Alaska Bound 2013
Donnis and Sarah Moore
Part 1                      Part 2                       Part 3                       Part 4

May 12 - Tok, Alaska to Anchorage, Alaska
We left in the rain this morning. It was 39 degrees, the road was rough, it was cold and wet. We suited up and were determined to make it to Anchorage. It was ok at first, then the rain turned to sleet and the sleet turned to snow. We were miserable but kept going. We had accommodations booked in Anchorage, we just didn't know the weather was going to be so gruesome and wet. I guess I shouldn't complain at all because we had great weather for 7 days in a row. That's not to say it wasn't cold, but it didn't rain at all, and that's a big plus on a motorcycle.

Donnis did stop a few times to take pictures, despite the weather.

This is one of my favorite pictures. I love how Donnis captured the background of mountains in his rear view mirror.

We stopped at a little restaurant in Glennallen, Alaska. Other than the place the eat, we didn't see much else. We mainly went inside to get warm for a bit and had a few thoughts of staying there but didn't see any motels. The lady offered us coffee but we neither one drink it, and then she asked if we wanted some hot chocolate. We both thought that sounded good so we had that and it must have had a special elixir in it, because after drinking that and getting warm for a few minutes, we had the stamina and fortitude we needed to forge on and get to Anchorage and that we did. It continued to rain, sleet and snow but the conditions weren't dangerous and we were determined to make it. There were absolutely awesome mountains along the way.

We have 6 days booked here in Anchorage, partly because we had to postpone our outing to Mt. McKinley because the shuttles don't start running until May 20 and you cannot drive your personal vehicle inside the park. But we have pamphlets with a whole host of things to do in Anchorage and also some downtime might be in order. We are having a good time and our next big thing we are anxiously awaiting to do is go to Denali and see the third largest mountain in the world, Mount McKinley, and the largest one in North America.

May 13 - Anchorage, Alaska
We are staying here for a few days. Our plans for today are a visit to the Log Cabin Visitor Center for information about this area such as things to do and see. We also need to stock back up on Dr. Pepper and Diet Pepsi and replenish our snack box. We only eat out once a day (usually for lunch) and usually split that meal for both of us, so we rely on our snack box at night. Our motel here in Anchorage is in Mid-Town and seems to be centrally located for information.

Here are a couple of pictures of the Log Cabin Visitor Center, complete with a sod roof.

May 14 - Anchorage, Alaska
When we got up this morning the first thing we did was make 2 phone calls. Today is our son's 41st birthday and we put the cell phone on speaker mode and sang Happy Birthday to him in harmony. This has been a tradition with us for a long time now. Also, his daughter, Iris, our granddaughter, has her daddy's birthday and we had him get Iris to the phone. She is 5 years old today and the sweetest child you will ever meet.

Speaking of traditions, we make these motorcycle vacations annually and send postcards to our 3 grandchildren along the way. They really enjoy getting their own pieces of mail. Karen also has a big USA map in the common room upstairs and each time they get a postcard, she shows them where we are on the map and they mark it with a push pin which makes for a good geography lesson.

While going through Canada, I didn't send any postcards because I had Donnis make special efforts (like he does every year) to get postcard stamps but I forgot those won't work in Canada so I was hoping I would find some cards with stuff pertinent to Canada here in Alaska but I did not so Alaska will have to do. We were still going to Denali National Forest, Mount McKinley and Fairbanks so I was sure I would find some good ones. The other day when we called home, Iris asked where her mail was.

We found out several things to do here in Alaska from the guy at the Visitor Center yesterday. We're going to go to the Alaska Zoo, the Anchorage Museum, the Alaska Native Heritage Center and drive to Chugach State Park and drive up to Flattop Mountain where you can see a panoramic view of Anchorage. Now which one to do first?

We didn't do any of the things I mentioned earlier in this entry. It was too cold!! The temperatures are in the low 40's and there is wind. Yes, we have ridden in colder weather and in rain this trip but today we were not in the mood to deal with the cold. Instead, we went to downtown Anchorage and visited all the unique and native stores that they have. They have a lot of interesting and one of a kind things. The downtown area is very quaint even though Anchorage is a big city. In the background you see snow capped mountains and also the water, the Gulf of Alaska. The shops were fun to visit.

Downtown Anchorage

We also went to Sports Authority because online it said they had some winter things, (socks and winter boots) on sale. Our feet have been cold so we were hoping we would find something. There are 2 locations here and we chose to go to the nearest one. They didn't have either of those and the other location isn't actually in Anchorage. The other one is in Wasilla and we will pass through there on our way to Denali National Park and will check then.

May 15 - Anchorage, Alaska
First item on the agenda is laundry. After laundry is done we are off to the downtown district. On the corner of 2nd Street and E Avenue is a commemorative plaque designating the statehood of Alaska in 1959 and a bust of Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaiming it to be the 49th state of the United States. I discovered about this in a booklet in our motel room and I am glad I did or we would have missed it.

Here are a few pictures of the statehood plaque and the Einsenhower bust. Notice that the flags are at half mast. This was in observance of Peace Officers Memorial Day.

This sign was at the site where the 49th State commemoration was.

After checking out the Alaska Statehood in downtown Anchorage we went to the Anchorage Museum. It was amazing. Alaska is rich with history and its people. Donnis took a lot of pictures here and I cannot share them all but I picked the ones that I liked best.

This first picture was of particular interest to Donnis. He retired October 1, 2012 after delivering mail for 40 years. He said he was extremely glad he didn't have to deliver it with a dog sled in the snow.

I will let the rest of the pictures speak for themselves.

May 16 - Still in Anchorage, Alaska
We waited until almost 1 p.m. to leave our motel room today. Not because we were tired but because of the weather. It had rained most of the night along with a few snow flurries and we were waiting until it warmed up because unlike yesterday's activity that was inside a museum, we were going to the Alaska Zoo here in Anchorage. It was 42 when we left and it was a damp kind of cold but the rained stopped and we were able to see these amazing animals. Its the first time I have ever been to a zoo when it was cold outside and snow on the ground inside the animal cages.

The Alaska Zoo has strictly rescued, abused, injured and abandoned animals. Some of the stories about them are heartbreaking but they are in safe, comfortable and natural surroundings.

An eagle was cold so he decided to perch below a heat lamp. How smart he was. That really tickled me.

Here's a sampling of the rest of the animals. Again, too many pictures to post them all.

May 17 - Anchorage, Alaska
This was to be our last full day here but --- a snow blizzard decided to pay a visit to Anchorage. While its fun to watch it out the window, it is certainly not conducive for motorcycle riding. We were going to go see Earthquake Park today but that was out of the question.

We did some rearranging of our booked rooms. We were going to Denali tomorrow but the snow is to keep coming down all night and half a day tomorrow so we first checked to see if we could have this room we have had for the past 6 nights and they said yes, so we asked them to hold it for us until we knew for sure the next place would let us cancel one of our 3 nights there.

The next destination's lodging had a 72 hour cancellation policy so I held out little hope they would let us cancel the first night. Donnis called and explained about the weather, (they were having it there as well), and that we were on a motorcycle and didn't want to ride in that kind of weather. They were most accommodating and cancelled our May 18th night but left it for May 19 (my birthday) and May 20. So we were pleased.

It was so nasty outside we didn't want to leave our motel room. We were set as far as food goes. We always travel with a snack box and we had replenished it a few days ago. We have cup-a-soup, fritos, pringles, crackers, beef jerky, cookies, hot chocolate, peanut butter, bread, lunch meat, sliced cheese, makings for tuna or chicken salad, snack cakes, vienna sausages, individual cans of bush's baked beans and on and on. We had access to a microwave in the lobby, just a few steps down from our room so we did great and it was a relief to know that all the weather happening outside didn't matter until at least Sunday morning and the forecast is saying the white stuff should stop falling by then.

May 18 - Because of weather, still in Anchorage
There was snow everywhere this morning when we woke up and it was still snowing but not as heavily as it had yesterday. About noontime the precipitation stopped and the sun tried hard to make an appearance. We decided to get on the bike and go get a few supplies and we went to R.E.I. to look for warmer boots. They didn't have motorcycle boots though so that was some time wasted finding the place, finding a parking spot and trying to make our way through a very crowded store. It must be a popular place.

We decided to go to Earthquake Park today since the weather wouldn't let us yesterday. It was mediocre. It really wasn't what we expected. In 1964 a huge earthquake hit Alaska - the Anchorage, Valdez and Seward areas and wiped a lot of it off into the ocean. Actually it was the tsunamis that followed that did most of the damage. There were paved pathways to walk down and some intuitive signage along the way, but it was 36 degrees outside and way too cold for this ol' gal to walk and look at anything outside. Here are a few pictures of what Donnis took there.

After strolling through all the signage in the COLD, we entered the actual park and the last 2 pictures are what we saw of where the actual canyon was that the earthquake caused. There were more places to walk but the weather was not to our liking to continue.

May 19 - Anchorage, Alaska to Denali National Park, Alaska
This was my 61st birthday and other than being cold, its a great place to be on a birthday. The weather is partly cloudy with some sunshine but cold temperatures. This is one of the highlights we have been waiting for, to see Denali aka Mt. McKinley, the 3rd largest mountain in the world and the largest one in North America.

We rode from Anchorage to Denali National Park. Its 238 miles, cold miles. It was 33 degrees and you can subtract 15 degrees from that to figure in the wind factor on the bike, so that makes it feel like 18 degrees. It was freezing. Even Donnis got cold. We kept stopping to regain the circulation in our legs and toes. This was the coldest birthday I ever experienced. Admire the wintry scenes. This is what we saw as we were riding from Anchorage to Denali. While beautiful, it loses something when you're riding on a motorcycle through it.

We went through Wasilla, Alaska to get to Denali. Wasilla is the hometown of Sarah Palin.

We stayed at a beautiful place, Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, which is right on the outskirts of Denali National Park.

That entire place is wonderful. It has gift shops, beauty salons, restaurants, a huge lodge within the confines of the premises there. The only thing it didn't have was wifi in the guest rooms. It was mentioned that there was complimentary wifi on the website and technically it is but that meant it was complimentary in the Main Lodge. Now granted, that building is huge, and there are many places to sit and not be disturbed by anyone, so you could use your laptop or whatever device you have there. The appeal of it is lost on me though. In the evenings, I sit around in my pj's and get on my computer. I didn't want to go there in the evenings and surf the net, so since it was my birthday, Donnis let me have the remote control to the TV!! YAY!! I love Celebrity Apprentice and it was the season finale and they were going to announce the winner. This year its called All-Star Celebrity Apprentice because all the stars were previously on but didn't win. So I got to watch it live instead of on my laptop the next day. And to top it all off, Trace Adkins won, the guy I had been rooting for this whole season.

May 20, 2013 - Denali National Park, Alaska
We signed up for a bus tour through Denali National Park. It was 45 miles inside the Park to the Toklat River. We saw lots of animals alongside the road and even crossing the road. It was a 6-1/2 hour tour and very informative and some of the most incredible scenery you will ever see.

We wish we could have gotten a better picture of Denali aka Mount McKinley on our way from Anchorage to Denali. There was a cut-away where you could stop and capture a breathtaking picture of it. The cut-away was wet, muddy and gravelly and too precarious for us to try and stop there. So we hoped we could get one while in the park. The predominant mountain in the first picture is Mount McKinley.

Here is the bus we took the tour on.

Also a picture from inside the bus looking out the windshield.

We saw this herd of caribou crossing the road inside the park.

Here is another caribou we saw.

Here is a ptarmigan. That is actually the state bird of Alaska. It's not really the mosquito.

The tour bus guide pointed out this magpie for us.

Here a moose, there a moose, everywhere a moose moose! We saw a plethora of moose. Here are 4 of the best pictures we got of them.

And then Donnis found these Dall sheep perched upon a cliff.

Park Scenery

May 21, 2013 - Denali National Park, Alaska to Healy, Alaska
Healy was just a 10 mile trip from where we were but due to no availability the next 2 nights we came here to spend them. By the time we had eaten lunch at the Lodge and then got here, the day was about gone, not the daylight though. At midnight it is still light outside.

May 22, 2013 - Healy, Alaska
We rode the 10 miles back to the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge to eat lunch at King Solomon Restaurant there. When we left there we went south a few miles more to the entrance to Denali National Park and rode in there for a few minutes but it was cold, and since we didn't have to ride this day, I opted for returning to our room in Healy.

May 23, 2013 - Healy, Alaska to Fairbanks, Alaska

We made it to Fairbanks by 1:30 p.m. and our new GPS has been working beautifully. This motel was tucked behind others and would have been difficult to find without it. Oh, and I mentioned the rinky-dink mount that came with the GPS and how it wouldn't last long, well I guess I might be jinxed by typing this, but the mount has been fine, even with all the jiggling and jostling. Donnis will get a RAM mount for it when we get home, but in the meantime it has worked great.

We went to check in at our motel and our room wasn't ready that early. They told us to go find something to eat and come back in an hour. We left and wandered about Fairbanks just looking at the sites and went to Wal-Mart to get more drinks. We returned in 3 hours, instead of just the one, and our room still wasn't ready. We were ready to get out of our motorcycle gear and get settled into the room for the next 3 nights. So we sat in the lobby for a few minutes and they said the 'all clear' had been given on our room. The bus boy helped get all of our belongings that we wanted to bring in and he took them to our room.

The room was nice and big and seems elegant to us. It was the only thing I could find in Fairbanks on these particular dates and it was within our price range so I did good it seems. It wasn't long after we were in the room and settled that I noticed there were no towels. Whoever gave the 'all clear' wasn't observant enough but it was an easy fix. I called the clerk and said we needed towels and it was less than 5 minutes till there was someone at the door with them.

Everytime there is a guest laundry I take advantage of it. I was able to catch up on that again and we relaxed the rest of the evening.

May 24 - Fairbanks, Alaska
There was a Tour Desk at the hotel and we decided to check that out and see what there was to do here. We had been told along the way, I think it was in Anchorage, that the Riverboat Discovery Excursion was wonderful. I had already scoped this out online and knew what the prices were. We went to the tour desk and they wanted $20 more per person. Also those who sign up at the Tour Desk would get free transportation to and from the location which appealed to us but not for an extra $40. We told them thank you for the information and we decided to purchase them online. We knew we would have to take our bike but it wasn't that far so that's what we did.

Its a riverboat that goes down the Chena River and you learn alot about the history of the first Alaskans.

They had a bush pilot that took off and landed on the water a few times and circled overhead. That was right up Donnis' alley and he took a few pictures.

Then we learned about the Athabaskan Indians and their culture. The riverboat docked here and we all got off and were escorted to 3 different areas to learn about their way of life and customs. These Indians made use of every single item. There was no waste and we saw some of how they made use of it all. Here are some pictures of what we saw and learned about.

Susan Butcher is a famous Iditarod racer and won the Iditarod 4 times. She died in 2006 from leukemia but her legend lives on in Alaska. Her husband, Dave Monson, continues to raise dogs in the manner that Susan did and has been winning races as well. As the riverboat went down the river, you go by Susan Butcher's house and Dave Monson was there with a demonstration of the races with dogs. That was fascinating to watch. They have to keep the dogs in shape, so they attached the reins and dogs to a 4 wheeler and let them pull that around to keep them exercised.

This is her husband, dave Monson.

These are their 2 daughters.

This is a bronze of her most famous dog, Granite. You can read about him here. Its a heartwarming and touching story. http://iditarod.com/zuma/granite-susan-butcher-hero-heroine-by-sanka-w-dog/

These are the dogs in training.

We got back on the boat for the 3rd and final time and listened to the captain tell us more about what we were seeing. He is a 4th generation captain. His grandfather started this particular tour back in the early 1900's. They are also producers of all things having to do with salmon. They served us smoked salmon that had been mixed with cream cheese and spread on a cracker. It gave each of us a taste with the hopes that some of us would buy a can, or a jar, or a case of it.

Wellll . . . that stuff was nasty! It was on a small cracker, and being the pig that I am, I put the entire cracker with the spread in my mouth. It was all I could do to not spit it out. If that is what salmon tastes like, I don't want any. Donnis didn't like it either. We both managed to ingest it and then were told about the leftovers and for anyone that wanted to, to go get some more. We didn't see very many going back for seconds.

After this the boat docked back where it started. It was THEN that we figured out why the Tour Desk charges $20 more per person. After you debarked, most everyone went to the dining room for lunch. We checked into that and to get in we would need to shell out $23 more. We opted to go find something in Fairbanks to eat.

We went into the gift shops and looked at all the displays before leaving. I noticed on a handout that I had been given what the menu was. It was an authentic Alaska stew, pasta salad with pimientos, sourdough roll and a fudge brownie. We were glad we had declined.

We decided to stop at Denny's. Not fancy I know, but we both can generally find something we like there. If you order breakfast food there, which they serve any time of day, you will usually do well. We went against this however and both ordered from the dinner menu. When it arrived at our table, it was cold, but we didn't complain. We ate what we could of it and left the rest. I would rate it as mediocre.

Everything way up here in Fairbanks touts at being the northernmost whatever. The Denny's had a sign stating just that. We had just eaten at the northernmost Denny's in the world. WOO WOO lucky us! I couldn't help but laugh.

Here are a couple of interesting pieces that were underneath the Denny's sign.

We left there headed towards the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center in downtown Fairbanks. We went there to get ideas of what to see the next day. Inside this Visitor Center is a hidden treasure. There was a mini-museum. Donnis and I really like museums so this was an added bonus.

This truly is the land of the midnight sun. It seems to never get dark here. On December 21 of each year they gain 7 minutes of daylight a day until June 21. Then they start losing 7 minutes of daylight a day until December 21 rolls around again. We are glad there are heavy curtains because we are used to sleeping when its dark outside.

Here are some pictures when Donnis went outside at 3 a.m. to show how bright it still is. It's similar to our dusk.

May 25 - Fairbanks, Alaska
For some reason, I passed out this morning and put a knot on my cheekbone and bent my glasses. Thank goodness I had a spare pair with me, because I am almost blind without them.

We are going to the Museum of the North on the campus of the University of Alaska. Its the northernmost museum in North America. Everyone has given high praises for it. The architecture of the museum was spectacular. Donnis took some pictures of the building itself, showing its features.

It had a lot of Alaskan history and way of life. They had lots of exhibits. Here is a sampling of them.

Part 1                      Part 2                       Part 3                       Part 4