North Pole

Spent a little bit more time emptying waste tanks, and adding fresh water in anticipation of spending the next 3 nights"dry camping" in Denali National Park! I am very excited to be camping in the park, my fellow travelers seem less enthusiastic....and national parks are a little more restrictive about our furry traveling companions. Auggie wil be "trailer bound" much of the day part of our visit. But don't be concerned, his favorite, Aunt Cindy, will simply not let him be taken for granted, so he will be fine! In fact the first photo of this entry is him enjoying another new chew toy from his aunt. (Side note: he has yet to get this tough little salmon chewed open, (gutted) and stuffing strewn about the RV.)

After Auggie had settled down with his chew toy we headed to the North Pole! To be frank, this is just a little town to the southeast of Fairbanks that is home to a store called the Santa Claus House. The town has played up this theme, light poles are tall candy canes, bollards are painted red and white striped, some buildings had wreaths.... but mostly it is about this pretty good size Christmas store! Oh, and they have actual reindeer (domesticated caribou) on site that you can spend 30 minutes petting for only $12.95. So as two women who enjoy Christmas, Cindy and I shopped and skipped the caribou petting session. (Tom looked around and sat in the RV with Auggie!)

With Christmas shopping taken care of, we headed on to "the park" our home for the next three nights. On the way we stopped to check out the little town of Nenana, a little Alaska Railroad stop on the Nenana River. Interesting how the naming conventions work around here. They have a lottery of sorts every year which consists of picking the date and time the river stays to break up in the spring. It is determined by the moment that the black and white larger triangular device (see photos) which had been set on the frozen river, topples. Think this happens in a couple of towns.... the freeze-up or the break-up of river ice is a pretty significant marker of time when you live in regions as cold as these areas get!!

Lunch was actually in the RV today, we had smoked salmon spread on wheat thins, with cheddar cheese sticks and apples! Cindy bought the salmon when we were on the river boat tour, and it was delicious!

Drove in to Denali and headed straight to the bus depot to book our "Tundra" tour. You can really only go in by bus beyond mile marker 15 or so. Completed booking and headed out to our site at Savage River campground. Nice little campground, maybe two dozen sites only, no services, pit toilets; but not quite far enough in to the park to really see much of the mountain range that is home to Denali. Regardless, it is quiet, and out of the main activity on the highway. From here we can catch a shuttle back to the visitor center and leave the RV parked at camp.Read more