Fairbanks, Alaska: Things Are Different Up Here Than In The Lower 48

Before I tell you about our Gold Mining adventure at the Eldorado Mine I want to repeat something I've said over and over since arriving in Alaska: Things are different up here than they are in the lower 48. You see example after example as you travel around and talk to people who live here.

Alaska was, and for many people still is, a tough place to live. And Alaskans are proud of it; most would have it no other way. For many Alaskans it's more than pride; it's a badge of honor. A badge of honor to be displayed and talked about with visitors from the "Lower 48" with a level of 'coolness' that borders on nonchalance.

"Lower 48" by the way, seems to refer to anyone who does not live in Alaska over the winter. The 'over the winter' part is key. When you ask some one in Alaska how long they have lived here, chances are the response is some number followed by the word 'winters'. As in, 'I've lived here for 17 winters' or 'I moved here 11 winters ago'. You cannot say you live in Alaska unless you winter here. Winters are tough, just like the Alaskans who live through them.

And Alaskans do 'live through the winter'. They get out and enjoy this incredibly country in all seasons, especially the winter. Snow machines, skiing, snow shoeing, dog mushing, ice climbing, etc. Just about anything you can think of has been done here during Alaskan winters.

Hey, when winter last six months you can't hide inside; you have to get out and embrace the winter. The difference here in Alaska is that if you are not prepared for the winter winds and temperatures, you can be killed pretty quickly. Alaskans do embrace the winter and they are proud.

Like the waitress in Tok who told us winter temperatures are routinely -40 below zero and this winter they hit a new record of -78 below zero, which is close to the Alaska record of -80 below. She likened it to the difference between East Coast summers that are hot and humid versus Arizona summers that are hot with no humidity -- a variation on Arizona residents who respond to queries about summer temperatures with the standard coupler of "Sure it gets up to xxx degrees in the shade, but it's a dry heat...".

Our Tok waitress gleefully told us she "loved the cold winter temperatures PLUS it keeps the riffraff out". Sounded pretty good until I realized we were the 'riffraff' she wanted to keep out of Alaska.

Alaska brings out or rather I should say, Alaska attracts people who feel they are different, that don't 'fit in' elsewhere. They do not share the views, biases, and opinions of most people in the 'Lower 48'. That's not to say they do not have their own views, biases, and opinions. Nothing could be further that the truth. Most Alaskans are not noted for being politically correct. Nope, most will share readily their thoughts and opinions, asked for or not.

Alaskans are fiercely proud of the fact they are different and of their right to be different. It seems people in Alaska do not care what you did before you came to Alaska. Or who/what you might be running from or to. Nope, they care about what you do now that you are here in Alaska. People and their eccentricities are accepted here. Some might shake their head at some one's behaviour or lack of knowledge but Alaskans accept each other. And are willing to help if asked.

If you feel like you don't 'fit in or you are different from 'everyone else', Alaska might be for you.

I don't care how 'different' you are, when you get to Alaska you'll see and people who are 'way more different' than you are. Guaranteed. Up here, different is normal. It's both accepted and expected.

Alaskans don't have the time or energy to worry about the eccentricity of other people. They are too busy living life and preparing for another winter. Money has to be earned, supplies have to be stock piled, wood has to be chopped, structures have to be weather tight, heating systems have to be cleaned, maintained, and ready to work non-stop for six months. Alaskans don't have to worry about keeping the unprepared and inexperienced out of the state; they let Alaskan winters do that for them...

The last few days have been spent exploring Fairbanks including Pioneer Park, going panning for gold at the Eldorado Mine and exploring the surrounding countryside.

Pioneer Park is an area with a number of exhibits featuring the early life of Fairbanks including an air museum that captures the rich history of bush pilots and early attempts to establish commercial airlines in Fairbanks.

The city of Fairbanks moved many of the original log structures from the downtown area and along the river to Frontier Park. Merchants can rents these cabins and visitors get to shop while also exploring early frontier architecture, or said more correctly, early log cabin construction techniques/styles. There is a riverboat on display, a small steam engine that circles the park, and most importantly for the citizens of Fairbanks, a couple of excellent playgrounds for the kids to enjoy.

The day before yesterday we drove out to the Eldorado Gold Mine, took a short train ride, learned about the history of gold mining in Alaska and then had a chance to pan for gold on our own -- and of course we got to keep what we found.

Before we started, Mary Lynn, our friend Dave and I had a friendly bet on would find the most gold. I won't tell you who won or even give her initials until the end...

The gold mining history is always interesting and here in Fairbanks, like almost every other gold rush, very few struck it rich. By the time most people arrived the best claims were already taken. Turns out most of the gold is 10 to 200 feet underground. To find the best places to dig, miners would pan for gold. Once a promising area was found, they would dig or blast away the 'over burden' of soil and permafrost to get to the bedrock surface. That's where the really large amounts of gold were recovered.

So the three of us were each given a batch of soil, which we put in our gold pans and began the panning process. It was a lot of fun and while not difficult, took a bit of finesse to wash out the dirt and leave the gold. Gold may be 17 heavier than the other material in the pan however it can still be washed out of the pan. In the end MLA found $12 in gold, Dave $10.50 and I found $6. I'm pretty sure I washed at least that much out of the pan in my excitement but hey, that's life...

Yesterday we went back to the University of Alaska Fairbanks to explore the Virtual Reality Center, which is a part of the large computer lab at the university. Then we took the Geophysics tour which included the Volcano Research (and prediction) Center, the Earthquake and Remote Sensing laboratory. Very cool stuff being done here at the University of Alaska.

Funding has been cut for the Volcano monitoring which is a real shame since they track ash plumes from volcano eruptions and help the airlines avoid potential tragedy that can be happen to a jet when it's engines 'inhale' volcanic ash. Turns out volcanic ash is not good for any kind of engine however on a jet, if the engine flames out due to volcanic ash, the consequence can be severe.

Hopefully US and/or state legislators will get their act together and find the $10 million dollars necessary to avoid a much costlier potential disaster.

See Ya!

Fairbanks, Alaska: University Of Alaska Fairbanks & Blog Milestone: 10,000 Visits & 300 Posts

Wow - This is the 300th blog entry for Dale & Mary Lynn's Travels and this week we achieved the milestone of 10,000 visits to our blog. Thanks everyone for following along on our adventures!

It's great to know others are able to enjoy some of the incredible sights and experiences Mary Lynn and I have been able to see in the last 18 months. We visited 23 states, three Canadian provinces, and in the process, put 19,000 miles on the RV plus at least another 5000 miles on the toad and Harley.

Along the way we have met an incredible variety of interesting people, many of whom are fellow RV'ers who have been travelling full time/almost full time for 7 or more years. Everywhere we go we find people who are funny, articulate, and willing to share their thoughts, opinions and ideas about where too go and what to do when you get there.

In addition to citizens of the US and Canada, we have met fellow travelers from England, Germany, Australia, Mexico, South Africa, even from the Netherlands. I'm sure there are a few I've forgotten or misidentified in the first place but whatever the country of origin, whether they have been travelling for a few years or a few days, most people who travel are people you would like to get to know better, to have as friends.

Sure there are a few exceptions, like the young man from another country, who loudly told his friends he wasn't impressed by Arches National Park. And then, again loudly, went on to say he wasn't impressed by the Grand Canyon, it was just a big hole in the ground. Chalk that up to him wanting to impress his friends with his own worldliness.

Or the guy (why is it always a guy? gives the rest of us guys a bad name...) who loudly told a park ranger at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center in Juneau that global warming was fabricated by the government; that the evidence didn't support global warming as being a man-made problem. Probably worked for one of the fossil fuel companies.

How many species have to disappear before people realize global warming is real and is already having catastophic impacts?

The overwhelming majority of people we meet are friendly,, courteous, and worth the time it takes to get to know them. Sure -- some of them are loud but that's mostly an age related phenomenon -- some of them are hard of hearing.

As far as the country we have been able to explore so far, it's nothing short of fabulous. And not just the national parks and monuments; North America has spectacular scenery and interesting towns & cities everywhere you go.

Again, thanks for following along -- and get out there yourself and see the world, or at least your corner of the world. Buy, rent, beg or borrow an RV if you can -- it makes the trip even more enjoyable.

Today we went to the Alaska Museum that's part of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. What a great museum. Just opened in 2005, the museum occupies a beautiful modern building built to represent the inside of a crevasse -- not your everyday architectural goal by any means. Whether it accomplishes its architectural goal or not is a matter of personal opinion.

The exhibits are all first rate and the gift shop met with MLA's approval (and you all know how important is is to keep momma happy!). In addition to the Alaska exhibits and a special exhibit on Polar Bears (sorry Claire no pictures allowed in that exhibit), upstairs contained a large collection of native and local Alaskan Art. (OK I'm back -- had to kill a large mosquito trying to steal our supper).

The exhibits included a 1250 pound Grizzly that stood 8 feet 9 inches tall; his head is the size of a beach ball. They have the largest collection of GOLD on display anywhere in Alaska: Lots of large nuggets including a 21 ounce beauty, all kinds of smaller nuggets, and flakes/grains of gold the size of sunflower seeds all the way down to gold so small it looked like gold powder. Lot of native Alaskan display, including kayaks and whaling canoes plus a boulder of solid Jade that would make a heck of a ring!

There's a lot more to see at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks: super computing center showcasing virtual reality, a Large Animal Research Center, botanical gardens and a geophysical institute. Plus lots more to do in Fairbanks.

See Ya!

Fairbanks, Alaska: Mosquito City Would Be A Better Name

I know it's a cliche to talk about mosquitoes in Alaska however, as I sit here with welts and itching all over from mosquito bites, I find it difficult to think of any other topic...

Actually the mosquitoes have not been that bad until we arrived in Fairbanks, which is in the interior of Alaska. The coastal areas of Alaska had mosquitoes however the quantity and the aggressiveness did not compare to Fairbanks mosquitoes.

Yesterday, after we arrived and set up the RV, we had the windows open for a little fresh air. It was almost 90 degrees outside so we wanted to cool down a little... Well you should have seen the window screens; they were covered with mosquitoes, all trying to find a way to get inside the RV.

Every time we opened the screen door to walk the dog or have our friends Dave & Mary Anne join us for dinner, mosquitoes attacked the open portal. Some of them flew head first into the opening while others tried to be a little tricky: they would land on the person coming into the RV and try to hitch a ride unseen.

I spent a lot of time last night wandering around the RV, looking for and killing mosquitoes. I lost track of how many of the little blood sucking devils I killed. After several trips around the RV's interior I went to bed. No sooner had I turned out the light and what did I hear? A loud buzzing near my ear that spelled the end of trying to get to sleep.

Of course I had to get back up and chase the little booger down...

On the drive from Tok, Alaska to Fairbanks yesterday we saw the Alaska Oil Pipeline for the first time. It happended to be at a river crossing which is why you see the pipeline suspended in the air. We also saw the immense mountains of the Alaska range. Pretty hard to see them in the picture because they are over 100 miles away however it was pretty impressive to see in person. This is just a tease of what it will be like to see Denali, which is also a part of the Alaska range.

This morning Mary Lynn wanted to see a few of the local sights. She mostly wanted to visit the North Pole, which is just down the road from Fairbanks. She was so disappointed. I tried to explain this is the slow season for the North Pole, what with Santa off on a well deserved vacation and all of the elves playing 'hooky' while the boss is away.

We did find the North Pole Visitor Center, where two very nice ladies spent a significant amount of time explaining the few things that could be done while visiting the North Pole.

While they were explaining what was (not) happening at the North Pole, MLA noticed a mosquito land on the ear of the lady who appeared to be about 70 some years old. MLA watched to see if she would 'shoo' the mosquito away but nothing happened. Finally MLA interrupted the conversation and told the lady she had a mosquito on her ear.

Well the lady reared back and hit her ear so hard I thought she was going to knock herself out. I didn't want to laugh but she knocked her glasses about half way across the room... and of course the mosquito avoided the blow entirely. Oh well.

Afterwards we headed over to a store MLA wanted to see called The Great Alaskan Bowl Company. Now before any of you former hippies get any ideas, this company makes bowls of all shapes and sizes out of birch trees. And they had a coupon for a free 'planter' that MLA wanted to use.

Actually it was pretty cool seeing how the bowls are cut on a lathe. In addition, this company used a laser to engrave the bowls with words, logos, wildlife designs,, etc. In fact, you can give them a picture and, for a fee, they will engrave it on the inside of one of their bowls. Really quite amazing. You can see how they are made at www.woodbowl.com -- truly a unique Alaskan gift.

Tomorrow we will probably head over to the University of Alaska at Fairbanks campus. They have a world class museum there plus several other exhibits/displays, including a theater where you can experience the aurora borealis. These formations light up the Alaskan sky during the winter however the lights cannot be seen during the summer since it really never gets dark.

For instance, sunset will be at 12:30 am tonight and sunrise will be at 3:30 am. Truthfully, it never gets more than a little like what we would call dusk. Certainly no need for outside lights when you go out.

See Ya!

Tok, Alaska: Haines Highway to Destruction Bay To Tok

We left Haines, Alaska yesterday morning and, after driving ~200 Kilometers and passing again through Canadian Customs, rejoined the friends we are travelling with in Destruction Bay, Yukon, Canada. A better name might be Desolation Bay... it is pretty remote. Nothing there except for swarms of mosquito's.

Just as an aside, they say a caribou or moose can lose up to a pint of blood/day to these little blood suckers - ouch. 

Last night we camped at the Cottonwood RV Park. Our site had water and 15 amps of electricity -- a first for us. Usually we get a campsite with 50 amps and we can use all of the creature comforts we've come to know and love in our RV. Travelling throughout Canada and Alaska, most sites only have 30 amps, which works well since we can limit our energy use pretty easily.

Power, or rather the steady supply of power is an issue at a lot of campgrounds. Any fluctuations in power can trip the breakers which means a trip outside to reset the breakers. Not a difficult task unless it's the middle of the night, you are in your skivvies, and the campground owner's have been warning campers to stay away from the cute mother grizzly with the two cubs that likes to wander through the campground...

All that being said, 15 amps is a challenge however we were able to run the hot water heater, the main heater, and the refrigerator on propane rather than electricity to manage our electrical power usage.

We are currently getting about 20-21 hours of daylight every day. It's a little strange to go to bed at midnight and its just getting dark and then wake up at 3 am and it's just getting light. Actually, it really never gets darker than what most of us would call dusk. No need for a flashlight in Alaska this time of year...

This morning we were up and out by 8:30 am to travel the roughly 200 miles from Destruction Bay to Tok, Alaska, this time passing through US Customs.

The road in Canada to the US border was almost entirely under construction -- most of the time we only averaged about 35 mph, always ready to dive on the brakes when we spotted the 'Red Flag of Danger'. 

Every place the road crews have discovered a bad frost heave, pothole, or dip in the road they place a small red flag, which means, I'm pretty sure, this is the first place we will look if someone is reported missing. Some of the road hazards will completely swallow a car/small truck. For an RV like ours it starts a process of rocking in the RV that feels like it would throw you out of your seat if you were not wearing a seat belt.

At one point we hit a frost heave hard and a cabinet opened allowing some of our heirloom dishes to fall out... looks like we'll have to hit Walmart to replace a few pieces of the set...

Once we hit Alaska we had ~95 miles to go before we arrived in Tok. That's when the road gods started having a little fun with us. The next 90 miles of road were almost all recently repaved and smooth as glass. We made great time.

The last five miles seemed to take forever to complete. Every mile or so yet another flagger made you wait. The road was down to one lane and the construction crews used pilot cars to guide traffic. It was painful sitting there after making such good time earlier.

But that's the way it is up North. Road maintenance is a never ending process whenever it is not snowing/freezing. 

Tomorrow we will head to Fairbanks where I think we'll settle down for about a week. There's a lot to do in and around Fairbanks.

BTW - Mary Lynn was really, really excited when I mentioned we would have to retrace the path we took yesterday and today at the end of the summer on our way back to the US. She didn't believe me when I told her all that construction would be complete in a couple of months. Some of these projects have been going on for over six years.

I probably should have just kept my mouth shut -- a lesson you 'd think I would have learned by now.

See Ya!

Skagway, Alaska: Klondike Gold Via White Pass & Yukon Narrow Guage Railroad

Early this morning Mary Lynn and I rode the Haines - Skagway High Speed Ferry to Skagway,where we boarded the famous White Pass & Yukon Railroad.  

A massive gold rush started when gold was discovered in the Klondike. Within weeks of the first gold discovery thousands of hopeful miners made their way to Skagway, gateway to the Klondike, albeit a gateway that was 600 miles away from the gold fields.  Six hundred miles over dangerous and treacherous trails & rivers. 

The Canadian Mounted Police required every miner entering Canada to have one ton of supplies which was ~one year of supplies. The Chilkoot Pass was shorter but much steeper. A tough way to go when each person had to carry one ton of supplies up the 'Golden Stairs' (steps carved into the ice) to the summit. This usually required 30-40 trips to the summit before the RCMP would allow entry into Canada.

The alternative was to go up the White Pass. Horses were used initially however so many horses died taking the supplies up this trail a section became known as the Dead Horse Trail.

The White Pass & Yukon Railroad was started in early 1898 and in the first 20 miles it rose from Skagway at sea level to the Summit at just over 3000 feet; it required building two tunnels, scores of bridges and trestles, hairpin curves in an area that temperatures can reach (fall?) to 60 degrees below zero. Ouch!

The first run of the train from Bennet Lake to Skagway reportedly carried over a half million in gold dust. Eventually the line was used to bring ore back to Skagway. First gold ore and then iron ore for other projects, including the AlCan highway during WWII.

Anyhow, MLA and I took a three hour trip to the summit and back. What a ride! The train passes through breathtakingly beautiful mountains, snaking along the edges of streams, crossing raging streams and snow melt swollen gorges on trestles initially built of wood and eventually replaced with steel.

Today the White Pass & Yukon railroad maintains ~ 80 engines, including two original steam engines that run on weekends, and 200 passenger cars. It is a spectacular and exciting ride, one where the mountain literally falls away at your feet due to the steep mountainsides.

I highly recommend this narrow gauge adventure.

Skagway itself is very authentic, with many of the buildings dating back to the late 1800's/early 1900's although the town itself almost exclusively caters to the large cruise ships that arrive almost daily. Today there were four large cruise ships, one small cruise ship, and the Alaska ferry all in port while we were there. 

The streets are packed until the cruise ships sail and then it's pretty quiet.

Regardless, it's a lot of fun especially if you don't mind all the tee-shirts and jewelry stores.

BTW- the US Mints in San Francisco & Seattle received $10 Million of Klondike Gold in 1898. By 1900, another 38 Millions dollars had been recorded making this the largest gold rush the world has ever known!

See Ya!