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Published: August 8th 2008
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In Search of the Midnight Sun - Chapter 3
August 3/4, 2008
On the ferry, we visited with an English couple who have bought a motorhome in the US and have been travelling North America for three years (with trips home to England in between). They are shipping the motorhome back to England this fall. He said they can double their money by reselling it there. We noticed a lot of different languages in Skagway. There are many international travellers coming in mostly by cruise ship. But, we have been keeping track of license plates and so far have seen 38 from the States, eight provinces, and three international plates we think from New Zealand, Switzerland and Germany. It certainly is getting to be a global community. Canadians are few - where are you??
We drove from Haines to Border City. We had to leave Alaska, go up through a corner of BC, through a corner of the Yukon and back through customs into Alaska again. On the 4th we drove from Border City through Tok to Fairbanks. Again we had to decide if we would go north or south at Tok. Everyone entering or leaving Alaska has to
Fireweed - Flower of the Yukon
We've seen it everywhere in the Yukon and Alaska go through Tok. This time we were wanting good weather for Denali National Park which has Mt. McKinley the highest mountain in North America. Only a few visitors ever see the top of the mountain. The 10 day forecast on Monday looks the best for Thursday the 7th. So we head north through Fairbanks. We finally find out what all the complaining is about Alaska roads. Most of the drive in the Tok area is through Tiaga or muskeg. There is a layer of ice under the soil which melts somewhat in the summer causing the road to have dips like a roller coaster and potholes. We found out at the first orange marker that you really do have to slow down. However, there is hardly any traffic and the campgrounds are not busy. We are not sure if that is because it’s August or the gas prices affecting their tourism. Diesel in Fairbanks was $1.35 but we are not sure what it is at home now since we hear the prices are dropping.
Of course we had to stop at North Pole, Alaska to see Santa and his house. It is only about 10 miles east of Fairbanks. Unfortunately,
Santa was on his day off. We arrived in Fairbanks late afternoon in rain and stayed at Riverbend Campground, beside the Chena River. The best campground and facilities we’ve seen yet and a reasonably cost of $20. We had hoped to golf under the midnight sun that evening (which in Aug. would be about 11pm) but it was raining. The first day of rain we’ve had in our two weeks away. There has been so much rain in the Fairbanks area, the river is the highest it has been since 1967 when they were flooded. In fact the locals we’ve talked to and travellers that spent July in Alaska are all complaining it has been the wettest, coldest summer in a long time. Perhaps it is a good thing we are here in August.
August 5, 2008
Well first thing, we had to backtrack to the North Pole so we could get a picture of us with Santa. That’s a must for the grandkids. Kind of funny to see all the grandparents lining up to see Santa.
Fairbanks is a really nice city of pop. 30,000 but with its surrounding area serves 80,000. There are numerous things to do
but since we want to be at Denali tomorrow, we have only one day. In the morning we go to the botanical gardens at the University (for me) and then still at the University we see the large animal area, reindeer, moose and muskox (for Larry). By the way, we finally found out that reindeer are actually caribou that have been domesticated.
In the afternoon we took a 3.5 hour ride on the Chena on the Discovery II a steamship, paddle wheeler. We cruised down the Chena and saw a float plane land and take off beside us, the dog sled team and training area of Susan Butcher, three time winner of the Iditarod, and an Athabascan native village where we spent an hour off the boat.
We went out for supper to the Pumphouse restaurant which was highly recommeded by a local. Then we drove the two hour trip to Denali National Park so we would have plenty of time to make our bus and camping arrangements for our trip into the Park.
con't Chapter 4 August 6, 2008
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