Alaskan Vaca 2022 - Day 4, Travelling from Fairbanks to Talkeetna (and Denali!)

Day 4, July 15th... Woke up right at 6:30am this morning and I don't know why. All we need to do today is pack up the AirBn'b in Fairbanks and drive to Talkeetna, which is about 275 miles, not counting the miles that we'll drive in Denali National Park.

We left our Fairbanks AirBn'b just before 9am and had a stop  to get some coffee.  Here's some pics of our place of occupation.

This was our bedroom.  I moved that little R2-D2 fan over to the window sill as there was no air conditioning in the place.  They had the heat on when we got there for God's sake!  The light coming in that window never changed much either.  One morning we woke up to a light shower and the sound of the raindrops hitting the big leaves on the trees was fantastic!  So relaxing.

The bedroom that Rob occupied.

The couch with the bright pillows folded down into a bed where Caleb slept.

That chair poking out behind the fridge was where I sat to journal our days of adventure!

What a strange little L shaped room.  We used it for some luggage and such.

We drove thru some of the most beautiful country that I have ever laid eyes on!  And with Alaska being our 50th state visited, that is saying something!  We weren't in any big hurry so we would pull off on a good number of scenic overlooks for some pics.  

It is truly amazing how the pictures on the computer lose their depth compared to the real thing.  The cool thing about the road that we're on is that there do not seem to be any police coverage, so a fella can really make some time on it.  At one point in a passing lane, I was "accidentally" doing 98mph and since these roads are built on permafrost, there's some pretty good dips in them.  On the 98mph dip, I think we got some air!  Not Dukes of Hazzard air, but air none-the-less.

I think, think, that this is approaching the Nenana River bridge but my confidence is wavering.

I think this pic was taken at a roadside bathroom, that smelled really bad, once our coffee had been "processed'.

The river pics South of Healy were some of the best but again, they lost that depth of what we were seeing. Truly stunning!
 

It got SUPER windy which made it feel much colder the the 58 degrees that it was.

 

I believe that we made it to Denali National Park  shortly after noon, but I don't recall for sure.  We did the shops, and visitor center before taking a short walk, basically a scenic route back to our rental car. We did the ~15 mil drive into the park which is all the further that regular vehicle can go now that  we'eve had a major landslide.

Caleb was wearing a mask because...  I don't remember.  Oh, I think you had to have one to go into the gift shops.  I went into the gift shop for roughly 1 minute and went back outside to hopefully meet a bear.  It did not happen.

On our walk.

On our crosswalk...

Same but looking the other direction.

You wonder who has "that mind" that looks at a mountain like that and thinks to themselves, "let's put a big-arsed hotel right about here!".  

 

This is at the ~15 mile mark that passenger vehicles can drive and we got out to walk around a bit.

 

On that big rock in the foreground, if you squint REAL hard, you can see people on top of it.  We did not go up there and I'm ok with that.

The joint with the yellow sign is the Denali Doghouse which is where we had lunch.  Mama and Caleb had reindeer corndogs and Rob and I split the Bonecrusher and it was fantastic!

What is a Bonecrusher?  From their website:

It was a BIG sammy and just right for the two of us.

After that, we hit the road again and after only several minutes of driving, we hit road construction complete with a flagger.  It truly wasn't too bad but not long after we got out of the construction, it started to sprinkle... and then rain lightly...  and then rain not-so-lightly!  As it turns out,  Alaska has a weather pattern that happens in a similar fashion every year.  You have the "fire season" in June and into July, then a front (the person on the TV called it a specific name and I didn't write it down, sooooo...) comes thru, generally with a little rain, but not much.  That fella described it as about a 10 year event where they get heavy rains for a week or so and it appears as if that's what we're getting this year while we visit.  It was a bit annoying at first in Talkeetna but when you saw how pleased the locals were for the rain and the fact that the Alaskans just go about doing whatever they were going to do anyway,  it made me happy for them!  At this point,  I'm thinking that some things we have scheduled could be cancelled, but oh well, what are you going to do?  We're in Alaska and it is still beautiful!!!

Around 5pm or so, we get into Talkeetna after stopping at Alaska Birch Syrup & Wild Harvest Products to go find our next Air Bn'b.  On the way there, Caleb announced that he was "hangry" and opened his his Salmon jerkey that he bought at the store.  It STUNK and Rob was pissed about that and went off on one of his famous rants and hence forth banning all jerky eating in the car or around anybody else who had a functioning nose.  Caleb likes jerky and Rob hates the smell of it.  All of it.  It makes for some absolutely delightful times!

The AirBn'b was a bit of a disaster as this place was NOT up to snuff compared to the last one.  Oh, it was fine overall but it was only a 1 bedroom, 1 bath and guess who was not getting the bedroom?  

The boys!  

Rob was NOT happy with this development.   Plus it was raining like crazy at this point and we had not gotten to the point of seeing the happy local folks yet, so it was a bit annoying.

I didn't take a pic of the place because it never stopped raining, but this is the one that was right next to us and ours was identical.  They're pretty new and as I said, it was fine, but it would have been much better for just two peeps or two parent peeps with smaller kids.

Around 7pm, we head up to the Denali Brewpub in "downtown" Talkeetna, about 3 blocks from our residence.  We drove due to the rain but the parking sucks up there!  Food and drinks were good but the boys are not big fans of the town overall.  I won't be either if we get flooded out before we leave here!  It is raining hard!!!

At the Denali Brewpub, Mama Chaos and myself both had flights (small samplings {3 to 5 oz} of their various offerings. The food was awesome but the most surprising was that they had the BEST sweet potato fries we've ever had.  The three males are, in general, NOT big fans of anything sweet potato but all 3 of us thought that these were amazing!  We also ordered all 3 desserts and two bombers to take back to the house.  It was a LARGE bill but a fun time too with a great waitress!  

Back to the house we go as there is not much else to do in town because of the rain.  Rob's reading his books and Caleb is building/expanding his music playlist on his phone.  Mama is researching stuff for tomorrow and I am busy being Ted.  We have only one game of Blitz/31 tonight and Caleb won it.

Oh yeah... I didn't pack any sweatpants and since I pretty much wear sweatpants exclusively back home due to the 'rona, I was missing them.  I borrowed a pair of my wife's who is a head shorter than me.  It was met with many laughs from the peanut gallery.  What a flattering picture with the short sweatpants and my moobs (moobs = man boobs) on display.  Oh well, it could be worse, right? Maybe... I hope... no?

That brings us to the close of our day...  It's time for bed.

Alaskan Vaca 2022 - Day 3, Part II, Gold Dredge 8 Tour

Off we head North (and a bit East) on Hwy 2 just past the town of Goldstream to a little place called Gold Dredge 8.  

The tour starts, quite literally, right beneath TAPS, the Tran Alaskan Pipeline System.  The info given about the pipeline is quite amazing to me as I've been very interested in this for probably the last 15 years or so.  We were sitting on that back bench that is currently unoccupied.  One of the older ladies in front of us, you can see her jeans and light colored shirt just beyond the pole, got to arguing and it caused me a fit of laughter where I had to get up and leave the area.  They were arguing over a friggin' window and it's covering!  SOOOOOOO funny as they were SOOOOOO disrespectful to each other!  It was truly a sign of vaca-lag where you're obviously tired of your mates and you can no longer speak with soft words!  I'm giggling as I type this! 

Caleb brushing across it trying to create some kinetic energy of some type...  or just jacking around.

I always assume that a sign has NEVER been created without being preceded by an incident.  LOL   Would love to hear about the incident for this signage.

Pretty cool shot as you can see the right-of-way that goes up and over the mountain in the upper right quadrant.  There is supposedly a road that can be driven from end to end along the pipeline and a helicopter (or two, I don't remember) flies the whole length of the thing twice daily for security purposes.

This tool travels thru the pipeline for cleaning and maintenence purposes.  The pipeline is surveyed several times per day, mostly by air. Foot and road patrols also take place to check for problems such as leaks or pipe settling or shifting. The pipeline can be surveyed in as little as twenty one days, but most surveys take longer to ensure thoroughness.^[157] These external inspections are only part of standard maintenance, however. The majority of pipeline maintenance is done by pipeline pigs—mechanical devices sent through the pipeline to perform a variety of functions.^[158]

The most common pig is the scraper pig,^[159] which removes wax that precipitates out of the oil and collects on the walls of the pipeline. The colder the oil, the more wax buildup. This buildup can cause a variety of problems, so regular "piggings" are needed to keep the pipe clear.^[160] A second type of pig travels through the pipe and looks for corrosion. Corrosion-detecting pigs use either magnetic or ultrasonic sensors. Magnetic sensors detect corrosion by analyzing variations in the magnetic field of the pipeline's metal. Ultrasonic testing pigs detect corrosion by examining vibrations in the walls of the pipeline. Other types of pigs look for irregularities in the shape of the pipeline, such as if it is bending or buckling.^[161] "Smart" pigs, which contain a variety of sensors, can perform multiple tasks.^[162] Typically, these pigs are inserted at Prudhoe Bay and travel the length of the pipeline. In July 2009, a pig launcher was installed at Pump Station 8, near the midpoint of the pipeline.^[162]

A third type of common maintenance is the installation and replacement of sacrificial anodes along the subterranean portions of pipeline. These anodes reduce the corrosion caused by electrochemical action that affect these interred sections of pipeline. Excavation and replacement of the anodes is required as they corrode.

The baffle type things atop the posts attached to the footings collect sunlight and are used as "ground chillers" that help the pipeline footage to not heave when the ground is frozen and shifting.

We finally loaded on the train after also learning that Thursdays are generally travel days for the folks on the big tour buses.  Our group had zero buses as we were all independent travelers on this day!  Have any of you heard of a fella named Earl Hughes?  Probably not for most of you, but I would guarantee that the same "most of you" have actually heard Earl Hughes.  He's played one instrument or another with popular peeps that you would know.  Up here, he's known as the Alaskan Ambassador to Country Music.  His music was playing in the gift shop earlier this morning and I was surprised to learn that he was along on our tour (I suspect every tour as part of his job...).  His dad played for old-timers like Hank Snow and a few others that he named.  Made me wish that my father-in-law was with us to have a conversation with this fellow as he himself had some good stories of exactly those old-timers passing thru Des Moines.

The dude in the blue shirt over by the old equipment is the son of the older dude narrating our tour. He demonstrates how to run the old equipment and what it does.  Pretty cool to see that earlier American ingenuity at work.

This is the actual dredge tool and quite frankly, I was fascinated by it!!

When you're on the tour, they teach you how to pan for gold and when the tour is nearly over, you get to practice what you've recently learned unless you fell asleep like Rob did!

This was both fun and frustrating!  It also taught me that if I had moved out West to pan for gold, I would have died quickly died from poverty as my skills sucked!  Ironically, Rob the sleepy, was the first one done.

Into the gift shop we went with our new found riches and we got Caleb a bracelet with our plunder.  We walked around a while admiring all of the old equipment that was left from generations gone by.  You'll see plenty of those in the coming pics!

Finally, the boys decided to head outside since we couldn't find Mama Chaos.   We wanted to see if she went out there to observe the dredge from this angle and it turns out that not only had she gone out to observe it, she went up into it and walked around!  What the heck????  I didn't know that this was even an option and so, up I went!  The boys followed.  The boys? meh...  The next group of pics are from inside the dredge.

Watch'er step!!!  These bad boys were steep and as I had quickly ascertained, a good way to die!

 The train whistle blew while we were in the rig, meaning that it's time for everyone to get back to the train.  We did just that exact thing as I am a HUGE rule follower.  We did grab some free cookies and coffee on the way tho...

We boarded our train and found that Earl was finishing up some question/answer thing.  Dang!!!  If I had known he was doing that, I would have spent far less time in the tourist trap gift shop and would have been out there talking to him!  

As he was finishing up, he walked the short length of the train (remember, no tour buses) and was thanking all of the peeps.  I was furthest from him since I had loaded first followed by Rob, Caleb and then Mama.  He thanked Les and the boys and then gave me some sort of brief salute, nod and a power sign all while saying something that I couldn't quite decipher.  Rob saw it and looked perplexed, asking, "What was that?".

I have no idea if it's true or not, but I've read over the years that old musicians could spot other musicians by their behaviors.  Is that what it was?  I have no idea.  I suspect it was probably my initial reaction to him when he was first introduced as I may have been the only one on the train to recognize his name.  

We left there debating on whether or not to go to the town of North Pole.  Technically, we debated it on the way up to Gold dredge 8 and now we briefly discussed it again before unanimously vetoing it.

We returned to our AirBn'b to start packing as we leave tomorrow, do laundry and play some card games.  By card games, I mean only one, Blitz (or 31 by some peeps).

Everyone is in bed except me.  I'm finishing laundry at 1:10 am and it's still light outside as the other sleep...  I need to do that too but the light plays havoc with my noggin.