TravelBlog: 8/13/23

Smidgeon on history/trip planning:

Spice Girls Travel Club planned this trip to Fairbanks, Alaska back in February.

Fairbanks is located in the heart of Alaska’s interior on the banks of the Chena River and the Tanana Valley.

Connie is originally from Fairbanks and lives (primarily) in Colorado. She bought a cabin in Fairbanks several years ago and spends the summers there.

Lisa, Denise and Deb live in WA. As you know, I'm in Phoenix, AZ.

Connie had found an Airbnb for us and booked it February. Last month she received a message that they had to cancel due to a plumbing issue that was going to need extensive repairs. Adrenaline rush ensued. She hopped right to it because being the busy tourist season and needing a house that sleeps five could have been an issue. Mission accomplished. She found a house that had recently listed as an Airbnb so it was available. It is the former governor’s house right on the river. Pictures at the end.

Thursday August 10, 2023

I had an easy but long travel day from Phoenix, connecting through Seattle to Fairbanks. The WA girls left earlier so Connie picked them up and they had lunch and did a little shopping. Connie and Lisa dropped Denise and Deb at the grocery store and came to pick me up. Back to the store to finish up shopping, then into the liquor department for some libations!

Connie had made Salmon Chowder for dinner so we went to the Cabin to pick it up, plus some other food she was bringing. The other girls met her husband G (I had met him previously in CO) and we met Tinker, their adorable little dog. Their cabin is super cute! So bummed I didn't get a picture of the cabin or Tinker.

We went to the Airbnb, unloaded all the food and luggage, called dibs on our sleeping spaces, got settled in, poured some cocktails, and chit chatted for a while before dinner.

:CHEERS: Blueberry Mojito (IIRC)

They made a salad while the chowder was heating. Two thumbs up for Connie’s Salmon Chowder. It was completely delicious. Cleaning up and more catching up before we turned in for the night.

Friday August 11, 2023

Connie had purchased tickets for the bus tour at Denali National Park. It’s about a two-hour drive from FAI so Connie thought we should leave at 8 a.m.

We arrived and had a little bit of time before our bus boarded.

No filter and check out the blue sky.
Rain had been predicted.

Our chariot awaits

All aboard

They can only go to Mile 43 (Toklat River Bridge) due to some repairs. The driver stopped briefly so we could see a family of ptarmigan on the side of the road.

They are leopard print birds that turn white in the winter.
They hang out year-round, they do not migrate.

I snatched this pic off the web because
their transformation fascinates me.

We stopped at a rest stop which was the Teklanika River overlook.

There were a couple of raven squawking.

Back on the road where we spotted a caribou.

Cropped

The end of the road where we had to turn around, was at Toklat River where Connie took the 58 steps down to the river bed.

Finally on the way back we saw a grizzly grazing.

Connie's photo - zoomed

No moose sightings. We did not actually see Denali (which is the highest mountain peak in North America BTW) because of the cloud cover but there were plenty of other large mountains rounding out the scenery. On the way back we asked the driver to drop us off at the dog kennels. These are working dogs that help the rangers when the vehicles can’t get through the snow.

They did a dog sled demo and then we wandered around the outdoor kennels for a little while.

We hitched a ride on another bus back to the end of the line. When we got off the bus we were a little lost but finally found the right bus back to our starting point at the bus depot. We bought a few things in the gift shop before heading out. We stopped at a little cluster of artsy gift shops on the way to dinner.

We had dinner at 49^th State Brewing.

For many years Connie has mentioned

Deep ! Fried ! Halibut !

in her blog during her summers in Alaska. I couldn’t wait to try it and it did not disappoint. It was amazing!

Connie’s pic

Lisa and I shared an order of Deep ! Fried ! Halibut ! then we helped Deb finish her ribeye which was also delicious. Connie and Denise also had the Fish n Chips.

Lisa and I split a piece of Blueberry pie which was made with Alaskan blueberries. So good! Connie and Denise also split a piece of BB pie. Deb got crème brûlée.

We were going to stop at Skinny Dick’s Halfway Inn on the way back but they were already closed.

Saturday August 12, 2023

We started off making breakfast. Scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage, bagels, and fruit before we hit the road.

Love that industrial stove

We went to the UAF Large Animal Research Station and had a little time before the tour started.

We saw musk ox and reindeer.

Musk ox are Bovidae, native to the artic.

Reindeer and Caribou are in the same family but Reindeer are from Europe.

In America they say Caribou are wild, Reindeer are domesticated. And that’s your zoology history lesson of the day.

We left there and went to a Farmer’s Market. Connie bought us Cream Rolls which are little waffle like pastry rolled up and filled with cream. M-M-Good.

We wandered around there a bit before heading to the North Pole. It's this l-l close to Fairbanks. Connie went to the North Pole High School!

It's all fun and games until you find out it's not the REAL North Pole. The REAL North Pole is actually in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. Anybody else feel so disillusioned, or is it just me? End geography lesson of the day.

As we were driving along the highway Deb shouted out “MOOSE”. There she was, larger than life, grazing along the expressway. Connie went up to the next exit, circled back around, and luckily she was still there. As soon as we pulled over and she heard us she bolted into the woods but not before I grabbed a quick pic.

Connie zoomed her in

Next stop was the Santa Claus House.

It’s a super cute gift shop and Santa was there waiting for a photo op!

We had to take a selfie with the creepy ginormous Santa outside

Next stop was the Artic Harvest Distillery. We ordered some cocktails. They have a food truck out front so the girls had loaded fries. One order of Chili Cheese and the other was Nachos. We walked in the field and took pics.

We left there and Connie took us to where the house was where she grew up. The original house is gone but the rebuilt house is still there and currently for sale. Then we stopped at Pioneer Park. They had a band playing on stage. We wandered through the shops and then, you know, I always have to take a pic "hanging with the locals".

A Ravishing Raven

Caribou Cutie

Then we headed to Skinny Dick’s Halfway Inn!! I mean, how could we not squeeze in a trip to Skinny Dick's?!?!? It is a bar and adult humor gift shop. And by adult, I mean lots of porn. This place is not for the modest!

When we got back they were still kind of full-ish from the fries earlier so we had salad and heated the leftovers. After dinner Connie offered us some fudge she had bought at Santa's House. Very good.

Sunday August 13, 2023

We had cheesy eggs, bagels/toast, fruit for breakfast. Connie got in the hot tub, only to discover there are no steps to get and out of the above ground spa. Up and over, over and out, is the only way to go!

We took the Riverboat Discovery Cruise which goes down the Chena to the Tanana.

We saw a bush plane demonstration (take off and landing) and then pulled up to the Iditarod dog kennels for a demonstration. It was the home and dog sled team kennels of four-time Iditarod champion Susan Butcher. Story goes when she bought her first sled dog she was laughed at and told it was a waste of money because “women don’t win the Iditarod”. She was the first and only woman** (so far) to get the title and she won it four times. Our guide said they had t-shirts made that said “Alaska, where men are men and women win the Iditarod”!!!! Love that.

**ETA - correction, Susan was actually the second woman to win the Iditarod. Libby Riddles was first in 1985. Susan won in 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1990. Thank for Connie for setting the record straight (see comment from Connie below) and sorry Libby for not giving you credit as the first woman to win!!

Anyhow they did a dog mushing demonstration.

When they were finished with the demo
the dogs ran down to the lake and hopped in.
Connie's photo

Oh. And. There was a PUPPY. Too cute.

We left there and stopped at the Chena Village which has cabins and guides who do demonstrations about how they survived over the years.

Susan Butcher’s daughter was there signing the book Granite, that her Mom wrote about her dog and his life’s story of overcoming adversity. He was small and she was told he’d never be able to race. He was sick and she nursed him back to health. He ended up being her lead dog in three of the four races she won, and on the team of the fourth. Never say Never. Susan died of leukemia in 2006.

On the river cruise we saw our house! It's the two story.

After the riverboat docked we shopped around the souvenir store for a while before heading to dinner. The place Connie had in mind was packed with a long wait time so we ended up at the Red Lantern. I had Beer Battered Fish & Chips, this time made with rock fish (cod). It was very good but it wasn’t

Deep ! Fried ! Halibut !

After dinner we went to Hot Licks and had ice cream.

Monday August 14, 2023

I don’t remember breakfast but I’m sure we ate. I think it was DIY. Up, dressed, packed, kitchen cleaned out, and out of the house around 10:45 to drop me off at the airport around 11. Let the games begin. This is where the wheels fell off the bus for me.

ETA: Update from Connie, they all went to breakfast and then went downtown and shopped for a bit before heading to the airport. Denise bought a raven print.

Connie's pic of the pic

They drove by the sandhill cranes at the wildlife refuge and got a glimpse of them on the drive by. No other photos were taken.

My turn in line and the agent tells me my flight is departing late so I will only have 15 minutes to make my connection (should have been almost 2 hours). She said the incoming and outgoing planes were in the same terminal, two gates apart if I wanted to chance it. Yes. I’m sitting up front and if the gates are right there I will be able to make the connection. I get upstairs and sit down at the gate and get a text that says “Flt xxx from SEA to PHX has been cancelled. You are now booked on flt xxx from SEA to PHX Tuesday 8-15, departing at 1:55 pm, arriving in PHX at 4:45 pm”. Tuesday!! Well shit. I text the Lisa and she says I can spend the night at her house and she’ll take me to the airport the next day. So back down to the ticket counter to see if they can retrieve my bag that is checked through to Phoenix since I have to stay the night. I checked to see if I could get on the later flight with Lisa, Denise, and Deb and she says no. I was able to get my bag and recheck it to SEA (TYJ), along with a new boarding pass for the flight home Tuesday. Flight to SEA, albeit leaving late, was okay. I got my bag and waited at the Lost and Found which I thought was fitting! LnF was actually just right there at the baggage carousel. I had about a four hour wait until they arrived. I was reading a good book so it didn’t seem too long.

We got to Lisa’s around 10 so it was off to bed.

In the morning, we sat around a while enjoying our morning coffee before going out to breakfast. Afterwards we sat out on the patio for a while. She has the most adorable patio. The past two times I was there it was earlier in the year so the weather was not cooperating for us to sit outside. Tuesday morning the weather was beautiful. We hung out for a while before she dropped me off at the airport. Oy, the airport departure/arrival traffic is ridiculous! The night before Denise’s BIL picked us up at departures because the traffic was so congested at arrivals. Tuesday Lisa dropped me off at arrivals because the traffic at departures was hideous. Anyhow, that flight was uneventful. Departure and arrival was right on time. I got to baggage claim and waited, waited, waited. Bags were coming down and I waited, waited, waited. FINALLY, 45 minutes later, my bag took a leisurely trip down the baggage chute. It had a bright orange PRIORITY tag on it and it was almost the last bag off. What’s up with that Alaska Airlines?

Finally Home-Sweet-Home.

Overall we had a great trip. Connie was the best travel guide showing us around her home town. We packed a LOT of things into a five day trip. The Airbnb had a few things that Connie was going to text them about but it was in a perfect location and was great for our needs. We did rearrange some of the furniture to make a conversation pit though.

Another ETA - I forgot to mention how lucky we were with the weather. I had checked the weather app for the entire week prior. It kept changing daily. Rain three days, to one day, to two days, back to three days. Fortunately we had beautiful weather the entire trip. We only had a tiny bit of rain on Denali day, and it waited until we finished dinner on the patio. We were waiting for our check when it started to rain. As it started to come down a little harder we went inside to wait for and pay our check. By the time we got back on the road it was already back to a drizzle which didn't last very long. It was too cloudy to see the Northern lights but it also doesn't quite get dark enough at night yet. Connie said sometimes around 1 or 2 am if it's really clear you might be able to see a little bit this time of year. I woke up and checked in the middle of the night but no luck.

Spice Girls Travel Club is going to plan another trip in May 2024, but first, I need to vacay with the hubs.

Next stop Amelia Island, Florida in October.