By Sonia Dhami-
Alaska with its vast Artic Tundra, magnificent glaciers, majestic snow-capped peaks, rugged forests teeming with wildlife had been on my travel list for eons.
So, my husband & I booked ourselves (50+) and our parents (80+) into a guided tour of 7 days traveling through the vast wilderness from Fairbanks, Alaska’s largest city in the interior region to Anchorage, its commercial hub on the west coast.
Traveling through Alaska. What Fun! Yes! But not exactly in the way, I thought it would be. I thought I will spend quality time with my loved ones, explore new places, relish new foods, meet new people and do all the things happy-looking tourists do in travel brochures.
But in reality, there isn’t much of quality time because you wake up at an unearthly 5 am (or earlier) pack your suitcases to move every day, sit in a coach for hours, crane your necks looking out of the window to catch a glimpse of any wildlife but mostly listen to our phenomenal tour guide Mitzi, who is a very good at her job at narrating the history of the place spiced with interesting anecdotes and stories as she subtly promoted local wares edging us to spend time and money whenever we stopped.
THE CITY OF FAIRBANKS, AK
We flew on an Alaska Airlines flight into Fairbanks, a home rule city with a population of approx. 35,000 residents. Founded as a trading post in 1902 and incorporated in 1903, it is renowned for the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), the midnight sun and sunsets and sunrises that last forever.
On our first day of the tour, we were super excited to take a river cruise down the Chena River on an old-fashioned steamboat propelled by giant rollers. As our tour bus pulled in, there were already 4 other buses parked there. The tourist summer season had started. All 200 or so of us – excited Alaska tourists – charged into the gift shop first, doing what Americans do best – shop – even before we started our much-anticipated tour.
As the gate to board the boat opened, we all excitedly walked up the gangway. The boat slowly made its way down the river passing cabins & homes, big and small, traditional and modern. It appeared to be a perfect start to a promising vacation – shopping bags filled with Alaska logo sweatshirts in our hands and an exciting day ahead.
The raucous barking of dogs soon interrupted our idyllic reverie. As we came closer, a musher dog camp appeared with the trainer standing by the riverbank to welcome us over the loudspeaker. On cue, the well-rehearsed act unfolded.
Starting with a demo of Alaskan Husky puppies being trained in an open pen, next the adult Huskies were tethered to a sled, and off they went with the musher around the track for us to marvel at from the boat itself. Being the first time I was seeing a dog sled in action, I was totally captivated.
As the dogs pulled in after a few minutes, it was time for our boat to move forward to our next attraction – a native Athabasca village recreated for us – the modern tourist royalty.
An Athabasca lass, standing in front of a couple of tent and log shelters, started to demonstrate how the natives cut, dried and smoked salmon for preserving food for the winter. The different log shelters behind her were for hanging the cut salmon to air dry, a covered smokehouse and then a small hut on high stilts to store the dried meat and keep out of reach of the animals especially the dogs and wild bears. Tent like structures built with animal skins were for the dogs to rest in.
A herd of moose suddenly charged onto the bank, to the squeals of delight from the people on-board. It turned out that our first Moose sighting was a staged event, with the domesticated Moose held in a pen to be released just when the boat came by.
But it also turns out that this was our best opportunity to see Moose in a near wild setting, as all through our trip, we did not see more than a couple of Moose in the wild anyways.
Our guides shared some cultural and social history of their people –the Athabasca natives Americans. They elegantly modeled the much-coveted fur coat & parka beautifully decorated with ivory, bones, beads and embroidery. These coats cost in the range of $20k. The beads themselves, have an important historical value, as these were the items the natives trade from the early white explorers in return for animal furs – 6 different furs from different wild animals were also hanging for our first-hand viewing. After about an hour of strolling in the “village,” we got back on the boat and headed back to the dock.
As the tour buses pulled out, each headed to a different location so as to spread the tourist hoard evenly around town. We drove through the University of Alaska campus and headed to inspect the infamous 800-mile Trans Alaska Pipeline carrying oil from the oilfields up north in Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez. It started operation in 1977 and has moved over 17 billion barrels of oil in its 46-year history. Since oil is big in Alaska, I guess it had to make it to a tourist itinerary.
As we drove along the highway, Mitzi our charming guide pointed out many homes and buildings, which appeared to have sunk into the ground. She explained that all the land around us was permafrost (permanently frozen ground) and carries an inherent risk for constructing modern buildings. Once the ground thaws due to the heat of the building, a permanent collapse may occur. Another interesting fact was that outhouses (pit toilets) are fairly common in Fairbanks, as many homes do not have running water again due to the permafrost, extreme freezing temperatures ranging from -40 F – 80 F, and environmental reasons. These residents haul water in large containers on a regular basis.
Downtown Fairbanks, a sleepy town center was primarily a lunch break. After a bite and photos in front of a cool antler gate, we headed out to the small town named North Pole. Well, it isn’t the North Pole you think it is, but a small town some 20 min drive from Fairbanks, where an enterprising couple has created a thriving business around Santa Claus. Mitzi pointed out some gaping holes in the Santa Claus & his reindeer’s story we all love. It turns out that only pregnant reindeers keep their antlers through the winter, while all others loose them before winter sets in. So our dear Santa’s sled is after all pulled by female power with our adorable Dasher, Prancer & gang with their magnificent antlers actually pregnant female reindeers. Ho Ho Ho. Anyways it also turns out that Caribou and Reindeer are the same animal, the only difference is that the former is wild and the latter domesticated.
With the sun still up in the sky, though our watches showed 9 pm, we headed back to the hotel to the part where I thought we would be trying out new cuisines and foods. A quick glance at the menu at the restaurant in the hotel caused an extreme longing for hot Indian food, especially for the vegetarians in our party. Doordash came to the rescue. Surprisingly there were 2 Indian/Pakistani restaurants nearby and “Hari Om” restaurant was chosen to deliver chana masala, dal, naan & paranthas to the room, though it came sans the paranthas.
As we got ready for bed, it is almost midnight, though it is nowhere near dark outside. The midnight sun dashes all hopes to see the famed Northern lights up in the sky.
Part 2 – To be continued
