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Published: September 11th 2006
Day 3 - Fairbanks to Denali National Park
Day 3 brought a wonderful adventure to all of us. It was a very long day - so I will break this journal into two parts - morning and afternoon/evening. We were up very early in the morning - all luggage and personal bags had to be out in the hall of Sophie Station (our lodge in Fairbanks) in the wee early hours of the morning. We all met in the early A.M. in the lobby of Sophie Station - along with numerous other travel groups - it was very crowded. So it was really nice to be with a group large enough to have our own bus - oops-luxury motor coach! We were not allowed to call the bus a bus - it was a luxury motor coach with a luxury motor coach captain, Tim, at the wheel who also managed all our ins and outs of luggage and transportation.
We were really pretty exhausted from the previous day of traveling and full day of events- but it was evident in the faces of those sitting in the lobby that everyone was looking forward to the next leg of our
Alaska Train
Boarding - Dontrip - Fairbanks to Denali.
Before I move on, let’s take a glance back a day or two to tell you about one major glitch we had - Nina and Joan did not receive their luggage in Fairbanks with the rest of us. Some of us had delays in receiving our luggage at Sophie Station Lodge, but somehow Joan’s and Nina’s luggage had remained in Seattle when we changed planes. Poor Joan and Nina were wearing the same clothes for over 2 days and it became a burden for them. What an inconvenience they tolerated - waiting for their luggage, scrounging in everyone’s stuff to find clothes and shoes that might fit - and no personal items that would have made their lives a whole lot nicer like shampoo and toothpaste. On the second day of the trip, in the evening when it was apparent the luggage was not arriving soon, they did fit in a little shopping for clothes after the Salmon Bake -- but each were given a very limited budget for purchases. So we were all very relieved when Julie came to the rescue in the early hours of day 3 - with the delivery of
Joan's and Nina's luggage to their room. It arrived just in time for us to be leaving on a long land journey.
So now, back to the day at hand - we received our travel instructions from Julie as we boarded our luxury motor coach that morning. Tim had painstakingly stored all of our luggage in the storage compartments of the bus (44 persons with two to three bags each at about 40-50 lbs each). We were now ready for the morning adventure - the Alaska train from Fairbanks to Denali. Fairbanks is not very large so it seemed like no time at all before we were pulling into the train station - and there it was - a very long train - with our very own Celebrity train cars attached right behind the traditional Alaska Railroad cars so beautiful with their bright yellow lettering. There were other cruise line cars also attached to this very long train, if I remember correctly they were Holland America, Princess, and others but they were behind our railcars and we had nothing obstructing our views of the future path.
What excitement was buzzing about the coach as we quickly gathered our
Alaska Railroad
I am so excited - I can't stand it! belongings to get off of the bus and prepared to board the train. I personally had never been on a real train - only the old fashioned trains at Disney World and other tourist attractions in Florida like Six Gun Territory - how many of you remember that attraction? I couldn’t contain my excitement. I felt like a ten year old kid all over again. The train was beautiful - a glossy white exterior with a bear and some mountains on it, some golden lettering with the Celebrity name affixed to its side, and the beautiful shiny domed glass windows of the ceiling of the train car. The glass ceilings created an opportunity for everyone to have a view without obstruction - it was truly one of the highlights of my trip.
We boarded the train and were greeted by a very hospitable staff. We were directed to the upstairs level of the train car (two levels) where we were seated in luxurious leather seats that were extremely wide and very comfortable. There was a bar and a bar tender at the front of the train car waiting to serve us with any concoction we wanted. We were given
Alaska Railroad
A beautiful luxury train car. menus for bar drinks that were uniquely Alaskan and we were informed that we would be eating breakfast on the first level of the train car as soon as the train was underway. The excitement was contagious. The air was filled with joy and laughter. We were exhausted and yet none of us could sit still.
The train slowly pulled out of the Fairbanks station and we watched as we traveled past our luxury motor coach with Tim at the wheel and the many many rail cars that were sitting in the rail field - all commercial and industrial in nature - it was very obvious that the rails were a main source of bringing supplies to this part of Alaska. After taking a full look back at the rail yard it became apparent that we were on the only passenger train in the rail yard. And so we bid goodbye to Fairbanks.
As we slowly traveled out of the train yard - we spied our luxury motor coach pulling away - Tim had a long drive ahead as his day included traveling by road with all our belongings to beat us to our next destination. By the
Alaska Railroad
A beautiful view of the front of the train. time we traveled by train in luxurious style for our morning adventure, Tim had traveled in the luxury motor coach from Fairbanks to Denali. He unloaded all of our luggage from the holding compartment and placed each of our bags in our individual rooms of the hotel that we were assigned to sleep at that evening. After he finished this task, he meticulously cleaned the coach and then rushed off to meet us at our next destination. How spoiled we were - what a life!!!!!
The train moved with a nice rhythm - you could feel and hear the steady vibrations and sounds of wheels hitting rails --- clunk clunk, clink clink, clunk clunk, clink clink … and on and on it went…very calming, very serene, very beautiful.
Julie came by our seats and announced that it was time to go to breakfast - so Don and I headed downstairs. We were seated with a very nice couple from north St. Petersburg, a fireman and a nurse - by the name of Eanes. I have to say - it was the best breakfast of my life. As we came into the dining car one couldn’t help but notice
Alaska Railroad
An insider's view. the heavenly scent of baking. We had smelled it outside of the train as we were boarding - but this aroma was almost unbearable. What were they baking? How could it be possible to be so excited about food??? It was so hard to concentrate, the smells of the food, the beautiful scenery passing by our dining table window, the coach candelabras hanging from the walls and the table linens, the selection of gourmet foods to eat, the smiling faces, the awestruck looks as people gazed out their windows, the clunk clunk, clink clink of the sounds of the rails. There was so much to take in - so much to be grateful for.
Don and Walt ordered their breakfast and Peggy and I decided to split a breakfast - “oh yes, and can you add a scone for us on the order?” we asked as we were very excited to see scones and tea as part of the menu.
Breakfast came - and - as a side note - I have to say how wonderful was it to be able to openly stop to give thanks to God for the food we were eating and to thank
God for giving us this wonderful journey, and these wonderful friends. Our rail car was unique - we were with a very special group of people and we were free to thank God without inhibitions. What a joy!
With breakfast sitting on the table in front of us we discovered the heavenly scent—the scones. Oh-h-h-h-h the scones ….. all one has to do is mention the train scones to one of our fellow travelers and each one is reminded of one of the most heavenly food experiences ever. I don’t know how they did it - we tried to get the recipe - we tried to order more to go - but there were only enough scones for this serving of breakfast. The scones had blueberries in them and were not at all like the scones I am accustomed to. They were crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside with a delicate sweet taste that made them melt in your mouth. I sat across from Peggy looking at her and thinking to myself - I don’t think I have ever been so excited about anything in my life.
The joy of being with our
Alaska Railroad
The McCoys and the Mitchells enjoy their meal. friends, of seeing the beautiful scenery glide slowly past the windows, of eating a wonderful breakfast, it was Don’s 60th birthday --- everything seemed right in our little world. The pinnacle of three years of planning was a reality realized in the train ride and a breakfast on rails - and it was overwhelming. The tears just came out of no where. Have you ever been so happy that there was nothing else to do but cry about it? Now, I will have to say that Walt and Don found nothing to cry about as they tried to wrestle Peggy’s and my scone away from us - but what a joy - this moment that is burned into my heart forever - and the scent of a scone -- and the memory of perfection that is indelibly marked in my memory.
We all walked back upstairs with a new perspective gifted to us from our dining experience. All of us were bonded together in a comforting way. I was so glad to have had these great friends to travel with.
The train car was filled with people that we had shared life with - each carrying their own
Alaska Railroad
The Eanes take an outside break between rail cars. joys and burdens of life - each seeing everything through different eyes - this train car of people filled with “our” 44 travelers had become bonded in a way that we had never expected or experienced before. That was exactly what had happened to us. We all knew how to raise kids, how to be good employees, how to be charitable with our time and money - we all shared those bonds already. But we bonded in ways that can only happen when one shares a unique experience with someone that cannot be put into words. There were no words to describe the feeling of contentment and peace that came with sharing life with the ones you love. And for most of us, this was a new thing - sharing life on a vacation with more than just immediate family - selfishly spending some time in a unique way with our friends - and making new friends in the process. Most of us were green at traveling - we were always too busy raising children to do anything extravagant for ourselves - and may I say without one ounce of regret did we raise some incredibly wonderful children. But there
Alaska Railroad
Norene serenades us with a song - Blue Moose ~~~~ you saw me standing alone ~~~~~ without a dream in my heart ~~~ without a love of my own. Blue Moose ~~~ we were - all of us without words to express the multitude of emotions that were overwhelming us at each bend of the train rails - and you know - the funny thing is - there weren’t any words needed. A look, a touch, a smile, a tear, no word could have expressed what was silently spoken as our hearts soared with the eagles in the mountains of Alaska.
Seated in our leather seats in the coach we all settled in to look for the wildlife we had read so much about. This northern part of Alaska wasn’t at all what I thought it would be. I had studied about the tundra and the mountains and the permafrost. But I didn’t expect the terrain to be so dry and gritty. The trees were stunted in their growth and didn’t appear to be very large at all - nothing really grows huge this far north. We were in a permafrost area throughout the morning train ride and even though there were green grasses and shrubs - there was just as much rock formation and glacial grit. And the grit was caught up in the winds that blew around the mountains
and through the valleys.
So we looked, and looked and looked - we all thought we would see tons of wild animals - that is what I had read about, abundant wildlife in Alaska - I thought there would be fields of animals and of herds of moose and deer, but the sightings were few. On occasion, as the clunk, clunk, clink clink of the rails and the full tummy from the wonderful breakfast was just about to put you to sleep - someone would shout out MOOSE!!!!!!!!! And, as if someone had yelled fire! All would quickly become fully alert and ready for a glimpse of the wild beast! At one point we saw a momma moose with two baby moose (meese, mice ??? - Mrs. Reed I need help on this one) - but more than not, by the time we would all come alert and brush away the foggy lethargy - the moose was past and only a few of the alert and ready were lucky enough to have seen it before the train whisked us on to new terrain.
On other occasions - a false MOOSE!!!!!!!!!!! would escape from a person’s mouth and then
the normally very loving crowd would moan in protest and groan loudly when a sheepish “I thought it was a moose” would be squeaked out - “it was probably just a rock or a bush.” And so - began the jokes about moose sightings.
We tasted several new bar drinks - including the now infamous “duck fart” that was so very popular on this morning train ride. We made some new friends. We saw train trestles over rivers and creeks. We saw motor homes in abundance traveling the countryside. We stood outside on the landing between rail cars where the sound of the clunk clunk, clink clink was almost deafening and we let the wind whip through our hair as we watched the ground move quickly past and each mile marker would tell of our slow journey southward - toward “the big one” --- Denali National Park and Mount McKinley. And we imagined ourselves as pioneers in this great land - so vast and broad - so isolated from the lower 48 - so very open and so very much a creation of God in all His glory. We imagined what it would have been like to have been
here in the winter. We imagined what a day of darkness would be like with only a few hours of daylight. We imagined living in this country - the hardships it would create, the fears it would bring, the bigness of it all. We imagined from the luxury and safety of our luxury train car - we imagined……..and we thought about all who had plowed this path before us - and the bravery it took and dedication to build such a life out here in this vast wilderness of untamed weather and nature.
We imagined, and we imagined, and we imagined….. and so came the end of our train ride at about noon on that most wonderful day.
Our day was only one-third over - we had 20 hours of daylight each day to do things. We were going on the Tundra Wilderness Bus Tour of Denali in the afternoon - a 7 hour school bus ride into the depths of the Denali National Park where no cars are allowed to travel and where nature is what it is all about.
Next blog - Tundra Wilderness Tour
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Barbara Sheridan
non-member comment
Fart drink?
I want to hear what that drink was made of? I am hoping that is why you called it that. The trip sounds so wonderful. I am happy that you are writing it so the rest of us can see it for ourselves.