Day Ten - Tok to Fairbanks AK

This drive was a Moose Bonanza

I don't know where they were all heading, maybe to the moose picnic
<

Monday June 2nd 2008
Drive to Delta Junction and then to Fairbanks
203 miles – estimated 4 hours of driving



This drive was great! So short that it felt like there was no driving at all. We started seeing Monolithic Domes at Delta Junction. Here was the office of M2C1 construction. I took a bunch of pictures of this gorgeous copper dome for dad. I was bummed that the owner wasn’t there. After all, dad’s only famous to a select group of people.

We checked into the hotel upon arrival in Fairbanks and discovered that the room was very, very small and the Internet connection was irregular. Here in Fairbanks we found the joys of staying out of our hotel room.

The first touristy stop was the Large Animal Research Station where the university personnel are studying Caribou, Reindeer, and Yaks. We got to take the tour and learn lots about them. Best of all was the very, very, cute baby yaks.

Birding was high on the list of things for me to do and they have a wonderful bird spot at the Creamery, so called because it is on the site of an old dairy farm.

Next touristy thing was the trip to the marvelous bookstore then the internet café for treats and internet access.

The most amazing Thai food can be found here in Fairbanks. If you go I recommend ordering one thing off the menu and sharing. We ordered two things and couldn’t even touch the second…

Golden North Motel
4888 Old Airport Way
Fairbanks, AK 99709

Receipts:
Golden Bear Motel & RV Park – Tok AK
Three Bears (gas) – Tok AK
IGA Food (groceries) – Delta Junction AK
Sam’s Sourdough Café – AK ?
Large Animal Research Station (admissions) – Fairbanks AK
Large Animal Research Station (souvenirs) – Fairbanks AK
Gulliver’s Books – Fairbanks AK
College Coffeehouse (coffee, tea, treats, internet access) – Fairbanks AK
Pad Thai Restaurant – Fairbanks AK

Wildlife & Birds:
Moose
Mew gulls
Bank swallows
Violet green swallows
Lesser scaup
Green winged teal
Canada geese
American wigeon
Northern shoveler
Sandhill cranes
Cliff swallow
Wilson's warblers
White crowned sparrow
Dark eyed juncos

Random quote from some sign: “Worry is the darkroom where negatives are developed”

For more photos from this day see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157605547282888/

Day Nine - Haines Junction to Tok AK

Image: Moose by side of the road

Sunday June 1st 2008
Drive to Tok AK
291 miles – estimated 6 hours of driving

This drive included lots of dirt road as the ALCAN highway was being improved. For awhile we were behind a truck with a funny thing on the back, like a camper, but not. In Anchorage we got a close of view of the modern version. It’s a dog sled team transport vehicle, with kennels in the back and the sled on the top in some cases. It was very cool.

Image: Dirt covered glacier, the water is melting out from under it.

At lunch at Buckshot Betty’s I found another pair of birders who were having a great trip. People were very friendly on the road.

Tok is where I saw my first allegedly elusive snow shoe hare. I would see lots more of them on our journey, but it was very exciting to see my first one. Nick and I went birding and drove around Tok a bit. We found the appliance graveyard. I hadn’t thought about it, but it must be very hard to recycle stuff out in the middle of Alaska.




Fast Eddy’s restaurant in Tok was listed in our AAA guide and it was good. I think this was the last time I used the guide on the whole trip. I’m just too cheap to eat at most of the places they recommend.

The conifers in Alaska and the Northern parts of the Yukon are mostly these twisty, Seussian, black spruces.

Golden Bear Motel & RV Park
PO Box 500
Tok Alaska 99780

Receipts:
ALCAN Motor Inn – Haines Junction YT
Fas Gas – Haines Junction YT
Buckshot Betty (lunch) – Beaver Creek Yukon YT
Fast Eddy’s Restaurant (dinner) – Tok AK

Wildlife & Birds:

Moose
Snow shoe hares

Cliff swallows
Tree swallows
Bank swallows
Yellow bellied sapsucker
Golden eagles
Rough legged hawk
Lesser scaup
American wigeon
Mallards
Rusty blackbirds
Ring neck duck
Bald eagles
Gray jay (taiga)
Yellow-rumped warbler
Mountain blue bird
White-crowned sparrow (taiga)
Robins
Ravens

I really wanted to see a Gray jay. And Alaska welcomed us by having one perch on the customs point sign.

For more photos see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157605552053113/