August 20 – Tuesday - Kenny Lake (Copper Moose B&B) to Fairbanks (All Season’s B&B)
We wake up at 6 am. Unfortunately we had arranged to have breakfast at 7:30. With an hour and half to kill, I busy myself with postcards; Bill with trip logistics. CD and a cool – middle aged Native American (AKA Alaska’s First People) have a breakfast ready for us at 7:30. They go all out with an egg dish and lots of fruit and breads. We can’t figure out their relationship. CD’s wife lives in Valdez, leaving CD here alone to run the place. He does a heck of a job. We enjoy the food and their company. As CD says, “You come as a visitor … you leave as a friend” -- a motto to be true for most of Alaska (except, that is, for Patty down the road).
We pack up and leave about 8:30.
We drive to Glennallen for gas. I spot what I think is a Bald Eagle flying from one tree top to another. Amazing wing spam – amazing sight. The scenery is beautiful – mountains, lakes … and then the rain, hard at times.
Good news -- the rain puts out a really, really big fire. We smell the smoke from time to time. Putting up with the rain is worth stopping the flames and saving the forests.
Through the misty windshield I see the Alaskan Pipeline snake over the mountains in all directions. Completed in 1977, the continuous pipeline runs over 900 miles from Prudhoe Bay to the Bay of Valdez.
My personal opinion looking at it as we drive is that it’s not bad and could be OK as one of those crazy art installations. It is also a tribute to what man can accomplish when he (or she) puts their mind to it – ranks right up there with the Great Wall of China. But here’s the but…, the big BUTTS –
Like any pipeline, it leaks and is not kind to Mother Nature.
It’s a barrier to migrating animals and has a big negative impact on the environment.
The oil companies made a bundle of money from it. In 1968, they discover oil in Prudhoe Bay and do the numbers. It’s cheaper to build a huge pipeline cutting across the state to transport the oil, than ship it out in oil tankers along the waterways. However, to put it in perspective, the oil from Prudhoe Bay is only a tiny fraction of the world’s supply of oil. A few fat cats got even fatter and make the everyday citizen of Alaska feel good about the deal through a system of merger dividends. Our cab driver in Anchorage is thrilled about his $3,000 rebate for this year. Call me crazy, but I don’t like anything that can destroy the beauty of this place – Case in point: The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound. Is it really worth it?
We drive by Army bases, pipeline stations and recreational parks. We can’t see much because the rain keeps on coming.
We stop in Delta Junction for lunch. What we think is a pizza joint turns out to be a gift shop. The gal directs us a couple doors down to the Chinese Wok. Glad they did – excellent food plus we got to meet the owner, June. She came from Vietnam 40 years ago -- married a soldier boy. She spent the first 20 years here trying to find her mother back in Vietnam. She relived the moment when they first were united with great emotion. Her mom was eking out a life living in a tree somewhere close to Da Nang. June is now the big American Fat Cat and able to give her mom a good life in Vietnam for only $200 a month. June is obsessed with watching out for her family – a very nice trait to have.
We move on down the road and skip a main attraction, The North Pole. The world’s largest statue of Santa was a big turn off for both of us.
The GPS takes us to the All Season’s B&B, a very nice house in an older neighborhood just a few blocks from the heart of Fairbanks. We are troubled when we see the “For Sale” sign posted in the window and wonder if we really have a booking. Turns out, Mary Richards, the proprietor is trying to sell place. It’s time for her to retire from her business of 20 years. Her B&B is perfect for us – lots of space, well run and in a great location. It’s a tough job managing a B&B and now that Mary’s kids are educated (both lawyers) and on their own, she’s ready to kick back. I like Mary very much. She’s smart, says it like it is, a little hardened and knows everything that’s going on. She still has traces of her genteel North Carolina ways.
All Seasons B&B |
All Seasons B&B |
Bill and I unpack. We have a great space – big bedroom, a sitting room and a bathroom. We have a beer in our private sitting quarters and still have time to knock off one of our “to-do’s” in Fairbanks before dinner.
We go to the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center. It was completed a couple of years ago and cost about $30 million. It’s so much more than a Visitor’s Center with racks of brochures. We walk through amazing, well designed exhibits with information about the Native Americans, the wildlife, the history, the pipeline and so on. It also has a library and a huge section on mapping and lots of videos going on. However, I was bored silly with the main video in the big auditorium – a program on the northern lights. It was all woo-woo stuff – northern light scenes with goofy background music you hear when you go for a massage. Occasionally, the narrator reads poetry that is supposed to bring enlightenment. I dose off from time to time -- a nice little refresher.
About 7:00 we head to the Thai House restaurant in downtown Fairbanks. It is packed and for good reason. The food hits the spot. We wonder why are there so many Thai / Asian eateries in Fairbanks?
Back at our B&B, Mary (the owner) is able to help connect us with a long lost friend, Wanda. Mary and Wanda’s kids went to the same school in town. Wanda and LeRoy (and their family) were our neighbors in San Diego, back in the early 70’s. They didn’t like the Southern California scene, so in 1974, they bought an old school bus and fixed it up. They took their twin girls (Karma and Joy) and headed for the Alaskan Wilderness, somewhere near Fairbanks. Now LeRoy gives lectures and a slide presentations on the northern lights the Ice Museum just a few blocks away. We call the museum and learn that LeRoy is out of town. A little more sniffing around by Mary and we get a phone number for Wanda. (Wanda is the one I really want to see.) I hit pay dirt and Wanda answers the phone. We talk a good 45 minutes and I use up most of our cell phone minutes. Bill is not pleased, but hey, what’s a gal to do when you haven’t communicated with a pal in 40 some-odd years? Wanda is a gentle soul and operates on a spiritual level that somehow works. I tell her that we’ll be spending the next day in the Chena Hot Springs area. She says – “No problem – I’ll find you there.” Being analytical and logical, Bill and I think the chances of Wanda finding us are slight to none.
August 21 – Wednesday - Fairbanks (All Season’s B&B) – Chena Hot Springs (with Wanda)
We enjoy a nice breakfast and a nice conversation at the All Season’s. Looks like the sun will win out over the clouds today. We drive to Chena State Recreation Area, about 50 miles east of Fairbanks. We stop to take the Angel Rocks Trail, a 4-mile loop (lollipop loop, that is).
When we start the hike, it is chilly and misty with lingering clouds. We walk through forests. In this defused light, the color on tree bark is much richer. I try to control my shutter finger because I want to finish this hike so we can go into Chen Hot Springs and EAT!
We hike up over rocks, higher and higher, until we get to the top. Here we find Angel Peak, the reason for the trail. The rock formations remind me of the many rocky trails we have back in San Diego. Angel Peak is just an everyday, ho-hum type of hike we do back home. I have become jaded by the grandiose, expansive, majestic views I have witnessed in Alaska. However, when the curtain of mist lifts over the landscape and the billowing whipped cream cloud formations offer their own drama, the place becomes very impressive. (My photographer’s secret – good lighting makes or breaks a picture.)
It’s about 12:30 when we get back to the car – LUNCH TIME! We drive a few miles to the Chena Hot Springs Lodge. Built about 100 years ago, it’s a great old place and the grounds are peaceful, dotted with lots of flowers.
Chena Hot Springs |
Chena Hot Springs |
The lodge sits at the finish line for a 1,000 mile dog sled race that happens every year. The walls are covered with photos of “he-men-dog guys” and their signed jerseys and other historical memorabilia of times gone by. I like the massive log structure and the cozy bar. We order a turkey sandwich topped with a blue cheese convocation on a croissant. Very tasty – could be found on many a menu in southern California. It is a welcome break from all the burgers we’ve been downing in these here parts.
Chena Hot Springs |
Chena Hot Springs |
After lunch, we check out the lodge. We are disappointed that we missed the tour of the grounds and all the greenhouses. We also missed the tour of the Ice Museum with its full on kookiness – two story tall ice carvings, an ice bar that serves drinks in glasses made of ice – the place is below freezing, of course and a look at the ice rooms where folks can spend the night (with the option of changing to warmer rooms at any time).
Our default plan is to grab our swimming suits, pay $10 and sit in the natural hot springs water. On the way to the car, the weather starts to get blustery. We decide to go back to our B&B and do the laundry. I want to take a photo of one of the “ice houses” on the grounds. Just so happens that I cross the road right in front of Wanda’s car! She said she’d find us in Chena and low and behold, there she was with her dog in her Forrester. We marvel at the odds of connecting – and all the elements in timing that must happen. I must say, Wanda’s ESP internal compass is much more reliable than any cell phone service in these parts (which, by the way, is nonexistent)!
Chena Hot Springs Ice House |
Wanda looks wonderful – still as beautiful as ever with her peaches and cream complexion. Only now, perhaps because of Alaska, rosy cheeks have been added. She’s trim and in dynamite shape. It is great to see her. The three of us go back into the old lodge and order coffee and cheesecake to pass the afternoon away catching up on the last 40 years.
Chena Hot Springs |
Wanda at Chena Hot Springs |
Highlights from Wanda’s story:
1974 – Wanda, husband LeRoy and twin 4 year-old daughters (Karma and Joy) leave San Diego (our neighborhood) in a remodeled old school bus destined for the Fairbanks area.
They spend the next 4 years calling the school bus home – even in the winter when the inside pipes accumulate about 4 inches of ice on them.
Next they buy the oldest log cabin in Ester (a suburb of Fairbanks) to make it their home. They have a son, Robin.
Wanda and LeRoy divorce in the mid 80’s. Wanda still lives in the old cabin.
LeRoy finds his passion in photography – with a specialty in the northern lights. He gives a nightly presentation at the Ice Museum in Fairbanks. People come for miles to see his amazing slideshow.
Wanda is a designer and builder – a poet and a reader. This week she will finish her first log cabin that she built alone and designed by herself. She is indeed a self-made woman. Her dream is to be a building contractor – and she has all the skills. Scott, her partner (of 17 years) and master carpenter, have built many log cabins in the area.
Karma and Joy became famous, statewide, in cross country running. When they were 12, Alaska was looking for runners from the 6th or 7th grades. Winners in the competition would get a free trip to Disneyland. With no prior experience, Karma and Joy decided they’d do anything to go to Disneyland. They ended up winning the race and went to Disneyland. Obviously, they were tough enough and they had plenty of spirit and had each other to encourage. They also came from Wanda’s Viking stock. The course for their lives was set -- They are among Alaska’s BEST and still well known.
Karma is currently a 4th grade teacher, married and living in Fairbanks. She also coaches running teams and travels all over the world. Joy is married and a new mom. She just presented Wanda with her first grandchild, Zane. Joy lives in Truckee in northern California . Robin (the son who came later) has decided to enter college in Fairbanks this fall. Wanda is so proud of her children – and should be!
It was wonderful reconnecting. I was giddy with girlfriend gab from the past! It was nice to reconnect with a wonderful person that I thought was lost from me.
We say our “good-byes.” Wanda heads to a wild blueberry patch. The berries are great this year! We drive back to Fairbanks to our B&B. In our sitting room we drink a beer and do the laundry. Washer and Dryer just down the hall. There were a lot of smelly clothes to take care of.
We drive to the River’s Edge Restaurant for dinner. The place is nice, but has that touristy feel. The plates are piled high. My pasta dish was swimming in oil from the globs of pesto. Bill’s lasagna was better so I made him share. We go back to our B&B very full and somewhat satisfied.
August 22 – Thursday - Fairbanks (All Season’s B&B) – Museum Day
We eat breakfast at our B&B – an egg dish with a cherry tomato concoction. The only other guest is a Swiss guy who doesn’t drink coffee and doesn’t speak much English so our small talk is limited – fine with me and fine with him too, I’m sure.
The day starts with a stop at the downtown Post Office, only a couple of blocks away. I need to buy 4 one cent stamps. I have 4 post cards to mail. With the postages rates going up every other day, I find the old postcard stamps I brought from home inadequate. We learn that the Post Office doesn’t open until 9:30, so we must hassle with this task later. My kingdom for 4 lousy one cent stamps!
We drive to the Museum of the North located on the campus of the University of Alaska (Fairbanks). The campus is nice, but the roads are under construction. It takes a little doing finding the building – but when we do, WOWIE ZOWIE – magnificent swooping architecture design makes the place look like moving icebergs or a giant glacier or the northern lights. The place really excites me. Check out these pictures.
Museum of the North |
Museum of the North |
We pay our $12 each (no Senior’s Discount here) and head for the exhibit hall. We also rent one audio player with two headsets which lashes us together – not easy for 2 highly independent people to trek together throughout a very large museum.
A brown bear greets at the entrance – yet another reminder of Rich and the reason we’re in Alaska now. (We also see one of Bill Brody’s Alaskan landscapes. Damn, he’s so famous!)
Museum of the North |
Museum of the North |
I finally gather some background about the Native Americans (also called Alaska’s First People). I was shocked to learn about the Aleutian people living on the Aleutian Islands. They made their living by sealing and got screwed royally by the US Government during WW II. The army forced them from their homes (and the native land of their ancestors) under the false pretense it was for their own safety – to protect them from any Japanese invasions or bombings. (The Japanese did, in fact, occupy two islands.) The US army gathered up whole populations of these towns and took them to live in sub human conditions and work in the canneries. Meanwhile, our guys in uniform moved into their abandoned homes. They looted and destroyed the towns and the houses. Life in the canneries is worse than the POW camps the US set up for the German soldiers. Conditions are also worse than the Japanese internment camps established to house Japanese Americans. I’m afraid that “Man’s inhumanity to Man” is a common fact of life and our country has been a big part of it.
In the museum, we also see lots of whaling boats, harpoons and fur coats. We also see the Ulu, the rounded knives that only the women use to cut up the salmon to dry for winter. So many things to hold in one’s mind.
Museum of the North |
Museum of the North |
I learn that the Bering Strait (the string of islands that connects Alaska to Russia) in pre-historic times was once warm (before the ice age) and a very big area – as big as Australia. Animals of all sorts thrived here, migrating from east to west AND from west to east. It was a great place for animals to interbreed and flourish, much like the Galapagos.
Alaska was once a hotbed for dinosaurs – lots of bones left to prove it.
One of the prized exhibits is called Blue Babe – a mummified bison. I’ve seen mummified people before, but never a mummified animal. I learn that Babe was taken down by a lion because of the tear / claw wounds in the skin with fragments of broken lion teeth left behind.
Museum of the North |
Museum of the North |
There is so much to see – stuffed animals, stuffed birds along with geological wonders such as some huge gold nuggets.
Museum of the North |
I especially like the art gallery on the second floor – exciting simple designs – seems art plays a major part of life in the Eskimo culture. The simple masks are fun and loaded with personality – what fun people to be able to create such cool masks.
Museum of the North |
Museum of the North |
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Museum of the North |
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Museum of the North |
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Museum of the North |
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Museum of the North |
Museum of the North |
Museum of the North |
Museum of the North |
Museum of the North |
Museum of the North |
Museum of the North |
Museum of the North |
After a couple of hours Bill and I grow weary of the exhibits. Of course I insist we stop at the gift shop. I think about Rich and how he was a child of the world – embracing all cultures. I thought someone at the museum could advise me how the Native Americans grieve for their lost ones – and communicate with them -- and celebrate their life. I ask at the Gift Shop counter and immediately, they put Morgan on my case. She is an expert on the native cultures. I tell her Rich’s story. She spends a lot of time telling me the belief systems – potlatch on the anniversary, making a mask to release the spirits, dancing to communicate with the lost love one. She came close to tears several times. I really appreciate her concern and knowledge. We ended up buying Silke a stone carved figure done by a local Native who is dancing to communicate with her dearly departed. Per Morgan’s direction, we go back into the museum and view the video on the Native’s simple dance. We watch the dancers’ movements, minimal and smooth, using mainly theirs upper bodies, and are taken by the peaceful, calming, gentle expressions on each face – a very nice way “to get in touch.”
We leave the museum with our brains exploding with new information. We add money to the parking meter and walk to a sandwich shop on campus. We share a turkey sandwich and a bag of chips. It is very good and I want more – but am trying to practice self-restraint. Bill seems to revel in restraint.
We drive to the Great Alaskan Bowl Company, the next on our “to-do” list. We watch a guy carve bowls out of birch while an expert geeky gal tells us everything there is to know about birch and wood carving. It is a nice demo, but way too much information for me. I check out their merchandize and can’t bring myself to buy even one little bowl. They look so cheap and seem so overpriced.
Next stop is Pioneer Park where we roam around more Alaska stuff – some trashy and some touristy, but some enlightening.
We see the railroad car that brought President Warren J. Harding, and his party, out to drive in the golden stake in the railroad tracks connecting Alaska’s borders. Later we learn that the stake, placed right outside Nenana could not have been golden. Gold is too weak a substance to hold heavy-duty rail ties together. We also learn that Harding brought along his wife and his mistress. “What goes on the road stays on the road.” Harding was hoping for a nice little get away. The Teapot Dome scandal was heating up back in Washington – what better time to get out of town! Didn’t turn out so well for Harding. Between his congestive heart failure and his overeating (some speculate a dinner of bad oysters), he never made it back to Washington. One of the old opulent railroad cars stands as a tribute to Harding and the then opulent style that comes with the highest office in the country. Oh, if that car could talk!
Pioneer Park |
Pioneer Park |
Dry docked just across from Harding’s railroad car is the big red steamship, Str-nenana. She was the last lady of the river, but man was she busy carrying people and supplies up and down the river from 1933 to 1954.
Pioneer Park |
The Wilkerson’s House, operated by the Historical Society, probably matched the air of Wilkerson, the guy who once lived there. I was anxious to see James Wilkerson’s digs after hearing how he sold his soul to Stephen Birch and gave the Kennecott Copper land rights to the powerful group of Fat Cats whose main hobby was building monopolies.
Wickersham was a stern man, ruthless and never forgave anyone who wronged him. He was an author and the first federal judge in Alaska’s Interior. He also served as Alaska’s territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress. He played a big part in Alaska’s formative years and introduced the first Alaska statehood bill in the 64th congress on March 30, 1916.
James Wilkerson |
His house was built during 1904 – 1906 at First Ave. and Noble St. -- the first house in Fairbanks built with milled lumber and a white picket fence. Wilkerson built the house himself, hauling lumber down the street on his back. He finished the white picket fence around the house right before his wife arrived. He was very proud of it. Sorry I didn’t get a photo of the exterior of the house, but here’s what the inside looked like.
Wilkerson House |
Wilkerson House |
Our guide, a proper snooty Historical Society lady about my age, knew a lot about Wilkerson – and a lot about Alaska’s politics in general. She talked as though she is well connected in politics and seems to know all the big Alaskan muckity-mucks. She delights in telling us inside stories about how very, very stupid Sarah Palin is and how despised she is. Of course Bill egged her on so we spent over an hour listening to story after story.
We have a very different experience in the house just across the street. “Kitty’s House” was once a house of ill repute. The guide at Kitty’s house was a tough gal and a good old down to earth survivor. She didn’t have much good to say about her high society neighbor at the Wickersham House. There was some really bad blood – which made Pioneer Park all the more fascinating.
Kitty’s House |
Kitty’s House |
We nosed around a few more places in the park, but we had had enough bits of Alaskan history and had seen enough tacky souvenirs for the day.
Pioneer Park |
Pioneer Park |
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Pioneer Park |
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We stop by the post office on way home. I’m still on a mission for those stupid four - 1 cent stamps. Bill lets me off. I go in and make my 4 cent purchase. When I come out, there’s no Bill. I comb the parking lot looking for the car. Not knowing what to do, I finally decide to take matters into my hands and walk back to the B&B. I round the corner by the post office and there he is -- Bill -- parked on a side street, hiding from view. I am not amused.
A beer back at the room helps takes some of the edge off. I desperately need a little alone time – I’m sure Bill feels the same. I walk only 3 or 4 blocks into town and stop in at an old museum housed in what was once City Hall. The 6 rooms were filled with such interesting stuff such as dog mushing, Klondike gold rush, and the Dawson Dance Hall girls. It was like opening a musty old Fairbanks scrapbook. I enjoyed my visit and am learning so much about Alaska – what a place! I stop in at 3 semi-nice gift shops on the way home, but nothing spoke to me. In fact only expensive handcrafted Native works of arts speak to me – but that ain’t gonna happen – we have enough stuff in our house.
I come back to the B&B to figure out where we’ll dine tonight. We walk to a creepy, expensive Greek restaurant called “Bobby’s” and dash out of there after we check out the menu. It’s starting to rain – should have taken the car. Oh well, we head to the Thai House knowing that we’re in for a delicious dinner. The place is crowded. Unfortunately, they seat between a nosey baby at one table and a couple of loud military guys at another table. We manage to change our table. We are happy again with a quiet table and a Thai beer. Dinner is lovely.
We walk back to the B&B. Bill watches something on his Netflix – probably Breaking Bad while I work on the journal.
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