Friday, June 23, 1995

The weather was drizzly and overcast, but that didn't dampen our spirits. Our bus tickets had us going to the Eielson visitor's center over 60 miles into the park. After mile 14 the road becomes a two lane, graded dirt road. It was along this road that the bus stopped so we could see some bears. A momma grizzly and three spring cubs were wandering on the other side of a river. Grizzlies generally only have two or three cubs a season, and it is very unusual for all to survive. Three cubs is something of a rarity. The bears were only a few hundred feet away and appeared as large as life in my high powered binoculars. Continuing on down the road (which becomes a one lane dirt road after mile 30) we saw several herds of Caribou and two flocks of Dall sheep (the only wild white sheep in the world). The drive was beautiful and took several hours. Eielson was completely shrouded in mist; visibility was less than 100 feet. The visitor's center was closed for renovations. We ate a picnic lunch and stayed on the bus for the return trip.

Back at the Visitor's Center we purchased topographical maps of the area and other memorabilia. Then we watched an excellent slide show that recounts the history of the park. Returning to the apartment everyone took a nap... everyone but me. I decided that the wet dirt roads would provide an excellent opportunity to test the Explorer's FWD and FWD Low gears. Might as well become experienced with them, for emergency purposes. The truck performed flawlessly. The decent ground clearance and excellent traction took me places no family sedan would have gone even on dry roads (I did stay on existing trails, not wanting to be an environmental villain).

That night we went to Alaska Cabin Night Dinner Theater. Waiters serve a hearty, all-you-can-eat homestyle meal then proceed to put on a two hour show. The show was an entertaining review set during the region's gold rush days. It focused on Fannie Quigley and her experiences in the Kantishna Mining District. Returning from the show we had yet another experience with Alaskaspeak. The theater had no parking, so we took a bus from one of the local hotels. Now Alaskans speak English, just not the way we do in the contiguous 48 (even Texans sound coherent compared to an Alaskan). The conversation went something like this:

Me: Is this the bus to the McKinley Chalet?
Driver: No, this is the bus to the hotel.
Me: Which hotel?
Driver: There is only one hotel in the area.
Note that there are dozens of hotels in the area.
Me: Which hotel is that?
Driver: The park Hotel.
Ahh, it was the Hotel, not the hotel. Not that the name of the place is really "The Hotel" or anything.
Me: Well which bus takes us to the McKinley Chalet?
Driver: This one.

• Grizzly and cubs
• Caribou
• Dall sheep

• Binoculars