Alaska 2026, Denali

 

This is the first part of our Alaskan adventure, documenting our recent trip to Alaska. The intention is to help us remember the experience and to provide some details for those who might be interested in traveling there themselves.

August 10

A very long day began at 2:30 a.m. in St. Louis as we awoke and prepared for the shuttle to the airport for our 6:00 a.m. flight. The journey, including a change of planes in Seattle, was uneventful.

Upon arriving in Fairbanks, we met with the GohaganTravel directors for a briefing and were on our own for the rest of the day. 

The highlight of the day was the beautiful flowers everywhere, especially in The Chef’s Garden at the Princes Hotel where we also enjoyed a lovely dinner.

August 11

After breakfast at the hotel, we cruised the Chena River on a stern-wheeler steamboat.

It was a stellar experience as we learned about the history of the area, saw Iditarod sled dogs in training,

watched a Piper Cub float plane take off and land on the water, and toured a historic settlement, as well as viewing caribou hanging around the river bank.

Again, we were impressed by the beautiful flowers. With the cool weather and generous sunlight, the plants thrive.

Returning to the hotel, we stopped at the University of Alaska Museum, where we viewed a presentation about the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), which is arguably Earth's ultimate natural light display.

On the way to dinner, we stopped to take a look at a section of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. 

Dinner was at the Turtle Club, which dates back to 1950, making it one of the longest-running continuous dining establishments in the Fairbanks area. Its history blends a mining-town boom, World War II fighter-pilot culture, and a tight-knit family legacy.

August 12

Leaving Fairbanks, we departed for Denali National Park by motor coach. Along the way, we stopped for a break in the small town of Nenana, population 358.

We couldn’t resist participating in the popular Nenana Ice Classic jackpot, where we could potentially win more than $100,000 by guessing the correct date and time the ice will break on the Nenana River. Keep in mind that -50 degrees is not unusual during the winter, and the ice on the river averages about 49 inches thick!

We popped into the historic Coghill’s General Store, the only grocery store for 55 miles.

Arriving at Denali National Park, we gathered in the Denali Discovery Center for a very interesting presentation before being dropped off at the Grande Denali Lodge, where we would spend two nights. The lodge was very nice, and we enjoyed the included breakfast.

August 13

Boarding the national park bus,

we embarked on a six-hour Tundra WildernessTour

through the park. It was a bit disappointing because the wildlife we had hoped to see were not in view. We did see caribou and the pure-white Dall sheep (at a distance,) as well as getting a brief glimpse of Denali.

Apparently, spring was very late to arrive, so the berries were just ripening and the bears were still in the forest.

Fortunately, we had a very good bus driver/tour guide—a retired high school science teacher who left us with plenty of thought-provoking ideas.

After a short afternoon nap and a simple lunch, we walked into “town” and enjoyed a drink at Fannie O’s Saloon.

As we have often said, the best part of our travels is the people we meet. We have especially enjoyed meeting university students from Bulgaria who are doing seasonal work in Alaska. From what we understand, they have a four-month work visa and can stay an additional month to travel. The ones we have encountered have been extremely engaging and curious about our country.

August 14

Taking the motor coach south, we stopped in the quaint (and somewhat touristy) village of Talkeetna, where we had stunning views of Denali.

After lunch, we boarded the Deluxe Dome Rail and continued our trip toward Anchorage. The train ride was pretty much uneventful, but we did enjoy dining with a couple, Barb and Fred, from Virginia.

The Denali excursion was a bit disappointing, as we saw minimal wildlife, which was the fault of no one but Mother Nature. We did not take the helicopter excursion, but those who did had amazing views of Denali.

Arriving in Anchorage, we spent the night at a Marriott hotel before boarding a plane to Juneau.

Coming soon: an account of our river cruise, along with details about the Windstar Star Seeker and the Gohagan Touring Company.

More Alaska adventures to come!

Where has Tipsy Tuesday gone?

 

Perhaps you've noticed that no Tipsy Tuesday flag has appeared over the past several weeks.

For more than a dozen years, we've gathered with friends on Tuesday evenings during the warm months to share a glass of wine, good conversation, plenty of laughter and to discuss who has had what joints replaced recently. Over the years, the venue has changed with the seasons—and with life itself. We've gathered on the screened porch,

on the patio,

and, after our neighbors removed their aging hackberry tree (along with our shade!), we migrated to the carport.

Our chairs, fans, extra tables, and all the other Tipsy Tuesday paraphernalia used to be stored on the upper deck and screened porch, accessible only by climbing a few stairs. As we've gotten older, we've found that the summer heat and humidity—and hauling everything up and down those steps each week—has become less appealing.

But don't worry—we have no intention of giving up our Tuesday tradition!

Like so many other aspects of aging, we've simply learned to adapt. Until the weather becomes a little more tolerable, we're hosting smaller groups of six to eight friends inside the house. Sometimes it's a "mini" Tipsy Tuesday with our usual drinks and snacks. Other times it's a "bring your own meal" evening while we provide the beverages—a happy throwback to our pandemic gatherings.

Of course, we could all meet at a restaurant, but we've discovered there are real advantages to gathering at home. Friends with gluten, sodium or other restrictions can bring food that suits their needs, conversations are much easier for those of us with hearing challenges, and, if we're being honest... our wine selection is better!

In an earlier post, we mentioned that making changes to make aging easier has taken more work than we expected. One of those projects has been creating a more user-friendly outdoor space.

Instead of storing everything upstairs, we now keep our outdoor furniture and entertaining supplies in a patio storage unit that's easily accessible. It's one of those small changes that makes a surprisingly big difference.

Before long, the Tipsy Tuesday flag will be flying again. But for now, plants have been pruned, watering system set, clothes are packed and we are headed for Alaska!

Goal Accomplished

well, kind of.

One of the advantages of aging is we wake up early! Some might not think this is an advantage, but for those of us who love being outdoors it is a blessing. As soon as the day breaks, ABN is in the garden. In early June the chores consisted of watering and grooming, which can be completed in an hour or less. We were pleased with our efforts as we had been in a 5-6 month drought. And then it happened! The rains came, bringing us about 9 inches in the last two weeks of June. With that said, how about a tour?

Let's start with an overview from the security camera. Here you can see how we used ground cover.

The Micro Clover and Creeping Thyme ground covers have decreased the weeding.

Decreasing the size of the zinnia bed allows more attention to keeping it in control

Using tomato cages to support the zinnias worked well in keeping them upright.

This is basically an annual bed with an amount of experimentation.

A little reminder.

The rain did not create a total washout as ABN has been cutting blooms and doing a bit of propagating between showers. 

And the garden she-shed is much neater.

We are not finished with the garden project as ABN has a few ideas to be completed in the fall. (Is a garden ever completed? Or for that matter, an old house renovated?)

Meanwhile, Captain has been in a tactical battle against backyard squatters. With the addition of a couple Ring cameras, we have identified at least one of the intruders to be a raccoon.  We successfully caught a raccoon (and a possum) in a trap last summer and relocated them. However, these critters (or their off springs) are relentless and apparently have deemed the space under our screen porch as the perfect space in which to hangout. Now, we are inclusive and hospitable and don’t mind that they use our fountain to shower, but we are not inclined to welcome large families (aka offspring's) into our home. So, Captain has been on a mission to block the entry. When the entry is blocked the squatters create another. The trap set with fresh fruit is totally ignored.  Perhaps it is time to change the bait to peanut butter. In the meantime, the local big-box stores are enjoying a healthy spike in concrete block sales.

Early summer has not been totally about the garden. We had a little get-away in Cincinnati to enjoy a ‘Wailin Jennys' concert. If you are not familiar with this band of three women out of Canada who play folk, bluegrass and Americana music, you can check them out  on YouTube. We think they were worth driving over 300 miles to see in person. 

The concert was held in the beautiful historical Memorial Hall in the ‘Over the Rhine’ art district as was our charming Symphony Hotel. Nearby was the lovely Washington Park.

We ended our little excursion with a stop for a tasting and tour of Michter’s distillery in Louisville

.

July started with another little excursion during the severe heat dome and more rain. Our drought hardy plants are showing a bit of stress, hopefully this will only give them a set-back. We will bring you up to date in a few weeks. In the meantime, ABN is working her way through James Mitchner ‘s Alaska, (there’s a reason for that.)

Before we leave this post of our month of June, we would like to share a little tip that has proven useful as we navigate the aging journey. As we have previously mentioned, we are consistently disposing of things we no longer use. This increases space which ultimately produces reorganization.  To assist our memory of where we place seldom used items, we have created a “Where did I put it” list. The list is in the notes app on both our phones. While it doesn’t help with all our age related forgetfulness , it often saves a bit of frustration.

Now where I leave my cup of coffee?