Tok, AK is a crossroads. Coming and going, or to and from Fairbanks, Anchorage, Dawson City, and Whitehorse – the roads meet at Tok. Tok has about three gas stations, three gift shops, a visitor center, a grocery store and many RV parks. We stayed at Sourdough campground. The sites were among the trees, and the claim to fame of this park was its daily sourdough pancake breakfast and its sourdough pancake toss most evenings. One full day at Tok was more than enough time to get the rigs washed after that drove on the ‘Top of the World’ highway (blue job) and check out the gift shops (pink job).
Our next week was spent in Fairbanks, but on our way was a stop at Delta Junction – the official end of the Alaska Highway at mile 1422. There are many cleaver signs and such at the visitor center there, so many pictures were taken.
We arrived at Fairbanks in the afternoon about 3pm and stayed at Riverview RV Park which was between Fairbanks and North Pole. The park was beside the Chena River and provided all desired facilities and services. We had a bit of rain a few days while we were there, but fortunately the rain fell when we didn’t need to be in it.
We made a trip one afternoon to North Pole. Now we can say we’ve been there…..it has streets named Santa Claus Lane and St. Nicholas Drive and a large Christmas store called The Santa House and some street lights wrapped like candy canes. And that’s the extent of North Pole – been there, done that!
We got our first view of the Alyeska oil pipeline. It runs from Prudoe Bay to Valdez. There was a location where you could learn all the facts about the pipeline and stand under it to see its actual size.
We liked Fairbanks. It is relatively small (30,000 or so population) and has a cute downtown, the Univ of Alaska, some good tours - all this and a WalMart, a Safeway, and a Fred Meyer , too. What more could you ask for!!!
We visited the U of A Museum of the North – a good museum with lots of artifacts and information about the native Alaskan population of Athabascans, the early gold mining days, and the flora and fauna of the area. We also visited the university’s LARS (Large Animal Research Station) where we got a tour to see Musk Ox and Caribou and learn a lot about their habits and how they fit into the Alaska wildlife setting.
We took two tours and enjoyed both of them a great deal. One day we spent an afternoon doing the El Dorado gold mine tour. It began on a train and we got information about gold mining methods. They have a neat set-up where they gave everyone a bag of dirt with some gold in it and we panned for gold – there are lots of college age kids who helped as needed. Everyone is guaranteed gold. Gordie and I collected about $15 worth. You end up – where else – but in a huge gift shop. There they end your experience by weighing the gold and you can have it placed into a clear pendent (for a price). It really was fun. There were even fresh baked cookies and hot drinks at no charge as you shopped.
The other really good tour was called Riverboat Discovery, run by the same folks as the El Dorado tour. So we weren’t surprised when this was also an excellent afternoon. The Riverboat discovery III was a stern-wheeler and is 3-decks high. And we were treated to donuts and coffee as we set off down the river. We sat on top deck to get a great view of the Chena River. As we followed the river, we were told the history of many of the homes along the way. There was a demonstration of take-off and landing of a small fixed wing airplane from the river and again from a sand bar by an area pilot. We also sat off shore of the sled-dog kennel that was run by Susan Butcher (famous Iditerod champion who died of leukemia in 2002) and is still run by her husband. He told us about raising the teams and exercising them, etc – very interesting. The boat docked at the Chena Indian Village where we disembarked and were given information about the Indians, their fishing, their housing, the animal skins they wore, etc. Then it was back on the boat for the trip back to the dock – this included wonderful salmon dip on crackers. Of course, the salmon was superb and amazingly was for sale by the can or by the case. HA!!
Note: We were told that we should buy Alaska Tour books as soon as we got to Alaska. They are $99.99 and have two-for-one coupons to many tours and trips. If you get the book, be aware that many of the coupons are only available if booked far in advance, or some only allow one or two coupons per day, or some are for specific times only. These books are available on the Internet and you can see all the activities offered. We will definitely more than pay for the book, but it’s a good idea to look on the website and be aware of the restrictions before you buy. Once in Alaska, only Safeway stores have these coupon books.
The BIG thing in Fairbanks while we were there was the June 21 Summer Soltice. My goodness – it is the biggest celebration of the year. There is a 10:30PM baseball game without lights and a huge downtown street faire all day. And yes, it is definitely light ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT.
And then it was off to Denali and Talkeetna……next installment.
Happy travels, Ellen & Gordon
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory to Tok, Alaska
My goodness – can you believe that the morning we left Whitehorse it was raining and snowing and 38 degrees? It was nasty!! But once again our luck held and after an hour on the road the worst was over and the temperature started climbing. We stopped for coffee about an hour down the road. The fellow at the desk was on the phone and said to us, ‘There’s snow on the ground in Whitehorse now’. So we kept rolling north on the Klondike Highway toward Dawson City and the ‘top of the world’ highway. We saw many lakes and several areas that had seen serious fires – 1998, 1995, 1987 – there were markers along the road.
We spent that night (after traveling 211 miles) in Whispering Willows campground in Stewart Crossing – truly a one horse town. The next day we traveled on to Dawson City. While traveling we saw two white swans fly overhead. And we saw the backsides of a mother bear and her cub run into the forest. Road crews were working on the highway and much patching had been done. And there were occasional pot holes – the drivers had to keep their eyes on the road. When we arrived in Dawson City the thermometer registered 84 degrees; quite a change from just two days earlier. We stayed at Bonanza Gold RV Park just a mile plus from downtown.
Dawson City was the center of the Klondike Gold Rush from about 1896-2000. The town is being restored to reflect that era, down to the dirt streets and boardwalks. It has a great Visitor’s Center and lots of interesting activities and sights. We went on a walk-about city tour and learned about the days of the gold rush and were able to visit the old bank and old bar – both restored to original detail and furnishings. We went to Diamond Tooth Gertie's Saloon, an early 1900’s gambling hall, where we watched a fun burlesque show.
We went on a tour of Dredge #4 – a huge piece of equipment that dredges placer gold (flakes or small chunks of gold rather than gold within rock formations) from deep under the river bed, rinses it free of rocks and sand, and allows collection of the gold. All around Dawson were piles and piles of rock tailings left behind by the dredges.
One of our favorite sights was from the top of Midnight Dome Hill where we could see the clear Klondike River join the muddy Yukon River, and see the city of Dawson from high above. It was a beautiful sight.
And then we took that trip over the Top of the World highway. We were delighted to awake to a sunny day, as we were warned that if it’s raining, DON’T DRIVE THAT ROAD. So the first step was taking a small ferry across the Yukon River – just 2-3 RVs and a couple of cars could fit on the ferry. But the trip across the Yukon River only took 5 minutes and we were on our way. We were on one ferry and Diann and Rich were on the next trip which was fun because we could take pictures of each other’s rigs entering and exiting the ferry.
Yes, the road is slow and has some frost heaves and pot holes and gravel breaks. But if you take your time, it is a beautiful drive. The highway is well named – as you drive along you see expansive vistas to the right and left – really beautiful. And it was rather exciting to cross the Canada-US border – had to take a picture at the Welcome to Alaska sign and breathe a sigh that we no longer had to deal with Loonies and Toonies and Centigrade and Kilometers and Liters for a few weeks. And of course, we HAD to visit the town of Chicken (the place that the founders wanted to call Ptarmigan, but couldn’t spell it; so they decided on Chicken). There are three gift shops, a couple of cafes, a bar, an RV park, a gas station, and even a small post office – takes a short time to see the whole place. But it was a fun stop along a stressful road. And about 10 miles out of Chicken we found decent road again that took us to Tok. The trip from Dawson City to Tok, with about an hour stop in Chicken, was 6 hours – driving distance was 180 miles.
Tok was a crossroads – roads from Whitehorse, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Top of the World highway all meet here. It is a small crossroads and more info will be in the next installment of our blog.
Note: How strange it is to have daylight 24 hours a day. Saturday is the Summer Soltice and the sun will only set for about 3 hours - never gets dark!
Happy travels to you all. Ellen & Gordon
We spent that night (after traveling 211 miles) in Whispering Willows campground in Stewart Crossing – truly a one horse town. The next day we traveled on to Dawson City. While traveling we saw two white swans fly overhead. And we saw the backsides of a mother bear and her cub run into the forest. Road crews were working on the highway and much patching had been done. And there were occasional pot holes – the drivers had to keep their eyes on the road. When we arrived in Dawson City the thermometer registered 84 degrees; quite a change from just two days earlier. We stayed at Bonanza Gold RV Park just a mile plus from downtown.
Dawson City was the center of the Klondike Gold Rush from about 1896-2000. The town is being restored to reflect that era, down to the dirt streets and boardwalks. It has a great Visitor’s Center and lots of interesting activities and sights. We went on a walk-about city tour and learned about the days of the gold rush and were able to visit the old bank and old bar – both restored to original detail and furnishings. We went to Diamond Tooth Gertie's Saloon, an early 1900’s gambling hall, where we watched a fun burlesque show.
We went on a tour of Dredge #4 – a huge piece of equipment that dredges placer gold (flakes or small chunks of gold rather than gold within rock formations) from deep under the river bed, rinses it free of rocks and sand, and allows collection of the gold. All around Dawson were piles and piles of rock tailings left behind by the dredges.
One of our favorite sights was from the top of Midnight Dome Hill where we could see the clear Klondike River join the muddy Yukon River, and see the city of Dawson from high above. It was a beautiful sight.
And then we took that trip over the Top of the World highway. We were delighted to awake to a sunny day, as we were warned that if it’s raining, DON’T DRIVE THAT ROAD. So the first step was taking a small ferry across the Yukon River – just 2-3 RVs and a couple of cars could fit on the ferry. But the trip across the Yukon River only took 5 minutes and we were on our way. We were on one ferry and Diann and Rich were on the next trip which was fun because we could take pictures of each other’s rigs entering and exiting the ferry.
Yes, the road is slow and has some frost heaves and pot holes and gravel breaks. But if you take your time, it is a beautiful drive. The highway is well named – as you drive along you see expansive vistas to the right and left – really beautiful. And it was rather exciting to cross the Canada-US border – had to take a picture at the Welcome to Alaska sign and breathe a sigh that we no longer had to deal with Loonies and Toonies and Centigrade and Kilometers and Liters for a few weeks. And of course, we HAD to visit the town of Chicken (the place that the founders wanted to call Ptarmigan, but couldn’t spell it; so they decided on Chicken). There are three gift shops, a couple of cafes, a bar, an RV park, a gas station, and even a small post office – takes a short time to see the whole place. But it was a fun stop along a stressful road. And about 10 miles out of Chicken we found decent road again that took us to Tok. The trip from Dawson City to Tok, with about an hour stop in Chicken, was 6 hours – driving distance was 180 miles.
Tok was a crossroads – roads from Whitehorse, Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Top of the World highway all meet here. It is a small crossroads and more info will be in the next installment of our blog.
Note: How strange it is to have daylight 24 hours a day. Saturday is the Summer Soltice and the sun will only set for about 3 hours - never gets dark!
Happy travels to you all. Ellen & Gordon
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Liard Hot Springs to Whitehorse - Yukon, Territory
Our next stop was into the Yukon Territory - Watson Lake. We spent two nights here with a full day to see the sights. We visited the visitor center and the airport – a museum about the creation of the airport during WWII – lots of human interest photos and stories. But the most interesting place was the Sign-post forest – people have left signs here since about 1942. Today there are more than 77,000 signs. People put up name plaques, town signs, tin plates with their names on them, business signs etc. It’s amazing and just when you think you’ve seen them all, there are more. What fun!
We left Watson Lake in a pouring rain, but our luck held and the rain mostly stopped within the hour. And much of the drive was through the Cassiar Mountain range. It was one beautiful vista after another. And the wildlife was something special – moose, stone sheep, black bear, an eagle, buffalo – all in one day. That afternoon we crossed the Nisutlin Bridge – the longest river span bridge on the Alaska Highway. We were in the town of Teslin and stayed at Mukluk Annie’s where they offer free dry camping (with free showers, rest rooms, and a nice laundry). We went for the barbequed salmon dinner and with that came a boat ride across the lake in the evening. We all threw bread for the seagulls. And at 11:50 that night, I took a picture of the sky – still light. Amazing.
In Teslin we visited the Wildlife Museum – one of the best ‘stuffed’ animal displays we’ve ever seen; and it was FREE!! We also went to the George Johnson Museum (the film here was outstanding) and the Tlingit Heritage Center (this was really hyped and not that much, except for the well done totems out front).
From Teslin it was on to Whitehorse – still lovely vistas, but no animals seen on that day. Whitehorse has many, many things to see and do. Our Hi country RV park was full most every night. We spent three days here and had no trouble filling our time. We visited the MacBride Museum (gold rush exhibits). The visitor center had great information and helpful folks. We attended the Frantic Follies – a 20s style review and thoroughly enjoyable. Gordie got picked to participate. It was a very good show.
One day we took a day trip to the town of Atlin – This is a magical spot along Atlin Lake (the largest natural lake in BC). The mountains drop to the edge of the lake. One of the mountains is on an island in the middle of the lake, and there is also a glacier that flows into the lake.
Our final day in Whitehorse we visited an overlook at Miles Canyon – a deep canyon flowing toward the Whitehorse Dam. At this dam is the longest wooden fish ladder ever built.
Tomorrow we take the road again toward Dawson City. We plan to make the trip through Chicken and on to Tok IF the road is dry. It is likely to be the slowest part of the trip.
May you all have happy travels.
Ellen & Gordon
We left Watson Lake in a pouring rain, but our luck held and the rain mostly stopped within the hour. And much of the drive was through the Cassiar Mountain range. It was one beautiful vista after another. And the wildlife was something special – moose, stone sheep, black bear, an eagle, buffalo – all in one day. That afternoon we crossed the Nisutlin Bridge – the longest river span bridge on the Alaska Highway. We were in the town of Teslin and stayed at Mukluk Annie’s where they offer free dry camping (with free showers, rest rooms, and a nice laundry). We went for the barbequed salmon dinner and with that came a boat ride across the lake in the evening. We all threw bread for the seagulls. And at 11:50 that night, I took a picture of the sky – still light. Amazing.
In Teslin we visited the Wildlife Museum – one of the best ‘stuffed’ animal displays we’ve ever seen; and it was FREE!! We also went to the George Johnson Museum (the film here was outstanding) and the Tlingit Heritage Center (this was really hyped and not that much, except for the well done totems out front).
From Teslin it was on to Whitehorse – still lovely vistas, but no animals seen on that day. Whitehorse has many, many things to see and do. Our Hi country RV park was full most every night. We spent three days here and had no trouble filling our time. We visited the MacBride Museum (gold rush exhibits). The visitor center had great information and helpful folks. We attended the Frantic Follies – a 20s style review and thoroughly enjoyable. Gordie got picked to participate. It was a very good show.
One day we took a day trip to the town of Atlin – This is a magical spot along Atlin Lake (the largest natural lake in BC). The mountains drop to the edge of the lake. One of the mountains is on an island in the middle of the lake, and there is also a glacier that flows into the lake.
Our final day in Whitehorse we visited an overlook at Miles Canyon – a deep canyon flowing toward the Whitehorse Dam. At this dam is the longest wooden fish ladder ever built.
Tomorrow we take the road again toward Dawson City. We plan to make the trip through Chicken and on to Tok IF the road is dry. It is likely to be the slowest part of the trip.
May you all have happy travels.
Ellen & Gordon
Dawson Creek to Liard Hot Springs
I keep thinking it just can’t get better, but it does.
On our way to Dawson Creek we passed through the town of Chetwyn, BC. This is the logging capital of BC and its claim to fame is the large collection of amazing chain saw art displayed throughout town. I’ve never seen chain saw sculpture so intricate – animals, people, fairytale folk.
We spent two nights in Dawson Creek. This is Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. And the full day we were there it RAINED, and rained, and rained.In Dawson Creek we went to The Alaska House and watched an hour long video on the making of the Alaska highway. I admit to NOT being an historian, but it was so very interesting to learn the whys and hows of creating this road. We also took the mandatory picture of the four of us (in our raincoats) under THE sign designating the beginning of the Alcan Highway; and we visited the art gallery that was housed in a large old red grain elevator.
Then the next day with the sun shining, we headed toward Fort St. John. We visited the visitors center in St. John and museum, then continued on to Fort Nelson where we stayed at Bluebell RV park – little dirt lot behind the motel. In the morning we visited the Fort Nelson museum – it was the best so far because of Marl Brown, the curator. He’s 75+ and still drives his prized antique cars. He is driving his prized McGlocklin Buick (it’s 100 years old this year) to Whitehorse in July. It will take him 3 days each way. He was nice enough to pose with us for a picture – quite a character.
NOTE: Though we killed a zillion mosquitoes a day on our windshields, we still found that there were a few left to entertain us in the evenings. And it’s true – they are BIG buggers – my goodness. This contributes to their somewhat slow flight and easy smashing. We bought those mosquito paddles that run on batteries – lots of fun zapping the little devils.
On the road again toward Muncho Lake - This is a unique beautiful deep aqua blue lake with mountains in the background. Along this road we stopped at Toad River - a small lodge and restaurant. Its claim to fame is a collection of ball caps – Gordie presented one of his hats and got a card saying his was number 7450. The ceilings were covered with hats.
We drove on to Liard Hot Springs Resort where we were pleased to find a quiet campground off the highway, but close to the hot springs. After dinner we walked on a boardwalk for about a quarter mile to the hot springs. On the way we were delighted to see along our path a young moose grazing in the swamp. The hot springs were wonderfully relaxing – who would expect to find this wonderful quiet tropical spot in northern BC???
That’s it for now.
Ellen & Gordon
On our way to Dawson Creek we passed through the town of Chetwyn, BC. This is the logging capital of BC and its claim to fame is the large collection of amazing chain saw art displayed throughout town. I’ve never seen chain saw sculpture so intricate – animals, people, fairytale folk.
We spent two nights in Dawson Creek. This is Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. And the full day we were there it RAINED, and rained, and rained.In Dawson Creek we went to The Alaska House and watched an hour long video on the making of the Alaska highway. I admit to NOT being an historian, but it was so very interesting to learn the whys and hows of creating this road. We also took the mandatory picture of the four of us (in our raincoats) under THE sign designating the beginning of the Alcan Highway; and we visited the art gallery that was housed in a large old red grain elevator.
Then the next day with the sun shining, we headed toward Fort St. John. We visited the visitors center in St. John and museum, then continued on to Fort Nelson where we stayed at Bluebell RV park – little dirt lot behind the motel. In the morning we visited the Fort Nelson museum – it was the best so far because of Marl Brown, the curator. He’s 75+ and still drives his prized antique cars. He is driving his prized McGlocklin Buick (it’s 100 years old this year) to Whitehorse in July. It will take him 3 days each way. He was nice enough to pose with us for a picture – quite a character.
NOTE: Though we killed a zillion mosquitoes a day on our windshields, we still found that there were a few left to entertain us in the evenings. And it’s true – they are BIG buggers – my goodness. This contributes to their somewhat slow flight and easy smashing. We bought those mosquito paddles that run on batteries – lots of fun zapping the little devils.
On the road again toward Muncho Lake - This is a unique beautiful deep aqua blue lake with mountains in the background. Along this road we stopped at Toad River - a small lodge and restaurant. Its claim to fame is a collection of ball caps – Gordie presented one of his hats and got a card saying his was number 7450. The ceilings were covered with hats.
We drove on to Liard Hot Springs Resort where we were pleased to find a quiet campground off the highway, but close to the hot springs. After dinner we walked on a boardwalk for about a quarter mile to the hot springs. On the way we were delighted to see along our path a young moose grazing in the swamp. The hot springs were wonderfully relaxing – who would expect to find this wonderful quiet tropical spot in northern BC???
That’s it for now.
Ellen & Gordon
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