Day 75

We wanted to get an early start, and 11.06 am wasn’t too bad!!

At least there was no bear this morning.

It rained all night, and the day started off drizzly, but soon improved to just “All My Children” weather………….dull and overcast.

We headed to Fairbanks and beyond, along Chena Hot Springs Road to ……Chena Hot Springs.

One thing we have forgotten to mention is that all roads in Alaska seem to have a “feeder” road, just for ATVs and other off road vehicles. We can be driving merrily along, minding our own business, when all of a sudden there is a cloud of dust, and a helmeted person appears, on top of some bouncing contraption, sometimes with a gun attached.

Keeping on the traffic theme for a minute, it has to be reported that although Alaskans are some of the most friendly people on the planet, they are lousy and inconsiderate drivers.

We were on the main Fairbanks road, going so slowly over the gravel construction area it felt like we were moving backwards, when not one, but several impatient trucks overtook us. The gravel road repair areas are very tricky, no lines, all loose gravel, construction equipment monster things everywhere, and strictly no passing zones. So, I hope they got where they were going 20 seconds quicker than if they had stayed behind us, must have made all the difference in the world to their day.

Enough complaining, we had a great day!

We went to an Ice Museum.

20 degrees F inside this huge igloo type building, full of wonderful and original ice carvings. There were bedrooms, a toilet, a huge chess set, knights in armor on horses, a fireplace and a bar, amongst other things.

The bar was curved and huge, with stools covered in fur so your bum didn’t get too cold.

We were served with an appletini, in an ice martini glass, which we got to take with us!!

It is now in the freezer, taking up space.

A really neat place.

On the way back down the 50 mile road to Fairbanks, it was Moosetime!!

We saw one moose in a pond, eating happily, and even when I blew the coach air horns to get her attention, it took a long while before she bothered to raise her head.

Then, about 3 miles further down the road, we saw not one, not two, but three mooses all in a big pond busily stocking up on vitamins and calories and nutrients to sustain them through the long Alaska winter months ahead. We spent a very pleasant half hour taking pix and just watching them enjoy life.

Afterwards, we drove to The North Pole!

Actually it is the town of North Pole, about twelve miles outside Fairbanks, and has a huge Santa Claus store, on St. Nicholas Drive, complete with live reindeer at the back, with the biggest antlers we have ever seen.

Of course, we went in and did the touristy thing, and took the obligatory touristy pix outside. All very much over the top, but when in Rome…………

We stopped at a rest area/pull off about 30 miles further down the road, and will get away early, again, tomorrow for the long haul towards Whitehorse, B.C.

As you can probably tell, we are heading out of Alaska in the next day or so, but we will leave very reluctantly.

Wildlife watch today was some kamikaze squirrels, lotsa mooses and some Sandhill Cranes.

Unusual, we thought, to find these beautious birds up here, they are common in Florida, and there are not many palm trees in Alaska.