The places I go...

Canadian Rockies

mdcamps — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 01:00:00 GMT

There are many reasons why I wish I was born in Canada.

First, they celebrate Thanksgiving on the second weekend in October. Not sure why that is cool, but I like it.

Second, HOCKEY! I have not been to a town in Canada without a skating rink, a local team and a pure joy for the drop of the puck.

Do I even have to mention their health care...

But the main reason, the best reason, the CANADIAN ROCKIES! Everyone from CO and in love with CO hold you breath. I do not speak a single negative breath about the Colorado Rockies. But the for as splendid as the CO Rockies are, they reach their climax in Canada. And that is a fact! Take one drive down the Icefield Parkway and try to argue, you cannot.

I state all this and I just arrived in Banff, Alberta. There is still a lot of Canada to see.

Life is stupendous, live wisely!

Valdez

mdcamps — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 23:30:00 GMT

Two beautiful days of driving, hiking and just seeing the sights and now I am in Valdez. The drive along the Glenn Hwy out of Anchorage was spectacular. Then the southern portion of the Richardson Hwy was even better. Great views of glaciers, termination dust on the high peaks, fall colors so bright and vivid; WOW. It was incredible.

Valdez is great so far. But it does not win out for my favorite place in Alaska.

1. Seward

2. Haines

3. Homer/Talkeetna/Valdez - All of these are great for separate reasons but are just missing some element to make it higher up on the list.

Back on the Road quickly to the End of the Road

mdcamps — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:00:00 GMT

We made it to HOMER! This is doubly exciting because that means Shannon's VW is fixed up and rolling along again. No longer are we stuck in Soldotna waiting for an axle, finally we are back on the road; waiting to uncover the next mini-adventure. Unfortunately, it was not far from Soldotna that our road trip came to a geographical climax. Homer is essentially the end of the road; land's end. From here we have to turn around and head home. Or you could say, from here we will turn around and do it all over again! It is not to say that our route will be a repeat on the way back south, but from here, each days drive will bring us closer to the lower 48.

Homer is a beautiful town spread out along Kachemak Bay on the south western end of the Kenai peninsula. It is raining steadily today so there has not been much exploring thus far. But yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed a Bar-B-Que at a friend of a friends house. The view from Ray's place is stunning; up on the hill out of town a little it overlooks much of Kachemak Bay, the Homer Spit and the mountains and glaciers across the bay. Simply beautiful.

A few firsts happened at this shindig:

1. I tasted Black Cod / Sablefish for the first time.

This is my new favorite fish to eat and it even might make the top of the list for all seafood (I would have to have a side by side by side comparison with Maine Lobster and Duxbury Island Creek Oysters before I could make a final judgement). The meat is just fantastic; so buttery, high oil content, it just melts in your mouth with flavor.

2. I was stung by a bee for the first time since my Baja attack (see near misses blog).

The sting was on my left shoulder. It hurt a ton, way more than I ever remember any bee sting. That was probably just my mind focusing on it since I was not sure how my body would react after the previous episode. A small welt formed about the size of a dime and the skin tissue was red for an inch around the welt. I was worried I could react much worse, but that was all. I think it is safe to say I am still NOT allergic to bee stings, for now.

Talk to me Goose

mdcamps — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:00:00 GMT

I've lost it.

I am stuck in Soldotna, AK on the Kenai peninsula. I have had a hotel room for three nights waiting for the car to be fixed up. During those three days I have managed to watch all three Karate Kids (the originals), Gone with the Wind, On the Waterfront, School of Rock and Some Like it Hot. It has been nice outside the whole time and I cannot find any motivation to get out and explore. So what if I am leashed to a hotel, without a car; there is still plenty of adventure around the town. I leather-tramped it all last summer; plenty of adventure can be had without a car. The world class Kenai river is 100 feet away and I have not made it over to cast a line.

Hopefully this bug passes. I think it will. Just being able to write this down has already helped.

Glaciers and Seals and Whales, oh my.

mdcamps — Sun, 4 Sep 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Aialik Glacier is SPECTACULAR. Sitting on a cruise boat a quarter mile off the glacier with the engine off just listening to the sound of the ice I was in constant awe. The sounds of the glacier are astonishing. Then to see a huge ice chunk break off, calving into the sea, is a sight and sound I will never forget. I could have stay there for days.

The second highlight of the cruise was a Humpback whale spotting. The whales hump would break the surface occasionally as we waited and watched for almost ten minutes. Just as the captain was firing up the engines to pull away. The boat went silent for a second, then someone broke the silence with an excited gasp and laughing hoot. The reason, our Humpback whale had just performed a full body breach within 100 feet of the boat. It was beyond impressive to see a 35 foot, 70,000lb animal jump fully out of the water only to come CRASHING down with a violent splash.

I personally enjoyed the calving glacier more than the breaching whale; but both are rare sights by human eyes and both are moments in time that I will never forget.

Skiing Again!

mdcamps — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:00:00 GMT

We put in a huge effort to ski again and it was well worth it. After hiking up to Crow Pass with our overnight gear, we realized there were ski-able slopes up there. So we camped for the night and set the alarm for early in the morning.

In the morning, before the sun was up, we were up. We packed up the tent and headed back down the 3,000 feet to the car. Once at the car, the overnight gear was unloaded and we packed up our bags with ski gear. Back up into the mountains we went.

We were walking on firm snow by noon. After filling our bellies with a tuna sandwich and some trail mix, we made some turns. Five laps on the Crow Glacier! It was excellent skiing. I mean, it was incredible scenery and it felt great to be on skis.

Back on Track

mdcamps — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:00:00 GMT

It had been over a week since the noise started in Shannon's car. Not really a grind, not exactly a clicking. It almost sounded like the creaking of old wooden floors as you walk over them. It manifested itself during slow cornering; something with the CV joint we figured. The larger problem was that we were halfway between Fairbanks and Anchorage. Almost nowhere to get work done. So we drove cautiously towards Anchorage, still stopping for many adventures along the way.

Within driving distance of Anchorage, Shannon was connected with a relative who had experience replacing axles, had a garage and had all the tools (hopefully, it is a VW after all). On top of that, he had a connection with a parts store and could get a discount. Great, we'll fix it ourselves and save some money so we can continue to play. Well it did not work out quiet as smooth as planned. The part didn't arrive for a few days, we did not have a 12-point torx driver, they shipped the wrong axle. All in all, three hours of car work took us three full days.

After almost a week in one area, we were really itching to get back to the adventure (not that fixing a car axle is not an adventure in itself). We found it right away on a beautiful crisp morning in Anchorage.

First we walked a stretch of the Cook Inlet, a bit south of Anchorage near Earthquake park. Earthquake park is not worth any of the hype, by the way. The path was paved and easy walking, a bit boring for our taste, but it offered great views of downtown Anchorage and the Alaska range, including Mt. Foraker and Denali. Any day the mountain is out is a good day in my book. I think I like the view from the south, further away from the mountains better. There were no visible mountains in-between us and Denali so it truly stood out solo in the sky. It looks massive from anywhere, but seems ginormous from Anchorage.

After a few miles on the path, we were ready to move on. The next stop was trying to locate the house Shannon lived in as a kid. Shannon actually was born in Anchorage and lived here for two years until his family moved to upstate NY. Shannon had no recollection of the house, but talking with his parents he found the street and the house. What a neat little connection to your past. From the house, we continued on our way; time for a more hiking. We climbed Flattop mountain; the most popular day hike out of Anchorage. I could see why. The well maintained, but steep trail climbs almost 1,500ft and offers incredible views. Anchorage is completely visible with the Turnagain and Knik arms of the Cook Inlet beyond the city and way in the distance the Alaska range and Denali! Simply incredible if you are up there on a clear day.

From Flattop we continued on to the town of Gridwood near Alyeska ski resort. On the way we stopped at Beluga point and spotted a pod of Beluga whales! Alyeska resort looks like it could be a really fun winter stomping ground, especially if the average of 645" on the upper mountain comes in full. We drove up an old mining road heading out of Gridwood and found ourselves a place to camp. What a day. Two hikes, views of Anchorage and Denali, my first time seeing a Beluga whale, staring in awe at a ski resort in the fall and back to sleeping in the dirt. We were finally back on track.

We be JAMMIN'

mdcamps — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 01:30:00 GMT

It started on the Denali Highway. We had pulled off the road for a few pictures of the Susitna river valley, a break from the potholes, and at that moment it was not raining. Perfect time to stop and walk around. As we stretched our legs, there were blueberries a plenty. We had seen blueberries previously on the trip, but never had then been this plentiful and this sweet. Yummy, yummy. We picked until our fingers were too numb from the cold, damp air. What to do with all these blueberries? Previously we had only used time in our morning oatmeal or sprinkled in with a cup of hocho (which is delicious by the way). We decided to make jam. Have we ever made jam before? Nope. Did we have any idea what we were doing? Nope. But with the berries, some sugar (a lot less than we expected), a little bit of heat, some secret (proprietary) ingredients and we had a delicious tasting jam. Not too sweet, not too tart, plenty of flavor and no preservatives. You could taste a huge difference between our fresh jam and the preservative, corn syrup filled jelly we had from the store. That was the start of it, the turning point; berry picking moved high up on the list of things to do in Alaska.

Then came the EPIC blueberry day. I never thought I would be describing a day of picking blueberries as epic, but that is what this jam can do. It is that good! We were hiking the Kesugi ridge on a three day, two night backpacking trip. It was a great hike. We had views of Denali, the trail pretty much to ourselves and for two of the three days, the weather was superb. On the second day hiking, the trail veered off of one ridge and backtracked a bit through a valley until it rose onto a second ridge. Hiking off the ridge was depressing. We were walking further away from the endpoint, we lost views of Denali, the brush thickened and the trail was muddy and overgrown. The highlight, the savior, was a combination of a swim in Skinny Lake, the beauty of Skinny Lake and a blueberry patch. It wasn't a great patch, the berries were well spaced, but there were blueberries and we were motivated to pick as many as we could. We picked for two hours, filling all of our berry containers (an empty plastic Kleenex box, an empty jug of peanut butter and our nalgene bottles). Feeling satisfied in our accomplishment with our backs too sore to pick anymore, we continued on the hike. Up we climbed onto the second ridge; more mud and overgrown trail to contend with along the way. Once we were on the ridge, we could see clouds moving in and rain falling in the distance. It looked as though our good weather streak was over. We pressed on, picking up our pace. We wanted to cover as much ground before the rain hit so we could minimize our hike out in the rain the next day. Then we saw it, the most epic blueberry patch. You could fill a bottle just sitting in one location and the patch extended for almost half a soccer pitch. It was incredible, but left us with a very important decision. To pick, or not to pick. We could press on and have less hiking to do in the rain tomorrow, or we could set up camp and pick until the rains came. Let's pick blueberries! We filled another Nalgene, cooked dinner and then filled our Mountain House bag we just ate out of (reduce, reuse, recycle). We were at the point of sacrificing water while hiking for more containers to hold blueberries. It was worth it. We picked until the rain hit. When all was said and done we had close to a gallon and a half of blueberries. The only question left was how much jam would that make?

The next day we hiked out in the rain, it was a soaking rain. I lost a tent pole on the hike down and spent an extra two hours in the rain looking for it with no luck. Dreadful. But we had our berries! That night, after getting dry and having a beer in the town of Telkeetna (which is a neat little town) we drank beer and made jam until the wee hours of the night. It was raining on and off, but luckily we had figured out a way to use the tarp off of the car providing enough of a shelter to sit and cook. By the end of the night, we had to stop the jam operation for a few accounts. First off, we were out of sugar but more importantly we were out of beer. We still had plenty of berries; perfect for oatmeal, pancakes and hocho.

With our first official jar we had to make and label. This meant deciding on a name and artwork for our brand. The label was simple yet effective, sharpie on duct-tape. And for the brand name: Campsman &the Shuester, EPIC JAM. With the additional information: hand-picked, wild Alaskan blueberries. Hopefully this product will be coming to a store near you so you can help us fund the next big adventure.

THE mountain is out!

mdcamps — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 05:30:00 GMT

First off I will clear up the name of the mountain for those who have not heard this a million times; for those who have, skip to the second paragraph. Denali is the native name for the tallest peak in North America standing at 20,320ft. Furthermore, it is the official name in the state of Alaska. However, state and federal goverments have differnt boards for Geographic Names, so the national name is Mt. McKinley. Why does a mount with a native name and a state regocnized name still hold the name of a man from Ohio who has no ties to Alaska? The answer, since 1975 (when the state of Alaska recognized the native name Denali) representatives from Ohio have petitioned the national board to keep the name McKinley. Therefore, the highest peak in North America is Denali, the high one. Mount McKinley might as well be a small hill in the town President McKinley grew up in.

It had been over a week where we could have seen Denali. From the University of Fairbanks the mountain can be seen, parts of the Denali and Parks highway have Denali viewpoints. We spent three days in Denali National Park itself. And still we had not had a full view of THE mountain. Granted, while in Denali NP we caught a rather unobstructed view of the south and north peaks; better than most visitors ever get. And even a partial shot of the massive pluton from the Eielson visitors center was impressive. But then, while hiking along the K'esugi ridge in Denali State Park, we had a beautiful sunset behind a partially clouded Denali. So much of the mountain was visible and the clouds just enhanced the sunset. It was stunning how massive the mountain truly is. It was a great way to end a good hike; dinner with a view.

This amazing-ness was followed by a cloudless sunrise, even more amazing. I set my alarm early to make sure if it was out, I would see it. Anyone who knows me will tell you I am not a morning person, but when the alarm went off, I shot up as if I had been fired out out a cannon. I peaked out of the tent, there she was, the mountain was out. It was really early and I was cold, but I did not go back to sleep. How can one close their eyes in the face of such beauty? I was up and roaring to go!

Skiing in August... check

mdcamps — Mon, 8 Aug 2011 11:30:00 GMT

This could be the highlight of the trip thus far. I think what makes is especially glorious was the complete swing of emotion. The day we drove up to the Gulkana glacier it was cold and raining. We were already wet from the previous nights rain, as was some of our gear. We sat in the car and played cards through the afternoon rain and hailstorms. By evening however the skies cleared and on our scouting hike, the mood started to change.

We woke up early and it was bitter cold. I was surprised we did not have a layer of frost on the tent. We had our bags pack the night before so we were quickly on the trail. There was an awesome swing bridge in the first mile to cross one of the glacial streams. We had walked the swing bridge the night before, but it is much more difficult with a full pack and skis on your back.

Once on the glacier, I was just in constant awe at the sheer mass of ice and features created in the frozen block. Streams ran on top of the ice and through it. There were huge crevasses visible across the way. Blue ice, fresh snow, cool miniature ice spires formed in between a thin layer of gravel. It was awesome enough just hiking on the glacier! After hiking up we were going to ski down, incredible!

For 5 hours we hiked up the glacier. It was a very gentle slope, hardly steep enough to ski down, but there were chutes within reach which we were aiming at. The ice gradually turned from rock hard blue ice with tons of gravel mixed in, to mounded white ice that would almost be edge-able if it were smooth and finally to fresh snow. It seems the previous days miserable rain produced snow on the glacier.

Unfortunately we were unable to get to the chutes we had been eyeing. A large crevasse field blocked our path. With now glacial experience, no harnesses and no rope we had to do the safe thing and turn back. It was a fun hike up, well worth it. Even though it was such a gentle slope down I strapped on my skis. It was the most fun I have had on any bunny slope and by far it was the most dangerous bunny slope of all.

Chena Hot Springs Road

mdcamps — Thu, 4 Aug 2011 19:00:00 GMT

Here are just a few quick highlights from the past week. These are in the order which they occurred, not in any means are they in order of best to next best.

1. Beers, stories and amazing hospitality from the Stern family in Fairbanks. We meet them on the ferry on their return from biking the west coast; Canada to Mexico. Great people.

2. We spotted a bull moose and a sizable arctic grayling while hiking Granite Tors trail.

3. Bouldering rock formations and blueberry picking along the Angel Rocks trail

4. Beavers in action at 45 mile pond. Three beavers swimming around, eating off the bottom of the pond within 30 feet of us. One crawled up on the bank for a moment and it was gigantic.

5. Climbing on and playing in the remains of a place crash from the 1950's along the Chena Dome trail.

6. Views (although obscured by some clouds) of the Alaska Range from the ridge tops on the Chena Dome trail.

7. Two showers, two very long soaks in the hot springs and a geothermal and greenhouse sustainability tour at the Chena Hot Springs resort.

8. The perfect mirror reflection off the pond at Red Squirrel campground.

9. Five moose sightings withing 30 minutes drive along the highway back towards Fairbanks. This brought the trip total to 20 moose, the count is officially over.

10. Zip-lining at the Stern's.

I think it is also worth mentioning that we hiked 50 miles in five days with close to 10,000 feet of climbing along the way! My calves and buttocks are sore, even after long soaks in the hot springs.

The Arctic Circle!

mdcamps — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:00:00 GMT

While driving north on the Dalton Highway, the 400 mile haul road constructed in a mere five months to bring supplies to the newly approved oil fields in arctic Alaska, Shannon said to me: "if you had asked me as a child if I would ever travel into the Arctic Circle, I would have said no, even with a child's endless imagination." I thought about it and guessed that statement valid for myself as well. But here we were, driving north. To a land of permafrost tundra, through the Brooks range, past 'towns' of Livengood, Coldfoot and Wiseman and the whole time following near by the Alaska Pipeline. It was a slow, scenic drive with lots of little side adventures all over it.

On the first day we stopped at Grapefruit rocks and along the steep one mile hike, there were plenty of excellent rock faces to boulder. We climbed around for an hour or more before getting back in the car. It was fun to climb the rocks, although one line ended up being a bit too challenging and too dangerous in the last 10 feet and I had to down climb. Although we did pick a few blueberries, we could not find any grapefruit.

The town of Wiseman is funny. I guess I could say it is cute. A town of some 15 log cabins, that 'people actually live in' as described by the nice ranger at the visitors center. Some cabins were beautiful and made me want to build my own cabin from the earth.

We hiked up to the top of Sukakpak Mountain. At 4,000 feet it marks the southern edge of the Brooks range along the Dalton Highway and was a traditional boundary between interior Athabascan natives and native Eskimos to the north. There is no trail, as in much of Alaska, hiking is bush-waking and blazing your own paths. We ended up taking a direct route, and found ourselves on some class III pitches fairly quickly, with lots of esposure beneath us. The worst was worrying if we would have to down climb; it is always much easier to go up than down. We found a route, eventually, but not without each of our stomachs nervously turning. In the end it was all worth it, the view was beautiful and we found a safe path to walk down.

Driving through the Brooks range was marvelous. The road is steep and narrow. The trees end as the timberline is at only 2,250ft this far north. We saw our first Dall sheep of the trip along the highway here. It was definitely quiet the sight.

The initial goal of the Arctic was to swim in the Arctic Ocean. This notion was quickly dismissed, not for the cold as you might think. No, the public cannot swim in the Arctic because oil companies own everything up there and stop the public 8 miles away from the Arctic. Visitors are only allowed on a tour bus, registered in advance (for security purposes) to tour around Prudhoe Bay see the Arctic. One is only allowed to dip their toes in the ocean, NO SWIMMING! That didn't stop us however, Shannon and I did SWIM in the Arctic. Just north of Coldfoot, 75 miles inside the Arctic Circle we took a dip in the Marion Creek. It was a beautiful creek and cold. So what if it wasn't the ocean, I swam inside the Arctic Circle.

A Fish Tale

mdcamps — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:00:00 GMT

It is a good thing I am not relying on my fishing abilities for survival; I have Ramen noddles and PB&J for sustenance. But it would definitely be nice to supplement those with some fresh fish every now and then. And thanks to a stocked lake and a tip from Big G (use corn kernels) we were able to fill our bellies with Rainbow Trout caught out of Hidden Lake along the Alaska Highway for two days. But enough with that, back to the fish that got away.

Lucky Rainbow trout: a warm up fish tale.

Fishing out of Mosquito Lake a few miles north of Haines, AK we were in a trout friendly lake so keeper size was 14" rather than the normal 11" elsewhere. I had already pulled in a nice 13" Rainbow that would have been plenty of fish for dinner, but it needed to be just an inch longer. The rest of the session was frustrating so I went for a walk. Fishing from the dock later on, I caught a beautiful Rainbow trout. It was definitely large than the last one, keeper for sure. But just then a car was backing up to the dock. I reeled it all the way in, it was tired resting motionless next to the dock. I turned to say hello to the people from the car, and just like that, the fish gave a jump and a shake and spit the hook out. Back to the lake for him. Lucky guy, that would have been a delicious dinner.

Lucky Coho/Silver salmon: the fish that got away.

Now this is the stomach-aching fish story (because I missed out on a feast). We had pulled off the Elliot Highway on our way north to the Arctic Circle just an hour out of Fairbanks or so to camp for the night. There was a nice area for camping with a stream in the 'backyard' and a river a few hundred yards down the trail. The evening fishing in the stream came up empty, but it was still a lovely setting and a good time. In the morning I took the walk to the river. I walked the river a little ways, casting here and there but not really inspired by any specific spot. I eventually came to the bridge of the highway. The bridge blocked out the light so there were no reflections off the surface, I could see everything happening under the water for that 20ft section of river. Then I spotted it, a huge fish, and size is relative, by Alaskan standards I am not sure how this one would compare. But for me, it was big. I started casting towards it as it gracefully sat in one spot, just one flick of the tail and then motionless for seemingly minutes. Then I spotted another one. Excitement was high, I could see two giant fish and it was just me on the river bank with only fifteen feet from me to the fish. It took a few tries to cast right, but finally I had a cast far enough upstream not to disturb it and the lure glided right towards its face. I could see the fish spot the lure, turn its head slightly and with two flicks of the tail gracefully snatch it. Fish on! Now I was ecstatic! I battled with the beast with fifteen feet of line out for a couple of minutes. It broke the water and few times and I would honestly say it was about 22" and probably close to 8lbs. It was a fun fight, but the whole time I was thinking 'don't lose this fish, keep tension on the line, careful, tire him out, don't lose this fish.' I eventually had it near the rocky bank, the tip of my pole was pretty much in his mouth, I couldn't reel it in anymore. It was a Coho salmon in spanning colors, which seemed a bit odd for the time of year. But man, what a beautiful fish. With it all the way at shore, I went to haul it onto the bank and with about half the body out of water the line snapped. The worst part was it took the salmon a minute to realize he was no longer on a line, the hook was still in him and he was exhausted, so it just lay there a moment. In disbelief I went to try and grab it and then it finally swam away. Wow. What a change of emotions. I was upset with myself, I know better than to pull a fish out of the water on the line, but I had 15lb test line, it surely wasn't a 15lb fish. Must have been a weak point in the line, because it broke and there went breakfast, lunch and dinner. I ran back to wake Shannon up, get him out here fishing and to construct a makeshift net. But we tried together for another hour and although we could see the monster and the nice, new shinny lure in its jaw; it wouldn't bite. Looking back I have to just smile and nod. It was a beautiful fish and an exhilarating catch. Hopefully there will be many more to come.

Second Largest City in Alaska

mdcamps — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:00:00 GMT

I've made it to Fairbanks! The Alaska Highway (connecting Alaska to the lower 48) was beautiful. The stretch through the Yukon was the most scenic thus far, or maybe that is just because I love the provinces' slogan; 'Larger than Life.' The road was rough through Canada, gravel sections, construction and frost heaves made it feel a little Baja-esk. Once over the border, back in America, back in Alaska, the road was smooth and easy sailing, better than any road around the Bay Area.

Once back in AK we put our ridiculously priced fishing licences to use. Believe it or not but in a land or sparse human population and tons of wildlife, they actually stock lakes. Fishing on Hidden Lake was a huge success with a half dozen Rainbow Trout over two days. Trout for three meals in a row was DELICIOUS. Unfortunately the streak did not continue; one day we attempted fishing at five different lakes, nothing. Nothing at all, not even a nibble. Dinner was canned tuna and rice that night.

For anyone else traveling through AK, do not plan on any useful information from the Tok visitor center. When asking for hiking, fishing or camping from Tok to Delta Junction, we received a dumbfounded look from the help desk and the only information provided was the name of a road 50 miles in the WRONG DIRECTION. Arrgg.

As far as Fairbanks, it is not what I was expecting, for Alaska's second largest city. There is no noticeable downtown. In an attempt to fill our bellies with pizza, we found next to nothing. The bar scene was described as 'meh,' when asking a local about a good hang out for the evening. But it seems to have a quiet charm. The waterfront along the Chena river is beautiful. And there was a small outdoor market this evening with music, arts and food in a little plaza. I guess I should just learn to expect the unexpected in Alaska.

Must keep trekking, northbound I head, on to the Arctic Circle.

Santa's Coming, Santa's Coming! I know him.

mdcamps — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:00:00 GMT

Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?

I visited the North Pole today! It was AWESOME. Shannon was not as amused as I, but I guess he has just grown up too much. I saw the largest Santa statue ever, sat in Santa's sleigh, practically pet the reindeer and even toured Santa Claus's House. And while doing all of this I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. The weather is actually very pleasant in July in North Pole, Alaska.

The town of North Pole is interesting to say the least. Streets are named Santa Claus Lane, St. Nicolas Drive Mistletoe Place and Reindeer Avenue, all the street lights are candy canes, and there was the first McDonald's, Taco Bell, Wendy's, KFC and Pizza Hut we have seen since the lower 48, over a week and over 2,500 miles south. I guess the subdivision was bought up and the name declared North Pole in the 50's in hopes that a toy manufacture would move in. What toy company would not want to claim they manufacture toys in North Pole, AK? I would open a toy company there.