Ice Road Truckers

The Arctic Circle is around 200 miles north of Fairbanks. For some reason, we decided that we needed to go there. The road is bumpy and slow. Much of the time, we were limited to about 25 miles per hour. Do the maths.

This guy was in for a whole lot more pain than us. The next day on the way back, we saw him a bit further along.

 After about 3 1/2 hours of vibrations, we crossed the very impressive Yukon river. I was expecting a much smaller trickle. It was moving pretty quick for a large river.

 After stopping due to the road getting slippery and wet from rain, and us being a bit worn out, we stopped for about 9 hours to attempt sleeping. The next morning, we continued.

 You can see the Trans-Alaskan pipeline still doing it's thing the whole way. The landscape was the same for most of the way except that the pine trees gradually changed to the other ones. Near the end, it finally became more barren.

 Finally, we got there. The expected crowds were absent and we enjoyed a quick lunch.

 On the way back, we stopped at Finger Mountain for a brief but chilly stroll in the hills. We underestimated the requirement for beanies and gloves.

 A quick bit of training on dealing with a granite corner. We avoided using Hamish's techniques due to the jacket being new.

"Top of the World Ma." Well, near enough.

Hello from Australia

Olivia's friends in Pre-Prep 2 at Ormiston College have sent some very special photos for Olivia.
Olivia especially likes the photo of everyone sticking their tongues out. She heartily returns the gesture.
It's good to see the great work her class is putting in.

Meanwhile, Jock has been having a fun time at Nana Kerry's place, swimming in the damn and rolling in the mud. His efforts to get dirty have apparently earned him some shaved legs.

Time for bed now as in the morning, we are driving up to the Arctic circle.

To Fairbanks

Yesterday and today, we spent heading gradually north. We are now in Fairbanks and tomorrow we will drive up a dirt road for about 200 miles to the arctic circle where we plan to stay the night.

Yesterday, we finally saw our first moose ever and we saw more today. No bears yet.

We drove through a pass which was only about 3000 feet high, yet had a lake called Summit Lake. It was still about half iced over.

 The Trans-Alaskan oil pipeline runs all the way from the top of the state, to Valdez in the south.

 Just some road works being done. It is not surprising because the whole road has waves through it due to the thawing each spring. Even some of the houses move and bend a lot because of that.

 We ended up staying at a place called Quartz Lake. We went for a hike along the lake and found a log cabin built in the 1940s, although now it has perspex windows. It can be rented out overnight but is 1km from the car park so travel light.

 

Just before midnight last night, I decided to go outside and take a photo. As you can see, it doesn't much get dark here at night.

 

 Today, on our way to Fairbanks, we found some moose that weren't running back into the bushes. Maybe these ones can tell the difference between the Hunters, and gun-toting hill billies out for a meal or a bit of fun.

 These ones are female. They don't have antlers and are apparently the ones that wind up on most dinner plates. People here get most of their meat from hunting, rather than the shop.

 Although we are heading north, the town called North Pole, isn't actually at the top of the world. 20 miles south of Fairbanks, there is a place that is based around the whole XMas theme.
Olivia got to meet some real reindeer.

There was some guy at the Santa Clause house that was talking to the children. Don't remember what his name was though. He said that some of Olivia's PP2 class mates may get a visit from him later in the year. He said that he likes riding behind the 6 white boomers.

Back towards the north and some better weather.

This is a picture of us washing up. Olivia is learning to take a good photo, if any picture of someone washing up can be truly good.

 We managed to make some ok chocolate as well as some "acceptable" ice cream.

 We are now parked at a place on the Glenn highway, right next to a creek. We went for a hike for about an hour and saw a squirrel and some moose tracks.

Glacier time

Some snow at last. This is at the Worthington Glacier. Olivia is making her first snowball. Well, actually, her second. After her first disintegrated, Daddy showed her how to make one with integrity.

 Walking up towards the glacier which can be seen in the valley up above.

 Behind Olivia is a small lake which the glacial river runs into. It is still mostly frozen on top but you would sink through if you walked on it.

 Olivia and Shannon walking at the top of a hill at Blueberry lake, where we spent the night. It got pretty cold outside. Down to 5 degrees and 9 on the inside of the RV. The mist soon rolled in to make it quite eery, but we had a fun fire and we ate, looking out onto the mountains beyond.

In Alaska and Having Fun

The first night, we stayed at an RV park on the way to Glennallen. A hundred or so miles from Anchorage. The next morning, we went for a hike up a hill to see the glacier.

 From the hill above, we could see our RV below. Our RV is the one closest my shoulder.

 Here is a closer version. It has a shower, toilet, oven, stove, sink, beds, table, lounge, tv with dvd player that doesn't play our Australian DVDs like Frozen.

After that, we drove to the Wrangell National park.

 This is Mt Drum. The smallest of the bunch.

 We camped next to a water fall called Liberty Falls. It was a beautiful spot right next to the rapids which we could hear all night.

 Olivia wanted her PP2 class to see her hiking boots. This is the view from the passenger's seat when the passenger is getting bored.

Alaska at last.

After our 3rd day at Disneyland, we flew to Anchorage, Alaska to arrive there at 12:15 in the morning.

As we got closer we could see the sunset even though it was midnight.

We flew in over some mountains and glacias. Not sure which one was The North Mountain.

It was about 2am by the time we went to bed.

Up agsin at 6:30 to get ready to get our RV.

Now we have stopped for the day near a glacia. It is 4:30 but we still have over 6 hours until sunset.