Wednesday, May 19, 2010

To Chatanika, Alaska and beyond...

You might remember that earlier this year we took a harrowing trip out to Chatanika in an attempt to watch the outhouse races.  We pretty much waved at Chatanika, turned the car around, and headed back to Fairbanks.

Well, we tried it again and this time the roads were much better!
Fairbanks is now in bloom but most of the areas out this way have not budded yet.



 We reached Chatanika as evidenced by the Chatanika Lodge. No outhouse races this time of year, too bad.



We passed an old gold dredge.  

The road eventually turned to that stuff between asphalt and gravel, still drivable, and we came upon...



This. 


Poker Flat Research Range.  

Apparently they have a place to test rockets here in Alaska!

Looks top secret, doesn't it?


Very cool!



After awhile we decided to look for coffee and came upon this general store.  

They did not have brewed coffee but did have some Starbucks cold coffee available. To begin with I was a little leery of the place but, always ready for adventure, I stopped.


The little river is still iced over. 

How cute is this little street sign!


Gotta love Alaska!


We have come to terms with the fact that we will probably not see the Yukon River while here, but we believe the beauty we have seen will do just fine!


Can you hear the sound of the river? Beautiful!

5 comments:

Sandy said...

I'm really enjoying your Alaska photos. We have set our departure date for our Alaska RV trip for this Saturday. We are getting excited. We are going into Canada from Montana and taking the Alaskan Hwy. We are better prepared for this trip than any trip we have ever taken except for planning what to do in Alaska! Hopefully we can figure that out on the way. We are taking the ferry at the end of touring Alaska in August from Haines AK to the state of Washington. That's the only thing we have firmed up. LOL! You will be leaving about when we arrive.

Nanette said...

Sandy, I'm excited for you too! I know you are going to have a wonderful time. It will be so fun to see your pictures and posts, between us we'll probably have Alaskan pictures for nearly half a year! If I don't catch up with you between now and then good luck!
Valerie

Cass @ That Old House said...

Alaska looks so exotic to me! The closest I've come was a visit to the small Seattle town where they used to film "Northern Exposure."

As I recall, it's general store was a little "iffy" too!

Beautiful pictures. What is an outhouse race? -- Cass

Nanette said...

Hi Cass,
An outhouse race is where 5 person teams race a one-mile course with 4 pushing, 1 riding in the specially built racing outhouses. They are hilarious and would have been a blast to have seen!
Valerie

Jocelyn said...

I just love the signs! And your pictures are great. My hubby has always wanted to go to Alaska. Maybe one day we will make it there.

Jocelyn
http://justalittlesouthernhospitality.blogspot.com/