Waking up early and driving late has it's drawbacks. We never got those galaxy famous buns a few days back and we never got the chance to get some meats from Delta Meats and Sausage. I've had a hankering for some jerky, but they did not open until 10 AM.
We headed down the road and pulled into Rika's Roadhouse, a gathering place for travelers, hunters, trappers and prospectors. We left the dogs in the car and walked the grounds. Nobody was there, due to the time. Just Tom and I poking around, looking at the buildings and peaking inside.
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| The Garden Roadhouse guests benefitted from the bounty of Rika's garden, which was so great the University of Alaska studied her techniques. |
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| Chickens and sheep around the compound |
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| The Roadhouse |
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| Trans-Alaska Pipeline |
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| Communications House |
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| The history in a barn |
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| Memories of a different era |
It was great to be in Alaska. The state may be huge, but there are not many roads. You can't even get to the capital, Juneau, unless you fly in or take a ferry. You can get to the North Pole, though. North Pole, Alaska!
North Pole is a suburb of Fairbanks with an interesting history only matching it's quirky candy cane streetlights and the Santa Claus House. Built in 1952, the Santa Claus House is everything Christmas, including reindeer behind a double fence and a huge statue of the man himself. We bought a few ornaments and sent out a few postcards, loving the fact that they would be postmarked in the North Pole.
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| Tiles on the outside of the building |
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| Tom & the Moose |
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| Who's been naughty? Who's been nice? |
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| Outside the house |
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| Great for pictures |
We headed into Fairbanks after our visit to the North Pole. It was a beautiful day. The first stop was to a dog park. We had to tire out these dogs as they were getting used to swimming at this time of day. One dog park finder app later, we found ourselves in a mediocre gated dog park. Balls and poop littered the area, but it fulfilled the desires of the Lu & BJ.
We drove around the University of Alaska, looking at the campus and then a drive around town. Fairbanks, for us, was bleh. It was still fairly early, so we headed to Denali National Park. We landed outside of the park within a few hours. We stopped for an afternoon lunch at Prospector's Pizzeria & Alehouse and it was a great decision. The pizza was fantastic and the beer was endless, having nearly 50 beers on tap. We tasted a few and headed into the park.
First stop; Visitor's Center to get our passport stamped and inquire about camping. The building was packed. It was Sunday and peoples were coming and going. We did a quick tour of the center taking a few pictures and finding the information we needed.
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| Dall Sheep |
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| Coyote? Wolf? Whatever it is, it made us giggle |
We drove over to the camping area and paid our fees for the Riley Creek Campground. Now to find a campsite. Drive down loop A. Full. Loop B, there's one. There's one. There's one. Loop C. More of the same. Back to Loop B. We finally find a spot in the woods we like and begin to unpack.
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| First thing to do is tie up Lu & BJ |
Luther and BuddyJack had the best trip. Sleep, swim, food, sleep, watch us unpack. I really wished they had a job to do. I wished to soon as they found a job of keeping the red squirrels at bay. The red squirrels didn't help with their squeaking and jumping from branch to branch. It did keep them occupied for a bit and also helped tire them out, albeit also tangling their leads.
It was a great campsite with a large pad for the tent. Not as large as our tent, but almost. We relaxed for a bit and then planned on catching a ranger talk. I had never been to one before and I thought it would be fun. We put the dogs in the car and headed out.
It was fun. Families and hikers, all sitting on logs, listening to the lady ranger talk about bears and how they interact with the humans in their area. She passed around some of the bones of the animals she spoke of including the claw of a grizzly and a black bear. The grizzly claw was huge. Not something to run into.
We built a campfire that night and relaxed. Simply relaxed. It had been a while since we had an early evening with everything done at camp. The dogs were lying next to us. Good night! Even though it was still light out.
We explored Denali as best we could the next day. One can only take buses into the park after the first 15 miles and with the dogs, that would be as far as we went. We never saw a beer or a dall sheep or any other critter except the red squirrels and the porcupine that Tom ran into while walking the dogs in the morning.
Tom wanted one more stop at Prospector's Pizza before we left, so that's what we did. Anchorage was only a few hours away. There was one stop I wanted to make along the way, but that will be the next post. Until then, enjoy the view of Mt. McKinley and Denali National Park.
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| Mt. McKinley & Denali from Route 2 between Delta Junction & the North Pole |
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