Friday, 18 August – Fairbanks to Denali National Park
We were up early to
get our bags out at 6:30, but didn’t need to leave until 9:45, so we relaxed
and got caught up on the blog. Our new driver-guide, Brie, picked us up and drove
us to the site of Dredge #8. We saw and heard about the Alaska Pipeline,
then
boarded a little train. Along the way we saw various remnants and reproductions
of mining stampeder-style. Our first task when we arrived at the dredge, was to
pan some gold. We were each given a poke of dirt and a pan. We stood at long
troughs of warmish water, so it was much less arduous than the other day. Afterward,
we could find out the value of our gold. Between us we had just over $30 worth.
It was many more flakes than I got the other day. We then had the opportunity
to eat cookies and wander through the dredge itself. What a ferocious piece of
equipment!
Back downtown, we dispersed for lunch. We found a small café on the
ground floor of a building that housed a museum upstairs, and we enjoyed
touring that. There was a lot of information on dogsledding, which prompted us
to also visit the small building devoted to the Yukon Quest dog sled race. We
bought a bootie for one of the dogs, which will entitle us to follow that team
when the race happens in Feb 2024. Back
on the bus, Dave & Brie kept us entertained and informed (when we weren’t
dozing) for the 3-hour trip to Denali.
We had one stop for a stretch, washroom,
coffee, snack and shopping, and arrived around 6pm.
More Photos of the day
[Dave, our guide, told about a moose that toured a store in Kenai AK. Video click below:
Moose Tours Kenai store ]
We had 6:30 dinner
reservations so dropped our stuff and walked over to the Denali Square.
Once again,
we have a really big, nice room, complete with Wi-Fi. This time it’s for 3
nights so we are settling in a bit. Denali is so beautiful that just soaking up
this atmosphere and beauty for a few days will be great, even without the
activities we will do.
Fairbanks and Onward - group input by Dave Click Left
to view
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