We eat dinner at Alaska Salmon Bake at Pioneer Village. It was a tourist trap but one worth visiting. You could tell that they have years of experience in feeding hundreds of visitors on a daily basis. It featured all-you-can-eat salmon, prime rib, and crab legs. The meats were excellent but the sides could have been better.
We went down and up the Chena River on the Discovery III paddleboat steamer. This company has been doing this tour since the 1950's using Discovery and Discovery II before the present boat. A nice lunch was enjoyed on shore with excellent beef stew and cheese ale soup. The boat went downstream and meet up with a Piper cub seaplane that took off and landed for our enjoyment. The history of the surrounding area was explained. One stream on the north side of the river was perhaps the source of more gold than any other body of water during the late 1890's. It is said to have produced billions of dollars worth of gold (2009 dollar value). The stream was about 10 feet wide where it met the Chena River. Sorry - no picture since homes now cover the shoreline.
Further downstream we docked at a recreation of a Athabascan Indian village. The narrators were a 19 year old Indian girl and a 18 year old girl that hailed from an Eskimo village up by Nome, AK. Both of these gals seemed to be thoroughly enjoying their summer jobs. One had plans to attend the local university and the other was going to a college in Durango, CO. They told us about survival in the harsh environments that their people experience on a daily basis. This included the making of native clothing and coats, the construction of homes (both permanent and when on hunting trips), and the preparation of food. Their emphasis was two-fold, 1) nothing is wasted and 2) no one is a slacker. Novel idea (editorial comment).
We stopped at the former residence of Susan Butcher. She won the Iditarod FOUR times. She started out as a person with no special skills but went to live in the back country and observed how to raise the right dogs and how to "mush" with them. Her lead dog Granite was a four time champion as well and there's a good book written by Susan entitled "Granite". The crew at the house gave a sled dog demonstration as we stood at the rail of the boat. When being put into their harness, the dogs were absolutely going berserk (wanting to take off).
We left Fairbanks with the intention of driving to Valdez in one day. Didn't happen. The road conditions and especially the beauty of the landscape made that impossible. Look at the pictures. All I can say is "This is what we were hoping to see". We thought Canada and eastern Alaska were nice. Well let me tell you, this trip from Delta Junction to Valdez is a "must do" on your bucket list of things you'd like to see. One more thing. Our photos do not do justice to the things that we have seen. (We need our 13 year old granddaughter, Grace, and her camera to teach us a few things) We followed the Alaska (Alyeskan) pipeline for most of the trip. We plan on staying in Valdez for at least 3 nights.
We had dinner at the Alaska Salmon Bake ... interesting entrance
Open air dining at picnic tables at all you can eat Alaska Salmon Bake
University of Alaska - Museum of the North
Bear posing with Steve
Native apparel
Beaded apparel
Deluxe Outhouse - Great Alaskan Outhouse Experience
Caribou antlers
Santa Claus House at North Pole, AK
Santa Claus House
Riverboat Discovery III - Paddlewheel/Steamboat
Bush pilot demo on Riverboat Discovery cruise on the Chena River - Fairbanks
Bush pilot demo next to the Riverboat
Home and dog kennels of the late Susan Butcher - 4 time Iditarod champion - along the Chena River
Dogs ready to demo their mushing ability - they are excited!
Dogs continuing their run with 4 wheeler sled - look closely beyond the pond and kennel
Fishwheel used by natives - automatically scoops fish from river & drops them in a basket
"Reindeer" are domesticated caribou
Approaching dock of Athabascan Indian village
Filleting and scoring chub salmon to be smoked and used for dog food
"Bear proofing" the food put into the shelter - also animal pelts hanging
Typical Indian cabin - circa 80 years ago
Temporary shelters for Indians when they hunted
Modeling a hand made Indian parka
Moose in pond
Beautiful Alaska Mountain range in the haze
Alaskan Pipeline - covers 800 miles in Alaska - oil gets transferred to 52 tankers/month in Valdez
Tallest peaks of the Alaska Range - Mt. Hayes (13,832), Hess Mtn (11,940), Mt. Deborah (12,339)
Mountain with glacier north of Valdez
Mountain range north of Valdez
Worthington Glacier
Worthington Glacier
Thompson Pass - the poles along the road guide the snow plow drivers
Snow and ice melting beside the road at 2,678 feet near Thompson Pass
City limits 22 miles from town - creative taxing zone
Bridal Veil Falls
Bridal Veil Falls video
Horsetail Falls across the road from Bridal Veil Falls
Horsetail Falls video
My husband and I spent six weeks in alaska, in our pickup camper, about fifteen years ago. We had always wanted to go there so spent much time hugging and reminding each other that it was REAL! I lost my husband do
ReplyDeleteght years ago, after 48 years, and my memories of Alaska are among the brightest. Thank you for some breathtaking memories!