Alaska Trip - May 2022 Part 2

 After having lunch in Fairbanks we continued on to Gold Dredge 8 to pan for gold and to see part of the Alaskan pipeline

Riding the train to the site to pan for gold.  We received a lot on instruction on the train on how to hold and to rotate the pan to separate the gold pieces from the dirt.

Panning for gold.  It take a bit of practice but I was able to get $9 worth of gold specs and Jim panned out about $15.  We took the gold home in a small plastic container.

Getting the gold weighed.

 

The staff at the gold panning facility waving goodbye to the group

  

Here are some photos of the pipeline.  

We arrived at the hotel in Fairbanks in the late afternoon.  We had the rest of the day to explore the city.  Both Jim and I were tired and had dinner at the hotel and passed on visiting this city.  Hopefully we didn't miss too much.

The next morning we were back on the bus and headed to the Fairbanks airport where there was a charter plane waiting to take the group to Dawson which is a city in the Yukon area of Canada.  Unfortunately it took us a lot longer to get off the ground due to equipment ( computers not working at the ticket counter) so the flight staff had to check us in....one at a time.  It didn't matter, though, because as we learned chartered planes are not subject to the on time departure times that commercial airlines are subject to when departing an airport.

We eventually arrived in Dawson and were transported by bus to the hotel.  We would be here for the next two nights.  We were supposed to travel down the river surrounding Dawson via paddleboat ( the Klondike Spirit) but the river was frozen and the paddleboat tour was canceled.  We had some lunch and decided to go to the show at Diamond Tooth Gerties.  Below are some photos of the show.

The show was good and the place reminded us of a saloon that you would see in a wild west town. 

None of the streets in Dawson were paved and it really had the feel of a town from the Wild West.  Other than a few restaurants, a visitor's center and a small downtown area there was not much more to this town.....except for the ice cream shop the tour director recommended.  Of course we had to try it out.  It was good but not as good as we expected.

 There was not much to do since the paddleboat (the Klondike Spirit) tour was canceled so we decided to walk around town and see what was there.  Some of the businesses were closed and had not opened for the season.  I think we were a week too early.   There was a tour later that evening that took you up to a viewing area at the top of the mountain but we missed the signup and decided to relax that evening.  I was not feeling that well so a good night of sleep was what I needed.  Jim picked up some dinner and we ate in the room.

The next morning we headed towards our final destination of Skagway.....on the bus of course.  It was going to be a long bus ride so there were six stops to break up the trip.  The stop for the night was in Whitehorse and was a quick overnight before continuing our trip to Skagway.  Here are some photos of  the six stops on our way to Whitehorse.

Emerald Lake

Another view of Emerald Lake

We continued on our way.  The next stop was something we did not expect.  It was a sandy beach in the middle of nowhere! 

We stopped for lunch in a place only known by the touring companies.  It was a good lunch and it gave us a chance to stretch our legs.

 

 

 

The bus continued on to Whitehorse where we spent the night.  I was still not feeling well so we had dinner at the hotel and turned in early.  The hotel was the only hotel that was not a Westmark Hotel 

(owned by Holland America)   The Westmark was being renovated so we stayed in a Best Western called the Best Western Goldrush. 

The next morning we left Whitehorse and headed towards Skagway.  We stopped at a shopping village and were able to get a coffee and visit some shops before boarding the bus towards the border of Canada and entering into the US.  Here are some photos of the sites from the bus on our way to the US border.

This photo shows where there was a landslide earlier in the year.

Leaving the Yukon...and Canada

 

The border patrol held us up after they made us get off the bus and show our passports....all 48 of us.  As we waited for clearance to cross the border the officer requested the tour director to collect the passports.....again....because they only counted 45 passports.  That cost us in total about an hour at the border.  These agents need to learn how to count.

As we crossed the border we stopped for a photo opportunity.  The sign said Welcome to Alaska....and the US.  Yahoo.

We continued on to Skagway to our hotel.  The first thing we had to do after we were dropped off was to go upstairs to be tested for Covid before boarding the cruise a day or two later.  Skagway was cute and another tourist town.  There was a train ride...the Summit Train excursion...that we would be boarding the next morning.  Jim and I were tested and headed out to a brewery for lunch.  I checked my email within an hour of being tested and was informed that I tested positive for Covid.  Jim tested negative but that ended the trip...for both of us .  I did call my doctor in Florida but she was unable to help other than to schedule a telehealth visit when I returned.  We never did board the train the next morning nor the ship that would be cruising through Glacier Bay National Park and the inside passage and end in Vancouver.  It was a blessing, though, that I found out before being allowed to board the ship heading into Canada.  In the US we only had to quarantine for 5 days but in Canada it would be 10 days.  

 

There was no clinic or hospital or doctor that I could visit to get help in Skagway so we decided it was best to get home and get to the walk in clinic that was open on Sunday...the day we arrived back home to see if I could get some help there  We called the travel agent and were able to be re-booked out of Skagway to Juneau early Saturday morning on a turbo prop that seated 3 people besides the pilot.   We quarantined in the hotel until we left on Saturday.  The hotel, owned by Holland America, fed us and provided the room until we left.  The hotel shuttled us to the small airport and the driver told us that all workers in Skagway were covered by their employer with Medivac insurance.  It would cost $80,000+  to be Medivac'd to Anchorage for medical help!!

 

Here are some photos from the prop plane ride.

 

This was our plane

 

 

 

 Dave, our pilot. 

 

 

I have to admit the view from the prop plane was awesome and Jim and I enjoyed the scenery.  We waited in Juneau for our next flight to Seattle and then overnight to Minneapolis and our final destination to Ft. Myers.  I had KN95 masks, masked up and stayed away from others as much as I could until I arrived home the next day.  Our luggage missed the transfer from Alaska Air to Delta but Jim went back to the airport the next day when it arrived.  It was not a big deal since we were home and had all the supplies and clothes we needed...except medicine for Covid.

Once we arrived home I immediately drove myself to the walk in clinic and was told that I had missed the date for monoclonal antibodies as well as the Covid pill.    The doctor said to go home, take Mucinex D ( which I ordered and had delivered from Amazon the next day)  and recover for the next two weeks or until I tested negative.  I was pretty sick and slept most of the week without any contact from anyone except Jim (my wonderful boyfriend) who made sure I had food in the house and checked on me to make sure I was ok.  My neighbor and good friend, Angela, a Jersey girl, left food at my front door as well. Thank goodness for great neighbors!  Funny.... in all the time I spent with Jim....he never tested positive!  

 

I finally tested negative the following Sunday. It wasn't the end to the trip that we had expected but I was never so glad to be in my own bed recovering.  Maybe the cruise through Glacier Bay National and the inside passage will be in my future but for now.....no more traveling for a while.

 

 

 

Alaska Trip - May 2022

 June 1, 2022

 

This year Jim and I decided to travel to Alaska to see the state as well as Denali National Park as well as other areas of Alaska and the Canadian Yukon.  It was a bit early to visit Alaska so it was cold and there was still snow on the ground.....especially in Denali. It had snowed at least two feet or more the week before we arrived!

 

A view from our plane before landing

 

We arrived in Anchorage on May 18th for the start of our land tour/cruise with Holland America. We headed out for a quick bite to eat.  The recommendation for dinner was 49th Street Brewery.

As we walked back to our hotel I was able to get a photo of this box below.  It was after 9 PM and still light!  Any guess what this item represents??

 

Ok....time is up.   It's a mailbox!

There were 48 eager faces on the bus when we loaded the bus early the next morning.  It was a short bus ride as we were being transferred to the McKinley Explorer train for our day long journey to Denali National Park. 

As you can see from the first photo the state of Alaska helps to fund this sightseeing train.  It has a domed top for a full view of all the scenery.  This is also a dining train complete with a full bar upstairs and a separate dining area below.  Lunch was included with the train ride and the food was extremely good for a dining train.  The bartender on the upper level was also very attentive and worked hard to keep all the riders hydrated with drinks/coffee.  

 

Here are some photos from the train on our way to Denali National Park.

 

The train stopped at the town of Talkeetna where the Princess cruise  passengers got off and boarded a bus.  This is the town where the climbers eager to summit  Mt. McKinley start their journey. As you can see from the photo it was still cold in Alaska.  It had snowed over two feet the week in Denali National Park before our trip even started!

We arrived in Denali in the late afternoon and were transferred to the hotel via bus.  I had to take a photo of our train engineer and conductor.

 

The lodge at Denali was rustic and very comfortable.  The main lobby was separate from the lodging area so in order to get to the main desk it was a hike uphill.  It felt good after sitting for such a long time on the plane and the train.  

We had dinner at a pizza restaurant across the street from the lodge.  Food was good and it turns out that we met a bartender/server from Trenton, NJ.  When we struck up a conversation with her we found out that she was from Mercerville, NJ which is close to where I use to live in Lawrenceville.  I asked if the pizza was as thin as the tomato pie that DeLorenzo's serves. ( DeLorenzo serves the best tomato pie...not pizza that I have ever tasted )   Small world.

The next day Jim and I had signed up for a tour to meet the Iditarod dogs who are the sled dogs of Alaska.  The human controlling the sled is the musher and the master.  Here are some photos from our visit.

This dog didn't have a name but the helper who gave me him to hold said that his name was probably going to be Chalk....for the white stripe down his nose.  He was such a cutie that I really wanted to put him under my coat and take him home!

 

Another close up of Chalk.

 

 

 

The phot above shows the adult iditarod pack who were waiting their turn to be selected to go on a run with the musher during our visit.  They were very excited and were running around in the fenced area hoping to be selected.

All the puppies needed a nap during our visit.  They were tired from all the attention!

Here is the mom.  She has to be separated from all the other males....for obvious reasons....more puppies!  She gets the best accommodations especially in the winter.  There is a heated house where she sleeps in the winter months.

We had the rest of the day to ourselves so we took a shuttle bus to the visitor center in hopes of getting a small hike in before dinner.  Unfortunately the trails were still snowy and slippery and it was not recommended to hike so we passed and instead looked around the visitor center before heading back to the lodge. That evening we ate at the King Salmon restaurant at the Princess lodge which was fine dining compared to the meals ( and better than the restaurant at our lodge)  than  we had the past few days.  It was a great meal and worth every penny!

The next morning the group met in the lobby and boarded a school bus that would take us through the first 42 miles of the park.  The rest of the park was inaccessible due to a bridge being destroyed because of flooding due to snow melt.   This bus trip was one of the best of the entire trip.  We were able to see a wolverine,  (unfortunately I was not able to get a photo of it as it was running across the snow and up the mountain so fast) a moose,dall sheep, a ptarmagin ( local bird) , caribou and yes.....a grizzly bear.    ( we saw it from a distance and in the safety of being inside the bus )  Below are some photos that I was able to take to capture of the wildlife.

Look for the caribou in this photo.  You can see two of them in the upper right portion of the photo.

I was able to take some photos of the landscape of Denali National Park.  It was certainly beautiful but still very snowy.  We were able to see the top of Mt. McKinley many times as the day was crystal clear.  We were lucky as fog often covers the top of the mountain!

Here are some more photos of wildlife

Dall sheep 

A screen shot ( the bus camera)  showing a dall sheep close up

If you look at top of the mountain a little towards the left you can see a grizzly bear.

The screen shows the grizzly bear close up.  The bus came equipped with a camera that could capture wildlife....or anything for that matter...closeup.  

A group of caribou

 

Ptarmigan

 

We had dinner at the same pizza restaurant across the street for our last night in Denali.  We were leaving for Fairbanks the next morning (Sunday) but we certainly saw a lot of wildlife and many views of the peak on Mt. McKinley both in Denali National Park as well as on our bus trip headed towards Fairbanks.

 Here is a link for Denali National Park if you want more information and may be considering a visit there in the future.

Denali National Park

 

The bus ride gave us the opportunity to see more scenery and mountains.  We passed by the road made famous by Chris McCandless....the guy who lived off the grid in Denali and eventually perished.  There is a book called Into the Wild by Jon Krakuer who tells the story of Chris.  I have read it and it a worthwhile read.

We stopped in the town of Fairbanks for lunch ( there were only three or four choices for restaurants ) before heading to the hotel.  Jim and I ate at The Crepery.  It was delicious.  It felt good to get off the bus and stretch our legs too.  

 Once back on the bus we continued on to the downtown part of Fairbanks where we would be staying in a hotel overnight before boarding a chartered plane to the town of Dawson in the Yukon.

 This ends Part 1 of the blog on the trip to Alaska.  There will be at least one or two additional parts to this blog coming your way soon.  Stay tuned.....