Better Alaska (Late) Than Never

What to do….What to do? ……Do I publish this or scrap it?

When I last posted, it was June 8, 2023, my birthday in Whitehorse, Yukon Territories. From there, we drove from Haines Junction and then took the Haines Highway to…..where else….to Haines, Alaska.

Lynn found a beautiful campground where we relaxed for a week. Approaching the campground and seeing RVs parked on grass initially concerned me about getting stuck after days of rain, but the campground owners reassured me that the ground was solid. Once settled, it was a beautiful setting after weeks of dusty overnight spots.

During our week in Haines, we made the mistake of visiting Haines Brewing, where we encountered the pompous owner. When Lynn asked for a taste of two beers in order to pick her favorite, his response was, “Do you walk into a grocery store and ask to sample their food”? I’d have simply walked out, rather than support an asshole, but Lynn wanted to stay. So, we slugged down his generic swill, and met some nice folks on a Nat Geo cruise and learned about that style of cruising. We moved on to Port Chilkoot Distillery where the bartenders created superb drinks and explained that the brewery owner treated all but locals with disdain. Another cool thing that we got to do was affix the most important state sticker to our map! (Side Note – Given that this blog is being written much later than when it happened, less than a week after Lynn and I arrived in Indio California at our new lot, we saw a refrigerated box truck labeled Haines Packing Company with a La Quinta, California address. Haines…..yes this Haines in Alaska….The family that operates this seafood company in both Haines and Whitehorse, Yukon…. and……just opened their third location less than two miles from our new Winter Home Base!)

After Alaskan Brewing….well it was fresh halibut time – and perhaps some more Alaskan Brewing beer! We have probably been to The Flight Deck Restaurant 7-8 times and their halibut is always excellent.

After our four hours in beautiful Juneau, we boarded the catamaran again for the return trip to Haines. While purchasing tickets the prior day, I asked one of the ships employees if the boat would spend any time at Eldred Rock Lighthouse and she confirmed that they do spend some time there. I explained to her that Eldred Rock is a very special place to both Lynn and I and gosh – they did not disappoint.

Over our twelve Alaskan cruises, we have visited Skagway probably ten times. About two hours of ship cruising time away from Skagway is this amazing, rugged lighthouse on a rocky island. While I truly can’t explain why this lighthouse affects Lynn and I so much, know that it does. Each and every time our ships approach Eldred Rock, Lynn and I go outside to the rail and stand silently and gaze. Tears range from in our eyes, to down our cheeks to down our shirts. We’ve seen it on rainy days and beautiful days. In my road warrior days, thinking of Eldred Rock was my go-to practice when I was feeling overwhelmed. I’d picture this rugged place, far from view of most eyes, sitting there in the channel. I’d picture it getting pounded by waves and wind, and then when we’d return each May, it would be there, unchanged by natures forces. When my therapist introduced EMDR therapy, she asked me to describe a fictional ally. It was a blue crystal bluebird, which my mom years ago bought me as a gift. When I was asked for a special place of total comfort, I immediately blurted out, “Eldred Rock Lighthouse”. At the end of often intense EMDR time, my therapist would finish the session and ask me to focus on the bluebird and on Eldred Rock. Understatement of this blog – I kind of have a thing for this place.

So, on the way back North from Juneau, the captain of the boat gave me a heads up that his co-worker mentioned our love of this lighthouse. He handed me a book that his parents self-published about Eldred Rock and inside were photos of their family docking their boat and visiting inside the lighthouse. Then, he brought the catamaran to the left of the island, taking us to the side that the cruise ships never travel. Spending time outside, breathing that special Alaska air, just a few feet above the water while circling Eldred Rock was a special experience which I’ll always remember. Before getting off the catamaran, the captain presented Lynn and I a miniature Eldred Rock Lighthouse on a small string, suitable for hanging on a Christmas Tree. Now if we only had a Christmas Tree.

Enjoy this special place of ours.

After leaving Haines, we spent two nights parking in a nondescript gas station and a “hotel” parking lot. and had to break out the mosquito head netting whenever outdoors. We then embarked on the roughest section of the Alaska Highway – the 225 mile stretch between aptly named Destruction Bay, Yukon Territory to Tok, Alaska. Over this section which took us six hours, our average speed was 37.5 mph with plenty of it around 13 – 15 mph due to the terrible road conditions.

On June 17, dusty and exacerbated, we rolled into Tok, Alaska for three nights. A cool campground, they had an evening game of tossing sourdough pancakes into a 5 gallon bucket. One practice toss and then the toss that counts. Get the pancake in the bucket and win a free breakfast. We both missed on the first night and then I got lucky and got the pancake in the bucket the second night!

After a few days of rest, we pushed on towards Fairbanks, the location of our first Escapees Hangouts. Escapees is a national RV club and the parent organization of Xscapers, the more party-hearty sub group that is described as being for “Working Aged RV’ers”. Escapees established three Alaska events this Summer and the first one was at a KOA in North Pole, adjacent to Fairbanks. Lynn shed a few tears as we rode next to Eielson Air Force Base just as two of their F-35 Lightning jets were taking off along side us. Jack Cogan, Lynn’s dad, served there in the Vietnam era, supporting B-52 Stratofortress aircraft.

Fairbanks…..Summer Solstice….. This Place & This Date has long been something that Lynn has wanted to experience for many years – and now we are actually doing it together with about 45 other RV’ers. Highlights included a midnight baseball game (no lights), Chena Hot Springs and their Aurora Ice Museum, a paddlewheel boat on the Chena River, standing under the Alaskan Pipeline, The Museum Of The North at University Of Alaska, seeing Bus 142, where Chris McCandless (of Into The Wild movie fame) succumbed to exposure and starvation, and standing on the banks of the Chena River at 1:58 AM to witness “sunset”, our time in Fairbanks was a blast. We even met an Alaskan State Trooper at the Midnight Sun Festival that was one of the troopers featured on the TV show, Alaskan State Troopers.

After leaving Chena Hot Springs & Ice Museum, we were treated to some moose grazing in a pond.

After leaving our Escapees friends, Lynn and I spent a few days in Healy, Alaska to visit Denali National Park. It was our second time at Denali and this time we were not able to see the mountain as it was obscured by clouds. Besides the obvious reasons for loving Denali, a fun fact is that in 2013, after getting off of a cruise ship in Seward and taking the train to Anchorage, we rented a car and wandered interior Alaska for a few days. At about 6:00AM, while waiting for the Denali tour bus, I met an older lady in the gift shop and began chatting. She explained that they were work campers from Kentucky and took their 5th Wheel to Alaska each Summer. The husband was a tour bus operator in the park and she worked in the gift store. Lynn and I had already been thinking of ways to spend more time in Alaska and this random conversation was the catalyst for us to consider buying an RV. If not for this conversation, we’d never have become RVers. This year I met a bus operator who expained that the couple became too old to RV and no longer come to Denali. I reached out to her on Facebook, but have yet to get a reply. I only wish that they could understand the value of that one random conversation and how it set our lives on a different trajectory.

We spent a few days in Talkeetna, Alaska, a hippy / trippy, come-as-you-are town, wandering the main street, drinking beer and then taking the Hurricane Turn train out and back from Talkeetna. Besides entertaining tourists, this train is the main supply line connecting off-grid Alaskans with civilization. The train will stop for people along the tracks and bring them back to their remote homes. For us tourists, the train stopped over Hurricane Gulch and allowed us to look down from an open door.

Stay tuned for our next stops – coming soon (and I really mean it this time). Till then, enjoy one perfect minute at Denali State Park. (The day that we arrived, I learned that an Alaskan Brown Bear had recently killed a moose a few sites away, so any jitters are related).

Lynn’s Two Cents – Well this was certainly a trip in the way back machine. I loved revisiting all of these memories again today. Driving to Alaska was the trip of a lifetime. I do think that sometimes we forget how absolutely fortunate we are to be able to have all of these experiences. On the other hand, I am grateful every day for this life we are living.