Time to Head South on the Alaska Highway
/Time to leave Fairbanks and head south, but we had one more little detour to take before leaving the area. After a flurry of activity including a bit of provisioning, we headed north in late afternoon towards Chena Hot Springs. We’re not ‘hot springs’ fans per se, but the attraction in this case was to the lodge’s acclaimed Aurora Ice Museum. A museum kept at 25°F with incredible ice sculptures and even a bar which served cocktails in ice glasses. I’d read about it and researched it on line and it sounded awesome.
We stayed the night at Grand Tors State Park ($20/night) only ~20 miles away from the park. It’d be an easy drive in the morning. There was a trail at the park that looked interesting and since it was later in the day, we figured we’d walk it the next morning. Additionally, we found a bike route that led to the lodge which might be an option as well. Note to self: “Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do today.” It began raining around 8pm and rained torrents all through the night and into the next morning. No walk… no bike ride.
We drove to the Chena Hot Springs Lodge and parked. We could see the Ice Museum nearby… mounds of snow piled up at its front door. We ate a yogurt cup in Blanche and I walked over to the office to buy tickets for the 11am tour.
“Sorry, the ice museum is closed!”, said the receptionist.
“When will it open?”, I queried.
“Oh, it’s been closed for awhile now,” she stated.
“Will it open in the next couple of days?” It was like pulling teeth.
“No, it’s probably closed for the season.” She shrugged.
Bummer! We had come specifically to visit the Ice Museum. There was nothing on line at all that indicated that the museum was closed and had been closed for ‘awhile now’. Maybe we could have lunch at the lodge, David suggested. We returned to the lodge to find the restaurant was closed for lunch.
Swallowing my disappointment, we headed back down the road to Silver Gulch Brewery. At least we could have lunch and a craft beer at the “furthest north brewery in North America”. Nope! The Silver Gulch didn’t open till 4pm. We ate lunch in their parking lot, then headed back to Fairbanks.
It was still raining when we returned to Fairbanks. What to do now? We noticed the sign at the local Walmart that indicated RVs were welcome to park for a maximum of 24 hours. Sold! We parked and headed into the store. We bought a ‘roaster’ for dinner along with some potato salad, returned to Blanche and took a nap, ‘lulled’ to sleep by the rain pommeling Blanche’s roof.
Dinner time came and David carved up the roaster… unfortunately, it wasn’t thoroughly cooked, so we trudged back into the store in the rain, got a refund, and tried again. The rain finally stopped, but a work crew moved into the parking lot. One fellow was air-hammering a section of sidewalk, a 3-man crew was repainting the parking lot lines and a street sweeper was sweeping the aisles. Not much sleep and we were happy to leave in the morning, hoping our current run of poor luck wouldn’t follow us.
Back on the Alaska Highway and heading south, our first stop was North Pole. From the candy cane shaped and striped lampposts to street names like St. Nicholas Drive and Santa Claus Lane, the town plays on the North Pole theme to the nth degree. There’s even a St. Nicholas church in town. The world’s tallest Santa stands 50’ tall beside the Santa Claus House. He’s in need of a little TLC. Hope they get some elves working on that.
The Santa Claus House is, as you’d expect, a supermarket of all things Christmas. Since 1952, the place has evolved from a small trading post/gift shop to the ultimate in Christmas-themed everything.
But we did get to meet Santa and he was, indeed, a jolly old elf.
Next door is the Antler Academy. Reindeer roamed behind a wire fence. We peeked, but didn’t go in. Admission: $13/pp.
Continuing on, our next destination was Delta Junction. The official end of the Alaska Highway. En route, we spotted Rika’s Roadhouse, built in 1910, it is one of the original Alaska roadhouses that serviced travelers along the Richardson Highway on the Valdez to Fairbanks Trail between 1913-1947. Now part of the Big Delta State Historic Park, the roadhouse was closed for some reason, but the walk around the area was a good leg stretch.
The Visitor Center at Delta Junction was a fun stop. A marker designated the ‘official’ end of the Alaska Highway.
Inside the Visitor Center, all sorts of Alaska Highway souvenirs were available. We received our certificate for having completed the journey. (Although, truth be told, we hadn’t yet finished one section because of our detour to the Dempster, but we planned to finish that last section soon).
Alaska’s state bird was immortalized in the front yard.
A night at the Delta State Recreation Site Campground and then on to Tok the next morning. Views of the Alaska range are supposedly fantastic along this route, but the haze and fog prevented any views, unfortunately. We’d planned to stay at an RV park, but at the last minute decided a hotel night (only our 3rd of the entire trip) was in order. We chose a quaint, cozy little sod-roofed log cabin for the night at Burnt Paw Gifts and Cabins.
When we’d visited Tok on our way through a couple of months ago, I’d wanted to stop at Mukluk Land (World’s Largest Mukluk), but it was closed. This time, however, it was open and we headed there in the late afternoon. What a disappointment! It’s a tired, rusting junkyard of old equipment and vehicles. We’d expected something quirky and kitschy like Possum World in New Zealand or Da Yoopers Tourist Trap in Michigan’s UP, but this was just a decrepit few acres of peeling paint, dilapidated, uncared for buildings and three small buildings with creepy dolls staring at us from behind dirty picture windows. From a field of broken snow machines (not snow mobiles in Alaska, please!) to a collection of outhouses, it was just a letdown.
Dinner at Fast Eddy’s, the only sit-down restaurant in town (fast and pretty good), and then a quiet, romantic evening back in our little log cabin. The disappointment of Mukluk Land faded into distant memory.
A late start the next morning. As we watch the birds migrating, the daylight time shorten and the leaves fall, we know it’s time to start heading back home, but as usual it’s bittersweet. We drove only about 60 miles from Tok and stopped at Seaton Roadhouse, now a lovely rest area with trails for a stretch. We walked along the trails, had a very late lunch and time seemed to get away from us. We ended up spending the night there… calm and peaceful.
Off the next morning to Haines Junction and we were back in Yukon Territory, Canada and back in the Pacific Time Zone.
We stopped at Pickhandle Lake for a stretch. Fireweed was in seed now. Migrating ducks were resting on the lake.
The section between Haines Junction and Whitehorse was the only section of the Alaska Highway we hadn’t yet driven and we completed it with little fanfare. We checked into Hi-Country RV Park, the same place we stayed when we passed through last time.
David had been concerned about Blanche’s tires since Fairbanks. We still had several thousand miles to drive and closer inspection of the tires in Whitehorse indicated that Blanche needed new shoes. When I think of Yukon Territory, it conjures up images of wild country, Royal Canadian Mounties, sled dogs… not spending four hours at Integra Tire waiting to have new tires put on Blanche, but that’s the reality of long distance travel.
So… we’re back in Whitehorse, Yukon and ready to head further south on the Alaska Highway. Surely, this can’t be all there is. We just retrace our steps and drive directly home from here? Heavens no! There’s more to see. Let’s take a detour to another U.S. pene-exclave… how about a side trip through the Carcross Desert (world’s tiniest desert) down to Skagway. All in favor… vote ‘Aye’.