much of a town, but it's the first real town you get to once you arrive into Alaska. It's also known for it's incredibly cold winter temperatures which average about 20 to 30 below in January through the end of winter. Now those are some hardy people and I know I couldn't do it.
And after all that, I'm finally caught up to today and what's happening!!! We arrived here in Fairbanks this afternoon with incredibly gorgeous hot weather in the 70's. Finally some warm weather up north! Our campground is really beautiful as it lies right along the Chena river, which runs through Fairbanks, where there's a lot of wildlife, like the momma duck with her five ducklings that have been swimming by countless times, in addition to many locals going up and down the river in aluminum boats, jet skies, kayaks, rafts, and canoes. And this is where I'm sitting now, right along the river watching the locals enjoy this beautiful evening. It's 11 p.m. now and the sun is still shining strong which is still amazing to me. This far north, the sun is out for about 22 hours a day and that's what makes Alaska so fun in the summer. And yes, it's opposite in the winter so they get about 22 hours of darkness with average temperatures of 40-50 below zero. That means that between the summer temps and winter temps, there's a variation of over a hundred degrees!! The only problem is that when you get up in the morning, you think it's 7 a.m., but in reality it's usually only about 2 a.m.!!
Tomorrow we head to the farmer's market in Fairbanks which is awesome to experience. There is quite a lot of pottery, jewelry, soaps and lotions, plus the best feature is the gigantic vegetables grown locally. Because the area get about 22 hours of sunlight a day, the vegetables grew to immense size sometimes breaking records for their weight. We'll take pictures tomorrow as we explore the market so you can get an idea of what I mean. Then after the market, we'll take a trip to the other side of Fairbanks for an up close view of the Alaska pipeline. You can walk right up to the pipeline which in this day and age always amazes me. I guess they must have cameras all around because it's such a vital piece of the economy.
So as the sun goes behind the spruce trees with no sunset in sight, I bid you all a good night! Thank you everyone for following along with us on this adventure of a lifetime. Also, please feel free to comment on any posts plus if there's something more you would like to know or see, let us know. I'm just loving that we have all of you along for the ride, but I really enjoy hearing from you even if it's just to say hello. I hope you all have a great weekend wherever you are and we'll be in touch tomorrow. I guess I can take off my sunglasses since the sun is behind the trees for now!!!
We technically stepped into Alaska on July 4th, but we really arrived into the main part of the state yesterday after leaving the Yukon Territory. Getting to the state of Alaska takes a lot of patience and many, many miles of driving every kind of road you can imagine. There are lots of paved roads, but then there are parts with gravel only, torn up pieces of gravel and road base, construction galore, and everything else in between. But having finally arrived into Alaska and seeing all it's beauty makes all those miles worth it.
I know Doug has been posting quite often to keep you all up to date, but I thought I would fill in the blanks as to the actual details and such. First of all, I'm really upset and sad because as of now, we can't get up to the Arctic ocean which was my Mom's biggest dream this year. In order to actually get to that part of the world requires a trip up the Dempster highway which is about a 400 miles dirt and gravel road to Inuvik, Northwest Territories. The road passes through some incredibly gorgeous country that seems unreal with all it's beauty. At the end of the Dempster brings you to the town of Inuvik, and from there you take a one hour plane ride to Tuktoyuktuk. The town of Tuktoyuktuk lies right on the Arctic ocean where you take a tour which includes a visit to the town's ice house constructed out of the permafrost. Plus the tour actually takes you to the ocean where you can join the polar group by putting your foot, half your body, all of your body, or your body and no clothes into the Arctic ocean. Crazy huh? Just seeing that part of the world has been on my Mom's bucket list for quite a while and now we may not be able to go. Why? Being this far up north means that you live life according to the weather and the conditions around you and that being said, the Dempster highway is currently closed. There are two river crossings by ferry and they are closed due to high winds. Plus there has been a lot of rain so there are several washouts on the road which makes it impassable. So for now, until something else changes, Tuktoyuktuk is not within reach and that breaks my heart. My Mom never asks for much and this was something she looked forward to all year. Maybe something will change and the road will reopen plus we'll have time that we can still make this happen. All I remember my Mom telling me last year was that she was afraid she would die and not see the Arctic ocean. Sorry to go on and on, but as you can tell, I'm so frustrated and saddened so thank you for listening!
We left Dawson City, Yukon early, and I mean early, Thursday morning for Alaska. There was a caravan in our campground of about 24 RVs that were leaving Dawson City and the ferry over the Yukon river only takes about 2-3 RVs at a time so we thought it best to get out of there before the big backup and possibly a 4 hour wait. But getting up so early was a little tough! We did make it across the river though and funny enough, we were the only RV on the ferry. It was great.
The road to Alaska from Dawson City is called Top of the World highway and it lives up to it's name and then some. At every turn there are incredible views of the Yukon river and valleys below. The road is mostly gravel with some paved areas, but overall it's a great road. You actually feel like you're on top of the world with such expansive views all around. Then about 65 miles down the road is the US/Canadian border. The US border, as you can see from our pictures on flickr, is the northern most border in the US with only 2 people living there. Now, who do you think the border agent pissed off to get that post? I mean it's in the middle of nowhere, only yourself and one other person, and during the summer, the temperatures average about 40 degrees. But thankfully for the agent, the border closes during the winter as the road gets many feet of snow for about 8 months.
The first town after crossing the border into Alaska is Chicken which is a town but not a town. There are maybe 25 people or so living there during the summer months, but maybe 10 at the most during the winter and it's usually cold year round. There's a post office, several RV campgrounds, a gift shop, and a restaurant or two, but that's about it. And how it got the name of Chicken you ask-well it was originally called Ptarmigan, but nobody could spell it hence it became Chicken. I always love that story!!
From Chicken, we arrived into a town called Tok which is famous for all the dog mushers living there. It's really not much of a town, but it's the first real town you get to once you arrive into Alaska. It's also known for it's incredibly cold winter temperatures which average about 20 to 30 below in January through the end of winter. Now those are some hardy people and I know I couldn't do it.
And after all that, I'm finally caught up to today and what's happening!!! We arrived here in Fairbanks this afternoon with incredibly gorgeous hot weather in the 70's. Finally some warm weather up north! Our campground is really beautiful as it lies right along the Chena river, which runs through Fairbanks, where there's a lot of wildlife, like the momma duck with her five ducklings that have been swimming by countless times, in addition to many locals going up and down the river in aluminum boats, jet skies, kayaks, rafts, and canoes. And this is where I'm sitting now, right along the river watching the locals enjoy this beautiful evening. It's 11 p.m. now and the sun is still shining strong which is still amazing to me. This far north, the sun is out for about 22 hours a day and that's what makes Alaska so fun in the summer. And yes, it's opposite in the winter so they get about 22 hours of darkness with average temperatures of 40-50 below zero. That means that between the summer temps and winter temps, there's a variation of over a hundred degrees!! The only problem is that when you get up in the morning, you think it's 7 a.m., but in reality it's usually only about 2 a.m.!!
Tomorrow we head to the farmer's market in Fairbanks which is awesome to experience. There is quite a lot of pottery, jewelry, soaps and lotions, plus the best feature is the gigantic vegetables grown locally. Because the area get about 22 hours of sunlight a day, the vegetables grew to immense size sometimes breaking records for their weight. We'll take pictures tomorrow as we explore the market so you can get an idea of what I mean. Then after the market, we'll take a trip to the other side of Fairbanks for an up close view of the Alaska pipeline. You can walk right up to the pipeline which in this day and age always amazes me. I guess they must have cameras all around because it's such a vital piece of the economy.
So as the sun goes behind the spruce trees with no sunset in sight, I bid you all a good night! Thank you everyone for following along with us on this adventure of a lifetime. Also, please feel free to comment on any posts plus if there's something more you would like to know or see, let us know. I'm just loving that we have all of you along for the ride, but I really enjoy hearing from you even if it's just to say hello. I hope you all have a great weekend wherever you are and we'll be in touch tomorrow. I guess I can take off my sunglasses since the sun is behind the trees for now!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)