We leave early this morning for Fairbanks, our first leg of the journey to Bettles. Gates of the Arctic and Kobuk Valley National Parks are the reasons for this trip. Once we visit these two National Parks (NP) we will have visited all eight NPs located in Alaska.
Both of these NPs are vast and remote. They are truly wilderness areas as they have no services of any kind; no roads, buildings, trails or campgrounds. You get to these NPs by plane, boat or foot. Visitor centers are located in the villages of Bettles and Kotzebue.
BB and I decided early on that we were not interested in a weeklong camping trip in a remote wilderness area. Our alternative to being dropped off by a bush plane in the NPs with camping gear and supplies is a tour offered by Bettles Lodge.
Check-in for our flight to Bettles from Fairbanks is 7:45am tomorrow with scheduled departure at 9:15am. We are out the door early, 6:30am, as we have things to do along the way.
We talk whether to have our big meal for the day as dinner in Fairbanks or lunch in Healy. We decide lunch will be at 49th State Brewery in Healy. The sky is overcast with intermittent rain showers. The drive to Healy is uneventful. We hope to see wildlife, but don't. Views of the mountains come and go as the clouds shift. Just before reaching Denali NP we drive by the entrance to Jeff King's Husky Homestead and wave hello. (We have visited Husky Homestead twice; see the post Review of Past Week 08-31-2022).
We break from tradition at 49th State. BB and I eat fairly often at 49th State in Anchorage. Our go to meals are Caesar Salad with salmon for BB and halibut fish and chips for me. Today we are wild and craze and order cheeseburgers!
Cheeseburgers!
The green bus is the replica used in the movie 'Into the Wild.' The movie is from the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, which tells the story of Chris McCandless.
Just some pretty flowers.
Nenana is our next stop. We have stopped there before to purchase Ice Classic Tickets. We hope to do two things in Nenana today; see the Golden Spike and dance in the dance circle.
We are Anchorage Museum Members. One of the exhibits this summer is All Aboard: The Alaska Railroad Centennial. We visited the exhibit and learned that Alaska Railroad has been operational since 1923. The tracks, Seward to Fairbanks, were completed in Nenana when President Warren Harding drove in the Golden Spike. We wanted to see the memorial that commemorates this.
An article in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner reported a dance circle in Nenana. Nenana resident Kat Reeves painted a blue circle and the words Dance Here on the sidewalk at the corner of A and 1st Streets by Coghills's Store. She hopes people walking down the sidewalk will stop and dance when they came to the circle. BB and I are prepared and want to dance!
We think to stop first at the Nenana's Visitor Center to ask directions to the Dance Circle and inquire about the Golden Spike Memorial. It is closed. We drive down the street toward the Historic Nenana Train Depot, checking the sidewalk for a blue dance circle. Don't see it. We park at the Depot. The Golden Spike Memorial is right there! We check out the Memorial and then go inside the Depot, which is a combination museum and gift shop. The person working inside is helpful and willing to answer questions. He knows railroad history. He does not know about the dance circle. He adds that he has been asked about it several times. He advises us to inquire at the AK Rustic Store. We use the restrooms and do a quick tour of the museum and shop. When BB shows interest in a print of the Depot, he gives us postcards of the print for free. We tell him if we find the dance circle we will come back to tell him where it is.
This plaque commemorates President Harding's visit and driving in the Golden Spike.
We leave the Depot for the AK Rustic Store, which is just across the street. The woman working there is friendly and doesn't mind our questions. We ask her about the dance circle. Yes! She knows where it is, just up the block on the corner by the grocery store. And she is friends with the woman who created it. We don't immediately head off to dance, because, well, this is a clothing store and some people love to shop! We do see things we like; however we make it out of the store without buying anything.
We find the dance circle and do a little dance. A man walking to his car from the store walks by us. I hear him chuckle as he goes by.
On our way back to the car we tell the woman at the AK Rustic shop that we did our dance. She tells us that she called her friend and told her that we had come to Nenana to dance in the circle. We also stop at the Depot and tell the man where the dance circle is.
Nenana is about 55 miles and an hour from Fairbanks. We are at our hotel, Pikes Waterfront Lodge, by 3:15pm. Our room isn't ready. We head to the airport to locate Wright Air Service. We find it and learn that it is about an 8 minute drive from the hotel. We go in to learn where we can park the car for several days, where to bring our luggage and what time we should show up.
When we were in Fairbanks for the WEIO games we learned that many artists and vendors had booths at Pioneer Park. It isn't very far from the airport so we decide to go and look at the vendors. There are some shops open at the Park, however, we don't see the arts and crafts vendors that we thought we would. We wander around a while but don't stay very long. We do see lots of pretty flowers.
Time to go back to our hotel, Pikes Waterfront Lodge. We stayed here in March when Jack and Ann came to visit. There was snow on the ground then. Today is it cloudy and rainy. We had a big lunch. We are happy having ice cream and Nabs crackers for dinner. We brought the Nabs with us. Ice cream is a dollar a scoop in the hotel lobby! We each get two; BB gets espresso and huckleberry and I get espresso and rocky road.
We wander around the hotel grounds before going to bed. It is so different than last time we were here. In March we walked on the frozen river to watch the Northern Lights.
A rainbow in the sky over the friendliest hotel.
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