Denali to Fairbanks

As it was a rainy day for our bus trip from Denali to Fairbanks, I didn't take my photos, and those I did take from the bus are through rain spotted windows.  Here is where the Parks Hwy passes over the Nenana River just outside Denali National Park.  The George Parks Highway runs 358 miles from Anchorage to Fairbanks before continuing north.  It was completed in 1971 and called the Anchorage-Fairbanks Highway.  It was renamed in 1975 in honor of George Alexander Parks, governor of the Territory of Alaska from 1925 to 1933. 

 

Here we are in the Taiga, also known as boreal forest or snow forest.  This biome is characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. At 17 million square kilometres (6.6 million square miles) or 11.5% of the Earth's land area, the taiga or boreal forest is the world's largest land biome. In North America, it covers most of inland Canada, Alaska, and parts of the northern contiguous United States. In Eurasia, it covers most of Sweden, Finland, much of Russia from Karelia in the west to the Pacific Ocean (including much of Siberia), much of Norway and Estonia, some of the Scottish Highlands, some lowland/coastal areas of Iceland, and areas of northern Kazakhstan, northern Mongolia, and northern Japan.

If you see a train coming, what do you do?  The residents of Ferry, Alaska drop their drawers and show it the moon.  It's called the “Ferry Moon” is a tradition that started as a protest when the Alaska Railroad banned vehicles from crossing a railroad bridge. In response, the residents of Ferry began mooning the trains passing by on July 4th each year.  There more to this story.  It seems the residents of Ferry, which has homes on each side of the river, started driving vehicles across the bridge. That was all fine and dandy until a train struck a vehicle about 40 years ago.  The railroad banned vehicular crossings, and when people ignored that, the railroad put in spikes to puncture tires.  The residents responded by putting wood planks over the spikes.  Then the railroad started fining people who crossed the bridge.  That's when the idea for the mooning took shape and it's been an annual event ever since even though the railroad built the residents a vehicular bridge. 

There's an eagle's nest on this power pole.  Most eagles build them at the tops of tall trees strong enough to support the enormous structure, which is the largest nest of any bird in North America at about six feet wide and four feet deep. But if there are no tall trees, I suppose a power pole would meet the requirements. 

Our only stop is in Nenana which is known for a few things.  First is the railroad bridge across the Nenana River.

The above plaque and this model are located in the middle of town.  

Yep, there's so little traffic that I could stand in the middle of the road to take photos.  This is the old depot station, now a museum.

There's a few railroad commemorative plaques on the east side of the depot.

What do you want to bet that base is a train part?

We heard some interesting stories about Harding on our bus ride.  His trip to Alaska was part of a larger trip called the Voyage of Understanding. In Nenana he swung the mallet and missed the spike twice before getting it pounded in. His health was poor and stories abound as to why.  Rumor has it that Harding brought his mistress along on the trip. Some speculate that Harding's wife poisoned him because of his carrying on. Others say that Harding was poisoned because of his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal.  The Alaska Historical Society has an article about this historic trip that ended with the death of the president. 

St Mark's Episcopal Church

Nowadays Nenana is known for the Nenana Ice Classic. In 1917 a group of engineers surveying for the Alaska Railroad decided to put bets on when the river would break up. This fun little guessing game has turned into an incredible tradition that has now continued for over 100 years!  

There are two parts to the official breakup mechanism, a Tripod and a clock in a tower on shore.  The tripod is planted two feet into the Tanana River ice between the highway bridge and the railroad bridge.  The tripod is 300 feet from shore and connected to the clock that stops as the ice goes out. 

The www.nenanaakiceclassic.com website even displays a calendar showing the date and times the tripod has fallen into the ice each year.  In 2023, the winners shared the prize money of $222,101.  In 2024 there was a single winner who got all the money.  Since 1917 over $15 million has been paid out to winners.  All you have to do is purchase a $3 ticket and fill in your guess as to when the tripod will fall.

The railroad bridge

View of the depot from where the ice classic equipment is on display.  Behind it you can see a portion of the highway bridge. 

This was our bus for the day.  Carnival Cruise Lines own Princess and Holland America so we were often in Princess buses. 

The bus had stopped in front of this store.  The wooden floors reminded me of an old, small town store from my childhood.  Here is where my wonderful husband found some Mt. Dew for me.  Yes, I'm a Dewaholic and the ship only served Coke products.  

Nenana Ice Classic book in store.

Have you ever heard of fireweed?  This plant is so named because it is one of the first to grow in a burnt area.  Like foxglove, it puts out flowers that start at the bottom of the stem and end at the top.  So, when the plant is done flowering, summer is over.  

Opened seed pods on bottom unopened on top.  Fireweed was important to native people around the world. Choice patches of fireweed were even owned by high-ranking families in British Columbia. Tea was made from the leaves. High in vitamins A and C, fireweed shoots provided a tasty spring vegetable. Flowers yield copious nectar that yield a rich, spicy honey. Today, fireweed honey, jelly, and syrup are popular in Alaska where this species grows in abundance.

What??!! Did I read that right?

Unbelievable!!!  A guy must have named this establishment. 

University of Alaska - Fairbanks campus.

Alaska has some oil refineries and fuel prices there aren't much different than what we see at home. 

It was time for lunch by the time we arrived in Fairbanks, so we were provided with a fried fish lunch at the Silver Gulch.  There were at least four busloads of people there. 

One of the other buses.

Flowers planted in a gold dredge bucket.  More on that in the next post. 

After lunch we went to the city of North Pole.

All the light poles in town looked like candy canes and even the McDonald's sign pole was done with that paint theme. 

Next stop - Santa Claus House.  Now this is just a big gift shop but there were some outdoor sights. 

Of course, the candy cane paint theme continued.

I should have gotten this photo with a person in the shot so you could see the size of this tree. 

Of course there is a big Santa Claus also.  He's 42 foot tall and weighs 900 pounds. 

The parking lot next door was being redone.  More candy cane theme. 

There were also some reindeer next door. 

One of the services provided at Santa Claus House are letters from Santa.  For a price, they will send a personalized letter "from Santa" to the child of your choice.