Alaska - ho!

2006-07-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

July 10th, 2006
Denali National Park, AK - Home!

Today - We returned home! Enjoy the journal!

2006-07-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

July 9th, 2006

Talkeetna, AK - Denali National Park, AK

We awoke, in our makeshift parking lot campground, to blue skies - a first for mornings on our trip. After a week (and a whole winter for that matter) of overcast skies, it was sure a beautiful thing. Mount Foraker, Hunter and of course Denali stood out with authority and grandeur in a way I have yet to see them through my Alaskan travels.

Unfortunately my headache from last night lingered on, and my lack of sleep all week caught up to me. After a delicious pancake breakfast sponsored by the VFW (with strawberry - rhubarb jam that couldn't possibly be rivaled)we took a walk around town.

And then drove back up towards Denali.

I had a tough time keeping my eyes open for the rest of the day. I caught up on sleep in Riley Creek Campground, while Gregg got to enjoy the beautiful day around Denali National Park. It was nice to have quiet time, but I would have rather slept through one of the cloudy days instead. :(

In the evening a surprising turn of events occurred - a shower! It was my first for 10 days or so. How do you like me now!

2006-07-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

July 8th, 2006

Seward, AK - Talkeetna, AK

We returned again to Kenai Fjords National Park, this time taking the easier hikes we had missed in our epic the previous day. T'was early in the day, and the masses hadn't flocked in yet - which enabled us to quietly escape off the main trail and walk directly to the Glacier itself.

Seeing the Glacier close enough to touch it and walk on it, was far superior to viewing it at a safe distance. Team Xtreme, huh. At no point did the Gregg or I feel we were in peril from falling glacial bits and pieces.

We left Seward after this, journeying to Talkeetna about 8 hours north. Gregg's friend Colin, or 'Rusty Nail', was up there with his band, Boone Webb playing at the Mountain High Pizza Pie in town.

We rolled into Talkeetna to find ourselves smack dab in the middle of the Moose Dropping Festival - whose genesis is unknown to me. I do know however, that everyone in town was wearing a small numbered piece of petrified poop on a safety pin, in hopes of winning some cash when a plane dropped poop from the sky later that day. Delicious!

The sun had come out and the shorts and flip flops had finally come on. The band (Boone Webb) played for hours on an outdoor patio, keeping me up until midnight - well past my bedtime nowadays.

By the time sleep finally came, I had an enormous headache, which was stay with me and plague my sleep all night long.

2006-07-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

July 7th, 2006

Seward, AK

Gregg and I woke up and drove around Homer getting out final views in on the picturesque East End Road...

And then hit the Westernmost Highway point in America on our way out.

We left Homer with out showering, as we had planned to do - which meant this was going to be one trip with no showers the whole duration. Stink-a! Stink-a! We headed toward the Exit Glacier, within Kenai Fjords National Park in Seward (The glacier named because the early explorers found it a handy exit to the vast Harding Ice Field it extends from).

Your hero was expecting a leisurely 7 mile stroll, but in actuality, our little constitutional was more like 8 miles with a 3000 ft climb in elevation - the last 3/4 mile of that through sloshy snow. The end of the hike, I felt, had views that were far inferior to those in the beginning, nut my opinion seemed to in contrast to everyone else.

The beginning:
The punctuating view is the Harding Ice Field, which is a vast expanse of ice and snow - less visually interesting to me then the blue tinted layered crevasses we walked alongside on our climb up. (the coloring is because the glacier absorbs all colors except blue)

On the way up we saw a good number of mountain goats and marmots, which were a delight for me, but not nearly as fantastic as our encounter on the return.

Ahead of us on the trail, coming at us was a huge mommy bear and her three cubs. They continued to ascend toward us, though not necessarily at us for quite some time as we backtracked up the trail. Eventually the turned up away from us - allowing a nice sigh of relief. That was the first time I had seen bears in the wilderness, without the safety of my car nearby. Gregg had known exactly what to so, and stayed calm. High Five for Gregg.

The walk down was long and painful on my weak back and knees - though we were glad we had done it, and finally gotten out and explored a bit. We ate at the Salmon Bake, on the beginning of Exit Glacier Road - if anyone is ever in Seward, it is just as nice a place as any to check out.

2006-07-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

July 6th, 2006
Homer, AK

Today Gregg was really excited about fishing, and it seemed to be a good boost in relations between us. Brian and Carl met us by the water taxi on the Homer Spit and equipped us with all kind of waterproof gear and shoes. Since I am not a huge fan of eating fish, or watching the slaughter of them, my main excitemet lay in the kayaking. We had planned a BBQ with friends tonight, and we were supposed to provide the Salmon - so Gregg had his work cut out for him!

The water taxi dropped us off at China Poot Bay - where Salmon jumped all around the boat, and seals popped up in the distance, increasing in number as we paddled on. Eagles were aplenty in Homer, later devouring the carcasses of of Gregg's catchings. We spent the day learning fishing technique (Gregg's favorite was the controversial 'snagging'.) As I suspected, I was more enchanted with the kayaking - so I turned my useless rod over to Brian, our guide, and just relaxed. Altogether Gregg caught 2 fish, and Brian caught one - 2 pink salmon and a Dolly (sea trout). As we headed back to the water taxi pickup - seals in greater number still yet grouped a bit aways.

When we disembarked our vessel, Brian taught Gregg how to clean and cut up the fish (this is fairly gross to watch)...which we brought to Wes's house for feasting.

We had a superbly wonderful time at dinner. We sat with Wes and his girlfriend Katie, and his brother Matt . We ate, then sat for many hours talking, as I so fondly remember doing here last time. Gregg and I never have an organized dinner anymore - so this was about as enjoyable and simple an evening as I could possibly imagine. I adore Homer, there is a huge sense of community here that I feel my life in Seattle is, for the most part, lacking. It is present in every facet of life here, and it endears me to Homer endlessly.

2006-07-05T21:14:00.000-07:00

July 5th, 2006
Homer, AK

Gregg and I walked around an overcast Homer until it was time to head to Wes and Matt's rustic cabin for lunch. Homer is a good exmple of a city still with soul. Each building is unique, and independantly owned. Small business maked up probably 99 percent of the commercial market in Homer - though I think that is rapidly changing, as with everywhere else in the world.

Even since I have been here, three short years ago, the city has burgeoned. A huge commercial supermarket with a Starbucks has been put in, and now there is talk of a Fred Meyer.

However, the downtown still has the same look and feel it used to, with each store its own unique building with beautiful handcrafted wood carved signage. Even with Homer being the unique community that it is, disturbingly enough, there apparently has been talk of changing the name homer heaven. Matt claims if his happens, he will write a letter to the town and suggest they consider the name "everywhere" also.

I wish Seattle retained more of it's originality and flavor like Homer has. Developments are taking over the city, and prices are skyrocketing. Uniqueness is tossed aside for quick and inexpensive building - at the price of Seattle rapidly losing a lot of its flavor.

When we reached their rustic cabin, 10 miles outside the 'downtown' I was again awed by the simplicity in which they live. Small living spaces, a garden with vegetables and berries, outhouses, no electricity or running water, and nearly everything within their spaces homemade. They need it, they make it. It is so wonderfully simple.

I imagine many people from our home in CT, and in my current home in Washington would find it extraordinarily hard to live this kind of life. As i type on my computer, I was reminded again that I would be one of those people, though I was inspired. I thought about building my own cabin from scratch, and how satisfying it would be to have taken part in every aspect of creating your home. Gregg and I spent the evening with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn - with subtle reminders about the minor deficiencies of our relationship - but mostly just with a super bad movie.

We had spent the day looking for what we would do tomorrow - our designated "take a tour day" - We figured it would either be fishing tour, or a flight tour to bear watch. The latter was $600 - fishing it was! Brian Saunders, someone I had met and been fond of the first time around in Homer now had a guide company. We scheduled a kayak / fishing excursion for the following day.

Gregg and I seemed to be doing a lot of bickering on this trip - and not a whole lot of sleeping - it was beginning to wear me down. We spent the night talking, and I hoped tomorrow would be brighter.

2006-07-04T21:04:00.000-07:00

July 4th, 2006
Homer, AK

Today is independance day. Whiippeee!
Even though the sky cleared up last night, offering high hopes for this morning, it was foggy again when we woke up. We continued heading south, heading for Homer. Today was mainly a driving day - though it also marked our first day with at least partially clear skies!!

I had forgotten both how beautiful, and how very long the road to Homer was. The overlook as you approach Homer was astonishing - reminding me again why this is one of my favorite corners of the earth.
Lupine and Cow Parsnip (flowers) framed the mountains - with quaint little cabins in the distance.

When I had been in Homer three years earlier, I had stayed with my friend from high school, Wes Phelps. This time around, Matt, Wes' little brother also lived out here. Gregg and I met up with them, and Matt's girlfriend on the spit (a thin strip of land caused by opposing currents in the water)...And had delicious pizza along the Kachemak bay - very much enjoying simple conversation with old friends.

We camped for free on the Bay - blissfully until some locals blasted fireworks, getting but a handslap from the po-lice. Luckily the police were kind enough to leave us alone in the process, alone in the no camping area that is. wink wink.

I am truly excited to be back in Homer, it feels every bit as good as I thought it would.

Ahh, Homer!

2006-07-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

July 3rd, Denali

We awoke and hiked the Mc Kinley Bar Trail down to a river. The trail got us fairly wet, due to the rains remaining on the plats life brushing against our legs. Both of us had come unprepared, due to a hurried departure on the camper bus. We only had one pair of pants each. By the time we got to the river, 2 or 3 miles away - we were nearly insane from the horrendous swarms of mosquitos everywhere.

They were buzzing around our heads. We caught glimpse of the river and quickly returned to the main road to get away from the increased mosquito-age near the bog. Fog still obscured the best views in the park - those at Wonder Lake. We attempted to walk around the lake - but got pretty wet from dewy long grass, and were stopped by a wildlife protection area that but of the trail. with no view, incessant mosquitos and no hiking, all resulting in excessive boredom and downtime - we decided to catch the last bus out for the day and cut our losses and move on. We hopped on the last tourist bus - filled with stonefaced aged german tourists and a cougar lady that though she was very funny.

By the time our bus reached our car again, it was 10:15. We headed south on the main road toward Denali State Park, where we found a walk in campsite for the night - not arriving and going to sleep until around midnight.

We saw the sun set coloring the sky on the way down, but again, the sky never fully darkened after that, however, the clouds had cleared just enough to finally make parts of the Alaska Range visible. It is truly extraordinary how hard it is to see the biggest mountains in North America.

Quite the Mosquito Problem on the McKinley Bar Trail

Mosquito Nets. Hot.

2006-07-02T15:39:00.000-07:00

July 2nd - Denali

Denali National Park

(No pictures today)

We headed into Denali around 2 pm on the camper bus, arriving at Wonder Lake 5 hours later. The drive was significantly more uneventful then the first time I had been at Denali, with very few wildlife sightings, and those few sightings being fairly far away. The weather was disappointing, a thick fog covering all the mountains - and rain clouds threatening overhead. The plus was that we got a great bus driver - and we were on the camper bus, not the tourist bus. Wonder Lake was a mosquito haven. They were everywhere. We had neglected to buy mosquito nets, and immediately regretted it. The swarmed around us, and stuck to the mosquiot netting of our tent trying to get in. It rained as we fell asleep, the skies not offering any promise for a better weathered tomorrow.

Gregg and I had been suprised to find that there were literally just a handful of maintained trails at Denali - mostly at the visitor's center. The rest was left up to bushwacking through brush or bog. With 6 million acres of park, them's a lot of bushwacking options.

2006-07-01T22:21:00.000-07:00

The flight from Nome back to Fairbanks was suprisingly nice, given the overcast day. When I was above the clouds, I had full view of Denali and the Alaskan Range.

2006-07-01T14:12:00.001-07:00

July 1, 2006
Nome, AK

When I awoke at 7 this morning, the sky looked just as bright as when I fell asleep at 10 pm. I slept with a bandana over my eyes, though I worried if anyone peeked in the truck, they would think I'd been kidnapped - stuffed in a mummy sleeping bag and blindfolded.

First thing, I stopped in to Arctic Trading Post, or something like that, for coffee. Since I was the only one in there, I got an opportunity to talk to Mary, the shop owner, who had lived in Nome for decades. My own urban lifestyle demanded I ask her what people "did" around here - and of course she gave me the simplest answer of all -

"we go home - we spend a lot of time with our families."

Of course, the simplicity of this lifestyle would escape me, someone who for the past 8 or so years of living on her own has never known her next door neighbor.

Mary leaves Nome once a year, whether she needs to or not. I asked her about the Teller Highway, one of the three roads that extends past Nome's downtown - but there wasn't much she could tell me, because she has never been on it. Imagine! living in a town this small, and never having taken an exploratory road out of town!

Most people here work for the hospital, or for the city - seems like occupation is much more for subsistence here, then for enjoyment.

I headed for the Teller "highway" - hoping my radio reception would last longer then on the other two roads out, but again I got nly about 15 miles until the static came. The nice sturdy pavement ended after 5 miles, but this was still best road out of the three by far. Even though the gravel was fairly well packed down, it was pretty hard to go over 35 without sliding around every so often. With close edges and streams to fall into - sliding scared the piss out of me.

The fog was fairly view prohibitive, but I did manage to see a few reindeer (I think), and some muskoxen on the way!!! Yay!!! Mission accomplished! However, my desire to turn around overtook all at about mile 45 (which took a few hours to get to) - and I was back in Nome by noon - with a whole day to kill before my 9 pm flight out. Hmmmmm.

Reindeer

Metropolitan Nome

Musk Oxen

Reindeer

Musk Oxen - (one of the coolest looking creatures out there)

2006-07-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

Summer dwelling for fishermen on the Bering Sea

Summer shack for fishermen on the Bering Sea

Welcome to Nome - Here is the airport, all 1 room!

My top notch, 75$ a day truck rental

Old train parts at Solomon

2006-07-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

June 30th, 2006
Nome, AK

Images wil have to wait because it is too damned slow a connection!

There is no place like Nome, they say. Currently I am in Nome, 160 miles from Siberia (I do love saying that!). Half of me feels like Nome was left behind in the commercial revolution and the half of me is suprised by some of the unexpected modernization here.

It is cold. it is 43 degrees here unofficially - or at least that's what the radio station says. When I arrived, it was overcast and raining.

Nome is a tiny tiny town. There are 3 gas stations (with reasonable prices given the remoteness) two grocery stores, ZERO sit down coffee shops, 1 mexican restaurant, 1 sushi restaurant and a few chinese and pizza joints. Saloons vastly out weight any other establishment, inhabiting just about every other building in the 1/4 mile downtown strip. Nome has no large stores that I can see, and their airport is a single room. It should also be noted that Nome sits atop a treeless tundra. That's right - no trees!

However, there is wireless throughout the city! And mostly WEP protected wireless at that! I drove around trying to steal internet, and eventually found a spot where I had 1 bar of unpassword protected wireless. Ain't life a dream! (Note: 4 full bars of wireless connectivity was about as fast as 1 from back home)

I immediately picked up my rental vehicle upon landing. - it was a 95 pickup - for a thrifty 75$ / day. Luckily they are only charging me for 1 day. The car was torn up inside and filthy in and out. But- the seat was big enough to sleep in relatively comfortably tonight. However, the locks were broken, and the driver side door doesn't close properly and there are no turning signals.

About 1 hour after driving the car, the Check Engine light went on, and about 5 minutes later, I realized there was no wiper fluid. I went back to the car rental place, and they didn't care to fix either of the above listed maladies. They granted permission upon my request, to leave the car and hitch a ride back if it stranded me in the middle of nowhere. A rental car mechanic shop with no wiper fluid!? Nutty!

The town seems to be mostly natives. There is no place, other then the bars, to really go and sit and work on my laptop and perhaps meet a local or two.

Today I drove the first of the three roads out of town. I took the eastern road out, hugging the violently choppy Bering Sea. It was raining, but the truck handled well over the ground dirt road.

The drive was boring. Small run down shacks appeared here and there - summer outposts for local fisherman. There was a pub in the middle of nowhere, about 20 miles into this road.
I turned around at Solomon, when the road got bumpier, and the views continued on as they were, which bored me by then. Solomon contains remnants, stuck in the tundra, of rusted out engines abandoned in 1907. Fascinating (not really).

I am having a hard time killing time here, as there is no where to really go - I can't really leave my truck, as I am umfortable leaving all my things in a truck that doesn't lock - though the mechanic swears he leaves his keys in his ignition all the time.

Tomorrow I will head down Teller Road, 72 miles one way - ending in Teller, a subsistence Eskimo Village with a population of 247. There is rumour that I am likely to see reindeer along the way. Would I even know what one looks like? I hope I see Musk Oxen and bears too.

By the end of the night I was more then ready to leave nome. I drove 60 miles RT down more muddy slippery dirt roads to kill time - which worked (the killing time I mean). Finally, bedtime came. I find when I haven't slept on a trip - it is super hard to make the days pass.

2006-06-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

Now it's time to post stupid things to pass the time!!!

Bored in the airport ...time to play with my built in web cam!!! This is me in the airport. I am very tired and I look very serious.

This is Anchorage behind me. Can you see those mountains? Its just like you are here!

2006-06-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

Friday, June 30th, 2006 - Morning Entry

I wound up, due to airplane delays, leaving Seattle around midnight - since I got there at 8 pm - there was a substantial amount of sitting around involved. We arrived to Fairbanks at 3 am body time - 2 am local time. During the flight, I couldn't say for certain whether the sun was rising or setting outside my window, but I settled on setting.

See?! Hard to tell. Sunrise? Sunset? Sunset.
BTW - I know pictures taken from plane windows are lame, but indulge me - I am illustrating a phenomenon.

It was still fairly bright out when we touched down - a dusky sort of brightness. I asked a security guard if this was as dark as it gets, and he said "Around this time of year, yes - but right now it is even darker then usual due to smoke form nearby fires.."

Fairbanks, AK 2 am. Notice the lack of darkness. neato!!!

It was a long night in the airport, I think I managed about an hour of sleep on the floor - interrupted here and there by a baby and her mother - who cleverly chose to sit near to me, your hero, instead of the rest of the wide empty airport.

I query you this -
What airport isn't a little more complete with a little dead animal head on the wall?

I am feeling bright eyed now, at 6 am, as I fly to anchorage to catch my layover to Nome. My waked-ness may change as the long 21 hour day goes on.

2006-06-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

June 29th, 2006
Seattle, WA - Fairbanks Airport, AK

I set off on my trip with a stroke (or three) of luck. Both Gregg and I have free flights to Alaska, courtesy of Alaskan Airlines as a kind thank you for giving up our seats last Thanksgiving on an overbooked flight.
They issued us paper tickets at the time - which I was supposed to bring with me, as my boarding pass. Since this was a paper ticket and not an e-ticket, they could not, and would not let me board without this ticket. I had however, in this fine time of e-ticketing and paperless transactions, completely forgotten to bring this ticket.

I arrived at 8, for my 9:20 flight, with no ticket. The chance of Gregg, who had just dropped me off, getting home and back with enough time to board, was slim to none. That chance diminished as his phone rang and rang, 10, 15, 25 times, with no answer. Finally, I got through to my brother, who had just picked up his girlfriend from a soccer game, and she had just potentially broken her ankle playing. The two of them rushed from South Seattle to my apartment, to try to reach Gregg as he arrived home, to have him find the ticket in our apartment. Gregg finally picked up the phone, so this said interception was not needed - but appreciated!! I hope you all have wonderful people in your life, like I have my brother, who will do things like that for you. (This is where I am lucky for the first time today)

I needed to be in Fairbanks TONIGHT, as at 5:30 am, my flight to Nome boards. While I had been trying to get ahold of gregg, with my hand compulsively on redial (or whatever the cell phone vernacular would label that function)...I had checked if there were later flights - and thankfully, (This is my second bit of luck) there was one at 10:40 - which was further delayed 40 minutes. I had plenty o' time.

Gregg, phenomenal as always, exhausted beyond belief from working 20 hours the other day, and then getting up at 5 am all week...went home, found the ticket, turned right around and drove it back to me, when all he really wanted to do was sleep. He didn't even yell at me for my huge oversight, which resulted in him being further delayed from much needed slumber.
(This is my third bit of luck, that I have the greatest boyfriend of all time - #1 - yippeee!!!!).

So as you can all see, I have wonderful people in my life, and my trip is off to a lucky start.

I feel happier and friendlier and smilier than I can remember feeling in a long long time.
Tonight, however, will be a long one - I arrive at 1:15 am, and have to get up at 4:30 to check in and board my next flight. Tomorrow, I may not be as perky, with my projected sleep deprivation from tonight.

2006-06-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

I have recreated a version of the Alaskan Flag because I think it is super, and I love the story and symbolism behind it - though simple they may be.

It was designed in 1926 by a 13 year old Native American boy, Bennie Benson, for a contest to create a flag for the then Alaskan Territory. Bennie's design was one of 142 entries submitted by Alaskan school children, and was noted

"The blue field is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, and Alaskan flower. The North Star is for the future state of Alaska, the most northernly in the union. The dipper is for the great bear symbolizing strength." (Bennie actually mispelled the word strength in his version)

Wuhoo!!! I leave tonight!!!!!! I can't wait!!

2006-06-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a map I created to show you all Nome, Alaska -
510 air miles away from Anchorage - and 160 miles from Siberia.

Even as I type this, I still can't believe it.
A smile comes to my face just thinking about tomorrow, when I return to Alaska - as I have been wishing to do for three years since I left. No place has affected my life as much as the experience of getting to, and getting through Alaska. It is, im my opinion, the most pristine, natural, phenomenal place I have seen thus far. It has, compared to the lower 48, far fewer marks of industrial development, huge expanses of untouched wilderness and a far more modest, community oriented feel. It is, in many places virtually impossible to escape from 360 degrees of outdoor perfection.

I leave for Fairbanks tomorrow night, arriving at 1 am body time (12 am local time). I will spend the night somewhere in the airport and head out again on 6 am on a flight to Nome - at the edge of the Alaskan Peninsula, on the Bering Sea - 510 air miles from Anchorage. I have rented a car for a thrifty 75$ a day / for two days - which will double as my hotel room.

Nome (the name coming from a shortening of "no name") is not heavily populated, as one might imagine in all of it's remoteness - though it once was a thriving gold rush town with a population of somewhere around 20,000 around the turn of the century. Now the population hovers around 3500, nearly half being Native American. Nome is your wild west of Alaska, I suppose - with an abundance of gold hidden beneath its ills and beaches.

Another theory behind the name Nome is that it allegedly was the result of a spelling error - an officer on a British Ship in the 1850's noted that a nearby prominent point was not identified. He wrote "? Name" - which was later though tto be C Nome, or Cape Nome - and shortened to Nome. THe city name was almost later changed, but against its wishes, Nome stuck.

Though you can't drive to Nome, there are 300 miles of roads that extend out in three seperate directions - each about 80 - 90 miles long. I plan on driving all of them, time permitting.

I will be experiencing approx. 21 hours of sunlight daily.