WTH!? It is 86 degrees Fahrenheit in Fairbanks Alaska! Where is the snow? Where are the dog sleds? Where are the glaciers? They’re not here today...that’s for sure!
All kidding aside, it’s another gorgeous day and we’re taking full advantage of it. We started with a lazy morning coffee beside Moon Lake again and ooohed and aaahed as the light glistened off the super still water.
It was a calm relaxing drive along the highway until Lynda spied our first moose of the trip in the distance. (S)he was just crossing the road and heading down into the ditch on the left. It was too far for us to really see but we’re certain it was a moose. All of the print materials we have warn...”watch for moose!” at the start of almost every paragraph. We swapped out drivers at a scenic viewpoint where we oohed and aaahed again. This time we were looking at three of the tallest peaks in the Alaskan range. It was a clear day and so we had the gift of being able to see them in all their glory. Next stop along the road was to be the vantage point that allows you to see the second longest run of exposed pipeline. It is the Alaskan pipeline that runs for more than 1200 miles from Purdue in the North to Valdez. Before we arrived at that stop though we had two moose (a cow and a very young calf) jump right out on the road in front of us. I hit the brake and as we weren’t going too fast anyway....there was no problem in stopping with room to spare. It gave us both a shot of adrenaline though AND we got to see two moose in the wild CLOSE UP! We took our time along the road watching all the while for moose and other wildlife but alas....all we saw was one more rabbit so to date we have 3 rabbits, 2 moose close up, and 1 moose far away. We’re hoping Denali (on the 23rd) is generous with us on the viewing front.
Next major stop was at North Pole. This town (just 14 miles from Fairbanks) has capitalized on its name for more than a century and as a result you see things like.....all of the light standards are in the shape of candy canes. As well, Santa has a house here and all year long it is Christmas at his shop (and of course we had to stop and have a little shop). We were super hungry by the time we reached North Pole as we hadn’t had any breakfast or lunch....just that coffee this morning and it was already mid afternoon. Soooo....on the recommendation of two of Santa’s helpers we decided on Pagoda, a Chinese restaurant that has received the stamp of approval from Guy of Diner’s Drive Ins and Dives TV show. We shared an order of Chinese noodles on the recommendation of our server and it was excellent! We had to laugh....here we are in Alaska eating Chinese food. When we go to China (Hong Kong) in October we’ll have to be sure to have some Alaskan chow. LOL. :-)
After our tummies were full again we were off in the direction of Fairbanks which is where I sit typing this now. We’re settled into the parking lot at a baseball diamond waiting for the gates to open for the annual midnight sun baseball game. It is a really big deal and has been running every year (on the longest day of the year) for more than 100 years too. These Alaskans know how to commit!
Lynda is sitting outside reading her book and I’m inside typing out this blog update. Both of us are sucking back a cup of coffee with a healthy shot of Bailey’s. This is the first time we’ve had Baileys and it is only because Lynda was “old enough” to buy it in North Pole. Yep....Lynda got ID’d when she went in to purchase a bottle. She didn’t have her ID with her and there was no way the clerk would sell it to her. She argued her case....but to no avail...she had to come back to the car to get her ID. Once she’d showed it to the clerk they were able to tell her that they don’t sell to anyone (regardless of age) without seeing their ID because in Alaska...anyone who is convicted of impaired driving gets two red lines through their drivers licence and as a result no liquor store will sell them any alcohol. I think it’s a GREAT idea!
Before rolling in to this ball park we visited the info centre where we got to see the arch of antlers that lead into an adjacent park. The story is that each set of antlers has its own story to tell and so by weaving them all together into this arch the stories are shared and live on forever. We also took the opportunity to find some services that we need for the RV....things like a sani dump and potable water. The info centre staff were able to help us find a great one on the way to the ball park so it was easy and handy for us too. Bottom line...we continue to be lucky! :-)
Tomorrow will be more of Fairbanks and then heading south toward Denali. Fingers are crossed that this great weather holds out for us. It is 7:30 pm here and the clouds have rolled in so it is not as light as it would be if there were no clouds. The ball game will start at 10 pm and they will not need to use any lights for it. Today, the longest day of the year, will have 21.3 hours of daylight and the other 2.7 aren’t really dark...they are just the dusky bits.
Time to sign off for tonight.....”take me out to the ball game” is drifting in on the wind and calling us so till next time....
L & L
We’re back for a P.S. tonight for sure....what an exciting game! It is 1:00 a.m. now and it’s pretty much the same light as It was when they started the game at 10:00 pm because there were more clouds at 10 than there are now. The rain held off till just now and we can hear it starting to fall on the RV. We’re actually thinking about just trying to stay in this parking lot tonight as it is already the middle of the night so fingers crossed....no one will come to roust us out of here in the wee hours of daylight. But back to the game. It was the bottom of the 9th with 1 out and a runner on 1st and the game was tied (it was the Alaska Goldpanners against the Surf out of California). The batter had a count of 2 and 2 and wouldn’t you know it....he hit that ball over the fence which brought in 2 runs giving the home team the win. The crowd went wild and so did we!!! It was a great night and a perfect way to end the 113th annual midnight sun game. We had hot dogs and beer and peanuts and cracker jacks....yep.....we went out to the ball game and did it up right. :-)
L & L
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