Train to Anchorage

We left Fairbanks for Anchorage aboard a train.  Everywhere we looked there were beautiful views.  

We didn't have a meal aboard the train.  We sat in the back of the car and read our President Oaks book.  The tour guide on the train was a student at BYU.  He noticed our book and we had a nice conversation.

It was a long, all-day ride but the views were great!  Pat had a very runny nose during this part of the trip.  It seemed like a really bad cold.  We found out that there were others who were not feeling well.  When we returned home we found out that it was Covid.  I got lucky and developed symptoms when we got home.  That was the only down side of the trip.
 

Denali

Denali did not disappoint.  We took a ride through part of the park.  There was a land slide which didn't allow us to go further.

We saw some wildlife.  Reindeer or elk were plentiful.

Breakfast the first morning was amazing.  Stuffed French toast.  It was so pretty I needed to capture it.  I had that with reindeer sausage.

Our bus driver/tour guide was great at finding the animals.  He had a scope that he could zoom in and we could look at the screen above the seats to get a closer look.  

There was a stop on the way into the park where we could use the pit toilets.  This deck was massive!

We saw this mama bear with her three cubs.

The views were just breathtaking!

This moose was the first animal we saw.  It was just in the riverbed just off of the road.

Mama bear.

Lots of elk/reindeer on the ridge as we were coming back out of the park.

Our last adventure in Denali was zip lining.  It was much colder than when we did it in Hawaii.  It was a little disconcerting when we climbed a rope bridge to a platform without any rails.  

Fortunately we didn't get rained on.  It was dark by the time we were finished.

 

Fairbanks

Fairbanks, Alaska was a lot of fun!  We got a very nice hotel unlike the old school one we had in Dawson.  

We went out for a walk to see what we could find.

We found a local museum.  Outside was this arch of moose and elk antlers.  

One of the activities planned for us was a riverboat cruise to an Alaskan Indian village.  Along the  way we saw a smaller riverboat.

When we got to the village, these elk were waiting for us.

One of the tour guides was this 14 year old girl who modeled this fur coat worth $20,000!

A shed for drying fish.  That's a lot of fish!

This was our riverboat.  We met some wonderful people during this activity who are members of our faith.  

Part of our cruise included demonstration with dog sleds.  We learned about Granite who turned out to be the lead dog for Susan Butcher who won the Iditarod three times.

This is a model of Susan Butcher.

We went out for ribs at a local restaurant that was on TV.  It was good but not the best I've ever eaten.

The view of the morning sky outside our hotel window.

One of the days we were in Fairbanks we were able to visit the  Alaskan pipeline and get a little information and history.  

It is massive and at some places it is above the ground and others it is below.

After learning about the pipeline we headed to a gold mine on a train.

We really enjoyed getting off of the train and doing some panning for gold.

We learned all about the dredging process and were able to tour the dredge itself. 

Panning for gold netted me $34 and Pat another $10.  It was really fun but my hands got cold.

These piles of gravel were everywhere.  They are known as tailings from the process of gold mining.

The scoops that bring the rock up from the ground.  They are huge!

Just a beautiful begonia outside the gift shop.

 

Dawson

We spent two days in Dawson.  I took this photo out of our hotel room about 10:30 at night.  It didn't get dark for very long overnight.

This town was really unique as it felt like a step back in time.

Some of the structures like the Downtown Hotel have been restored.

Only the main highway going through town was paved and there was no concrete sidewalks.  All of them were boardwalks.

The Royal Canadian Mountie uniform in the local museum.

This is the local school/public library.  The students were able to choose the color of the building.

An intersection where the dirt roads are evident.

The Klondike and Yukon rivers converge in Dawson.  The Klondike is clear and pristine while the Yukon is very muddy.  The two rivers run side by side for about half a mile where they are combined and all muddy.

In this photo you can see the rivers beginning to merge.  The dirty one on the top.

Wooly mammoth tusks are found in this part of the world.  Pat bought some and made a pen for me.  

This building was restored to look just like the photo on the right side of this picture.  Everything was really beautiful.  It must have taken some hard work!

This building is built right on the ground.  It is a bar and the front door is left open all year round while it's open.  Crazy!

This shows what happens when a structure is built on the permafrost and the frost underneath begins to melt.

We hiked up the hill to the Jack London museum.  It was very interesting.

There weren't much for dining options in Dawson so we bought some food at the local grocery store.  I haven't had a Clearly Canadian in years.  I'd forgotten how carbonated it is.

This nice little spot was perfect for our lunch.  It's also the place where we met some really good people.

There was a dance hall in town and we decided we would go see their show.  We opted for the early show as apparently they get more risque as the night gets later.  

After two days in Dawson, we boarded this airplane and headed for Fairbanks.  It was a charter flight so it was just our tour group.