FRIDAY, AUGUST 30

FRIDAY, AUGUST 30: 

     Cool and drizzly again.  We drove to Chena Hot Springs, an area of natural mineral hot springs about 70 miles northeast of Fairbanks, on a good road all the way.  It was a pretty drive, along forested roadsides and crossing the Chena river a couple of times.

   There’s a good-sized resort at the end of the road – lodge, nice restaurant, and other amenities.  Day visitors can pay to use the indoor swimming pool, hot tubs, and outdoor lake, all kept at a constant temperature of 110 degrees by the thermal pools.  There’s also an ice museum, where literally everything inside – the sculptures, the furniture, even the bar and drinking glasses, are all sculpted from ice.  The resort also offers canoe trips, horseback riding, and flight-seeing in the summer, and dog sled rides, ice skating, and other activities in winter.

     We opted to take the ice museum tour.  We bundled up, listened to the short narrative about how they keep the interior at a constant temperature, how they constantly need to maintain and eventually replace the sculpted pieces, etc., and then were left on our own to explore as we liked.  It really was neat.  We’d seen some ice carvers at work in St. Charles during Old St. Charles ice festival in January.  But this was on a whole different level!   The resident carvers (a husband & wife team) have won lots of competitions and awards for their work.  The guy was there working while we were there, so we got to visit with him a little bit.  He started out as a wood carver, but said he wasn’t making any money, and someone approached him about ice carving.  He took off with it - actually invented many of the techniques that we saw the St. Charles sculptors utilize. And apparently they’re making good money at this venue.  

     Some of the pieces were showcased with colored lighting.

 

 

 

                                                    How did he create those tree ornaments??!

 

 

 

      Besides the individual sculpted pieces, the carver had constructed an entire bar area, complete with reindeer hide-padded bar stools and a fireplace where you could warm up (well, in your imagination).

 

 

They offered martinis served in individually-carved glasses (which we passed up). There was also an igloo, with a xylophone inside where you could hear the unusual acoustics of the room.

 

 

 

And, most incredibly, they had 3 rooms which you could rent for the night, with ice-carved headboards.  They provide insulated sleeping bags, as well as a lodge room for a back-up! 

 

 

Even though a little  kitschy, all in all, a fun experience and worth the admission fee.

     We had intended to go to the pool area after our ice museum outing.  But after our time in the ice house, we decided that we really didn’t care about spending the time or money for the hot springs soak.  We had some things we needed to get done tonight and get to bed at a reasonable time, as tomorrow we need to be at the airport by 6:15 for a trip/tour up at Barrow. 

     Grilled ribs and skewered veggies for dinner – good!  Especially with the Alaskan Amber beer that Bill found at WalMart yesterday. 

     A nice sunset tonight – the first in a long time. 

 

 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 29

THURSDAY, AUGUST 29:

     Drizzly rain most of the day.  Used it to go to WalMart and get Rx’s filled and stock up.  It seems it’s been a very long time since we’ve done a lot of grocery shopping – and our 2 carts worth of stuff proved it!  As well as our crammed fridge!  Rested the relaxed the rest of the day.

     Had a really tasty dinner – the other skewer of grilled shrimp from last night, re-heated, which didn’t affect the texture at all – they were really good.  Added good French bread with REAL melted butter, mixed veggies, and a fresh salad with raspberries.  Hadn’t had a nice fresh salad for at least a couple of weeks.  With a bottle of Pinot Grigio, it really tasted wonderful!         

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28:

     Not sure how much it rained last night . . . some puddles on the ground, and still spitting this morning.  Took our time getting ready to leave, as it’s less than 200 miles to Fairbanks, and on a good highway.   Sad to leave this place.  Denali (the national park) has become one of the many highlights of this trip.  It’s a marvelous untamed wilderness.   Thanks to our NPS for intentionally maintaining it that way.  The spectacular scenery & wildlife we witnessed here so exhilarated us, especially the last 3 days.  We’re so thankful. 

 

     Stopped for breakfast just up the road at the same café we ate at last night.  I think this is the first sit-down breakfast we’ve had on this trip!  Bill  had an egg/pancake/sausage plate, and  I had a spicy Mexican omelet, which was mucho delicioso! I’d go back there just for another one!

        By now it was nearing noon, so we headed north in earnest.  Stopped about 60 miles north at the town of Nenana and spent a few hours there.  We had a great time strolling the main street of this tiny town, learning its history, seeing the historic buildings and some of their now funky and humorous exteriors, talking to the locals, etc.

 

                                         Love the Drive Thru sign!:

                                            Mural depicting Nenana's history on the side of the town grocery store:

                                                Log church built in 1905 as part of the Epicsopcal mission here:      

 

Right across from the Visitors Center, which was brightly framed with lots of beautiful blooming flowers,

 

was a grouping of old log cabins which now houses a few gift shops, all adorned with big blooms and award-winning-sized cabbages! .

   

                                                        

                                                                

A couple of them had surprisingly nice items and books.  Of course, we were suckers for the books, including a cookbook of everything blueberry, and  Into the Wild, which is the account of the young man who forsook his affluent background to go live off of the land near Denali Nat’l Park and perished there.  It’s just west of where we were staying, so we had a special interest in reading the story.  I believe they made a movie also, starring Sean Penn??  Besides the books, I couldn’t resist a stuffed Alaskan Husky puppy, which looked so real.  A totally frivolous purchase, but I loved it!  He stands watch over our bed on the cabinet top.

 

 

      This is another small Alaskan town with its own unique character.  It was an Athabascan village which served as a river freighting center to the interior for centuries, as it’s at the confluence of two good-sized rivers.  It changed character rapidly when the Alaskan Railroad was being constructed in the 1920’s and the town served as a supply center.  Since then, the town has been known in part for its rich railroad history.   President Harding came out here in 1923 to drive in the golden spike which connected the two segments of the railroad. (It’s gone now – someone stole it.)   And it was the site on which the historic transfer of the railroad was made from the Federal govt to the state of Alaska.  The station is listed on the Nat’l Register of Historic Sites and now houses a museum.  

 

 

 

 

     We also visited the Nenana Cultural Center, which contains history and culture of the Athabascans, as well more recent history.  Spent a good bit of time talking with the curator, who shed a lot of light on the current social/economic state of lots of Natives and how they’ve lost their traditional ways of living with and off the land, but haven’t benefitted from economic  alternatives.  For instance, many Natives went to work for the pipeline when it was being constructed in the 80’s and made good money.  But they had no history or language of private ownership, equity, etc., so they blew through the money, and ended up even worse than before, because they’d sold or given away their trap lines, fishing equipment, etc.  He felt that the average Native hadn’t benefitted from the corporation structure which was set up  back in Nixon’s administration to benefit the Alaskan native – again, the average shareholder doesn’t know how to handle the dividend cash, plus he feels that there’s a significant degree of corruption.  This was a different viewpoint than we had heard in Juneau from a spokeswoman who spoke highly of the corporation statute and its benefits to her people.  So, like any cross section of people,  you hear differing viewpoints and opinions, equally thought out and considered.

     What this town is most well-known for is the Nenana Ice Classic. This is Alaska’s “coolest” lottery.  It’s an event that could only be held in the land of ice and cabin fever.   Cash prizes are awarded to those who guess the exact time – to the minute- of the spring ice breakup on the Tanana River.  Breakup occurs at the moment when suddenly there’s more water than ice on the river.  A tripod is frozen into the river a few weeks earlier, in a festival weekend, and attached by wire to an official clock is tipped over by the surging ice and water.  After it moves 100 feet, the wire stops the clock, noting the official break-up time.  And a siren is released, notifying all residents to come to the river and witness the ice breaking up!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     This sounds like such a fun and light-hearted idea – but the winnings are serious money.  Last year, over $300,000 was awarded!  We saw the official entry books – tickets are sold all over Alaska @ $2.50 each – and each entry was painstakingly entered, on a single line, and the book was at least 3 inches thick!   Virtually all of the high school students here take part in assembling the books, and is the actual first cash-paying job most of them have.  We were just tickled with the whole concept, and took a couple of entry forms with us – people outside of Alaska can enter (one year a Japanese person won!) – but you have to fill out a form, mail it back in, and they’ll transfer your info to an official ticket, because state law prohibits lottery sales across the state lines!  You gotta love it!  Oh yes, once the tripod and clock are set, a 24/7 armed guard is stationed in the tower to make sure no shenanigans take place with the clock!  We just loved this one more example of how these tiny towns find a way to create community spirit, fun, and even a small economy.

     We’re so glad we took the time to stop here  -

a wonderful afternoon in this little river town which, despite its hard scrabble existence now for most of its residents, has a thriving spirit and proud history which it is eager to share with visitors.

 

 

 

     Drove on another 45 miles or so o Fairbanks.  It had stopped raining and was warming up. Went through some really pretty scenery – mostly tree-lined highway, with spruces, aspens, and birches.  The deciduous trees were slightly beginning to turn.  Reminded us of last fall in the Grand Canyon, with the splendorous golden aspens. 

     Found our RV park on the edge of town easily, and quickly got set up.   It’s a lovely RV park – very large, with lots of trees and green space.  We asked to be by the river (the Chena), and we have a lovely serene view out our windows.  We grilled outside, and almost ate outside – it was that pleasant – but was quickly turning cooler, so ate inside.    We’ll probably be here the better part of a week.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27:  

     Promised to be another lovely day, even though we could tell that clouds were beginning to come in.  So for our last day here, we decided to take the Mt. Healy Overlook Trail.

      This was described as a strenuous 4.5 mile round trip trail which led to the top of Mt. Healy.  The first mile only  gained about 500 feet in elevation, but the next 1 ¼ miles gained about1,200 ft.  “Strenuous” . . . doesn’t begin to describe how we felt about it about ¾ of the way through.  It was the hardest hike we’ve ever done . . . much more challenging than the Harding Icefield hike we did at Seward, and we thought that one had some pretty steep stretches!   In fact, about 2/3 of the way up, Bill stated that he just couldn’t go any further.  He encouraged me to go on by myself.  I thought it would only be another 30 minutes or so to the summit, so I agreed.  But I had to stop and rest every few minutes, and a time or two, I considered just turning around and going back downhill.  And I thought, “Bill was right not to attempt any more . . . these very steep places of climbing over rocks would really wreak havoc on his knee(s).”

      At one rest stop, I had been sitting against a boulder for several minutes, catching my breath and resting my legs.  I heard another hiker coming up the trail below.  I thought I heard the familiar sound of hiking poles.  I saw the edge of a hat and thought, “Funny, that looks a lot like Bill’s.”  Then here comes the hiker around the bend.  I squeaked weakly, “Bill??”  He couldn’t vocalize much better!  My first instinct was to be mad at him, because I was sure that he’d really screw up one knee or both.  But after a while, when I saw that he was doing ok, better actually than me, I was really glad that he had gotten his second wind and decided that he could make it and caught up with me.  He was a big encouragement for me to keep going, and stressed that we were almost there.  And, we were! 

     Had fine 360 degree views from on top, even though clouds were definitely gathering.  The view was definitely worth the exertion.

 

And, as always on these hikes to higher ground, one of the things that make it most enjoyable and rewarding, besides the feeling of accomplishment,  is chatting with other hikers on the summit as you’re resting and recuperating and taking pictures and enjoying the view. 

 

 

 This time, we talked with a young couple from France, who were very, very friendly and nice, and a couple of “mature” women, one of whom had lived in Ketchikan for 14 years and was now living in the Puget Sound area; the other had recently moved to South Dakota.  They were very fit – the first woman was wearing sandals!    

       Going down, while much easier on our cardio systems, taxed other muscles of our legs and calves.  We were being very careful not to slip or skid or twist an ankle.  I guess that’s why it took only an hour less than going up – 2 hrs vs. 3.  It surely didn’t seem that long.  We did stop to smell the roses on the way down, savoring once again the beginning of the fall palette.  

And an abundance of all kinds of berries, including yummy juicy blueberries.

 

And we saw the meaning of the term “flying squirrel.”  We saw 2 red squirrels high up in trees chattering noisily and leaping through the air to the next tree.  A funny sight. 

     I’d taken some prawns out of the freezer this morning to grill tonight – first time in a while that it looked like good grilling weather.  But Bill was too tired & sore to deal with that, so we stopped at a little family café up the road from the RV park.  Strangely, I wasn’t really that hungry, even though all either of us had had to eat all day were a couple of blueberry muffins & bacon for breakfast, and a granola bar & trail mix while hiking, so I just got a grilled cheese.  Bill ordered liver & onions – something he knows he won’t get at home!  And he got a couple of Alaskan Amber beers.  I took a few sips.  It was soooo good!  The best, smoothest beer I’ve ever had.  We’ll keep on the lookout for places that serve that label from now on.    

     After we returned home, our next-door neighbors, Michael & Carol, whom we had met on the bus tour yesterday and discovered that we were camped right next to each other, were out on their picnic table.  We stopped and visited with them for a while, and all of a sudden the wind really whipped up.  So we came inside . . . and within an hour, it started raining.  Not hard.  But still – what great timing!