On the road – at Denali National Park
There’s been lots of variety the past couple of days, touring Fairbanks and then making our way to Denali National Park by train.We began the tour of Fairbanks with a stop at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Museum of the North, a look at the Trans Alaska Pipeline and then a tour through Dredge #8. While it’s interesting, I’m not a big fan of the dredge tour for Kiwis, most of whom would prefer to see the gardens and Large Animal Research Station at UAF (gold dredges were invented in New Zealand, after all). The gold panning is fun, though, and several of the ladies were wearing new necklaces holding their bonanzas when we left for our next stop.
Despite a good weather forecast, it was getting cold by the time we boarded the Riverboat Discovery for a cruise down the Chena River. There were many changes along the river this year – the floatplane demonstration was as good as ever, but there are several new homes, and 2 huge sandbars now block access to the Tanana River, which we used to sail down for a couple of miles. The sandbars have forced construction of a new entrance to the Chena Village interpretive area and some new buildings.
After being pretty much the silent partner for several years, Dave Monson really does a good mushing presentation now. He had a little white female husky at the village presentation who was very cute, demanding to be the centre of attention.
We ended yesterday with a meal at the Pioneer Park salmon bake, but that will be my last time stopping there. The price has now gone up beyond what it’s worth IMO, and it was embarrassing to get caught by that hike.
The ride to Denali in a deluxe dome car on the Alaska Railroad was very popular as always, despite the torrential rain we hit for the final hour.
As I write this at a bit past 9pm, though, the clouds are thinning enough to give me hope for a great day tomorrow for the 8-hour bus trip into the park. Bring on the grizzlies!
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