Text 11211, 97 rader
Skriven 2008-07-28 02:33:10 av Dale Shipp (1:261/1466.0)
Ärende: Alaska Trip Report 6
============================
Friday, 20 June.

We were in Beaver Creek, the most westerly town in the Yukon (and in
Canada?), 301 miles from anywhere!   Today we left for Fairbanks Alaska,
which would be the most northern part of our trip.

Lunch was at a restaurant - buy on your own.  We had a Buffalo Burger
(VG) but tasted like hamburger and a Reindeer Sausage (VG) that tasted
like a hot dog.

One of the rest stops on the way to Fairbanks was a town called North
Pole, Alaska.  We stopped at a Christmas / gift shop there.  The Cooking
echo used to have a guy (Al Rice) who posted from there, but he was no
longer in their phone book.

Headed towards Fairbanks.  Nice hotel - another Wesmark (a chain owned
by Holland America and Greyline). Dinner was on our own - we walked over
to a local restaurant for light dinner. Hamburger - ok, and  Ruben -
also OK.

Some people went downtown where they were having a festival to celebrate
summer solstice day.  Even though the sun officially set for a couple of
hours, you could not distinguish the light at midnight from the light in
the afternoon.

It was 80 degrees in Fairbanks - lots of Spring flowers in bloom.
Locals are really over heated ? 

The next day (21 June) was spent touring around Fairbanks. We cruised
aboard The Discovery, an authentic sternwheeler on the Tanana and Chena
Rivers.  Some of the tourist things were a staged bush pilot landing on
a sand bar, and on water; a kennel founded by Susan Butcher and her
husband; an area that demonstrated an Eskimo salmon catching method plus
cleaning and smoking salmon.

Stopped at Eskimo center - walked around and saw various huts and
clothes that are native made.  Alaska has two groups of native peoples,
the Athabasca and the Inuit, and both were represented at this center.

Lunch Buffet at Pumphouse - good selection of things but we did not
record what was there.

Later toured LARS, the Large Animal Research Center, and then spent some
time in a Museum located on a college campus - U of Alaska - Fairbanks.
One could send several hours there - nice displays.

Dinner was an optional Salmon Bake at Amusement Park type restaurant. It
was an All-you-could eat buffet featuring grilled Salmon, fried Cod,
Fried Halibut, Roast Beef, Chicken - a  standard selection of salad
makings, steam trays of vegetables.  Rolls, butter, cold drinks. Dessert
was white cake with many-berry compote to put over top of cake.  All
very good. Grilled fish was exceptional - roast beef med. Rare and
tender, chicken was chicken.  There was an outdoor picnic area or an
enclosed pavilion area - our group sat inside.

Sunday 22 June.
June 22  Sunday

Today we left Fairbanks and took the domed train to Denali.  Breakfast
was served aboard the train downstairs, made to order.  Upstairs were
domed windows for a panoramic view of the scenery.

At Denali, we booked a dinner show.  Family style food at long tables.
Servers became part of floor show.  Salad, rolls/butter, cold drinks,
bbq ribs, salmon, corn on the cob, baked beans. Dessert berry
cobbler/whipped cream.  Very nice floor show - talented cast.  Food was
very good, especially the salmon and ribs.

June 23 Monday

Breakfast was a buffet in lodge area.  Above average - .

We then boarded school type bus for 8 hr nature ride.  Bus very
uncomfortable.  Park guide very knowledgeable and could handle the bus
with finesse.  She had a video camera that she could zoom in on wildlife
and transmit it to closed circuit screens on the bus. We did manage to
see caribou, wolves, bears, goats, snowshoe hare, magpies, gray jays.

Box lunch provided on bus - salami, cheese, chips, croissant, drink.
It was actually fairly decent, but awkward to get into parts of it.

Lots of mountains - snow still on ground in many places.  Very narrow
semi paved roads. In some places only one way roads. The day trip was
too long - but it was interesting.  Most people went back to their rooms
and just napped until dinner.

Dinner was at the lodge - another buffet:-}}
                               Dale Shipp
                  fido_261_1466 (at) comcast (dot) net
                              (1:261/1466)


... Shipwrecked on Hesperus in Columbia, Maryland. 00:46:21, 28 Jul 2007
___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30

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 * Origin: Owl's Anchor (1:261/1466)