A year with my sister, a lesson in survival, sanity and/or stupidity: Alaska

Don't think the roof gets mowed very often

Might be the only moose we
get to see in Anchorage

We spent a couple of days in Anchorage. The weather was drizzly and rainy, our dispositions were sunny. Jumped on the tourist trolley bus that drove us around Anchorage showing us the sights that we weren’t going to walk to in the rain. We even got to see a moose! In Downtown Anchorage! Found the trip around Lakes Hood & Spenard interesting – hundreds of float planes – many moored up like you would a boat. Spent the rest of the day dodging rain drops in Downtown Anchorage before finishing up at the Glacier Brewhouse for dinner and a drink … or three.

One of the many planes parked (moored?) on Lake Spenard

This building was the first permanent structure in Anchorage

Coming at ya - monument to all sled dogs

A couple of quiet ales to end the day

Laurel & Ryan

Spent the next day with some friends of Jeans from New Plymouth, Laurel & Ryan. After coffee and a catch up they took us for a drive down the very scenic and very beautiful Turnagain Arm. It was still raining off and on and the cloud cover was quite low but that didn’t detract from the beauty of the area one little bit.

Turnagain Arm out of Anchorage

Back in Anchorage we saw moose again. Real ones this time! In Suburban

Anchorage! It was so lovely to watch the mum and her babe munching their way through the neighbourhood. Laurel & Ryan then spoiled us thoroughly – taking us back to their place and treating us to king crab, reindeer sausage and salmon fillet. Thank you so much for your hospitality and don’t forget to return to New Plymouth or visit Napier (or wherever Sue eventually ends up) so that we can repay your generosity.

King crab wars! ... and the winner was ... not the crabs, they got eaten

From Anchorage we took the train to Fairbanks, a mere 12 hour journey. Sure we could’ve flown up in a fraction of that time but we would’ve missed one of the more spectacular train journeys in the world. I was hanging out to have a nap after lunch but didn’t dare shut my eyes in case I missed yet another glorious sight. It was hard to know which way to look – left, right, ahead, behind – every vista was simply gorgeous. The weather had cleared up and we had sunshine for most of the trip with a light rain falling as we were nearing Fairbanks.

Our main objective in Fairbanks is to see the Northern Lights. This, of course, means getting up in the middle of the night for a few hours as the best viewing is anywhere between 11pm and 4am. These hours, of course, are crazy and not conducive to daytime activities so after a couple of 2am wakeups we’re playing it a bit smarter (attempting anyway) so that we’re not wrecked by beer o’clock. Will let you know the outcome but no pretty lights in the sky as yet.

Our days in Fairbanks are taken at a nice, relaxed pace. One of the best

There's ice in them thar hills

viewing spots for the lights is at Murphy’s Dome, a good 30 miles out of town. It was a gentle climb (we’re driving not hiking, otherwise I would have written Everest-like) to the top of the dome but I was not expecting ice-covered plants like these. Our new qiviut hats and smoke rings kept the cold air off nicely.

Ice slide - yee ha!

Visited the Ice Museum where the highlight had to be the ice slide. Just a shame it wasn’t longer. No drinks at the ice bar (must have been a dry ice museum).

Jean in the ice house (must be something we can talk about)

No ice beer at the ice bar

We also visited The Ice Park where the ice sculptures are long melted but at the same time as they were created in March, there were some sand sculptures made, many still in good nick in September. We were chatting with a local there who said they plan to continue with the sand sculptures and may also look at other media for sculpting in the future. Guess we’ll just have to come back here again in March one year.

Spent a few hours on a drizzly, snowy day at the University of Alaska’s Museum of the North. Thoroughly recommend this museum with its history and art of all the tribal groups and early European settlers. There is a huge section on Arctic animals along with a lot of contemporary Alaskan artwork. Great place.