Day 08 - Saturday - 08/31/24 - Fairbanks to Denali

 Once again we were up early to put out our luggage which will be transported to Denali by truck separate from our bus.  About an hour later we had to report to the lobby to board our bus which would take us on the short drive to Dredge #8 for our tour and gold panning activity.


At the Dredge, there is a short section of the Alyeska pipline.  There was an introductory presentation about the pipeline and the dredging activity before we boarded a narrow gauge railway tourist train for a loop through the park with various demonstrations of mining activity including how to pan for gold.


At the panning location, we were all issued bags of "paydirt", and we sat down with gold pans and panned our paydirt.  I panned $12 worth and Angela panned $13 worth.  We pooled our resources and purchased a locket for her to wear.  The train then took us back to the parking lot but Angela forgot her coat at the panning location.  We phoned our guide, Jen, and she arranged for someone to retrieve it and bring it to us at the bus.  


Phil then drove us downtown and dropped us off for each of us to find lunch on our own.  We elected to go to a souvenir shop when I purchased a new Alaska shirt with a pattern by David Cary, who designed a shirt I also have.  We then found the BBQ restaurant and I enjoyed BBQ'd rib tips before walking back to the pickup point.  Jen also acknowledged my birthday and everyone sang happy birthday to me.  


The drive down to Denali was pretty uneventful with one rest stop at Nenana.  We arrived around 5:15pm at Denali where Jen passed out another information packet and our room keys.  The bus dropped us off at the Ridge View building where our luggage was waiting.  I had made a dinner reservation at the Canyon Steakhouse in the Chalet for 6:45 and we walked up to the Chalet for dinner.  We had two vouchers each for dinner and we decided to split the main course and save our second voucher for tomorrow's meal at the Princess Lodge.  


The dinner at the Canyon Steakhouse was wonderful and we split a 20 oz ribeye and I had a wedge salad and a drink as an extra charge.  After dinner we walked back to our room to get an early start to sleep as once again we have a very early start for our tundra tour.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 18 - Tuesday - 09/10/24 - At sea to Vancouver

Image
 Today on our last day at sea we spent much of the morning & early afternoon watching whales and porpoises from the Lido and deck 15.  In between we attended the meet the captain interview.  Gloeta, on board naturalist, did another excellent presentation, this time on the 3 species of Pacific NW sharks.  She was followed by a final variety show featuring the cast singers and dancers along with Annalyse & Ryan plus Tom Franek.  It was very good.   The ship then entered a picturesque 'dogleg' section of the channel we have sailed through a number of times previously and we went up to deck 15 forward and watched many pods of killer whales and a few humpbacks and sea lions.  It was an imoressive showing!  We then ate a quick dinner in the Lido before watching the presidential debate on our phones as if was blocked on the stateroom tv.  We also completed packing while watching the debate.   Throughout the day we saw several other crui...
Read more

Day 17 - Monday - 09/09/24 - Ketchikan

Image
 Our final port stop found us in Ketchikan.  We had a mid morning arrival at 10am, so we enjoyed a nice cruise down the channel past the Alaska Marine Highway repair yard with 3 vessels moored.  We berthed at the southern most berth facing south with the Zaandam slipping in behind us.  Behind the Zaandam was the Viking Orion and a northbound Princess ship.  We watched the docking procedure and we were in no hurry to get off of the ship as we have been to this port many times. After disembarking, we enquired at a local ticket seller booth about a wildlife viewing trip and there was one leaving at 10:45am, so we purchased tickets for it for $75 per person.  Comparable Princess shore excursions were triple that price.  10:45 came and went and finally at 11;12 we departed with 11 in our very nice Ford Transit Van.  Jason, our driver and guide took us first to a viewing spot on Creek Street where we watched the pink salmon spawning run.  It was in...
Read more

Day 11 - Tuesday - 09/03/24 - Homer by car

 We woke up early at the Westmark and packed our bags and checked out of our hotel at 8am.  It was about a 4 block walk to the Avis rental car office.  Our car was a Toyota Corolla Cross which we really liked.  I especially liked the adaptive cruise control and the Apple CarPlay. We drove Alaska 1 along Turnigan Arm past the turnoff to Whittier.  The road heads up and through a pass about 1,000 feet in elevation and proceeds through a long flatland.  There were also a number of state parks and lodges and fishing trip opportunities.  At Homer we stopped at the US Fish & Wildlife Marine Refuge Center where we did a quick tour of the curated museum before doing a short walk out in the marshland which is the summer home to sandhill cranes.  None were there. Continuing on, we drove to Homer Spit to find some fish & chips at the Boardwalk cafe.  However it was closed so we went across the street to the Harbor Grill where we enjoyed halibut ...
Read more