Day 14 - Alaska - Fairbanks

Up real early to grab breakfast and get on a bus for a long ride to Fairbanks.  The highway is built on permafrost and the undulation of the road changes with the weather.  It was much like being on a roller coaster with plenty of swaying and ups and downs.  

We arrived in Fairbanks and got on a paddlewheel boat for a river cruise and a visit to a re-creation of a typical aboriginal village.  It was a nice break from the bus ride.  After the cruise we boarded the bus for a ride to the airport and a short plane ride to Dawson City.  

A very long day.  

We stopped at a dog training facility where sled dogs are trained.  It was the home of Susan Butcher who raced in the Iditarod 17 times with 15 top 10 finishes and a winner 4 times.  She was the second woman to win the Iditarod and her best time was 11 days, 1 hr, 53 minutes.  

Susan passed away in 2006 and her daughter, seen in red, now runs the operation and gave us a little talk.  

The dogs are pretty high strung and once they start getting hooked up their excitement cannot be contained.  They love to run.  Seen here pulling a quad and then getting a well deserved swim.  

Reindeer, which are the same as Caribou, except the Reindeer are domesticated.

A ceremonial winter coat made out of furs from several different animals.  

Alaska - Day 13 - Denali National Park

Our only full day in Denali saw a return to the low clouds which guaranteed we would not see Mount Denali.  Apparently only 30% of tourists actually see the mountain so we were in good company.  Historical note.  Mount Denali used to be known as Mount McKinley.  

We took a bus tour through the park and while sights were somewhat muted by the weather it was picturesque none the less.   That evening we attended a dinner theatre and the following morning we were up at 5:00 so we could grab breakfast before our bus left for Fairbanks.  

We did see some wildlife including a family of pheasants, a couple of elk, a moose and a grizzly and her 2 cubs although they were mere specs as they were a few miles away up the side of a mountain.  

The bus driver got very excited every time he saw a ground squirrel.  I can see those in my back yard so Lori and I didn't get too worked up about them.  

A shot of the resort.  We stayed in a housing complex behind the lodge which was pretty nice accommodation. 

 

Alaska - Day 8-12 College Fjord, Anchorage, Denali

 Lumping a few days together as College Fjord was more of the same scenery that we saw in Glacier Bay.  When we got to Anchorage we were both trying to recover from colds so we skipped one of our planned excursions.  We did visit a museum but mostly took it easy in our hotel room.  Day 12 was a long train ride to Denali National Park.

The College Fjord scenery was a little less intimate than Glacier Bay but perhaps more on a grand scale.  

Our ship docked in Seward and we took a train into Anchorage.  The river from the ocean to Anchorage is very shallow and at low tide is pretty much a big mud flat. The silt from the glaciers that collects is a death trap for those animals and humans that venture out into the mud flats.  It acts much like quick sand.  

We were told to keep our eyes peeled for large white marshmallows floating in the water.  Those would be beluga whales.  We didn't see any.  

 

We took a bus tour through Anchorage and from what we saw its a stop to get to other places of interest and not a destination, at least for tourists.  

A long train ride got us to Denali National Park.  The scenery along the way was much like a drive to Thunder Bay.  Lots of rocks and trees and if there were mountains to see we missed it because of the low lying clouds.  

This is a view from the Holland America resort in Denali.  A forest fire hit the area a month earlier and you can see how close it got to wiping out the resort.