Saturday July 4th - A Day to Remember!

Up early, we were at the downtown Alaska Rail station by 9:15am, to catch the “Coastal Express” train to Whittier. Our seats were book in the upper level of the special double decker rail car that gave us a perfect view of the mountains and the sea as we rode through the morning. The tunnel into Whittier is 2.6 miles long and can only allow either the train one way, or auto traffic one way. They each take turns on a specific schedule and pray that they never meet J . Once in Whittier , we exited the train and walked across the road to the harbor. Within a few minutes, we boarded our boat for the afternoon trip into Prince William Sound. It was, as our Captain said, a “brochure “day. It was picture perfect calm seas, warm sun and crystal blue skies. As we made our way out of port we were given a brief history of the area by our on-board Chugach national ranger. And then we were given an all-you-can-eat prime rib and silver salmon lunch. By the time we cleaned out plates, we had already seen bald eagles and a “raft” of otters. Out on the top deck we could hear the cracking and popping of the glaciers and could feel the spray from the pristine waterfalls. We watched the harbor seals play and dive at the base, as the glaciers calved.
We rode the train back with new friends, & found a train car that was completely empty to claim as our own! A perfect day for the fourth of July.

Thursday & Friday July 2&3 - Anchorage!

We headed south from Wasilla to Anchorage. After settling into the “big city” we headed to the Earthquake monument – the largest earthquake to hit North America, 9.2 on the Richter scale, devastated Anchorage on Good Friday of 1964. We all decided we could live with hurricanes better than earthquakes…

Down town was a fun time to walk around and see the sites, the venders selling reindeer sausage …“Gross”- Becca… play with more husky puppies ( great advertising for more dog sled shows) and take our girls in to “pet” the beautiful fur coats of all shapes and styles at David Greene’s furrier shop (Florida born and raised it was a new experience for them!). Anchorage, Surrounded by cook’s inlet and the strange bore tides (they actually surf them as they roar in!), and dangerous mudflats of Turnagain Arm, is a neat blend of ancient culture, rugged frontier, and modern amenities. Chugach National Park and the Chugach Mountains right outside Anchorage provided a beautiful dive and a nice hike to Thunderbird Falls. The weather cooperated nicely, and we finished the day with a wonderful Alaskan salmon and halibut dinner.

July 1st - what to do in Wasilla on a slow day, or "the Rest of the Story!"

Following is from David regarding our activities on Wednesday July 1st and the national & political ramifications of those activities!

Well, no doubt you've all heard about Sarah Palin resigning, but the real story has not been told until now. It's amazing what you can find on the internet. Super cyber sleuth quinn was able to find out where the Palin’s lived on our recent trip to the booming metropolis of Wasilla, Alaska. There is absolutely nothing interesting to do in Wasilla, Ak except to look up where the Palins live & try to get your picture taken in their front yard. Well, since their driveway had "private" signs posted all over it, we decided the front yard might not be too wise. So we were able to come in from the side & set up our little tripod & get this picture from across the fence with their house in the background. Now little did we know that Sarah had made a solemn promise to her family that if one more group of tourist gets their picture taken with our house in it, then I'm resigning. Well, true to her word, within 48 hours of this picture being taken, she did in fact resign as governor of Ak. Now you have the "rest of the story"! Sound like something right out of a Seinfeld episode doesn't it? - - David

p.s. We're thinking of making this our Christmas card & maybe sending one to the Palin’s

july 31st, the Quinn-ditarod, Mush you Huskies!

Wasilla is the Official headquarters for the Iditarod dog sled race that runs over 1100 miles in 9 days. Dream a Dream Dog kennels is between Willow and Wasilla. It is a working sled dog farm with 49 dogs in training. (they have 80 during the winter!) After recommendations from the locals we booked the 3pm “private tour.” By the time we left at 6pm, we felt like pro’s and a bit like family! The education started with a film tracking the owner and the dogs on the 2002 Iditarod race, with a long Q&A session about everything from how do you and the dogs eat on the trail to each of the layers of clothing required to survive the extreme temperatures. It is a grueling experience, only for the dedicated and slightly insane! I guess those long Alaska nights give you ample opportunity to be both by March when the race is traditionally run.

We were then taken out to the surprisingly neat & orderly yard where all the dogs are. We had a chance to play with three new 10 week old pups as we participated in their training – a hike through the woods ! They bounded and raced up and down the trails and in and out of the creeks while we laughed, and swatted enormous mosquitoes! Back at the yard Misha, the kennel master, taught Suzie and Rebecca how to harness the dogs (see the movie posted) and the three of them managed to get the team of 16 hooked up to the ATV – 4 wheeler. We rode in the back as the dogs did what they love to do - run! Working the dogs in the summer is important, but tricky. The dogs love to run so much, that they do not know when to stop and will easily overheat. We stopped and gave them a water break- with the girls dipping out bowls for each dog. We all thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, and learned so much from the experience - you know Suzie was in heaven!

Willow, Ak…Sunshine, alpacas and bunnies everywhere!

About 30 miles north of Wasilla is a little spot on Willow Creek that is enchanted.
They say that “when the cottonwood trees blow, the ‘king’ start running.” As we pulled into Willow RV resort, it looked like a summer snow flurry with all the cottonwood fluff floating on the breeze. Apparently the King Salmon should be headed up Willow creek any day. While we haven’t seen any of the salmon, the yard was full of …bunnies! Every size and color just hanging out, munching on the beautiful soft green lawn in front of the stone and wooden lodge. After talking with the owners, we discovered the bunnies had come from an original pair about 12 years ago, there had been as many as 80 at one time, but now there were around 40 to 50 of them with free range of the RV park. As an added bonus, the pen in the back had three alpacas and a mama goat. The front porch hosted “Baxter” the bulldog, and a sweet-natured cat that were regulars. Needless, to say the girls loved it.

June 29th - What not to wear!

Souvenir shopping and some really good halibut tacos and wings in Denali village rounded out our days in the interior. David continued his tour of what (Not) to wear on your head. The addition of the Moose hat just seemed a natural fit! As a testament to what tourist will buy, there are all kinds of things made out of dried moose dropping up here-everything from "Mooseltoe" to hang at Christmas, to painted moose dropping made into earrings...hilarious!

We tried in vain to see McKinley at the southern view point, but still no luck. We have however, seen sunshine for the first time in a week.

June 28th - Into Denali

Restricted access to the park compels the Denali visitor to hop aboard one of the famous tan & green shuttle busses. Saturday we took the Tundra Wilderness tour, but never saw the “Great One” due to the clouds and rain. They say Denali is so big it makes its own weather. We believe it! The caribou and coyotes were out, but not the tops of the mountains. The 2 mile hike back to our car was windy and cold as the temps dropped to 46 deg. This effectively killed any chance I had to get the family excited about a hike on Sunday …although I have to say the guys rafting down the Nenana River looked a lot colder than we were!

Quote of the Day: (after hour and a half of Tundra Wilderness tour on the bus) "Rocks and trees, rocks and trees, is this all there is?" Yes, Suzie this is it.

June 26th - Into the Interior

Leaving Fairbanks and most of civilization behind, we headed to the “Interior”. This area of Alaska is known for Denali National park, the Home of Denali or Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in the northern hemisphere at 20,320 ft. The Drive south on Parks Hwy took us further and further into the tundra wilderness of the Alaskan Mountain range. The cold and rain seemed to emanate from the mountains themselves; we felt like we experienced a bit of true Alaskan weather. No, you can't see the tops of the mountains in this picture. Those are clouds...

June 25th - The Pipeline

We checked out the Alaskan Pipe line, and have learned quite a bit about the difficulties of engineering roads and pipelines over the permafrost of the tundra an arctic. The oil coming out of the earth is so warm (183 degree F) it can actually melt the permafrost ground the pipeline travels over, creating all kinds of issues.

Ask David about the pipeline "boots, and pigs and radiators." He found all this fascinating, the girls a little less so. But hey, it was a good occasion to wear their new boots and sweaters!

June 24th - Winter in Alaska?...No thanks!

The University of Alaska at Fairbanks has a wonderful Museum that was a great place to spend a rainy, cold afternoon. It provides an excellent introduction to so much of Alaska’s natural resources, cultural history, and wildlife. The movie on the Alaskan winters, how people and animals cope with the extremes in temperature and darkness was mind boggling. Most Alaskan’s consider the weather “not so bad” until it gets to 30 deg below 0 – then it’s a “bit cold.” In Fairbanks by December, there are only a 3-5 hours of daylight. You have to be very creative with your activities… moonlight cross country skiing, anyone!?! The Northern lights, the native cultures and customs, and the unique flora and fauna is all so different for us lower 48 inhabitants, especially our Florida born girls, it helped to get a good feel for it all. Look closely, the girls are standing next to a 9 ft stuffed grizzly bear...there are a lot of bears up here! We have seen two form the road.

David had some work to catch up on, and the girls and I spent an afternoon shopping for boots and sweaters, stocking up on books and sipping coffee at the local Barnes and Nobles.

June 23rd - Fairbanks, finally...and Santa Claus!

We finally arrived in Fairbanks to cold and rain. It took a couple of days just to recover from the trip across the Yukon. Our entire motor home and truck were covered in mud, dirt and gravel from the rough dirt roads of Northern Canada; the cleaning and washing was epic. We were not the only travelers cleaning up – there was a line at the campground RV wash station everyday!

Our first stop in Alaska was actually 12 miles east of Fairbanks at the North Pole! Yes, Rebecca was thrilled. Everything was Christmas and Santa! There were real reindeer living at our campground,aptly named "Santaland" and a 40 ft. tall Santa statue –so big we could get it in the picture!