We had a nice drive to Fairbanks on Friday, and met up with JM and Diana Johnson downtown. They had been there since the previous evening, and were on a quest to see how many museums they could go through in one day! We found them at the "Dog-Mushing Museum" and picked them up! Had a nice dinner overlooking the river at the Pump House Restaurant in Fairbanks.
Next morning, we got a fairly early start and drove 57 miles out of town to Chena Hot Springs, where we changed into our lovely swimsuits and spent a hour or so basking in the warm (105 degrees) waters of the Rock Pond. No photos of this are in existance, due to death threats, but it was nice and we then headed back to town for more adventures.
The next adventure was totally JM's idea...we decided to go on a tour of old downtown Fairbanks on a SEGWAY! It was great fun! After about 20 minutes of instruction, we followed our guide down the streets and through the parks and over the river several times to hear about the history of Fairbanks. Actually, Henry was chomping at the bit to just fly around on that thing, and could have cared less about the history lesson. So, at the end of the tour (which, by the way, they spent about twice as much time with us than we paid for) they turned us loose in the park. You should have seen JM and Diana zipping around with no problems! I was doing great going downhills...it was the uphill that was a killer....my Segway started beeping at me, and bouncing a little, and so I stepped off like I thought I was supposed to, only to be run over by the dang thing! At least it was on grass. And I as looked up to see what damage had been inflicted on me by the thing, I saw Henry crashing head first downhill across the park! I ended up with bruises and scrapes on my arms and legs, and he got a good bump to his nose and face. But, it was GREAT fun, and I would do it again in a heartbeat! Needless to say, JM (84 yrs old) and Diana had NO problems and ran circles around us!
We also managed to hit Pioneer Park, a Fred Meyer's store, the Yukon Quest store, a few museums, a coffee shop, and ate dinner downtown at an Italian place on the rooftop...it was a really fun day!
Next morning, we packed up and headed to the Midnight Sun Festival downtown Fairbanks, where there were tons of arts/crafts/food vendors and found a few goodies to purchase. After leaving town, we stopped at North Pole Alaska to see the giant Santa, the caribou, and the Christmas store!
Diana and JM had not seen a moose as of yet, so we ordered up one for the road...it wasn't long before we actually saw a monster of a moose, standing knee-deep in a pond and eating the mossy plants from the bottom. He actually stared at us for a second and didn't mind a bit that we were saying "Moose! Moose!" over and over!
The rest of the trip was kind of rainy and fairly uneventful as we made our way to Glennallen. We spent the night at the Caribou Hotel -- an old place, but pretty nice--nothing to write home about. Next morning, we headed for Valdez...scenery improved dramatically as we traveled along side rocky peaks and mountains full of snow and glaciers. Coming across Thompson pass, the visibility was pretty bad since we were in a cloud, and rainy too. Stopped at a salmon spawning ground only to see a herd of them (oops, I mean a SCHOOL of them) all treading water in relatively one spot. And no bears in sight.
The scenery was breathtaking as we went along on the way to Valdez, and we passed some spectacular waterfalls and snow-topped mountains.

We finally made it to Valdez and were struck by the calmness of the water in the sound, and how the mountains just go almost right to the water's edge all around. Found the airport and checked on the Johnson's flight scheduled for tomorrow, and then made the rounds of town. Of special interest was the Pipeline holding tanks, so we traveled around to the opposite side of the bay to see them. Along the way, we were lucky enough to see a young grizzly bear, casually munching the salt grass next to the highway. He totally ignored all the stopped cars and people photographing him. So cute!

So we explored more of Valdez, and ended up back at the hotel for dinner. Here's a few more photos of the small boat harbor, and of Valdez from across the bay. The Johnsons will fly out tomorrow for Anchorage and will be joining a travel group there...Henry and I will spend one more day in Valdez and hope to meet up with my long lost cousin Carole Morrison, who has lived in Alaska for most of her life. Haven't seen her in probably 25 years, so we are hoping to coordinate a meeting.
After that, we will be driving back to Glennallen, then to Palmer and Wasilla, where we will spend a last night with Sharon and Ralph Kilbourne. Then Anchorage and back to ABQ and home.
There is not room here to post all the photos I have taken, so if you are interested and want to see more, please check my Flickr site. Will write more before this trip ends, so please check back!
Valez Small Boat Harbor:

Kayaks:

Alaska Pipeline from underneath:

TTYL!