SPENDING A FEW DAYS IN FAIRBANKS THEN MOVING ON

 We hung out in Fairbanks for a couple days waiting on Sheila to fly in and spend a few weeks with us.  She is flying in on the 14th so we didn't want to do a lot of attractions without her.  We did go to the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum.  They have over 84 rare autos ranging from horseless carriages to the elegant classics of the 1930's. 

 

 

 

Where do I go next ?

 

 

He was a perfectly behaved.  He did not bark at me.  He just sat there when I took his picture.  Nick & Shelly I took this for you.

 

We camped at the Rivers Edge campground & the airplanes coming into Fairbanks flew right over us, so we saw Sheila's plane come in.  It was a nice campground and we got pretty close to the river.  All kinds of watercraft to watch.

 

 

 

 

Sheila arrives

 

 

 

We went from the airport downtown Fairbanks to look for a geocache by the fountain.   We all were close to it but I was the first to find it.  I spy

 

 

 

This is a fountain that is nice to go set around.  They provide lots of benches.  There are also lots of walking paths, and they have pretty flowers.

 

 

 

This is a statue that is in honor of the Soviet & American soldiers that helped ferry planes through Alaska onto Russia during WW11 along the walkway

 

 

Antlers archway in the walkway

                  The next day we went on the Discovery Riverboat Tour which I would highly recommend if you ever get to Alaska.  It is out of Fairbanks and it is very well organized.   It is not just a Boat ride.  They give you a very entertaining tour.  It first starts with a float plane taking off & landing beside the boat.

 

Some more pictures of the tour.  This tour is very informative of the Alaskan heritage.  They took us out to a village and in each section explained how they make & do things.  VERY INFORMATIVE, highly recommended.

 

 

 

Next we went to the North Pole.   Not the real North Pole just the town of the North Pole.  Still it was a nice place.  Not as big a store like Frankenmuth but still a nice store.

 

 

 

 

And couldn't leave town with finding a geocache !  Mosquitoes were out there too !  Mosquitoes are everywhere up here......

 

 

We did a Gold Dredge 8 tour.  We had fun but I would not recommend this tour.  They do explain a lot of how they mined for gold & we do get to pan for gold.  They guarantee you will find gold but they do not buy it back.  You can keep the flakes or you can BUY apiece of jewelry and put your flakes in it. 

 

 

                                               The look of despair***It is very hard to pan
                                                                            for Gold !!

 

Today we did Denali.  We went back into the park 66 miles.  Denali National Park has 6 million miles.  We only saw 1 moose off in the distance, and about 6 caribou.  Lots of pretty mountains.  The most important mountain that everyone hopes to see is Mt. McKinley but not everyone does.  It was unfortunate we did not see it either.  It was very overcast today and the clouds engulfed  many of the mountains.  Here are a few pics of the day.

 

This is how hazy the day was

                                                

 

 

Oh yes & one more Cache for the day.   It was cold !

 

 

 

 

Until next time

Kent & Martha

 

P.S.  send us some warm weather !

 

 

  

 

 

END OF THE HIGHWAY IN DELTA JUNCTION

We traveled the Alaskan Highway which began in Dawson Creek, British Columbia and it ends in Delta Junction, Alaska.  Mileage of 1,422 miles.  You would not believe the amount of people who are up here doing the highway.  It is on many peoples' bucket lists to travel the highway from start to finish.  My husband decided in planning this trip that we were also going to travel the "Top of the world highway."  Guess I should have done some research as to what this highway was all about.  All I can say is it is a ONCE in a lifetime experience.  I sure have my opinion, but Kent calls it an adventure !!  Whatever !!



                                We are at the starting point sign in Dawson Creek on July 2, 2013

 

 

 

We arrived in Alaska July 8

 

 

This was us today July 10 getting to the end of the Alaska Highway adventure at Delta Junction, Alaska.    We have been in no hurry to complete it.  Just doing it was the objective.  We have seen countless people on bicycles even, going up & down the hills.  Now that for sure takes endurance.  Campers, campers & more campers of all shapes & sizes and motorcycles of all kinds.  I guess I never thought about it as a must do challenge, but it was fun (most of the time) a bit boring at other times.  We saw all kinds of terrain & met all kinds of people.  Would I do it again, probably not, but I think that is what most people would say, so yes, once was enough for that portion, so now we

will move on to the next phase of our travels up North & out West.

 

The Alaskan Highway which was constructed during WWII for a military supply route of 1,422 miles was completed in 7 months by 15,000 workers,77 contractors, some starting at Dawson Creek, with others starting at Delta Junction.  The road is pretty much chip & sealed now but originally it was all dirt & gravel.  We saw a video on the conditions they endured & it was true torture for them for sure.

 

 

We have only seen one mishap along the way.  This would not have been a good day for someone.  We do not know how this happened but Kent thinks they lost control coming down the hill, and the truck is over the guardrail only being kept from going clear down the mountain by being hooked to the trailer.  Sure hope everyone was ok.

 

 

 

We stopped at the Liard River Hotsprings & we did get in the water.  It comes out of the ground at 127 degrees constant.  It was so hot it was uncomfortable.  We stayed in for about 20 minutes and then we got out.  Kent doesn't like a HOT hot tub, was surprised he stayed in even that long.

 

 

 

 

 

Before we left Dawson City we went to visit a dredge where they had mined for gold.  The last day of operation for this dredge was November 1, 1959.    We took the tour which was fascinating how they mined for gold, but I cannot even begin to explain how the operation worked.  The equipment was huge.  Here are just a few pictures that just do not bring out what it really looked like.

 

The dredge machine outside and a couple inside pictures 

 

This is one of the many buckets that was used to dig up the gravel to dump in the workings of the machine.

 

This is just a pile of what they call tailings that is disguarded out of the dredge machine.  To this day they still find gold when the tailings are resifted.  People buy the rights to a section of tailings to set up mining equipment and go through it again.  No one gets rich but some gold is found.

This was a nugget that was found worth $4000.  If only I could have kept it !

 

 

From here we went back into Dawson City to take a ferry across the river.

 

 

Now we had to take this ferry so we could continue our route on the Top of the world highway....

OH MY GOSH !!  Here is what we drove on for 140 miles at about 40 to 45 mph.  Certainly not what I was expecting.  Like I said I should have done my research !!  Next time believe me I will.

 

 

 

 

Not a constant stream of traffic, Ha Ha  so I got out & took some pictures

 

 

This is what your vehicle looks like after an encounter like this but we didn't look as bad as some vehicles.

 

 

The fun part of the highway was making a stop in Chicken, Alaska

There are only 3 stores in downtown Chicken.

                 There are no flush toilets only outhouses that they call the" chicken poop"
                                                        which is the picture below

We ate at this café and it was out of this world. 

                       We split this halibut sandwich & home fries.  All the desserts are homemade.  The
                        halibut was local.   YUM  YUM  YUM

 

 

 

We even tried our luck panning for gold.  No Luck

It was free so we couldn't not try!!

 

 

 

 

Terry...Kent thought maybe you would be interested in this.

 

OH  today when we were coming into Delta Junction Kent saw a moose on the side of the road up ahead of us.  We got some pretty good pictures before he retreated back to the woods.  It has been 4 days since we saw wildlife & it's exciting everytime.

 

 

 

We are 4 hours behind Indiana time so at the time of this writing it would be 4:30 back home.  I guess I better say goodnight but I have to take advantage of wifi when I can get it.  It so happens we are staying in a campground that has unlimited wifi not just 2 hours so I want to get our travels up to date.  I was hurried the last posting that I did not get everything in.

 

 

 

Until Next time,

Kent & Martha