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Honolulu
Garden at Honolulu Airport.
Just like I want at home. Thursday may 10
Some people have asked us why we landed in Fairbanks as our first Alaskan stop off. To Territorians it’s a bit like going first to Katherine before Darwin.
Our answer is that we wanted to get over any jet lag especially before Maree worked at the school. Really the jet lag has not been any problem. And secondly we wanted to sample/experience “Real Alaska” and it’s people before coming to the big smoke.
Today we broaden our horizons.
After picking up a hire car our first adventure is the change in road rules. Then it’s off to Chena Hot Springs. With ice capped mountains all around we strip off to bathers and descend into steaming hot water. It is really uncomfortably hot at first and there is a strong sulphur aroma, very smelly, but that settles down and you can feel your body regenerate.
We break the bath to tour an ice sculpture display
Huge blocks of ice about 1m cubed are cut from a beaver dam some where on the property. They are crystal clear apart from a few air bubbles. These are stacked 4 high waiting to be carved by the master carvers.
Honolulu
More of the garden They are in a fancy shed, which is highly insulated and kept between 15 F - 20 F (34 F is freezing point).
Next to the stash of blocks are the tools required to shape them ranging from chain saws, to chisels, and a heat gun. Some are power tools. Consider for a moment: electricity and melting ice (water), could be dangerous.
We enter past a spiral stair case to nowhere, a life size female form, a pair of lifesize joisting horsemen and steeds and on to a full size pulpit - they actually hold weddings there with the bride and groom given complimentary fur coats for the ceremony. Then on to the four bridal suites (once again they can stay the night if they want to): a bear on it’s back with paws up to form a bed shape, the king room with ensuite included, the queen room with slightly smaller bed, and another.
An igloo is quite roomy inside and considerably warmer. On to the full size bar with fur covered bar stools where martinis are served in ice glasses (yours to keep). There is so much intricate detail on all the pieces it really is
quite amazing.
But stuff that we’re bloody cold again - back to the springs!
On the way home we see our first wildlife close up: a squirrel and a moose but probably our biggest surprise was the size of the mosquitoes, which is about thumbnail size. If there was one there were thousands. Interestingly they don’t sting or buzz but suck blood by the bucketful.
On Friday we set off to Denali Nation Park. Enroute we were surprised to see what looks like snow falling but in only lasted for a few moments. After locating and booking into the B&B we head from the park. The scenery is jus fabulous. From flat Darwin to mountains everywhere (Mt Mc Kinlay is reportedly the tallest mountain in the world - they reckon that Everest is only higher because it starts on a higher base plateau). Not far into the park that fluffy white stuff started to fall again. It the first time either of us had seen falling snow. Like two little kids we were out playing in it, snowball fighting, making a snowman and listening to the crunch as you step onto fresh snow. We are having a ball.
Artic Circle
Pilot Pete and Beaver tour guide Cliff Adams Then we remembered snow means cold, real cold. Back into the car to warm up.
Most park trips we are assured reveal glimpses if not beaut viewing of all Alaska’s tourist killers: bears (brown or grizzly and black), moose, caribou, foxes, lynx. But for us, maybe it was the snow, only a couple of squirrels, some pigeons and would you believe... seagulls. But we are happy playing/driving in the snow. We have dinner at a restaurant on the way back to the B&B and meant to retire for an early night but as usual time got away and it was midnight.
Saturday morning, early (7am) we're off for a drive but within 10 minutes snow starts falling again and gets progressively harder. So we decide to turn back due to our inexperience and the dirt road.
On this short trip we spotted the same rabbit twice and a small herd of caribou. The scenery is magic.
With our plans changed we headed back to Fairbanks to off load the hire car, collect bags from Mary’s place and meet Terry a cousin of Lisa’s who is to give us a lift to Anchorage. It snows and or rains
Artic Circle
Yukon River near Beaver most of the 90 miles back which was a good thing as it cleaned the hire car up so nicely we didn’t bother cleaning it, (No dirt roads for that hire car!!)
The first couple of hours driving south we have now covered three times in two days but the rest (4->5 hours) is interesting. Terry was driving a Ford 250 (all cars here seem to be big) and refueled three times along the way. The conversation is constant and great, he told many fabulous stories including one about a truck driver who decided to feed the bears his lunch from the top of his rig. This was a great idea until he ran out of sandwiches and the bears were still hungry. He had to wait for a couple of hours for a mate in a rig to arrive to chase the bears off so he could get back to the cab.
Poor Terry he tried so hard to find wildlife for us and had to settle on pulling into a little stop close to Anchorage where he knew the owner had a deer in a cage, The place was kinda of interesting with all manner of
Denali Park
View from B&B window, Snow topped mountains were sometimes clearer junk categorized and piled in neat heaps for sale.
Anchorage eventually materialized and two weary travelers met Lisa, Terry met Lisa (they had not seen each other for a long while) and our big city adventures started with a friendly pubbar dinner.
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