Random Alaska Stories

Ah ok I guess what bothers me the most is my morning habit of taking , but campers have it figured out.

Got it.

 

Shark Belly White and Rockfish Red. Crap, that’s when we will be in Healy!!! We will either have to hit the one in Anchorage, or catch the Healy one on the way back from Fairbanks. I think we’ve hit every open bar in Seward in the last two nights, including one called the, “Salmon Bake.”

 

Anchorage has just started imposing greater restrictions on bars and restaurants. I believe they can only serve people at outdoor tables. The Anchorage 49th State Brewing does have outdoor tables, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was a wait.

Denali Brewing operates a brew pub in Talkeetna, and a brewery tasting room on the Talkeetna spur road.

In Fairbanks, I'd recommend stops at both Black Spruce and Hoodoo Brewing.

Hope you're enjoying your trip.

 

Down the Yukon Part 4.

When we left off, I had paddled the 30 miles through Lake Leberge, past Carmacks, and through 5 Fingers Rapids. I'm still in the Yukon Territory and it is 150 miles to Dawson City. This is a great stretch of the River. There are still trees and hills, and you can see both banks. The current cooks along at about 5 mph. The days were clear and breezy. It was perfect paddling weather. At night, I'd set on my life vest in front of a small camp fire reading my book and sipping a beer or cup of wine. The bugs were minimal. This is a really popular section of river to paddle or float. There were no roads or settlements till Dawson, so it was still a great wilderness paddle.

I was looking forward to Dawson. It's a fun, historical, mining town turned mini tourist destination. I've driven here a couple times over the gorgeous Top of the World Hwy. My plan was to hang for a few days, eat a couple restaurant meals, socialize, and drink a lot of Canadian beer. The hospitality industry here is staffed by a lot of late teens and twenty somethings who come in for the summer. A lot of them are camped in a campground on the left bank. I know where it is, pull my boat out, and set up camp. I have a nice tent site with a river view. I think it was free. I can see Dawson on the opposite bank. I meet some of my neighbors over the next few days. Most are working here and many have multiple jobs. The wages are low and perks like free meals or laundry privileges are valued. I was amazed at how strategically some of these folks chose their summer jobs cover their needs and maximize the amount of salary that they could bank. All these folks were either Canadian or Common Wealth.

During the day I liked to walk around town and along the river talking to whoever I ran into. The average tourist in town was a middle class American or Canadian who drove their car or RV. Most of the people I hung with were workers, paddlers, or budget travelers. After eating dinner somewhere, I would end up at the legendary Diamond Tooth Gerties.

This place is an old fashioned saloon. There is a poker game. The table always seemed full. I watched for a couple hours one night and saw two guys winning. The first guy just bought most of the small pots. The second guy would win a few large ones. Everyone else seemed to be just passing time. There were also dancing girls. The shows were fun. The signature drink here is a shot with a pickled toe. Since I rarely do shots and never consume body parts I passed. I did see several people go for it.

The place was hyper social and I would join a table splitting pitchers of beer. The beer would flow slowly at first, but it became hard to keep up in the morning's wee hours. I was really interested in my drinking companions, and how strangers from around the world interacted. Apparently a guy spent a little too much time annoying a local. They had a couple sharp words and both walked outside. The local took his seat again a couple minutes later. Five minutes after that the other guy comes in with a ripped shirt and sits back down. I guess their problem was resolved. A couple of Germans were touring parts of the world on their BMW motorcycles. Their bikes looked cool. I'd never been off the continent and they seemed amazingly cool to me. There is no bridge here, so people cross the river by a car ferry. There is frequent service during the day, but I'd hope that the ferry was on my side at closing time. Otherwise it could be a wait.

I could have killed a week here, but moved on after a few days. Some people stopped their trip here, and for others it was the beginning. I was just passing through.

 

Thanks. We hit Anchorage, called 49th St. about a reservation, and the guy said, none needed, no problem getting two in tonight. Showed up about 7pm and were told that it was a 2 hour wait. So they lost our dinner bill, but we’re on the roof now, and dammit, we’re gonna drink some beer!

 

Dawson City sounded like a good time. Re the 'toe' - I believe it's just supposed to touch your lips. Were there $5 bills (or other denominations) stapled to the ceiling or walls? Another tradition .... in case you ever returned and were out of cash, you at least had one more drink ... lol.

Great stuff.

GG

 

Thanks for all the info @wasilla. It has really come in handy during our trip.

Denali was beautiful today.

 

Nice picture. You probably know that's not the view that most see. Even on a clear day, Denali can create it's own view reducing weather. How much longer is your trip?

 

It was too long ago to remember about the bills. I di remember people selection their toe from a jar. Thanks for clarifying the touching the lips goal.

 

Leaving tomorrow. Today is basically a driving day from Fairbanks to Anchorage. I will probably do a trip recap next week in the non-Vegas trip reports.

 

Look forward to reading it. I'm not sure how this thread wound up on here. I liked being able to post my travel stories under trip reports.

 

Not a problem. I think any Alaska posts/stories are worth reading.

GG

 

Nice update on part 4. Man it makes me want to get out some and do some exploring. Dawson City seems interesting

 

I fell of the map after suggesting I may write up my visit to Alaska. Nothing like you Alaska veterans, but I was certainly moved by the experience. I will start now and run it out in a few installments.
A coworker’s brother and his wife live in Fairbanks. My son and I, plus my coworker and his son made the trip to go fishing 8 years ago in June. I was 50 and my son 22. My son and I flew out of Burbank on Alaska Airlines. I wasn’t what you would call a seasoned traveler but not brand new. Telling him how smart I was to fly out of Burbank, less traffic, easy, peasy out of Burbank! We walk into the airport 3 hrs ahead of time so we can relax and he can have a beer.
Empty terminal, stroll up to the counter, hand over flight confirmation and DL.
Desk clerk says “ your Stillsober? We’ve been paging you for twenty minutes!”
Oh shit, why? Our plane just left! I had bought plane tickets 6 mos in advance oh Kayak and the trip was not booked. I had confirmation emails blah blah blah. But the flight had been changed and we weren’t on it!
To summarize, Alaska Airlines and their staff was excellent, and rebooked us thru Seattle and on to Fairbanks with 4 hours in Seattle. We left the airport and went to the Seattle’s fish market and wharf to see some fish throwing and get some grub and brews for the boy. We hit up the space needle but the line was too long to go up. Back to the airport and low and behold, my coworker and his son were on the flight out of Seattle to Fairbanks. So, that worked out good for pickup in Fairbanks, only one trip for our host.

 

We landed in the evening, weird how it stayed light so late. It never really got dark, kind of like dusk but all night. Great scenery flying in, and the house in Fairbanks felt rural and in the woods.
Teddy lives in Fairbanks. His wife and him fish all summer mostly. They have 0 kids and 3 boats. We spend one short night in Fairbanks and headed out real early next morning to their cabin. They own a cabin somewhere south of Fairbanks on Richardson’s Clearwater creek. We drove a few hours, two vehicles and a boat.
First real impression were lots of water,rivers everywhere. Beautiful scenery and mountains. The drive was lovely! At some turnout, boat storage, boat launch area on the side of the highway we dropped the boat, grabbed one they just leave there and launched it. A flat bottom boat for going to the cabin. Transferred all our stuff and we are off! The river was running hard, very wide and shallow I thought. Quite an adventure so far for guys from the Central Valley in California. We go upriver for an hour(?) and turn into Clearwater creek.

 

We got to the cabin, built in the 40’s no running water or electricity. Two rooms plus kitchen and a mud room running the length of the cabin out front. It was in pretty good shape, and they had owned it for ~20 years. The was creek was just steps away. They called it a creek, but it was hip deep and maybe 40-50 yards across? It was huge, more like a river to me. But we used waders in it and you needed to just kinda lean into the current. The nearest neighbors upstream was Teddy’s wife’s mom and dad. They had actually homesteader the land where their cabin was in the 40’s! Bought it for the cost of the survey. We did a fair amount of work building a new deck at the in laws place. The cabins were only accessible by boat, float plane or snow mobiles. They called them snow machines. It is just amazing how resourceful this people are! Just incredible the things they accomplished thru the years.

 

Interesting stuff!

GG

 

Pretty cool how you got off the road system. I see you joined 100's of others coming to visit relatives and friends who get to pay their rent in labor. Sounds like an experience you wouldn't have been able to buy from a travel agent.

And yes, we don't have snow mobiles, only snow machines.

 

It was the best vacation I have ever been on. The father in law where we worked was named Bill. Bill was 80 when we visited, and was using a nail gun on an 8’ ladder when I came around the corner. I kinda held the ladder for him and told him I could do that work and the look he gave me was so funny, and I mean almost dismissive. Like, son, I been doing this since before you were born, and will be doing after you leave after your cute little vacation! I just stayed out of his way and helped where I could. It was impressive how capable the old guy was, and he told amazing stories.
His wife wore a whistle on a lanyard around her neck when she was outside the house. I asked her why, and she said to scare off bears and let Bill know if there was one around so he could help if needed. They are a great couple and they felt like some level of pioneers. If that makes since, they just did everything for themselves like nothing I had seen or been exposed to.
I will keep writing this up over the next few weeks as I try to keep it in chronological order. I have a few commitments that will keep me busy for a few weeks, including a Vegas golf trip to the Wynn and Bears Best.