Alaskan adventure - days 10 - 11 — Captain Father John

There was another earthquake at 4:30 am. Just a little rumble that shook the building. Nothing to be concerned about. Hotels in Alaska offer a wake up call service for the Northern Lights. If the Northern lights appear they will call your room and let you know. So far, no calls.

We are still in Fairbanks which is only one degree or 125 miles south of the Arctic Circle. The Arctic Circle is 66* north latitude and Fairbanks is 65* north latitude. And as far as longitude is concerned we are as far west as Honolulu, Hawaii. When Captain Cook gave up his quest to find the Northwest Passage he sailed directly south to his doom in Hawaii.

Our tour today took us to the Gold Mining Dredge #8. This includes a narrow gauge train ride and a serenade by a guitar player that claims he was the opening act for Johnny Cash when he played in Anchorage – twice. The Alaska oil pipeline runs though the park that displays the gold dredge. The pipeline runs. 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez and is the main source of revenue for the state of Alaska. There is no state income tax in Alaska. 90% of the revenues to run the state come from sales of the crude oil passing through the pipeline. Not only is there no state income tax but the state issues a $1,000 rebate to very tax payer each year.

We all had the opportunity to pan for gold just like a Klondike prospector. We learned how to pan for gold using warm water because who would expect to have to pan for gold in Alaska with cold water. We all hit pay dirt in our pokes ranging in value from $7.00 – $24.00. Now we just have to find someone to buy it from us.

We also visited Santa Claus at the North Pole, Alaska. This is a year round Christmas theme park with several reindeer. The reindeer/caribou are the only deer where both the males and females have antlers. The male antlers are larger. They shed their antlers each year. Con and Millie the owners of Santa Claus North Pole arrived in Fairbanks in 1950 with $1.80 in their pocket and two hungry children. They have been in Fairbanks ever since.

Back at our hotel (the Pike Family hotel) they have a large fire pit next to the river. JP, Alison and I hiked 1.5 miles each way to the Fred Meyer store to pick up sundowner supplies. It was good to get some exercise after sitting on buses for several days for many hours at time. We supported the local micro brewery Siver Gulch. Silver Gulch is the northern most brewery in the US. Our timing was good because a group that had monopolized the adirondack chairs around the fire pit had to depart for the salmon bake and native dancing event. We sat around the campfire and had a relaxing evening reminiscing about our trip. The hotel has two barrels of stones that are provided for throwing into the river. Of course, they have a few rules. Do not throw stones at passing boats, do not throw stones at the hotel and there is a 50 stone maximum per guest.

The fire pit is a good place to meet other travelers. Two British girls traveling Alaska by car joined us as well as a drunken hunter that had just returned from 21 days in the bush. He took a shower and then hit the bar for shots of Jameson whiskey. He told us his story. His father started a successful fabrication shop in Minneapolis that catered to the black ops groups such as the Navy Seals. Business has been booming for years. His father passed away a few years ago and the son has been running the business. From what we could tell he had been running it from a distance for the whole time. He has been spending his time big game hunting around the world. We guessed he is a about 42 years old and living his dream. His Alaska hunting trip was on horseback with a guide. He shot a Dall sheep and a grizzly bear. The Dall Sheep has to be at least 8 years old to be legal to shoot. The sheep add a section to their horns each year. Before shooting, the hunter must confirm the age of the sheep by using a high power telescope. If the horn has grown completely around and the tip is above the eye it is most likely 8 years old. He carried all the meat, about 80 pounds down the mountain to eat at his base camp. He also carried the sheep head with the horns for taxidermy. He shot the grizzly bear through the neck and said it died quickly. He had the skull and the hyde to be tanned. He invited us to go to the parking lot to view his trophies. There he laid down the animal skulls and bear hyde on the ground for us to see. The bear hyde was full of salt to begin the tanning process. Later that night at dinner we saw him again sitting at the bar. He offered to buy us a round of drinks but we passed.

The phone call finally came at 1:00 AM on the last night of our vacation in Alaska. “Mr. Simons the Northern Lights are visible now.” I get up, get dressed and go outside to the parking lot. It is 30*f. I look north, I look south, I look east and west in the night sky. Nothing. Thanks for the call. Back to bed.

Monday was the first day in many without an early morning event. We slept in late, packed our suitcases and met for lunch. We has 1.5 hours to kill before we took our bus on the 5 minute ride to the Fairbanks airport so we played miniature golf in the drizzle. It seems to be raining almost all the time in Alaska. Oscar shot a hole in one on the second hole and maintained his lead for the entire round.

We are flying Alaska airlines from Fairbanks to Anchorage and connecting through on United to Chicago. Alison and Oscar will connect through Chicago to Boston. Alaska Airlines has a 50 pound maximum weight per bag and a $25 charge per bag. Overweight bags get charged an extra $75. The hotel had a baggage scale so we checked the weight of all our suitcases and made adjustments as required. Through some miracle during check-in the computer did not require the baggage fee. Our new best friend, ticket agent Susan, said she was surprised the computer was not demanding payment and she sent all of our bags through for free.

Our Alaskan Airlines flight 2808 is a turbo prop plane that serves free beer and wine. Too bad it is such a short flight today. Our flight to Anchorage is 261 miles, the connection to Chicago is 2,847 miles and Alison and Oscar will fly another 950 miles after that. We will arrive in Chicago at 5:00 am on Tuesday. During this trip we traveled by taxi, cruise ship, ferry boat, bicycle, helicopter, kayak, ATV, bus and train.

This has been a very fun family adventure. We are extremely fortunate that everyone could join us for this trip. Alaska is a “not” to miss destination for everyone.

This is the Simons family signing off until the next adventure. Remember all the emails are posted to www.captainfatherjohn.com for your reading enjoyment.

Regards,

John, Priscilla, Alison, Oscar, JP and Rachel

Photo of Gold Dredge #8

Panning for pay dirt.

We finally saw Caribou/Reindeer

Nothing says fun like miniature golf in the rain