Our Alaska Trip 5

7/19/19 Weather a little cooler this AM but pleasant. Harlan walked dog
down to the train station where people were gathering to wait for the train.
A ticket was $100 to ride. We had taken the train when we were there 8
years ago and the tickets weren’t that expensive then. The train goes to
Hurricane Gulch. There is a bridge there 300 ft. up from the water. When
you look down it is quite a sight. The train would stop along the way when
they saw people waiting. They would stop and pick them up and let them
off. A lot of the people were Alaskans that lived away from town and had
no transportation to get into buy groceries and such. There were also
some that had a boat and would be let off to boat back. This is one of the
last flag trains left. We went back into Talkeetna. The end of Main Street
goes down to the river and across the way you can see Mt. McKinley in all
it’s glory. We had done this 8 years ago. It was really something to see.
This time it was too crowded to see.

Last time here I had found a pattern for a moose in one of the shops. A
lot of the stores had a moose outside their shop. As a fund raiser they
have people decorate them. Then on July 4th they have a parade and
auction off the many moose wooden items. They are all decorated all
kinds of ways and waiting for the grand prize. They are really cute.
Yesterday I went in shopping to find another pattern since I no longer
have that 1st pattern any more. Every shop I went in and ask if they had a
moose pattern said no. Even the shops that still had one or two of the
moose in there yard didn’t have a pattern. Today I called the Talkeetna
Historical Society and they also said no but gave me a name of a few
places that might have it. They said they are no longer doing the auction
anymore and have change to a raffle system this year. I went to a place
we had missed going in. The nice lady had told me that the shop might
have one. We stopped first there. I went in and ask and the lady said she
thought she might have it. We went to the shelf and there was a stack.
She pulled the top one off and gave it to me. But below that was the
moose with the planters on the sides to put flowers in. I did not want that
one. That was all she had left. It happens that the pattern she gave me
was the last one. She didn’t know if she could order anymore or not. I
was so lucky. Stacy was watching out for me.

This evening we went back to the West Rib and Bar. Meet some nice
people. Two were from Denmark. Had a nice visit. Back at RV Park and
Harlan walked Daisy.

7/20/19 Went into Talkeetna to get some more of those delicious spiced
pecans made with cinnamon, vanilla, and sugarcane. Found out today
that she has a machine that makes them. They are delicious. Will have to
see if I can find a recipe for them. Today we went to the Denali Brewing
Company. We got to go through a tour of the facility. I did not know it was
such a long process to make beer. We had a great tour, there were only
four of us at this time. Our guide was a really great guy and very
knowledgeable about the whole process from it’s beginnings to where it is
now. I think I had too many samples along the way. We got to go all over
the Brewery and saw the huge tanks from floor to ceiling that they had for
the different stages of the process. There were even huge barrels that they
were storing it in until needed. A lot of it is now automated and they no
longer have to have employees to do so much by hand.

There is a lot of equipment and 14 or more steps to brewing beer.

There are 4 main ingredients in beer: WATER - Without water beer would
be impossible. Because more than 95% of the final product will be water.
The quality of the water that is used has a big impact on the quality of the
final product. YEAST - Yeast is that which turns your sweet brown tea
into beer. Yeast is a single cell organism that eats sugar and converts it
into alcohol and CO2. This is called fermentation. GRAINS - Barley is
probably the most common type of grain used today although some beers
use wheat, corn and even sorghum or rice. HOPS - Hops are those
things that give beer it’s flavor and aroma. There are many kinds of hops
and different ones produce different flavors.

FERMENTATION - There are different fermentations of beer: LAGERS

are made with yeast that ferments at the bottom of the mixture. ALES are
made with yeast that ferments at the top. WILD and SOUR ALES are
brewed with spontaneously fermenting yeasts which give them their
distinct qualities.

I think there was a bus with a group of 100 to go on the tour after us. I
would saw we were ferry lucky to have the personal attention.

7/21/19 Leaving Talkeetna today. Had a great time there. We headed up

to Denali Park. We are staying at a camp ground called The Midnight Sun.
Have met some nice people here. We are actually down the road from
Denali Park. We had taken the bus shuttle into Denali before but probably
won’t this time. They kept saying see the bear across the way, but it just
look like a spec on the mountain. However we did see about 10 Dall
sheep at the last on the ledge above us as we were coming back on the
bus. They were really magnificent creatures. They were close to the road
but just high up.

7/22/19 Woke up to nice cool weather. Took Daisy with us and drove into
Denali State Park. We had our Park Pass but no one was there to take it.
Guess they no longer have a fee unless you take the bus ride. We did not
take the shuttle bus this time but were able to drive into the park. You can
go just so far and then have to turn around and go back. We did see a
moose and her baby on the side of the road walking back into the trees.
As we came back we stopped at the activity center in the park. There was
an author selling books that had beautiful photos. He autographed it for
me. Last time there was an author there that had a book about bears with
great pictures that I bought. It was amazing how close he got to the
bears. As I was reading in the last journal I did, I read that we had played
Cribbage, but didn’t have a cribbage board. Seems like the games I had I
can no longer find. I called a gift shop and sure enough they had one.
That afternoon we went to the shop and got it. Now if I can just remember
how to play it. The board has Alaska on it. Later in the afternoon we went
to the 49th State Brewing Company Denali Park Alaska for a tasting of
beer and some chicken strips and fries. Met some really nice guys who
had been in the service. One of them was a real history buff all the way
back to Ceasar’s reign and everything in between. Found out a lot of
information I never knew. He also wants to see the Vanderbuilt house from
what he read about them. A lot of history we read is not quite accurate
with what really happened.

7/23/19 Hung around the RV. I made my apple pie for the first time on the
trip. Weather nice. Harlan worked on a few things on the RV. Pulled out
the new cribbage board and read up on how to play. We sat down and
played the game.

7/24/19 Pleasant weather. Harlan went to the hardware store to get a

part for the RV. Later that day we couldn’t find Harlan’s phone. Went thru
the RV calling his phone to see if it would ring, but heard no sound.
Looked outside but didn’t hear it out there either. Then traced the path he
had walked Daisy. Working on RV outside and bending over with Daisy, I
thought he might have dropped it. Couldn’t seem to find it anywhere. We
sat down to play Cribbage. Then when I picked up a piece of paper off
the table we finally found it. It had not rung because something was
wrong with the ringer. I feel Stacy helped me find the phone. Thank you.

7/25/19 We are fixing to leave this morning. We left where we were and
pulled out about 10:00 am. We have ended up at the Nenena
Campground. It is a really nice place. They even have a free mini golf
course here. It is nice and quiet and the owners Kevin and Jackie are very
nice. But before we came here there was a place we checked out but they
were having a music concert. You could park on the grass free but they
wanted $40 a day for the Music Festival and there were no hook ups so
we moved on and ended up here at Nenena Campground. It was not
crowed. We played Cribbage again today.

7/26/19 It was cooler this am. As we travel the highway, sometimes we

cross over water that they call a gulch. ie: Bison Gulch, Glitter Gulch, most
famous is Hurrican Gulch, and then Ice worm Gulch. The first three I
recognized but Ice worm I had never heard of and I wondered how they
got that name. I had to find out if there was a real thing as an Ice worm.
Well guess what they are real. This is what I found out. “Interesting Alaska
phenomena: ice worms. Ice worms are one of the smallest and toughest
creatures in Alaska. Ice worms are unique because they spend their
entire lives in glacial ice. In order to do this, their bodies must not only be
able to withstand extreme cold, but thrive in it. Their cells freeze at much
lower temperatures than other organisms, and they are most comfortable
at temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit. As the glacier surfaces become
colder in the winter, they can journey deeper and deeper into the glacier
where it’s insulated and actually warmer. If an ice worm finds itself in an
environment warmer than 40 degrees Fahrenheit it will quite literally melt,
as their bodies liquefy from the heat. So if you ever see an ice worm on a
glacier hike, spare I by not picking it up and holding it in the palm of your
hand.

Ice worms were first discovered in 1887 on Alaska’s Muir Glacier. In

fact, they have only been found on glaciers in Alaska, British Columbia,
Washington, and Oregon. Ice worms can be black, blue or white and feed
on snow algae - behaving much like little sea creatures. They come to the
surface of the glaciers at dawn and dusk, hence their Latin name,
Solifugus, which means “sun-avoiding. Much is still unknown about this
very extreme worm, scubas why they’re only found in particular locations
and how exactly they tunnel through glacial ice.

 In Cordova, a fishing town in Alaska only accessible by boat or

airplane, ice worms are celebrated at the annual Cordova Ice worm
Festival in February. Next time your in the Last Frontier and find yourself
on a glacier hike, spend a little time looking down at your feet for tiny
worms wriggling through the ice.”

We went into the town and rode a sled dog training sled with wheels.
Boy did they take off fast and knew the exact way to go. It was fun.
Didn’t know they could travel so fast. Next we went into the Railroad
Museum. Harlan found an article about Alaska Nellie. She was the first
woman hired to help with the railroad. She cooked and ran the
Roadhouses along the railroad from Seward to Anchorage as they were
built. We also went in shops along the river. They were advertising the
Nenana Ice Classic 2020. When will the Tanana River Ice Break up in
Nenana? You buy a ticket to guess the Month, Day, Hour and Minutes it
will break up for a Jackpot. The 2019 jackpot was $311,652. This year is
the 104th year Alaskans will watch for the the exact minute of the break up
on the Tanana River. How do they know? Well there is this tripod planted 2
feet into the Tanana River ice between the highway bridge and the railroad
bridge at Nenana, just up river from the Nenana River tributary. It is 300ft.
From shore and connected to a clock that stops as the ice goes out
breaking up.

We went to the Monderosa to eat. Had a delicious hamburger. “Built in

1982 by 2 custom Log Home Builders, the Monderosa is a locally owed
and operated business. The name is a result of mixing the owners last
name, Monroe and Ponderosa. This 44 x 48 building is made with White
Spruce logs cut in the 17 mile hill area between here and Fairbanks and
average 16’’ in diameter. These logs were then turned with a Myers pole
shaver to maintain their natural taper. The land on which the Monderosa is
built was homesteaded in 1960 by Odell Parker. The original 160 acres
were used to grow and sell potatoes to the military. Eventually a Bar and
Hotel, “Parker’s Patch”, were established and in 1981 burned to the
ground. The Moose Rack above the bar measures 54” and was shot by
the owner’s father in the Kantishna area. A lot of history in them there
hills.” We got back and played with our Alaskan dice we got. The rules
are the same as the game “Farkle”. We had a Farkle game but didn’t have
it with us.