PLEASE NOTE THAT TODAY’S WILL BE THE LAST BLOG FOR A WHILE. THEY HAVEN’T TURNED DENALI INTO DISNEYWORLD YET, SO WE’LL HAVE NO ACCESS TO THE INTERNET UNTIL AT LEAST NEXT TUESDAY, JULY 4TH…. DAN MAY POST A FEW PICTURES FOR US, THOUGH, ASSUMING WE GET THEM TO HIM…..
Yup, it’s farewell to Fairbanks, certainly not the most exciting part of Alaska, and definitely not a great fishing venue, particularly in the month of June. Still, we’ve had a long and relaxing break here from travel and we’ve enjoyed the campground and city tremendously….. Yesterday, we took the afternoon trip on the “Discovery” riverboat. It rained a bit but not enough to disrupt our good time. It’s a three and a half hour jaunt down the Chena and Tanana rivers that doesn’t even cover eight miles round trip, thereby avoiding high fuel costs. At $46.95 it seems to be tailored to the affluent tour groups and so it is. The parking lot was crammed with tour busses from all the well known purveyors and there were, at most, 30 private cars in the lot. This to fill two tour boats, Discovery II and III, that seat 1,300 together and were nearly at capacity when the crew tossed off the lines at 2:00 PM But, despite the steep price, “Travel” magazine rates it “the best riverboat trip in the United States.” Now I haven’t taken a lot of riverboat trips, but I’d have to agree with them. It is sort of a combination of the aforementioned Disney World and Sturbridge Village….. The Discovery is a very quiet sternwheeler with 19 viewing monitors strategically placed so that you don’t miss a second of the continuous narration— or the pitches for the gift shop, aboard and back at port! Anyway, the boat makes frequent stops, the first just a quarter mile down river to watch a float plane take off then land. There is an intercom conversation with the pilot after he lands detailing the need for bush planes in Alaska. You then pass a number of waterfront homes including that of the current Crook, I mean Governor, of Alaska, who many think makes John Rowland look like “Honest Abe.” ( By the way, one of the Binkleys, the well-known family that owns the riverboat ride, is running in a Republican primary against Governor Murchowski. We saw him at the Midnight Baseball game, along with an honest women, Sarah Palin, from Wasilla and badly under-funded, who is also running.) The Discovery soon stops again, at the house and kennels of Susan Butcher, the women who won the Iditarod four times! (In Alaska, “men are men, but women win the Iditarod!”) Susan Butcher is in Seattle being treated for leukemia, but she has another Iditarod racer covering for her. You get a whole history of racing, dog training, and conditioning as well as a demonstration of the huskies pulling a wheeled dog sled. From there you hit a time warp and stop at a replica Native Alaskan Athabascan village roughly modeled on the gold rush era. Again, there are narrated lectures (courtesy of Athabascan women who are currently at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and well-connected to the Binkleys) providing glimpses into the Athabascan’s culture and history. All of it is very well presented. I won’t kill you with detail, but it was very enjoyable. Only one last observation: the average age of tour boat folks had to be well into the seventies. In a crowd of well over a thousand people on the boats, I would venture there weren’t 30 under age 55….
Tomorrow, it’s on to Denali, a highlight of the trip for Dave where he plans to do a lot of hiking, but another spot where fishing is vitually non-existent. We do have a whitewater trip planned as well as the standard shuttle bus ride through the park when we hope to see much wildlife and maybe catch a glimpse of Mount McKinley, though the chances on any given day are only 30%. (I’ve spoken to three people at the campground who spent several days there in the past week or so, and none of them saw the peak. Given the weather forecast for the next few days, we may have to wait till late in our stay.) But we are both looking forward to our time at Denali. For the first five days we’ll be at a campground on the Teklanika River (absolutely no fish because of heavy glacial siltation) over thirty miles out in the park. This campground was closed to tent campers last summer due to marauding bears. Dave has prepared for his hikes by purchasing some bear spray. I have dusted under my bed. Actually, as I know I’ll be the slowest person in any group, I have developed the honey dip strategy. I have ordered a dozen to be delivered fresh each morning. If I encounter a bear under my bed, I’ll just scatter the doughnuts in different directions and climb on the top bunk. It is useless to climb the black spruces in the area as they are relatively limber and even small cubs can shake you out of them. I’ll let you know how this works. If you don’t hear from me again, well …. On Monday, we move to the Grizzly Bear RV Park about six miles outside Denali’s gates…. Today we’ll tinker with the trailer, greasing wheel bearings and such. Sometime, we have to get to the store and lay in supplies for the five days in Denali . This includes important staples such as Cheez Its and ice cream bars. We may do some last minute sightseeing but we’ve basically wrapped up this phase of our trip…. Stay tuned for what we hope are not too, too exciting adventures….