June 20 – 23, 2009 Summer Solstice, Work, and an Owl

On Saturday, 20th, was the annual Dragonfly Day here at Creamer’s Refuge and it was BUSY!!  I really felt that I was WORKING that day – WOW! 

Our replacements, Bill and Shelly, have arrived and are now camped with us so we spent Saturday afternoon/evening getting acquainted and doing some training.

Sunday, 21st, was Summer Solstice – the longest daylight of the year here with almost 22 hours of sunlight – WOW!! 

Check this out:

Andy and I spent the day working with Shelly and Bill on the duties.   And then we went to the celebration in downtown Fairbanks – it was like a big street fair – lots of fun.

 

When we came back to Creamer’s, we found the back gate open and took a ride thru the yard and saw this fellow (he was HUGH)

 

 

We came back to our MH and ended up chatting until midnight (and the sun was still up – :-)) 

Monday, 22nd, was our last work day.  It is hard to believe that we have been here over 6 weeks, the longest we have stayed at any place.  It has been a great experience for us and we have had a good time.  (Thank you Alexis, Melissa, Mark and Sarah.)  Would we come back again?  ABSOLUTELY!

Tuesday, 23rd, was a long rainy day and our last day here.  So the morning was spent doing the usual – laundry, cleaning, groceries and initial packing.  For supper, we got together with Shelly and Bill for hamburgers on the grill and some great chatting.  We really hope that we met up again with them, if not in AK, then in the lower 48.

And now we start to lose daylight (but not twilight):

 

Stay tuned for our next adventures.

June 13 - 19, 2009 – Work, Dalton Highway, Arctic Circle and more WOW!

Saturday, 13th, was a work day for us. The visiting artists today were Hilda and Herb Melchior. Hilda does Silversmithing, Sculpturing, and Jewelry Making and Herb does Photography. What a wonderful couple. Their work is just beautiful. Hilda and I had some long conversations about jewelry and beading. She looked at my pieces and gave me some insights – Thank you Hilda. Andy and I had a great time chatting with both of them and hope to keep in touch.

Sunday, 14th, was a work day for us and it was also my father’s birthday – he would have been 84 today so Happy Birthday, Dad.

Monday, 15th, another work day and the end of our second to last weekend of work.

Tuesday, 16th, I decided that I wanted to have lunch by the Yukon River so up the Elliot and Dalton Highway we went. Two years ago we went this way on a tour and the road was terrible. We decided to go as far as we could and if the road was bad we would turn back. Well, the road was so much BETTER. The Elliot Highway is paved to the junction with the Dalton. The Dalton started out a little rough and then it was good. Some of it is now paved. So I will take you on a little picture tour.

The Alaska pipeline runs alongside a good portion of the Dalton (FYI, the Dalton is also known as the “Long Haul Road”). Here is our first sighting of the pipeline:

And another:

The pictures do not do the vastness of this area justice. If you remember the picture of Andy by one of the supports of the pipeline – it towered over him. Now image all those supports in the picture – I hope you can get an idea.

Here is another picture of from one of the overlooks:

Our first sighting of the Yukon:

And the bridge:

And the barge/ferry that goes to the many villages along the River:

This river has so much history – from the Native Peoples to the present. As we sat by the river and had lunch, I thought about all the people who have used this river to travel, to survive and who still use it today.

The Arctic Circle is 60 miles from here and once we inquired about the road (OK) we decided to head up there.

How about this part of the road (and yes, I was driving – :-))):

This area is know as Finger Mountain. There is evidence here that hunters knew about this rock when shaggy mammoths and bison roamed the surrounding hills. The rock marked a premier location to watch for game that continued for many generations. Later, bush pilots used the rock to guide their way home, since the granite finger points directly to Fairbanks.

A view of the other rocks in the area:

This is heading down Finger Mountain into the valley – I have fallen in love with this valley. All the white you see on the valley floor are tundra wildflowers. This area was abloom and it was gorgeous!!!

15 miles later we arrived at the Arctic Circle:

And just to prove we drove there – :-))):

We met a number of people there and four of them were also Escapee members. I should have thought about getting a picture of all of us and sending it into the magazine (but I thought about it later – :-( ).

And the road back. That plume of smoke is from a large truck coming down the hill.

More of the valley with the wildflowers and more of the road – I truly wish the pictures showed the vastness and the beauty.

And with one last stop at the mighty Yukon – the longest river in America. Will this be the last time I see this river??? – maybe, maybe not – :-).

As we continued down the highway, we were stopped. Apparently there was a large oversized load going up to Prudhoe Bay. Before I go into this, I need to tell you that I also enjoy watching the show Ice Road Truckers so THIS was neat to see. It was also more fascinating that there was a long haul trucker parked with us who explained some of the things we saw.

Here is the truck coming down the hill. Now I also need to explain that there were two other trucks (with large loads right behind him). The first was connected, the second was not. So there are three trucks involved here. The first one has the oversized heavy load and he is pulling. The second one is connected and he is a pusher – to help the first up those LARGE, STEEP hills, and the third is also a pusher to give that extra push if needed.

Here he comes: The second truck or first pusher:

The third truck or second pusher:

WOW! and more WOW! An extra treat to the end of the day. The whole day took us over twelve hours – was it worth it – YES!!!

One of the things on our bucket list was to go to Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean but because of the cost of tours we decided not to do it. I know that the Tracker might make it but some day when I win the lottery, I think I would get a truck camper with extra gas tanks and do this road – WOW!!!

Wednesday, 17th, we did grocery shopping, and washed the car – it was really dusty and dirty from yesterday’s trip.

Our Elliot had a rough day – :-))):

So he had to take it easy – LOL.

This afternoon, we saw our local fox crossing the field – what a treat!

This evening, Melissa and Alexis held a potluck at Melissa’s house for us. What a nice treat and a great time. Thank you Melissa and Derek for having us. And thanks to Melissa, Derek, Alexis, Mark and Sarah for a great time at the dinner and also for our stay here.

Thursday, 18th, and Friday, 19th, were just hang out days and getting caught up with odds and ends. We will be leaving here next Wednesday and heading for Denali. Right now I have reservations for Wed thru Sat night and then onto Anchorage and Seward. But who know, plans change daily. I also found out that Talkeetna has a Moose Dropping Festival on July 11-12 so hopefully we will get there.

Tomorrow thru Monday will be working days for us and the next hosts will be here tomorrow so we will be doing some transitioning. On Sunday is Solstice – the longest day – and Fairbanks is having a festival from noon to midnight so our plans are to head there on Sunday after work.

So stay tuned.

June 6-8, 2009 – Work and the Wild Arts Walk

The past three days we have worked.  Saturday started the “Artist in Residence” Program – every Saturday from 10-2 an artist will be demonstrating.  This week was Jamie Smith, who teaches at U of A and does cartoons and has illustrated several books.  What a great guy and interesting person.

Yesterday was the Refuge’s Fundraiser “Wild Arts Walk”  where they had many artists demonstrating and selling their goods. 

On Saturday, Andy spent a long day preparing the grounds. and on Sunday, he worked on the set up and take down crew and I did various jobs helping and taking down.  I did get a chance to stop at two of the booths where the artists were selling jewelry.  I had a long conversation with Hilda – she does jewelry in a number of mediums and will be here on Saturday as part of the “Artist in Residence” Program (and we will chat more then).

We have decided to just take it easy tomorrow – we are not use to working long days – LOL!

June 2-3, 2009 – Gold, Pedro, Creamer’s Refuge and Mosquitoes

Hi Folks,

Sorry I have not updated in a while – we have been busy – :-)).  Today is actually 6/8 and I will update you on all we have been doing.

However, first I must update you on the cranes.  I made a mistake.  Take a look at the picture below.  These are all adults since they have the red heads.  The grey is their natural color.  The reason some of these are brown is that they have dyed their feathers with iron rich dirt/mud.  The reason they do this is that they will blend in with nesting in the tundra – how about that!

 

Okay, so let’s get back to Tuesday.  In the AM, I did laundry.  In the PM, we went to the El Dorado Gold Mine (thanks to Bob for the tickets).  The tour started out on a train and took us thru the different types of gold mining that was and still is done here (from above ground to below ground mining).  At the end of the ride, we were at the “gold camp” and greeted by Dexter Clark and Yukon Yonda who told us old mining stories and described how to do sluicing.

                           

In this demonstration, piles of dirt were dug (some from river beds, some from underground mines) and then will be put thru water, one shovel full at a time.  The water is dammed and then flows down past the dirt into the sluice box where there are various ways to separate out the gold.  The final step is done by hand.

Here comes the water:

 

And here is some of the gold found in one of the boxes:

Afterwards, we all get a chance to pan for our own gold -   

Yes, we did find some – Andy - $10.00 worth and me $4.00 – we are RICH!!!  YEE-HAW!

From there we took a little ride to the Felix Pedro Monument:

Felix Pedro discovered gold in the creek (now Pedro Creek) opposite the monument on July 2 , 1902 and on many of the neighboring creeks.  He discovered the greatest gold vein in this area which led to the Gold Rush of 1903 and the start of the city of Fairbanks.  Today that creek still contains gold.  We saw a number of people panning there:

Yes, the creek still has snow and we did not want to get too close..

From there we stopped at the Howling Dog Saloon – what a hoot.  We met a couple of the locals and had a great time chatting.  There is all kinds of things hanging from the ceiling.  In one area there are lots of bras and I had to ask!   Here is the story:  to get your bra there, a girl must stand on the bar, take off her shirt, then her bra, then throw it on this metal hanger…  Oh my… some were quite large..  And no I do not want to be here for that – LOL

We had supper at Carl's, Jr.  According to some of the reports, it is one of the best burgers here – it was ok – The Blu Burger at the Blu Tavern in Minersville is still the best on my list..

Wednesday, June 3, we had some excitement here.  Early this morning, the bird banding station and one of the fences was damaged.  I cannot understand what people would get out of doing that.  We took a walk back to the station, how sad!!!

Here is Andy with Ethan.  Ethan is Alexis’s (my boss) son and comes to visit with us a couple times a week.  Good kid.

We took a walk on some of the trails until we could not stand the mosquitoes anymore – they are out in FULL FORCE!!!  Some pictures along the way (notice the water missing or going down from previous pictures).

 

And everything is so green:

We have many swallows here nesting and building nests.  These nests are right outside our MH and they are so neat to watch (you can see their beaks or the white spot on their heads just peeking out):

    

When I find out more info, I will pass along.

In the evening, Andy and I took a tour of the barn.  The upstairs is BEAUTIFUL!  I can see why they are trying to get the funding to bring it up to code so they can open it to the public.  This was one of the high WOW factors for me.  We also toured the lower part where the cows were milked and housed.  So much history here.  The lower part is now used for storage for a number of the governmental agencies.  One area of the barn had animal parts and I had to get away – the smell was very strong!

I also had a chance today to take pictures of all my beading projects.  I may post here or start a jewelry blog.  And I had a chance to go to Michaels and use my 50% coupons to get a book on bead crochet…  maybe one of my next projects.  So stay tuned.