Blogs from Fairbanks, Alaska, United States, North America - page 18

Now back at Honolulu Airport. Have a beer........ have another beer, only so we can view the fascinating garden at the airport right next to where the beer is. Maree goes off to take photos of the garden (which you will probably see on our return or here if we can get it working .. looks just like home only more established and trimmed to perfection). Meanwhile Des has a snooze, sort of, nearly falls off his chair (now does that sound like Des?). Anyway the slip attracts the attention of the couple at the next table who turn our to be Victorians doing the same Canadian Tour as we will be, only backwards. Nice couple. 9pm Again Sunday AGAIN/STILL. NorthWEST Airline - squeeseee 3-3 plane not even leg room for us!! Des Row (can't remember), ... read more

Our great northern adventure starts as all great adventures start -- going in the opposite direction - heading south. The usual anxious, sleep deptived Saturday night/sunday morning check in and wait at Darwin airport. Saturday had been particularly hectic....Final preparations, another repack, another rethink (what will we need - should we take this, leave that) catching up with friends we wont see for a month and final phone calls to kids ect... Clean the house, and why not....install a new addition to the irrigation system that will see the grass remain green for the forthcoming wedding for which we will get back just in time. Meanwhiile at the Airport. Charge phone Have we remembered everything ...opp forgot to pay that bill ...opps forgot to send that email ...OH well - we will survive.. Finally call comes, ... read more

We had some extra time this week so we made our way to the city of North Pole, Alaska (not the real North Pole). It was -40 or colder with a stiff wind but I decided to see how tough I was and ran out to the sign to take a picture. I was outside for all of 2 minutes and I froze my tail off...don't try that at home kids. The Ice Carving World Championships are about to start to we went by for a preview. The Single-Block competition has already begun and I've included a pic of a Ram since it was the only one already finished. It has remained pretty cold here as is evidenced by the Global Warming picture. Really, the environmentalists can't have come to Fairbanks and actually think it's getting ... read more

Welcome to Alaska, land of the Aurora Borelis A few flights later and a lot of waiting in airports, i arrive in Fairbanks. Mission Alaska Mission Target: Aurora Borelis (Northern Lights) Objective: Successfully photograph the phenomenon known as Aurora Borelis So after a few rainy days in Vancouver I make my way across. Fairbanks, the people here seem to be friendly and go out of their way to help you. Sometimes you forget your actually in the United States, since this one ain't so united. Day one was a night in a luxury hotel, followed the next day by a charter flight accross the Artic Circle to a small remote town called Bettles. This town is about an hours flight north of Fairbanks and sits right below the lights. Unfortunately the weather could have been better ... read more

Today we made our way to Denali National Park, a huge area dedicated to 'wilderness', quite uneventful apart from the rude, obnoxious lady who owned the mini bus shuttle bus we used to get there - but I am not going there. It was also a 'sussing' out day, finding out about the park's history and existence, what we could do there and so on. The park is absolutely huge (bigger than the state of Vermont they keep telling us, if anyone knows how big that makes it). There is a single road into the park which is closed to private vehicles. Everyone has to go in on the park's shuttle bus service. And then if you want to go into the real wilderness you just walk in any direction. No trails, no facilities, no nothing. ... read more