It was up and out, go go go, when we awoke the next morning. The sun was out and the skies were clear and the Alaska range could be seen off in the distance. Scott shuffled us all into the van and tore off down the highway forgetting in the excitement to even let us grab a bite to eat. But he had his reasons, if the mountains were out we needed to get to them before the clouds beat us to it. So off we went barreling down the highway with spectacular views all around and Scott continually telling us, "we gotta keep going it keeps getting better..." And he was right, It did...
Early in the ride we caught our first glimpse of the mountains with plumes of dust rising from the braided rivers below
We stopped to look for a heard of bison but all we saw were beautiful views
Glamour shot for Ford
Just some more mountains rolling along down the highway
The pipeline winding it's way through the tundra
Rainbow Ridge which get's it's name from the many colors of rock streaming down the sides of the mountain.
More beautiful views with a glacier thrown in
Jess modeling with some purple flowers and mountains
The big mountains finally starting to come into view
Aren't we cute?
The Wrangells and St Elias
The crew in front of the Wrangells
Worthington Glacier
I wonder if this water is cold....
Or tasty...
Not a bad view if you turn around either
Everyone looks so small bellow all that ice
Jess was very adament about getting purple flower and mountain pictures, here's one for your enjoyment
And an artsy-fartsy one too
Then through Thompson Pass and down to Valdez. If you look close you can see the road disappearing through the mountains way down there
Valdez has purple flowers too
We made it
We lucked out with such perfect weather on this drive. Not a single cloud got in our way nor did the fog roll in when we made our way into Valdez. The views we saw on this day alone were more than many get to see in a whole trip and the trip was just beginning. There was so much more beauty and excitement yet to come.
We hit the ground running when we arrived in Fairbanks and for the next 9 days never slowed down. We checked into the dorms at the University of Alaska Fairbanks around 1:00 am on 8/1 in a feigned darkness that is all too common during the summer months in Fairbanks. We fought off the impending daylight and tried to grab a few winks of sleep before we started our first fun packed day in a few hours. With a few short hours of sun soaked sleep behind us, we embarked on the first day of our journey with our fearless leader Scott Jordan at the helm. First stop was Fred Meyers for some breakfast and supplies; Fred's is kinda like a Super Walmart with better prepared food, more like a "Super Wegmans" I guess, either way after some serious confusion amongst the group we did manage to find something to eat and get underway.
First stop was the University of Alaska Fairbanks Large Animal Research Station. Here UAF students and faculty take care of and study herds of muskox and caribou. We took a short but informative tour of the facility and got to see the muskox and caribou up close.
This female muskox knew that tour time was feeding time and came running when our tour guide showed up
here she is begging for more
This caribou knew the gig too
while these two stayed out back bellied up to the bar
Next stop was the Alaska Fur store where we spent some time browsing all the incredible firs they had for sale and picked up some fabric to make curtains for our camper
Jess checking out the selection of mink firs
Look at the paws on that fox
And a beautiful top shelf wolf fir
And of course a bear on the wall.. there seems to be lots of these in AK
After the fir store we grabbed a quick lunch at Fred's and headed for the Riverboat Discovery. The riverboat is a 3 hour tour down the Chena river on a reproduction of the stern wheelers that were used for years to move freight around the shallow braided rivers of Alaska. We got there early to be the first in line and made a mad dash for the front row top deck seats to get the best viewing opportunities on the tour. Along the tour we saw a demonstration of the float planes commonly used for travel around the Alaskan interior, enjoyed a dog sled demonstration at Trailbreaker Kennels (Susan Butchers kennel), and learned some about the native Athabaskan people at the Chena Indian Village. We also got a chance to enjoy some blueberry donuts and smoked salmon dip while traveling up and down the river.
Discovery III the stern wheeler that took us on our tour
Float plane taking off next to the boat
Puppies being trained at Trailbreaker
A dog team hooked up to an atv and getting ready to run
And they're off... (click to watch video)
The Chena Village fishing camp
Looking down the Chena River toward it's confluence with the Tananaw
Jess looking for some snow
One of the dogs from Trailbreaker Kennels
After the riverboat tour we took some time to get our fishing equipment ready for the trip to Valdez the next day then headed off to the Alaskan Salmon Bake for an all you can eat seafood feast. Lucky for us we hit it on snow crab night and enjoyed a meal of roast beef, grilled silver salmon, fried cod, and snow crab legs. The food was fantastic and we all ate more than our fill. Jess winning the night with a grand total of 3 full return trip plates to the buffet (this record is still up for debate but at the dinner table she was crowned the winner).
Doesn't it look tasty?
So with one fun filled day behind us we headed back to the dorms ready for some much needed shut eye so we could be up early and ready to enjoy the beautiful drive to Valdez the next morning.
On July 30th we took our last trips to the
storage unit, loaded everything else in the car and camper, and left our house in
Alden. As with all goodbyes it was
bitter sweet. Our place in Alden was our
first home as a married couple and many good memories were made there. It was such a cute little house and a nice
setting but it also had many quirks like how it particularly excelled at growing mildew.
So with sad, happy, scared, and excited hearts we waved
goodbye and turned the page in the story of our lives.
We spent the following day at the Dzara household finishing
up all our last minute packing for Alaska and continuing to try and get all of
our ducks in a row. That evening Bob
was kind enough to take Jess, Maria, and I to the airport where we met up with Scott and Mo to
embark on our Alaskan Adventure. Alaska
was such a wonderful, jam packed, and fun adventure that it’s just way too much
for one post. So in the interest of
keeping my sanity and yours I’ve decided to split it up into several different
posts that I’ll be posting up in the next few days. We’ll see what actually comes out when I
start typing them out but I think I’m going to do one on Fairbanks and touristy
activities, one on fishing and Valdez, and one reserved just for the amazing
scenery and wildlife of Denali. I’ll try
my best to post lots of pictures and keep my blabbering to a minimum. So sit back, relax, and enjoy (uh whenever it
is that I get to posting Alaska content that is, so maybe you shouldn't get too
comfortable or relaxed, you might be there for a day or two).
