Anchorage, Day 2

I am happy to report that the bed was very comfortable to sleep in.  It was just uncomfortable to sit on.  Today started with light rain.  We decided to go to the Alaska Zoo anyway.  It stopped raining after we had been there about 15 minutes.  It is larger than the Greenville Zoo but nowhere near the size of the NC Zoo.  There were a lot of different birds, including two golden eagles.  We saw black bears, brown bears, and polar bears.  There were Dall sheep so we got to see them up close.  There were harbor seals and river otters, moose, including three young ones, musk ox, yak, alpaca, red fox, coyote, and other animals.  Most of the animals had been injured or had been pets when young and could no longer survive in the wild.  They have a program to release animals born there to the wild, if possible.  We enjoyed our time there. 

We also spent some time at Earthquake Park.  On March 27, 1964, a 9.2 earthquake hit Anchorage.  The earthquake triggered a tsunami in Valdez, Seward, Kodiak, Chenega and other communities.  Where the park now is, there was a residential area and some of the fatalities occurred there.  The state would not allow any new structures to be built in that area so it was turned into a park in memory of those who died.  The earth separated and one side dropped about 11 feet.  Between the earthquake and the tsunami, 139 people died.  I’m including a picture showing a school after the quake. 

We went to the AAA office to get new information since we decided to change our route home.  The lady we were talking to said she would route us home through the Cassiar Mountains if we insisted but she certainly didn’t recommend it.  She said the road is much worse than the Alaskan Highway and heavy logging trucks use it all the time.  So she is routing us home back down the Alaskan Highway but a different route after the highway ends through Canada to Glacier National Park.  I dread having to go back over that road with all the construction stops.  The only good thing about it is we will get to stay at the cabins and at the motel with the beautiful dining room view.  Reservations are made at both.  We got the last cabin available.

The seals were chasing each other.  It was hard to get a picture because they were moving so much.

River otters

One of the zoo employees was carrying this merlin around greeting people.

It appeared to be nap time at the zoo.  Many of the animals were asleep.

Black bear.  This is the way Danny looks about 5 minutes after I start driving, head down and asleep.

The coyote was playing hide and seek.

Dall sheep

Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?  It looked like he had made himself a recliner.

Alpaca

The entrance from parking to Earthquake Park.

This is the fault line where the earth dropped 11 feet.  Although forest now, there is a distinct drop.

On a sign in the park

A picture taken from the internet of an elementary school.  Fortunately school was not in session at the time of the quake.  In this picture, it is easy to see the drop.

The waters were calm today.

Anchorage, Day 1

We got woke up this morning to gray skies and light rain.  I say got woke up because the lodge was built like an old western street with the wooden walkway.  That was cute, but there was a problem.  It was very noisy when someone walked along the walkway.  We had the room closest to the office.  Starting at 6:00 everyone in rooms above ours must have gone to the lobby for coffee at least 5 times.  We didn’t get any sleep after 6:00.  I imagine the same thing happened yesterday but we were too tired to be disturbed.  Light rain didn't help our messy car.  We used a bottle of water and paper towels to wash the dirt off the license plate, the thing that is used to lift the hatch, and the back lights.  That looked funny.  It didn’t matter because we had to drive over the same construction mess again.  We ate breakfast at a neat restaurant called Rose’s Café run by a lady from the Philippines who told me my accent was so bad she could barely understand me.  She said I must be from New Orleans.  She had a very heavy accent that I could barely understand. This conversation happened yesterday when we ate breakfast there.  Of course, I told her we were from North Carolina.  This morning when we went in, she called out, “North Carolina.”  I really liked her personality.  Yesterday, the servings were huge so today we shared.  Rose had one of the “trailer signs” advertising her business. 

We drove from Denali to Anchorage which is about 250 miles.  The road goes through Wasilla which is a larger town than I had imagined.  They even had a Target. 

This is the first motel we have messed up on.  It had two stars on Hotwire and Joy told me I should never get anything less than 3 stars.  The hotel is clean but run down.  I don’t think these beds are going to be very comfortable.  It feels like sitting on springs so I can’t imagine what it will feel like when we lay down.  After checking in, we drove into the city to the Visitor Center.  From there, we took a trolley tour of the city.  The trolley driver/tour guide was a young man who had been raised in Anchorage and knows the city.  In an hour, he could only hit the highlights.  He did take us to several places we intend to go back to tomorrow.

The weather forecast for Seward for Wednesday is for rain so we have made the decision not to risk spending the money to reserve seats on a whale watching boat.  Therefore, Wednesday morning will officially start the trip back home.  Our plan is to go through the Cassiar Mountains, see Glacier Park and Yellowstone and who knows where else.  Unfortunately, we will have to go over the worst part of the Alaska Highway to get to the turn to the Cassiars.

The lobby was in the center of the motel.  You can see a hothouse that was beside the lobby.  Our room was the first one that can be seen where the lobby sign is hanging.  There was lots of stomping as people went to get their coffee.

Rose had one of the trailer signs.

The mountains look totally different when the skies are dark and the mountains are covered by clouds.

Some of the cloud formations were pretty.

Wasilla is a larger city than I expected.  They even have a Target.

The Visitor Center had a sod roof with grass growing on it.  I imagine this contributes to the insulation but did look a little unusual.

I didn't realize when we signed up for the trolley tour that we could have done horse and buggy.

This is Cook Inlet which runs into the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean.

This picture was taken at 9:40.  It was still light outside.

August 9 and 10, Denali National Park

Saturday, August 9

Denali.  Visitors are only allowed to drive 15 miles into the park.  You can go as far as you would like hiking or biking.  Having seen the grizzlies, I would not like it at all.  We had booked a bus tour 85 miles into Denali to Wonder Lake.  The tour would take about 11.5 hours because the bus has to go very slow and stops at every animal sighting.  The bus was a fairly new Thomas built school bus, built in High Point, NC.  The driver was Darlene Huss.  She was a good tour guide, giving us lots of facts about the mountain.  And she was an excellent driver.  I don’t know if I have words to explain the road she drove that bus over.  After the first 15 miles, we were on a very narrow, unpaved road that clung to the side of the mountain, with no guard rails. There were some curves that I know the people in the back of the bus could see the front of the bus before the curve was completed.  Then there was the matter of meeting other buses coming down the mountain.  It was very nerve wracking.  I said last night we had survived the trip that was exhausting and exhilarating.  The road contributed to that exhaustion. 

We saw lots of animals just as we were hoping and of course Mt. McKinley.  We saw golden eagles soaring (was unable to get any pictures though), caribou, moose, Dall sheep, and a number of grizzly bears.  We saw lots of little arctic ground squirrels but they were too fast and low to get pictures of from the bus.  There are approximately 2200 caribou in the Denali park area, approximately 250 black bears, and about 350 grizzly bears.  We did not see any black bears.  Our guide said most of them are on the other side of the mountain.   If there is a big shoulder hump, a mass of fat and muscle, it is a grizzly.  Actually, there is one less grizzly because on Thursday, a grizzly killed another one about 2/3 its size.  It was close to the road and we could see it.  On Saturday, he had been eating on his kill for three days.  Darlene said he would not leave the kill until it was all consumed because he feared some other animal may steal his kill.  He was not very happy that the bus was there and kept making noises.  We were not allowed to leave the bus at animal sightings.  Everyone put their window down on the side of the sighting and then shared the window with people sitting on the other side. It was fairly cramped and I woke up this morning with aching legs from stooping down to the window.

Sunday, August 10

We were so tired when we got checked in to the White Moose Lodge, I just fell in bed and passed out.  We literally slept for almost 11 hours but feel so much more rested.  First we’ll get the check in at the motel out of the way.  This motel had good reviews on the Internet and it is cute, like an old western building with the wooden walkway and railings all around.  The rooms are sufficient to what we need and very clean.  The beds are quite comfortable and even the pillows are good.  However, the check in process leaves a lot to be desired.  I had told the proprietor that we would be late getting here since our tour into Denali didn’t get back until 10:15.  Please understand, it is still light here at 10:15 so we were not driving on strange roads in the dark.  When we arrived at the motel/lodge, there were two other parties in the lobby waiting to check in.  One couple had been here over an hour.  There was a phone and a sign on the registration desk giving two phone numbers to call.  The other two couples said they had been calling those numbers repeatedly and all they got was a message to leave a number and he would return the call.  Finally, we looked in the phone book for the sheriff’s phone number.  Not finding one, one of the other ladies called the Highway Patrol and explained the situation.  It wasn’t long until the proprietor arrived having been visited by the HP.  He said those two numbers were forwarded to his cell phone and evidently it was not working properly.  He lives through the woods from the lodge.  He apologized profusely and gave us all discounts.  We had our room reserved for two nights so that made a significant difference.

After we ate lunch, we went back to Denali.  We drove as far in as tourists are allowed to drive.  At the ranger gate, there is a beautiful parking area along Savage River which is a braided river (new term for me.)  We walked down to the river and took pictures.  On the walk back to the car, we got lucky and saw an arctic ground squirrel.  He was standing there eating.  I think he has gotten too accustomed to humans being around because he didn’t run unless you got very close.  We saw another caribou but it was in the woods and we couldn’t get a good picture.  It has been a great two days at Denali.

These pictures are not in correct order.  I've tried to move them but only succeeded in deleting a couple.

This grizzly was walking down the road.  We finally eased by the bear.  About a half mile down the road, we saw some hikers heading toward the bear.  I hope they did not have an unpleasant meeting.

This was a huge bull moose.

Taken through the window at the seat beside me.  That is the road we would be going on that looks like a goat path.

Mt. McKinley.  The clouds had settled over the top of the mountain making it look flat.

This is the bear that had killed another bear.  He stays at the kill until it is all gone.

Another view of Mt. McKinley with less cloud cover.

Dall sheep way up on a mountain above the grizzlies normal path.

This was a sow (female) grizzly who had two young ones with her.  The young ones pretty much stayed behind brush and I was unable to get a picture of them.

Just taking in the sun.

The Savage River is a braided river.  That was a new term for me.

Description of a braided river.

Arctic ground squirrel

This rock formation was near Savage River.  This is only the top of it.  It was fairly big.  This guy had climbed to the top of it and is obviously taking a selfie.

The leaves of some plants are beginning to change.  We saw reds and yellows.  Everything pretty much shuts down here at the end of September because it starts to snow.

The car has been washed once since this trip started.  We have driven through so many construction sites and so much dust, the plates are unreadable.

Fairbanks, Alaska

We enjoyed our night in the little cabin in the spruce pines very much.  The hostess served breakfast at 8:00 and what a breakfast it was.  Betty Lou served us blueberry pancakes she was making as we arrived, scrambled eggs, pork sausage and reindeer sausage, and rhubarb coffee cake.  There was tea, coffee, juice, or water to drink.  It was all delicious.  We tried the reindeer sausage and it had a good taste but was a little tougher that the pork.

The roads are much better now.  However, there are a lot of cyclists and they don’t move over.  It is annoying to almost have to stop when they are huffing up a mountain, two or three across our lane.  That was mostly between Tok and Delta Junction.  Delta Junction is the end of the Alaska Highway.  One crew started in Delta Junction and another in Dawson Creek.  They met somewhere in the middle.  That took some good planning with no computers.  Some people consider Fairbanks the end of the Highway; however, the road between  Delta Junction and Fairbanks already existed before the Highway was built.

We stopped at North Pole.  Santa was at home and the reindeer were resting and eating.  One of our girls accused us of eating Prancer this morning but he was there, safe and sound.

The battery in Danny's watch had died so we found a Walmart.  This one was much larger than the one in Eden, plenty of registers were open and the cashiers were nice.  We went to an old gold mine.  I guess the last miner got all the gold because we didn’t find any. 

We went to an Alaskan Salmon Bake for dinner.  I’m not sure why they call it salmon “bake” because it is really grilled over a wood fire.  They had prime rib, FRESH salmon, crab legs, and fresh cod.  There was a salad bar and a hot bar with roasted potatoes, baked beans, and rolls.  One price included all you could eat of everything plus dessert and drink.  I had a little bit of the prime rib and a large piece of salmon.  It was so good.  We had one plate of food and dessert.  It was interesting to watch other people getting plate after plate.

Tomorrow we will leave early to drive to Denali where we will start a bus tour.  There may not be a post tomorrow night since it will be fairly late when we get to our hotel.  We are staying two nights to have some time to rest and more time to explore.

Delta Junction is the end of the Alaska Highway.

I love this road sign.  The buffalo we saw pretty much ignored the humans, even the dumb human who got out of his car and approached one of the buffalo.

When Sarah Palin was governor, she designated the Alaska Highway as a way to honor all Purple Heart recipients.

We visited with Santa at North Pole.

Eating space at the Alaska Salmon Bake.  There were several other areas including a building if you preferred.

Take your choice, one or all.

Old gold mine

The flowers have been gorgeous.  These dahlias were eight or nine inches across and just beautiful.  I guess the weather here is almost perfect for a lot of flowers.  Even beds of pansies are still in full bloom.

Tok, Alaska

We woke up in Haines Junction this morning to sunny, cool weather.  The motel registration clerk had said they provided a complimentary breakfast upstairs from the lobby.  Wow!  It was a beautiful big room with windows around the room.  It was a very nice breakfast served on glass plates.  Pretty coffee cups, not mugs, for coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, and crystal glasses for juice or water.  But the capper was the view.  I think I would like that view every day.  There was a balcony with tables where we could have eaten outside but it was too cool. The food was good too.  It was very cool, cool enough we used heat when we first started out.  The last part of the Highway we drove on today was by far the worst we’ve driven on so far.  There were many, many big potholes; I mean BIG.  Then there was a long stretch of construction where they were working on the potholes.  We had to drive close to 100 miles at about 40 mph.  Tractor trailer trucks would be flying up behind us and pass the car even if something else was coming.  We learned to pull over if we saw a truck gaining on us.  The only thing that made the drive tolerable was the view.  

We reentered the USA around 3:20.  Customs coming back in to the US was fairly simple. He asked our tag number and I'm sure ran a check on it.  He asked if we had any firearms with us and when told no, told us to enjoy our stay in Alaska.  As soon as we entered Alaska, we went back another hour.  We are now 4 hours behind Eden.  We had a reservation tonight at a B & B and cabins in Tok, Alaska.  Danny had wanted to stay in a cabin so he gets his wish tonight. We have heat on in the cabin.  Tomorrow, on to Fairbanks.  

Eating breakfast looking at this view and honoring God's majesty.

A little farther down the road.

Kluane Lake is 43 miles long.  The Alaska Highway goes around it.  It was beautiful

The wildflowers growing along the side of the road are so pretty.  Many of them are shades of purple.  I got a booklet that identifies them but have not had time to look at it yet.

Back in the USA.

We were told these trees, though small, are around 200 years old.  The extreme cold and permafrost stunts their growth.

Danny enjoyed this little cabin.  I did too.