In December 2008, I flew into Fairbanks leaving Baltimore on Christmas
Eve and arriving in Fairbanks right after midnight. I flew via
Southwest to Seattle, and then Alaska Airlines to Fairbanks.
Picking up my rental car, I proceeded to the Seven Gables Inn.
On Christmas day, I had a buffet
lunch at The Pump House. Then I
took some pictures around the University campus. The next day I
took a driving tour to the Arctic Circle via the
Northern Alaska Tour Company.
The following day I went Dog Mushing with
Sun Dog Express. I
actually drove the team for a while in -30 degrees weather.
On Sunday I took the
Alaskan Railroad to Anchorage.
It was a 12 hour trip. Steve, our conductor, pointed our some
beautiful scenery on the way.
I had rented a cabin in Anchorage
for Monday & Tuesday night, but after experiencing the frigid weather of
Fairbanks and knowing it would be almost as cold in Anchorage, I decided
to get a hotel in Anchorage (the Sheraton). However on Monday I
did the 1.25 mile hike out to the cabin, started a fire (which promptly
died less than an hour later), made some hot chocolate, took some
pictures and then hiked back to the car in the dark. Oh well, I
guess I am not as adventurous as I had hoped.
On Tuesday, I visited the Anchorage
Museum and the Alaska Wildlife
Conservation Center where I got to see Moose, Elk, Reindeer, Muskox
and Bison close up.
On Wednesday I had an awesome lunch
at the Glacier BrewHouse.
I had the Wild Alaskan salmon in a cilantro shallot marinade on seared crab and rice cake. Skillet roasted corn relish and lime hollandaise sauce
with mixed vegetables. It was GREAT. If you are ever in Anchorage
go there!
That evening I started my trip back
home to Baltimore. I flew on Alaska Airlines to Seattle.
Then the next morning flew on Southwest back to Baltimore.
In August 2011, I flew into Anchorage
on Monday the 29th, two days later than planned due to
my original flight being cancelled by Hurricane Irene.
Due to the delay I was unable to visit Hope & Coopers
Landing as well as unable to go fishing for salmon. When
I arrived I headed south to Seward arriving near
midnight.
On Tuesday, I took a 6 hour cruise of Resurrection Bay
by
Major Marine Tours and upon my return visited Exit
Glacier.
On Wednesday, started my drive from Seward to Denali and
had planned to take a seaplane flight of the south face
of Denali. Unfortunately due to the poor weather
the seaplane flight was cancelled. Arrived at the
Denali Cabins in the late afternoon.
On Thursday, boarded the 1 PM Bus to
Denali Backcountry Lodge. The fall colors were
in abundance on the 6 hour ride to the lodge. It
was awesome! We saw brown bears (grizzlies), black
bear, caribou, moose, coyote and Dall sheep. After
arriving we had a delicious salmon dinner. Denali
was fully visible that day, a rarity.
On Friday, I joined a moderate hike that presented
excellent views of Wickersham Wall, named after Judge
James Wickersham who made the first climbing attempt on Mount McKinley in 1903.
That afternoon I did gold panning along the river at
lodge. Ryan, the hike & gold panning guide, was
able to find two incredibly small pieces of gold in my
pan. We had chicken for dinner. Denali was fully
visible that day also, but just briefly.
Friday was going to be last night at the lodge, but
since my trip was delayed and the cancelled floatplane
trip, I had extra money in my budget. So I was
able to spend another night at the lodge!!
On Saturday, I joined an easy hike up Blueberry Hill, so
named for the many wild blueberries growing on it.
Enjoyed several blueberries!! That afternoon I
joined the walk to
Fannie Quigley's cabin.
Later in the day I took a short hike behind her cabin to
experience walking on arctic tundra, areas where the
subsoil is permafrost, or permanently frozen soil. We
had shrimp and scallops for dinner.
On Sunday, our bus was leaving at 6 AM, 5 AM wake up
call, back to the Denali cabins. On our departure
trip saw more bears, moose, caribou, golden eagle and Dall sheep. The sheep were roadside and walked
right past our stopped bus. After arriving at the
cabins, started my drive back to Anchorage and the
airport for my 1:45 AM Monday morning flight.
On Monday, left Anchorage travelling to Philadelphia
airport with connection in Phoenix. Then caught
Amtrak train back to New Haven, where I was finishing
the last week of work on the Yale New Haven Hospital
Outlook 2010 rollout.
In August 2014, I flew into Anchorage
on the evening of Saturday the 23rd. I spent the
next day relaxing and visiting Anchorage. On
Monday the 25th, I was supposed to do a helicopter tour to
a glacier but the weather prevented that from happening.
But I did drive to Fairbanks that day to start my
multi-day visit in hopes of seeing the Northern Lights.
Over the next several nights I did venture out 3 times
and on the second time I saw them !!! I also spent
a night in cabin near Fairbanks, but this time I was
better prepared and was able to get the cabin toasty
warm.
On my drive to and from Fairbanks, I stopped in
Talkeetna, to have lunch at
Mountain High Pizza Pie and to do souvenir shopping.
I drove back to Anchorage, stopping for a night at the
Denali Cabins. On my last day, I visited
downtown Anchorage and had lunch at my favorite
restaurant, the Glacier BrewHouse.
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