by Tom
We started early on Wednesday, May 16th, 2018,
taking an Uber to Dulles for a non-stop to Seattle. Everything went smoothly
and we landed in Seattle ½ hour early. We did not take bus or train, but rather
we Uber-ed straight to the Fauntleroy ferry terminal to take a ferry over to
Southworth. We barely caught the ferry and catching it saved us about 40
minutes. Once aboard, we settled in for a pleasant relaxing trip that stopped
at Vashon Island. En route, we split a bowl of chowder. My friend Steve
Anderson from Metron days met us when we got off the ferry and took us to his
house.
Steven’s house overlooks Colvis Passage between Kitsap
Peninsula and Vashon Island. We watched birds and admired the water and plants.
Steve has a hummingbird feeder set up and we saw several hummingbirds. We saw a
lot of birds and Steve could identify them; he’s quite the birder. There are
power lines running near his house and they serve as both a reference point
while looking through binoculars and a resting place for birds. The yellow
goldfinch and the red-tailed hawk were my favorites. Warblers, sparrows, and
others. They all made an appearance. After a while, we walked past the
blackberry bushes and Scotch Broom down to the beach.
The beach is very rocky and a little wet; the tide was out. It
felt good, and the day was beautiful. After chatting and strolling, we went
back, and Steve drove us back to the ferry. We caught an earlier ferry than we
thought we would; it was running late. That ferry did not stop at Vashon
Island, and we saved a bit of time that way. We got off and walked out to the
bus stop; a policeman told me that I shouldn’t make my “daughter” drag that
luggage. My 61-year-old wife got a kick out of that. It made me smile.
Our luck continued and we caught a bus almost immediately
for Seattle. After about ½-hour, it dropped us downtown where we considered
walking down to the market, but instead decided to have a bowl of pho. Then it
was off to Myla’s office where we waited in a very comfortable waiting area
while Myla finished some work.
Myla then drove us straight to the car rental place where we
picked up a small Chevy Cruze and drove back to Mary’s place. Mary had everyone
over for pizza, followed by a little word game and we, with bodies still on
east coast time, and looking at an early following day, settled into Steve and
Myla’s spare room, and went to sleep.
On May 17th, we wished the twins and Peter Happy
Birthday and went over to Mary’s early. Dad was ready and waiting for us and we
loaded everything into the car and took off. Traffic was surprisingly heavy for
5:30 AM leaving town as we headed north. It thinned out soon enough and we
experienced no significant delays. The day was gray as we cruised past Everett
and on to Anacortes.
Our ferry was about 20 minutes late, but we were in no real
hurry anyway. The ride was again nice and we landed at the Orcas Island stop
with plenty of time. If you tell the ferry staff that you need to park next to
an elevator because of a wheelchair, they are very accommodating and we had no
trouble getting to the passenger decks. Again, thank you to the Washington
State Ferries. I’ve had nothing but positive experiences with them in Edmonds,
Kingston, Anacortes, and Orcas Island.
The day was gray but pleasant. Orcas is a small island
roughly horseshoe-shaped, with the horseshoe opening to the south. The ferry
landed on the southwest end and we started driving around the horseshoe to the
east side.
We stopped at the post office for directions and the
postmistress there told me that this was her 3rd island; and one of
them had no ferry service. On such an island, the post office serves a big
receiving function. I didn’t ask how the post office got all those packages
there.
Our first stop was Eastsound, a town at the north end of the
island. We poked around a bit and went on to Rosario’s for brunch. We had a
very nice meal in a very nice resort, and we overlooked the bay that is the
interior of the horseshoe. Dad had eaten there before with Mom, many years ago,
and Tran and I enjoyed hearing him reminisce about those times. We walked
around a little, and Tran and I visited the upstairs museum. The owner of the
place made his fortune building ships, including the battleship USS Nebraska,
which was built in the early 20th century, and there was quite a lot
on the Nebraska. Also on display on the top floor were the pipes of the organ,
although I didn’t see the organ itself. I am told that during the summer, there
are concerts held around the organ.
Mr. Moran was the founder and he also was instrumental in
the formation of Moran State Park. This is a very large park on a very small
island, and the middle of it is Mt. Constitution. There is a road to the top of
this mountain. We drove up there, but the weather was uncooperative and there
were no real views through the fog and clouds. Still, the park was pretty and
the road was impressive; it is very very steep!
There is a small giftshop at the top and an observation
tower. Tran and I climbed to the top and gazed at the fog. The cool weather and
the lush scenery still made for a very nice day.
On the way back, Tran and I walked to Rustic Falls, one of
the very pretty waterfalls in the park. A quick drive back to Eastsound where
we poked into some stores and I went down to the beach. The tide wasn’t quite
low enough to walk out to a nearby island, but the beach and day were still
nice. The fog was lifting and, late in the afternoon, the day was turning into
a very nice cool sunny day.
We continued to the west side and we went over to the hamlet
of Deer Harbor. There is a pier that sells ice cream and, with the sun breaking
through, we sat outside and enjoyed a scoop of local ice cream. We poked around
a shop or two in Orcas Village, near the ferry dock, and boarded the ferry. By
now, I was pretty sleepy and we simply watched the waves go by. Again, we were
parked next to an elevator and had no trouble getting up or down.
It’s quite a way from Anacortes to I-5 and I drove until we
found a restaurant. Again, Dad recommended that we stop there, remembering it
from years gone by. We had a nice meal and I stayed awake only long enough to
make sure that Tran found I-5 south.
On the 18th, we picked up Dad and made our way
through some moderate traffic to Snoqualmie Falls. It rained off and on, but we
got to Salish lodge and sat down for another brunch. We were seated overlooking
the falls and ordered meals. They served the “honey from heaven,” something I
had tried to describe to Tran before. When I was growing up, we had
Confirmation breakfasts here. It has changed hands at least once, but they
still drop the honey onto biscuits from high above.
After breakfast, we drove to the lower parking lot, and took
Dad as far down as we could. There are significant steps by the power house so
we stopped there. But we weren’t far from the falls and Tran and I took turns
going to the end of the trail. There was a lot of water going over the falls
and it’s really amazing that such a beautiful spot is so close to Seattle.
Then we drove through the towns of Snoqualmie and North Bend
before heading home. We swung by 222 Lake Hills Blvd which is practically
unrecognizable. We went north on 165th and Tran called her friend
who lives somewhere near 6th and 171st, not far away. They
invited us over and we sat on their driveway overlooking Lake Sammamish for a
nice snack and chat.
We drove back past what is a completely different high
school than the one I attended, but it is at the same spot and bears the same
name. Tran was driving by now and we took I-90 and I-5 back to Edmonds.
My brother Steve was home from a long business trip by then
and he helped me gas up the car at Costco and return it. Mary again had us all
over for dinner, serving tacos, followed by a round of Jeopardy. Tran and I
left to pack and Steve and Myla, taking heed of worsening traffic reports, took
us early to the airport. We did arrive early for our 9:30 flight from Sea-Tac
to Anchorage. Because of the season and latitude and longitude change, we left
in the dark and flew into daylight.
A “dusk-like” atmosphere greeted us in Anchorage. Thal and
Julie picked us up and we went to their house. We fell asleep quickly.
On the 19th, our first day in Alaska, we stopped
for coffee and scones on the way to the train station for our train trip to
Whittier. Arriving early, we walked up to an open-air market where Julie’s dad
Paul was setting up a tent for his outdoor equipment.
The Chugach mountains were visible and quite spectacular,
but that became normal for Alaska. The 4 of us occupied an upper deck booth
with a table between us. We were given a narration as we went, that included a
spot that was preserved by a teacher, a town called Spenard, a stretch where
many of the homes had airplanes parked in the back yard, and other sights. Waterfalls
and views of Cook Inlet were pretty constant. We did see Dall sheep on the
hills across from Cook Inlet.
When we got off at Whittier, it was raining off and on; we
walked through canvas tunnels and out to our boat for our tour of Prince
William Sound. We were at a similar table as the train, but it was bigger and
there was another couple that we shared it with. We saw a rookery, sea otters,
some seals in the distance, a bald eagle, and a humpback whale lifting itself
completely out of the water. The glacier was spectacular and we think we heard
it calf, but didn’t see it.
The tour boat served us a nice meal, and a nice dessert. They
also fished some glacier ice out and made margaritas out of them, but those
cost extra. During the cruise, we could go out on the upper deck on the back. I
did that whenever I felt like getting some air. It was not terribly cold and
the rain was not intense enough to really get soaked, so I spent several times
out there. The captain also slowed for any wildlife sightings and people
streamed out.
We thought we saw a bear, but since it didn’t move, the
theory was that someone put a stuffed bear out there to play with the tour
boats.
This was the first time I’d seen a bald eagle in flight. It
took off from a small iceberg, flew fairly low, and crossed in front of us less
than 100 yards away. I was thrilled; Julie, having grown up in Alaska, not so
much.
The train back to Anchorage was pretty much the same in
reverse. We went through 2 tunnels both ways, one of which serves both the
train and the cars. We got back to Anchorage around 10 and found a parking
ticket stuck on Julie’s car. Nothing to do about that now. We went home for our
2nd night of sleep in Thal and Julie’s house.
On the 20th, I got up and walked downtown. Thal
and Julie live on the edge of downtown (4th/10th) and I
found a little coffee shop. It was a pleasant walk through a baseball field and
past an ice rink that is now serving as a basketball court. Tran and I loafed
and the young couple slept in. Eventually, we walked to a grocery store that
had a sandwich shop inside, got some sandwiches (mine was a Reuben), and went
off to the nearby walk called “Eagle River.” There was a nice visitor’s center
there, a nice walk along a river, and some placards along the way.
At this time of year, one can start the outings at pretty
much any time of the day; it’s almost impossible to run out of daylight. But
fatigue does set in, and we headed back. We met Paul, his wife Jacqueline, and
their son David, and ate pizza at “Anchorage’s finest pizza place” “Bear
Tooth.” Paul suggested we take his truck (a 4-door F150) the following day,
which we did. Near the end of that dinner, I admitted that what I really felt
like was brushing my teeth and sleeping. Jacqueline understood my feelings
exactly, so we all called it a day.
On the 21st, I walked back to the grocery store,
and refilled Thal’s growler of cold-brewed coffee, and got some day-old
pastries. Soon enough Thal and Julie got up, arranged for dog care (they take
care of Bella, Thal’s dog from Virginia, Molly, a German Shepherd mix that came
with the house, and Brendal, a boxer-mix that they inherited from Julie’s
mother), and we took off for Denali.
Julie did all of the driving. We went slightly past the Denali highway,
stopping at a restaurant (Healy(?)) before coming back to a campsite in the
park but close to the road between Anchorage and Fairbanks. Although it was
late for normal camping, there was so much daylight that we were in no rush. We
got the tents set up and slept well. My senior pass came in handy!
On the 22nd, we packed up the tents, which were
slightly damp and made a quick camp breakfast. We went to the ranger station
where we signed up for “Area 26.” In Denali, there are no designated
backcountry campsites, only areas. They are careful not to put too many people
in a single area. But first we decided to ride the park-run tour bus as far as
it went. Denali is a huge park with one road that is all but closed to private
vehicles except bicycles. This road is used by tour buses only and simply runs
from AK 3 (the road between Anchorage and Fairbanks) approximately straight
west into the park. It is a very long dead-end with practically no roads
branching off of it. It was only open to Toklat, about 60 miles in. We went all
the way in and then back to Area 26.
The plan was to backpack, but here I was caught by my own
assumptions and errors. The rules are simple; you must camp at least ½ mile
from the road, and you cannot camp within sight of the road. That sounds
simple. But it isn’t. Denali backcountry is unlike any other national park that
I’ve been in in one crucial regard; there are no trails. This means, for
example, that there are no bridges across streams. It also means that you have
to fight your way through underbrush. This is very hard hiking and it makes the
other “trails” (eg Pacific Crest, Appalachian, Wonderland, etc.) all seem very
nice and very similar. Denali is different.
The 2nd aspect that is far different in Denali is
that there is relatively little tree cover. What tree cover there is, did not
seem suitable for camping. Hence, “getting out of sight of the road” is very
difficult. One really does have to climb over the nearest ridge.
Another difference is the presence of wildlife. We did not
see bears or moose, but we were concerned; fresh scat seemed to be almost
everywhere, and our bear bells were not working very convincingly. In short, as
opposed to other national parks, we were told not to walk single-file or stay on a path (since there are none),
and to make a lot of noise. As the older couple of our group grew more and more
tired going up a steep climb through underbrush, we decided to concede and head
back to the road. There was an NPS campground about a mile from where the bus
left us off, and we headed for that. But first, we had to get back to the road.
We wound up in a steep forest and eased our way back down. But there was a
fairly fast knee-deep stream running between us and the road. We tried to go
around it, but the bushwhacking was taking a toll and we finally found and
settled on a fordable crossing. It wasn’t a big crossing, but the stream’s
depth was uncomfortable when combined with its speed and the shaky footing. It
was one step at a time. I don’t think there was any real danger but we could
easily have gotten a lot wetter than we did. As it was, we ended up soaked up
to about the knees.
Thankfully, we were spared almost all of Alaska’s famous
mosquito swarm; we were a few weeks early for that. But while slashing through
the brush, we did get caught in showers, one of which was heavy, lasted over ½
hour, and included hail.
Because we gave up around 8:00 PM, we did manage to catch
the last park bus back to our truck at the visitor’s center, which we took, so
we didn’t even camp at the NPS site. We left the bear can at the visitor’s
center and decided to go on to Fairbanks that night. Although we arrived around
midnight, it was all daylight driving anyway. Therefore, we checked into our
AirBnb a day early.
The 23rd was supposed to be a hike out and drive
up, all of which we did not do on the 23rd, so we had a day in
Fairbanks that we hadn’t planned on. There’s an informal museum there and a
more formal one. In the informal one, we watched most of a film on Mary
Shields, the 1st woman to compete in the Iditarod. She really lives
outside of Fairbanks, enduring the brutal cold with her husband and taking care
of her dogs. There were other exhibits about dogs and dog racing. I enjoyed it
but got a little anxious that we were staying too long in one place. We walked
to the official museum and I enjoyed that as well. I read every poster on the
Iditarod winners. I remember Susan Butcher, but didn’t know that she died at
age 51 of Leukemia. I remembered Rick Swenson as well, but I didn’t know the
story of the ’91 Iditarod. It’s worth looking up. I read every word of the
following article: http://www.farnorthscience.com/cold-quests/butchers-last-great-race/
There was much on the history of Fairbanks, but I remember the most about the
dogs and the races. It was getting whatever passes for late on a day that
doesn’t get dark, so Tran and I started to walk back to our lodging after a
quick snack. A little rain, but nothing to fret over.
On the 24th, we wished Mary a happy birthday and
… Julie was sick. Oops. So we left her behind where she got another place to
stay and slept until we got back the night of the 25th. With our
driver laid up, Tran drove the 3 of us in the truck over to the airport for our
tour of Coldfoot. Our tour started and ended at the airport, but we were driven
in a van for 6 or 7 hours (with no night, it’s harder to keep track of
daylight) up to Coldfoot. Coldfoot is a truckstop along the pipeline and was
indeed a work camp during the pipeline construction. Before that, it was a
ghost town and before that it was a flash-in-the-pan gold town. Now there’s an
inn there that is built from the temporary housing of the pipeline, and a small
diner across the muddy road. It really is a working town. In addition to the
tourists, truckers running between Fairbanks and Prudhoe. During the long
drive, each of the passengers at one time or another slept, but the driver kept
a steady stream of chat going. We stopped at the Yukon River crossing, the
Arctic Circle, a pump station near the pipeline where it is above ground, a
rock outcropping (called a “tor”), and a place we could touch and feel the
permafrost. We also stopped at an abandoned house where a couple had raised
many adopted children and fostered even more.
Coldfoot has a diner, a place to stay, and a visitor’s
center run by NPS, BLM, and US Fish & Wildlife. The town has a dirt
airstrip, which is next to the Koyukuk river. Like almost all of the rivers we
saw in Alaska, the Koyokuk has a pretty impressive flow; there’s no need to
toss a stick in to see which way the river is flowing. It’s readily apparent.
It was late afternoon by the time we arrived, but we had
time to peruse the visitor’s center and walk down to the river. There are some
old cabins in the woods from the prospecting days. We watched a presentation
about a “year in the arctic.” The speaker was really a 2nd
generation arctic citizen; her father had trapped when she was young, and she
and her husband raised their two children in the remote area. As for me,
despite the comfortable temperatures, the place (yea verily, the entire state)
made me shudder for I couldn’t stop imagining how bitterly cold and dark it
gets for such a long time. Our speaker did mention that it can be miserable,
and they do leave for stretches each winter. She had a real ring of
authenticity to her and I enjoyed her talk.
On the 25th, Tran and I walked up a dirt road
that was called the Chandalar trail. We saw plenty of scat, but no animals. The
trail followed the river and was flat and muddy. The river was high, and we got
to a point where we’d have to cross it. A cable was strung across the river as
an aid, but we declined to wade through hip-deep water, ate our lunch, and
ambled back. Along the way, we met our driver from the day before. He was with
2 other people and they seemed to be birding. He was quite the expert on birds.
We got back to our room and went out with Thal on a short
walk through the woods to the visitor’s center, and walked the trails near
there. They are short and pleasant; no mud or hills or any real length for that
matter. Again, we walked down to the river, this time not crossing over the
runway; I think we were legal this time. Thal and I skipped rocks and threw
rocks. I’ve always enjoyed doing that.
We walked back to the diner, ate, and boarded a van that
took us back to the airport. Our plane seated the pilot and about 10
passengers. Thal, Tran, and I sat in the back, and we flew back to Fairbanks in
about an hour. I like small planes for short rides; we could see the Yukon and
some big mountains. The plane rocks a bit, but nobody got any motion sickness.
We landed, walked over to the truck, and drove back to the
AirBnB, where Julie had returned; she had to vacate it for the night of the 24th,
but was back to where we stayed on the 23rd. We cooked some camping
food and called it a day.
On the 26th, Julie and I drove us back to
Anchorage, stopping a couple of times for gas and stretching. We got back in
the late afternoon; Anchorage is perpetually in late afternoon in late May. Julie’s
mother Kate came over and we had a very nice conversation. Among other things,
she asked me if I knew what I plan to do after I retire. Sometimes, work is so
frustrating that I just want out, but she suggested that I have something lined
up for afterwards. Probably a good idea. Also, I learned about Larry and the
dogs. It was nice. Thal and Julie fixed dinner that night, with Thal manning
the outdoor grill, grilling salmon, and Julie fixing pasta with an attachment
for her stand mixer. This particular mixer is found in all of our homes;
Austin, Honolulu, Anchorage, and Herndon. It weighs a ton and there is a place
in front where you can attach well, attachments. I’d never seen anyone use the
attachment before, but Julie used it to make pasta. All good. Lots of fun.
On the 27th, we got up and went to Gwennie’s, an
Anchorage institution, for sourdough pancakes. Well, these are not IHOP (or
IHOb) pancakes. They were light colored and they were sour! I really like
sourdough anyway so I like it. Then off to a beach with big jets taking off on
the other side of a ridge. I saw several with the “hump” of a 747 and others
with FedEx markings, so I’d guess that these were cargo planes. They were fun
to watch. Rocky beach; had to skip a few rocks.
Back to Thal and Julie’s we went, and then Tran and I took
Julie’s Subaru to Thunderbird Falls. It was very crowded on this very sunny
day, and we really had a nice walk, going down to the falls and snapping some
pictures. The streams I saw in AK all seemed to be moving fast with lots of
clean water. This was no exception. We took a few side trails before heading
back to Thal and Julie’s. We all went out to a Korean restaurant, and then off
to the airport.
Six hours in a middle seat later, we waited a while in
Chicago, and flew into Dulles late afternoon on the 28th. Uber-ed
home, and relaxed. We discussed the highpoints and it’s hard to mention
anything, because we really enjoyed everything, and each contributed its own
style; Orcas with Dad, Snoqualmie with the lodge and the mist and again, Dad,
Denali is Denali, Coldfoot is the Arctic Circle, the drive up was the pipeline,
the Yukon, permafrost, … I’m grateful for each day we had on this trip. And of
course, as is the case whenever I’m in Seattle, it was a treat being spoiled by
my sister, brother, in-laws, and dad. And I was so happy to be able to spend
time with Thal, Julie, and Julie’s family.
It took me a week to muster any enthusiasm for work. But I’m grateful that Tran took so many
pictures and we can relive this trip.
