Another catchup post. Eventually I'll get caught up, I swear!
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August 5: It was my birthday! Best. Birthday. Ever!
I can't imagine a better place to spend it than in the land of my dreams, Alaska.
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| "Indian village" cabin |
Morning dawned, and Fran was up early as usual, chatting with the other early risers. Here's a bit of background on the hostel folk, since we ended up staying there for four nights, and it was a memorable experience with new friends.
The People and the Zucchini
The hostel could house over 10 guests:- four in the back room with two bunk beds,
- two or three in the middle room with a bunk bed and a futon,
- four in the front room with two more bunk beds,
- plus more camping in the yard.
All of the guest rooms — and a bathroom and off-limits laundry — were downstairs (which is one of the reasons the house looked so small. Upstairs is the sitting/living room, dining area, kitchen, another bathroom and Cho's room (the proprietor).
Cho was a great host. He is friendly and knowledgeable about Fairbanks. He is a dedicated gamer, saving the virtual world from the bad guys, so there would be sounds of explosions coming from his room, but despite this, he was very responsive to questions (by text, email or phone), and he really kept the place clean. (I heard some scuttlebutt from Renée that he had some disagreement with his father, presumably about the gaming "career". The deal was that he would go to Alaska and run the hostel for three years, and then be able to come back to Korea. I think he's going on year five, with no real plans to return to his home country. He does visit his parents, but says that it's somewhat awkward.)
Warren was a tent (outdoor) resident at the hostel. He was an interesting fellow: a former lawyer and native of Fairbanks. He had purchased a condo, but there were some issues with renovating it, so while that was happening he was sleeping in a tent outside on the lawn (for $10/night, with bathroom and wifi privileges) while those issues were being worked out. Passionate about fitness, especially biking, running and skiing, he also believed that carbs are very bad, and fat is good. Warren was a fount of information. Want to know where good salmon is? He suggested the Hospital cafeteria. Want to know where the best ice cream is? Hot Licks (with the further suggestion to buy the pint size for $8, not the cones for $5). Best dinner in Fairbanks? Thai House Restaurant on 5th Ave. And so on. He's very thrifty, so always took that into consideration when making suggestions. He also seems to know everyone in town!
The other tent resident was Aaron, a native American who was "from the north." He had some very definite opinions about white people and my best description of him was "angry Indian," since he seemed to be angry at pretty much everything. We had some interesting discussions religion and economics. He was driving a cab during the day and had a job lined up doing carpentry work in Anchorage, but he didn't seem to be in any hurry to leave Fairbanks, since he was doing pretty well driving the cab.
Cho had the two guys (Warren and Aaron) move their tents every few days so that they wouldn't kill the grass underneath.
Peter was there for three of the four nights we were there, and (sorry to say this, but it's true) he became something of a joke. He never seemed to get out and do anything, spending most of his time on the computer in the living room. A big man, Peter talked very loudly, and loomed over anyone who engaged him in conversation, while speaking animately and excitedly; he definitely had a different sense of personal space. Renée and Warren had put up with him for a couple of weeks, and had about had it. He was also really messy, and spread all his stuff all over the already-small kitchen when he was cooking, thereby preventing anyone else from preparing anything at the same time. His disorganized habits caused him to stack ingredients up on the counter, and once there was a distressing cascade of eggs. I can truthfully say it was the first time I'd ever seen anyone cook spaghetti, then top it with Velveeta and melt it in the microwave!
Alice was a short-term resident who was there for three of our four nights. She was in her late 60s or early 70s, traveling on her own. She had some definite issues, including a need to dominate the conversation, a hearing aid that didn't work too well, and an inability to sleep in a group environment or use her phone effectively. We all heaved a sigh of relief when Alice moved on.
The other residents stayed for just a night or two, but they were from all over the world, speaking many languages: Spanish, French, Chinese(?), German. Staying at a hostel can be a really nice way to meet people. You can always retire to your bunk if you don't want to interact!
The reason for giving you all this rundown is that in the morning around the breakfast table, Warren had left a giant zucchini on the dining table, saying that if anyone wanted to use it, they were welcome to it. He knew where to get more.
Fran piped up and said that she'd make soup with it, and we asked Warren and Renée if they would like to join in. (They said yes.) So dinner plans were set.
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| Letters from Santa at the North Pole PO (photo by Fran) |
North Pole
Before we left Fairbanks, I needed to do a few errands: pick up my mail (it had my insurance checks and I wanted to get those deposited), and look at getting a new bike rack. I may not have mentioned this in the blog, but just before Fran came, the 25+-year-old Yakima bike rack clamp broke. I made do by securing the bike to the rack with an old bootlace, but I wanted to see if I could get a replacement.)So Fran and I did a field trip to North Pole, where I'd had my mail sent to General Delivery. While I did a quick review of what had been sent, Fran visited with the post-people who were busy canceling letters from Santa. It's quite a sweet thing.
North Pole takes its role at the nation's Christmas center very seriously: light poles are candy-cane striped, the streets are named after Christmas themes, there's a "Santa Claus House" where Santa and his reindeer hang out year round for classic photo ops, and you can shop for Christmas items. Seriously!
We also stopped by REI, and I got a new bike rack. Unfortunately no 20% off coupon, but there is NO sales tax here, so between that and my REI credit card rebate, I'm okay with it. "Dane" in the store actually had a similar vintage Yakima rack he'd gotten at a garage sale and was willing to sell me, but after due thought I declined, as it would have been subject to the same stresses as the original, and I was worried about aging plastic parts, too. So N0MAD is sporting a new look in the bike rack. I'm kind of tickled that it's color-coordinated with the car (black and red).
Cruise on the Chena River
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| Discovery III, stern paddlewheeler on the Chena River |
I had been aboard some of the paddlewheelers along the Yukon River (the SS Klondike in Whitehorse and the SS Keno in Dawson City), but they hadn't been working ships. So I was looking forward to being on the water in one!
"Cruise" may conjure up a relaxed trip, but they actually keep a pretty relentless pace. The first "activity" was a seaplane (one of the much admired SuperCubs) that took off ahead of us, landed, swung around the ship and then took off again, again accompanied by some hokey chatter between the guide and pilot. Having read some about the bush pilots, some of this was old news, but I still get a thrill out of planes. There's just something about being able to fly...
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| Hand-built log home |
There are houses of all sorts and sizes, some humble, some modern, and he told us the history of some of them. For example, there were the houses of two brothers, side by side. One was smaller and had been built by hand — the owner had logged each and every one of the trees that made the log home. The other brother had a more modern home.
I'm not sure if it was hype or not, but people (babies! children! dogs!) were out waving to the paddlewheeler as we went by. It's worth it to note that the ship does this twice a day).
Note: Riverside lots are going for $100K-$200K... (I've looked).
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| Puppies have to get used to everything, even getting on a boat |
Susan is the only woman to have won the Itidarod four times: quite an achievement (there are four men who have won four times, and one who has won five races).
Her story and adventures (she lost the race in 1985 because two of her dog team were killed by a "crazed moose"), would make gripping book or movie!
This visit was somewhat bittersweet, since Susan passed away from cancer (a type of leukemia) ten years ago to the day (Aug. 5, 2006). She was a strong role model for women in sports. She is such a hero that Alaska celebrates "Susan Butcher Day" on the first Saturday of every March. I'd like to know more about her.
The guide told us about the dogs (they are Alaska huskies), their breeding and training, and a little about racing. They demonstrated with some puppies trying to get them into a boat. One of them wanted nothing to do with getting in that unstable thing!
Then they hitched some of the dogs up to a four-wheeled "sled." The cacophony of barking when the dogs knew that they were going to be running was pretty impressive. There is no doubt that these dogs are born to run, and look forward to it eagerly. You can see for yourself in this video:
The team took off like a unified mad thing, towing the "sled." The dogs raced around the track (out of view), tore past the imagined finish line, and stopped pretty much on a dime when they returned to the riverside lawn probably all of two minutes later.
When they were released from the traces they all went swimming in the river! Apparently the dogs really get hot, and it's important to try to keep them cool when they are exercised. Of course, this is not a problem in the winter, when they are really running! (In their regular training, they don't sprint like this — their pace is more like 5-6 miles per hour, although there are some sprint races. I don't think the dogs care that much, they just really, really want to run and pull.)
Could there possibly be more? There was!
Just another note that the river was running really high, due to all the rain. You might be able to see it in some of the pictures. As a consequence, the boat occasionally had to run its engines IN REVERSE so that the guides could finish their spiels so that we didn't go too fast down the river!
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| Indian village, drying sheds and working fishwheel |
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| A hunter's cache with furs |
We also learned about fishwheels, and another of the shore guides demonstrated how to prepare a salmon for drying. We then continued downstream to the confluence of the Chena and the Tenana Rivers. The Tenana is big and strong and brown from glacial silt; the Chena would have been clearer had there not been so much rain!
We then turned back upstream, returning to the Indian Village and docking there. Again, the tour was very well organized. They divided us into three groups, and we rotated between three stations: (1) cabin and cache, (2) caribou and hunting, and (3) Athabascan clothing.
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| Temporary spruce shelters |
I continue to deeply appreciate the native cultures, in which almost everything was obtained locally and nothing was wasted. They had such a deep respect for nature and how it provided for them.
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| Athabascan winter fur parka |
The fur parka modeled by one of the girls was more than a piece of clothing, it was a work of art. It was made from caribou hide, with calfskin pattern details and ermine and beaver trim.
In fact, the patterns are so distinctive, that someone seeing just the back, or front, would know from whence you hailed. You can see how important this would be when everyone is all buried in layers of fur!
The inner hood was trimmed with wolverine, which is supposed to be both warm and shed ice; the larger outside hood was trimmed with wolf.
The outfit was worth about $18,000, and the girl couldn't wait to get it off, because it was so hot!
After the presentations were over, we had about a half hour of free time to go anywhere we wanted to take more pictures, ask questions, or go to the dog-team area, where one of the mushers had brought some of her dogs.
Fran and I opted for the dogs. It was pretty fun to get to see them close up; they were much more relaxed than when we had seen their teammates racing earlier in the day!
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| One of the sled dogs |
They are bred not for looks, but for endurance, drive, intelligence, and the ability to survive the cold (small ears, broad paws, warm undercoat). So, while they share some common appearance traits, most of them kind of look like, well, mutts.
But they are definitely born to run, and born to pull.
The whistle blew and it was time to get back on board and take the trip back upriver.
The guide didn't have quite as much to say — other than to offer tasty tidbits of crackers and canned salmon that were also for sale (of course). I admit it was something of a relief to just enjoy the river views. We really lucked out that it was not raining!
Birthday evening
Since Fran had promised dinner, we need to supplement the planned menu, since all we had was one (albeit large) zucchini. We stopped at the local Fred Meyer to pick up supplies. It is VERY well stocked, and we found everything we needed, which was a little complicated because Warren wanted no carbs and protein, and we thought Cho might be vegetarian! I was instructed to look the other way while Fran made a bakery purchase.We got back to the hostel, and I was told to get out of the kitchen because it was my birthday. Renée and Fran cooked, the guys kibbutzed, Stevan(?) joined the throng, and Cho even came out of his room and said he would try zucchini soup.
The conversation never lagged, the food was totally consumed (except for some rice and reindeer sausage that Fran and I could take for lunch another day), and there was delicious chocolate mousse birthday cake for dessert. Cho even provided the selfie stick so we could get a picture of everyone!
It couldn't have been a more perfect party!
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| Birthday selfie! L to R: Fran, Renée, Dena, Stevan, Warren & Cho |
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