Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.....and Buses...and Trailers

This trip has been full of many different types of transportation. We arrived in Alaska via plane. We drove to Ninilchik and back via truck/trailer. And now we've finally experienced the Interior via train.

After saying goodbye to Tim and Jac on Thursday morning, we boarded a train and headed south towards Denali. While it is normally a 2 and 1/2 hour trip to Denali via car, it took about 4 hours via train. We rode in luxury. The train was blue and yellow - Alaskan colors - and was two stories. We rode atop while the dining area was below.


Here is a view of the train from the inside

We drove through the Alaskan wilderness, enjoying parts of the trip that are difficult to enjoy when driving in a truck that is hauling a trailer. The breakfast was excellent. Dad and I had pancakes and I tried Reindeer Sausage. Yes, I believe it was Vixen. Sorry Santa.

We arrived around noon and got lunch at Lynx Pizza - home of the 2.75 PBR - before heading out on our trip into Denali. I won't get into that now because it was such an amazing trip and worth its own blog post. Needless to say we have had an awesome time since leaving Fairbanks. I'm going to jump ahead a bit in our trip, bypassing the Denali tour.

Today, Friday, we got up early and went whitewater rafting on the Nenana River. Our guide was very informative and made sure we got soaking wet. We all wore dry suits - pictures to follow I promise - which were tailored to ones body....right.


Here is a picture we took of people rafting the day we arrived on the train. Please note, this is not a picture of us. We took some on disposable cameras and bought one. You might not see those sexy shots til after the trip but I promise it will be worth the wait.

We rode some pretty awesome rapids, enjoyed a beautiful, cloudless sky while rafting along the Nenana River, and got our socks soaking wet. Definitely got a Glacial Facial.

On a completely different note, my contacts arrived! I got them after arriving at the Mt. McKinley Princess Resort near Trapper Creek. All is well. I won't be the one-eyed contact wearer anymore. Thanks Nana!

Our Denali Trip will encompass the next post. Look forward to it.

We Be Wrastling Us Some Musk Oxen

Editor's Note: It's been awhile. I promised you pictures. I'm working on it. (And from all the comments I've received I know all of you are getting antsy). We've been busy. Doing lots of things, drinking lots of liquor and being in areas without free wifi. There will be two blog posts today, recapping our last days in Fairbanks and our trip to Denali.

When I last left you, I had showered and shaved. A momentous occasion that was celebrated around the state of Alaska. Our last day in Fairbanks was both busy and relaxing. We finished up our errands in the morning and then headed to the local Farmer's Market. Fantastic Alaskan-grown vegetables, home-made food and hand-made jewelry were just some of the items they offered.

After lunch we headed out to LARS - the Large Animal Research Station - located on the property of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Here we wrastled us some musk ox with our bare hands.....well not really, but we heard some stories about how the musk ox were reintroduced to Alaska in the 20th century. They were harnessed in Greenland and brought back here by train and boat. We met Ingrid, a female musk ox, and saw some of the youngest members of the herd. Also, qiviut, the soft fur under the outer layer of the musk ox, goes for $25 an ounce. So if you ever receive something made from qiviut, you know it was expensive but worth every penny.


Ain't she a beaut?

Then we saw some caribou and learned the difference between reindeer and caribou. Can you guess it? Reindeer can fly! But really, they are pretty much the same animal except for a few minor differences - reindeer are domesticated and farm-raised. They also grow their antlers differently and can be stockier than caribou.


Whoever has the biggest antler by mating season gets to sire the offspring. What implications does this have on our society?

We continued our educational afternoon by visiting the museum at UAF. Here we saw some cool fossils and the greatest outhouse ever.


I would have no issues using that one if I came upon it in the woods.

We ended our time with Tim and Jac by getting dinner at the Chena Pump House and then hastily packing our belongings for Round 2 of the trip.


We are soooo good looking

The Eye of the Storm

The trip has been relatively relaxing since leaving Seward. After hand-cranking the trailer leaves in, we headed out of Portage on July 5th by 10 a.m. Shortly thereafter we stopped at the greatest rest stop ever. It had cheap gas, good coffee, a fantastic bakery with enormous treats and nice bathrooms. If you are ever on the Seward Highway, check out the stop by the Aleyska Highway - I recommend it.

After that it was a straight shot back to Fairbanks. On a side note, we discovered that if you drive through Wasilla at the correct time with the correct sunlight hitting the correct spot in town, you can see Russia. I could've sworn I saw Putin waving as we headed back home.) We arrived home by 6 p.m., unloaded the trailer and moved back in. Made some banging Seafood Chowder and drank some wine.

I was finally persuaded to shave. I was feeling my European roots during the trip so I decided to forgo shaving. (This isn't entirely true. The lack of shower water and length of showers aided the situation) It had reached a rather drastic point when I returned to Fairbanks. Still, I flaunted my prickliness by walking around with shorts on - I think all members of the house kept a 10 foot radius around me. After dinner, I took a shower, much to my dismay. I think I had blunted the razor after finishing my right leg. Not sure it has ever been that bad.

Anyways, today we relaxed and got caught up on some laundry. Took a shopping tour of Fairbanks and then I went to some mountain biking trails with Tim and Jackie. We made Halibut Charmoula, a Moroccan marinade made with cilantro, and had margaritas on the side. Then we had a rousing game of Scattegories where Jackie won albeit certain discrepancies.

I'm going to try to post a blog of some awesome pictures taken tomorrow. Look for it!

Lions, Puffins and Whales, Oh My!

700. This is roughly the number of photographs we took on our Kenai National Fjords Boat Trip. Now I will not be adding 700 pictures to the blog but I will give you a taste of some of our really good shots.

The Kenai (pronounced Kee-nai) National Fjords Park is located near Seward, Alaska. This map will show you the route of our trip.

We followed the blue route.

Anyways, upon waking that morning we saw the sun and believed it to be a beautiful day. I got my contacts out and was ready to put them in when, I realize I needed new ones. So I went to get them from my bag and they aren't there. Then it dawned on me, I left them in NJ. I came to Alaska with used contacts and then didn't bring extras.

So now I'm annoyed. I still have two weeks left of this vacation and there are plenty of times that I will need my contacts. These include snorkeling, white water rafting and dinners on the ship. After much chagrin, a thought came to me - I would get them overnighted. And now, thanks to Nana, they are on their way. I will update later as I track their process across the country.

Now back to Kenai. I put my contacts in only to discover that the right one was bothering me. After some annoyance, I took it out and realized that it had a tear in it. So I saw Kenai with one contact.

We boarded our boat at around 830 and were off to visit the Fjords by 9. Here are some of the animals we saw.


Sea Otters


Whales


Harbor Seals


Sea Lions


Puffins


Sea Stars

The crux of our tour was a visit to the Northwestern Glacier - something only 200,000 people have witnessed. As we headed towards the glacier, our captain regaled us with tales of how much the glacier has receded in 100 years. Since 1909, the Northwestern Glacier has receded 2 miles to its spot today. The melting has slowed but that amount of loss is significant.





After leaving the glacier, we headed back towards Seward. It was a three-hour trip back and we finally hit land at 615. We got into the truck and began our trip back to Fairbanks. We stopped at the Summit Lake Lodge for dinner - same place we stopped on the way down - and ended our night at the Portage Valley RV Park - Mile Post 78.9 - near Whittier. We were all hunkered down for the night when....all the lights went out.

After much tinkering by the men and much staying out of the way by the women, we discovered that the inverter had gone bad. Everything that was on A/C power was working but nothing on 12-volt was. So we decided to bundle up and sleep for a bit before heading out the next day.

It's an Alaskan Fishing Frenzy!!

Working on a fishing charter in Alaska has to be the greatest job in the world. Get up, fish, drink yourself silly, sleep. Repeat. That is all you do. And it's amazing.

When we got to Ninilchik, we got unpacked and then met the captain and the deckhands - all of whom were drinking already. Jason - captain; Curtis - deckhand; Mike - deckhand. They are all related and all spend their summer fishing and drinking.

By 2 a.m., we had shotgunned about 15 beers, tried to get someone to throw up and had eaten enough s'mores to fill my quota for the summer. It was a great welcome to Ninilchik and the life of a fisherman in Alaska.

The next day we got up around 10 a.m. and headed out to fish around noon. They have the craziest way to get the boat in the water. Everyone gets on the boat on land and then a tractor of sorts hitches up to us and pulls us into the water. Its awesome.



We got out to the fishing spot by 1 p.m. The water was flat and there was a bit of a breeze. It was sorta chilly but not too bad. We started fishing then and didn't stop until 8 p.m. Mom sorta caught the first fish. She was reeling it in when the line broke. However, Will began to reel in a halibut and it ended up being the same one that Mom had. So, technically Mom had the first fish but she shared it with Will.



It took me ages to reel in my first fish. I was reeling in a bunch, getting lots of bites but those halibut would never stay with me long enough. I ended up getting three halibut and a cod. Not too bad for my first time. Dad had some issues. He didn't catch one fish until we moved spots. Then he kept catching halibut that were too small. Finally he caught a good one and then went on a roll.

Jackie, Tim, Mom and Will all did pretty well. The first fish was the biggest one caught but Tim caught one that was close in size. His had a full salmon in its stomach too. Will had some bad luck with the fish later on in the day. They would use him for his bait and then not be there when he reeled in. Seems he has the same issues with women.



We got back by 830 after a really long day. 16 Halibut and some cod on the side. We got showers and then Mom and I went to check out the eagles. We got some awesome shots of bald eagles and golden eagles. Then we went back and......drank! I know, it's abnormal. This time we stayed up til 3 a.m. Another great night with some great people.



All in all it was an awesome day. The people were nice and accommodating to us. We were sad to leave but look forward to going back someday. We packed up this morning and headed out to Seward. But again, that blog post is for another day. Til then.

This Here's an RV, Folks

I apologize for the absence. We've been away from internet access for two nights. I will now recap those days in two separate blog posts.

When I first saw my brother in the Fairbanks Airport, I was a bit worried. He was growing a rather bushy beard, was wearing a beer t-shirt and was driving a diesel truck. Could it be that he had become a hick? My worries began to subside as we drove to their house. He seemed normal enough. Maybe Alaska hadn't gotten to him too much.

But then we saw it. The RV. The trailer. He had done it. He had gone over to the darkside, bringing Jackie with him. There it was, parked next to his quadplex, in all its glory. I knew at this point that they cannot come back to the East Coast with such a contraption.

However, it got even better when I realized that the RV would be my home for the next 4 days. We were going to pull it all the way to Ninilchik and then to Seward and then back to Fairbanks. All five of us were road tripping in the truck. Channeling Chevy Chase in our very own Alaskan Vacation.



So we packed everything up on Thursday morning and got on the road at 930 a.m. I worried for the sanctity of my world. Would I hate my family by the end of it or love them even more? A trip that was first thought to be 9 hours turned into 14 hours. We made a few stops along the way, picked up a Will Doyle in Anchorage and finally made it to Ninilchik at 10 p.m. We saw some large gorillas, dogs driving cars, a black bear and stopped to take in the sights

Once arrived, we(well Mom and Dad went to bed earlier) all then proceeded to get completely wasted with the captain and deckhands of the fishing charter. But that will be for the second blog post.

Alaska, the Final Frontier

We are here! It has been a long day. A very long day. And here now is a recap:

We landed in Seattle around 10:45 PST. I was able to sleep a bit despite my rather rotund seat mate. My parents had enjoyable seat mates. Except for the 40-year-old man sitting next to my mom who was watching Bewitched on his laptop. Yes, I know what you are wondering, how did he get that on dvd? I'm not sure but he is one lucky man.

We got off the plane and needed food. We went to Wolfgang Puck - the first restaurant we saw. Got some sandwiches. Then we decided to head to the gate for the next flight. This is where the fun begins.

I will preface this tale with a short story. When I got off the plane, I went to look at the board to see where the next plane was. It said terminal N8. So, after lunch, we went to terminal N8. We had to go down two flights of stairs and then take a tram to the terminal. We get there and my father goes to check the board again. He informs us that the gate we should be at is actually D9. And D9 is all the way back where we had lunch.....so we walked all the way back, this time up two flights of stairs. We definitely worked off lunch.

We got on the plane to Fairbanks at around 130. It was another uneventful flight. We all sat next to each other so there weren't any random travelers to poke fun at. I did end up passing out at some point...a moment that my mother froze in time.


I'm attractive when I sleep.

We landed in Fairbanks at 430 AST - Alaskan Standard Time. That is the time we will be using from now on. We met Jackie and Tim at the airport, got our luggage, and headed to their duplex. We got a full tour of the place - pictures to come later - and it is fantastic. They have really made themselves a nice little home here in the woods.

Jackie went food shopping while the Aras clan went to the Transfer Station - a fancy Alaskan name for a trash depot. Then we went to get fishing licenses - well Mom and Dad got them. I had not been informed that I needed to bring my license or a photo id so I didn't. Nevertheless, we went back later to get my license and fill up on gas. Dinner was Halibut caught last weekend. It will most likely be Halibut for the next week and that is completely fine with us.

At this point in time, it is 930 AST. This means it is 130 EST. I have been awake for 21 hours. I should be dead tired but I'm not. Probably because of the cocaine....

Anyways, this will be the last post until tomorrow night. We are driving to Anchorage tomorrow. 9 hours in a car with my four favorite people in the world! Can't wait! Til then....but wait, here is a taste of what is to come. Get excited. :)