Road Trip to Seattle - Day 3

Day 3:

We woke up in the butt - er, Butte, Montana - and headed west into the mountains.  And after we stopped to get some 5-Hour Energy, we were really off.  It was the only time on the trip I had any, but it was so necessary that morning!

I figured that since we were driving through the Rockies, we would see snow.  Nope.  Only snow was at Mount Rushmore.

We both really enjoyed seeing landscape so unlike the flat that is home.

downhill, on the side of a mountain

*note:  click on any picture to make it bigger...*

And we made it into IDAHO!

State stereotype of Idaho:  Potato fields.  I was disappointed to not see any fields.  Where do they grow all the potatoes???  The entire 78 miles of Idaho we drove through was mountains.  I believe it was somewhere in Idaho we crossed the Continental Divide, but there was just a small road sign.  I was really hoping for a nice photo op, but no.

We stopped at a restaurant that had been on +Guy Fieri's  Diners, Drive-In, & Dives:

Capone's inn Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and we had Idaho nachos (nachos on waffle fries!).  So so yummy!  Good call Guy!  I've now been to three places featured on Triple D, and all were great!

From there we drove to Washington.

Here's the deal:  I'm disappointed in you, Washington.

• First of all, you put your state sign on the left side of the road, instead of the right, which resulted in a lost photo op!   
• Secondly, once we got out of Spokane metro area, the state was all flat-ish and brown.  My state stereotype of Washington was lush, fertile, green, with rolling hills and lots of apple trees.  I am so incredibly disappointed for much of the afternoon that we spent driving west through Washington.  Oh, and guess what state produces the most potatoes in the US.  Not Idaho.  It's Washington.

not what I expected, Washington...

• Thirdly, and probably the most egregious error on your part, Washington...  There is a stretch of interstate, out in farm country, where the name of the crop in the field is marked on the fence.  "Cool!" we thought.  We were wrong.  Why were we wrong?  Because on more than one occasion, a corn field was marked "PEAS".  Peas?  Please!  We are farmers' daughters and we know better!  But all those other people who only get into the country when driving the interstate, now they think that peas grow on corn stalks.  You had one job!

But I digress...

Once we got to the Columbia River, we were definitely impressed.

panoramic shot

sister selfie with the river!  maybe I should dial down the "softness" filter on my cell phone...

Tina showing Mendota pride at the Columbia River.

once again, a plant growing out of a rock...

By the time we made it to Seattle, it was time to get some dinner (at the hotel restaurant) and look at the computer so we knew what we really wanted to do the final full day of our trip.  Day 4 = Seattle Tourists!  Stay tuned...

Valentine's treats & a Pinterest Review: Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Hi!  Did you have a good Valentine's Day / middle of February / Friday?  I hope you did.

Jeff & I went to the VFW for dinner; they were having a special dinner, including shrimp, lobster, & steak.  If you know me well enough, you know that I eat none of those things.  I had chicken strips.  :-)

Jeff's two-lobster tail dinner, complete with a (plastic) glass of champagne! 

I was very spoiled; Jeff brought gummy bears home for me!

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Sunday was our turn to bring treats for Fellowship after church.  I decided I wanted to really bring it, so I went all out.  I made mini-cupcakes (Tina got me the tin for Christmas - thank you!), chocolate covered pretzels, a few chocolate dipped marshmallows, and brought carrots and chocolate covered cherries.  This was our table last Saturday during the madness:

I used the Wilton cake decorating kit that we have and filled two plastic piping bags with icing:  first white, then light pink, then a darker color (one had darker pink and the other had a purple).  The results:

icing colors co-mingle as you go along...

There's a pretty 3-tier silver server at church that I have never seen used in the last 4+ years.  So I had Jeff pull it down, I cleaned it up, and stocked the trays.

I had pinned this Chocolate Covered Pretzel idea to my "Other Holidays" Pinterest board a while ago.  I was excited to use this pinspiration while making treats...

uh, flash, really, the pretzels were not actually that color...

I placed them on parchment paper while they dried, and the next morning, put them in a nice, white, casserole dish that Barb had given me for Christmas a year ago (I love to use those Christmas presents!).

much better photo!

I used flat pretzels, but man, are they hard to find at the store!  I spent 5 minutes looking!  I did learn that if you want your colored sugar to really pop, you should use white chocolate.  But they were tasty, and people kept coming back for more.  I love when people go through the line again to get seconds of my treats.  Amazingly enough, we had carrots left over.  Go figure...

I hope you were able to spend Valentine's Day with someone you love!

Valentine's Day Fondue!

Mmmm...  cheese, salad, and chocolate fir a Valentine treat!  We finally used the Melting Pot gift card that mom & dad gave us...
So so good!  I hope you all had a good Valentine's Day!

Taco Johns: How did I not know how good it is?

For the very very first time ever I had Taco Johns today.  For lunch.  I think I could live on their Potato Ole's alone for the rest of my life.  They are amazing!

I wonder if I could get the same effect if I put Lowery's Seasoned Salt on Tater Tots.....



That is all.

And now, the rest of the story...

We woke up that Wednesday morning, hoping to get on the ferry to Valdez and get on with our trip.  This little hiccup was not wanted, but we were dealing with it, even though it was taking a day out of our honeymoon.

Around 9 am we found out that, no, the ferry wasn't going anywhere.  And the other ferry going to Valdez from Whittier that day was booked solid.  No room for us.  Well, we had the day to kill as the train would leave from Whittier to Anchorage after 6 PM that night.  Pia, who was helping Jeff get things scheduled, got us tickets on that train as well as a glacier tour leaving from Whittier.

***Warning***  

From here it gets a little ranty.  Should you wish to avoid said rant, go straight to the pictures.  Thanks.

We had found that tour on a pamphlet in the lobby of the hotel.  That should have been a red flag, but we didn't pay attention.  Getting on to the internet via the hotel's connection was spotty, so we weren't able to check out reviews before booking.  We went and had an unmemorable lunch, and got on the cruise.  I only give you the link so you can avoid it.

We were asked if we wanted lunch or dinner and what we wanted to eat.  There were hoards of people (remember all those people from the cruise ship?) there waiting to get on the Catamaran - which was huge - and get into their assigned seats.  We didn't get a window seat.  Our views were of other people.  Since we had said we wanted dinner, when they were bringing out lunch we went outside.  It's the one time in Alaska I was truly cold.  Weather was crappy, drizzly, overcast, but they said that it was perfect weather!  The overcast skies would make the glaciers even bluer!  They are all salesmen.  Oh, did I mention that they only served lunch, not dinner, so we paid for but did not receive a meal?

It took forever to get to any glaciers, we were told we wouldn't be going into College Fjiord because it was overcast, and ended up seeing about 10 (max) glaciers.  It was supposed to be a 26-glacier tour.  And I guess that was part of the problem.  I wanted a wildlife tour.  A glacier is a glacier is a glacier in my opinion.  I don't need that many.

In Anchorage I had heard the term "Combat Fishing."  It's where people are all lined up along the shore.  There are more people fishing than there are fish to be caught.  Well, on this tour, it was Combat Tourism.  You had to fight for a view.  And it was too cold and rainy outside to claim your spot and never give it up.  It got to the point where I was so over all of it, I didn't even try.  Apparently at one point there were some porpoises, but heck, the boat could have tipped over with all the people clamoring to that side to see them.  No thanks.  I don't want to have to fight for 5 hours just to see something that they had claimed would be up close and personal.

I don't know.  It was just really disappointing.  I wished we had been able to get to Valdez.  I wished we had given up and left Whittier that same day we got there.  It was the only real disappointment I felt on the entire 15-day trip, so I guess that's a good thing.  Luckily we did get some good pictures, even though I would have liked a less-overcast day, so enjoy...

sea lion

otter

As soon as we were off that cruise I called ahead to Varley's and ordered a Greek Pizza (minus the olives) to pick up.  Jeff made his way to the train to confirm that we had tickets.  Seriously, the pizza was the number one part of going to Whittier.  Best.  Pizza.  Evar!

On the trip back to Anchorage, the engineer saw some Dall Sheep and actually stopped the train for a good 5+ minutes so we could watch them.  Apparently at that time of year (we were there in late June), the males go high up in the mountains and the females and young come down farther.  So we know that these are females and babies.  Look how cute!

these guys have no fear, just jumping around from rock to rock looking for a bite to eat...

awe, baby sheep!  

check out the exposed roots to the left of the sheep.  how do they walk around up there?

See the full itinerary here...

Next up - Whittier

After arriving in Anchorage that Sunday night in June, we spent 2 nights at the Anchorage Grand.  I'm pretty sure I told you about that hotel in my last entry about our honeymoon, so I won't bore you again.

However, I'm not sure what we did for the full day there in town.  I know we went to the Ulu Factory, saw all the gray hairs, and didn't stay long.  I know that at one point we mailed a package back home from the post office that was a couple blocks away.  Oh, and we went to the not-even-worth-it Alaska Earthquake Experience movie.  I had read some reviews online that said that wasn't worth it, but Jeff wanted to and it didn't cost much because we had a 2-for-1 coupon.  There's a lot of great photos and historical information in the hallway and entrance to the theatre which I would recommend over paying for the video.  Wanna know why?  The host of the video has a thick accent.  The seats that move to give you the "experience" of the earthquake are just ridiculous.  But, hey, it cost us less than $6.

On Tuesday morning, June 26, we hopped back on the train to go to Whittier to catch the ferry over to Valdez.  We were so excited.  You see there is this cruise tour in Valdez on the LuLu Bell that Capt. Fred Rudolf has captained every one since he started back in 1979.  Cruises can last 5.5-7 hours because if Capt. Fred thinks there's something to see, he'll take you to it!

On the train ride to Whittier we had some crappy weather, but still got some nice pictures...

The train tracks and the highway, follow along the Turnagain Arm - the body of water that Capt. Cook explored, and kept getting stuck!  The water is very shallow because of all the glacier silt that has washed into it.  Apparently when his ship would get stuck, Capt. Cook would yell, "Go back and turn again!"  Hence the name.

A lot of the way had steep mountains on one side and then the water on the other.

In 1964 there was a huge earthquake on Good Friday.  9.something.  Huge.  Parts of the earth were swallowed up.  There were multiple tsunamis.  Massive destruction.  The trees above were killed by the earthquake because the tsunami brought in a bunch of salt water.  Not only did the salt water kill the trees, it also preserved them, which is why they haven't decomposed.  They're called Silent Dogwoods, because they've lost their bark...
:-)

Not only did the water kill the trees, but it also changed the land.  Much of the area became bogs, or marshy, or just plain under water.

Before going through the longest tunnel in North America that is used by both trains and cars, we saw this glacier.  See it?  Where all the snow is - kind blue?  The tunnel takes 25 minutes to get through, and it was the darkest we ever saw in Alaska.

Once we got to Whittier, we hoofed it across town to the Alaska Marine Highway ferry station.  The plan was to catch the ferry to Valdez.  We had tickets but were considered walk-ons because we didn't have a car.  When the ferry was a half hour late getting in to port, Jeff knew something was up.  When they unloaded and didn't have us embark, he knew something was wrong.  Then, the announcement.

Something was definitely wrong with the ferry.  Broken.  To the point where they weren't allowed to run.  There wouldn't be an outgoing ferry that day.  Try again tomorrow.  We were stuck in Whittier.

Jeff had used a service out of Homer called Alaska Ferry Adventures to plan this little 3-day trip.  They used to handle all the ferry scheduling and they know how the train and ferry schedules work together.  He worked with a woman named Pia who was very helpful.  He said that he would definitely go back and use their services again.

So, since the trip was getting screwed up and we didn't have anywhere to go (we were getting kicked out of the station) or anywhere to sleep, he called Pia.  She was able to get us the last room at the Inn at Whittier.  The new plan was to wait until the following day to see if the ferry was fixed.  She changed hotel reservations and changed the date for our cruise with Capt. Fred.

Since we were stuck in this itty bitty small town where most residents live in one building...

this is where the Whittier-ites live

...we found a great pizza parlor ice cream shop called Varleys and had the best kraut pizza ever!  Checked in to the hotel and took a few pictures...

the (zoomed in) view from our hotel room

Do you remember the stories from last winter where so much snow fell in Alaska that they had a snow-shovel shortage?  Whittier really got slammed with snow.  Above you see the melting snow rushing down the mountain.  And, it may look like sky above the highest rocks, but that's just more snow...

Whittier is an open water winter port, so it's very busy with boats year round.  Here a fisherman is headed out to work...

 

Whittier is also a port of call for a lot of cruise ships.  This one dwarfs our hotel (to the very left) and the marina.  We counted at least 13 floors* on this behemoth.  And you know what happens when a cruise ship comes in to town?  People.  Lots of 'em.  Shuttled off to various places.  Using special trains that cause traffic jams - traffic jams in towns that only have one road in or out.  That's what happens.

Next up, the conclusion to the drama surrounding our trip to Whittier....

*Editted to add...
Dad e-mailed me to let me know that it's decks, not floors.  Oops, my bad.  Thanks Dad!

See the full itinerary here...

Mmm, birthday fondue...

My honey brought me to The Melting Pot for my birthday.  We skipped the entree so we could have room for chocolate!

As for the rest of our time in Fairbanks...

We spent 4 nights in Fairbanks, but that may have been too much time.  Really, there's not a whole lot to it.  And it's definitely not on my "Places To Live" list.  It's just not an attractive place.  Up in the cold winters in Alaska they don't spread salt on the roads; it doesn't get warm enough for the salt to do its job.  What do they put down instead?  Gravel.  Yep, gravel.  And it ain't pretty.  We were there the end of June, and the roads had not yet been cleaned.  Buh.

So why go to Fairbanks?  It's a jumping off point.  North to the Arctic Circle, and East to North Pole.
Yes, North Pole.  Guess who we saw there...

Santa had a bit of a Jersey accent...

Yep, we met Santa at North Pole.  Nice guy.

Fun fact from my childhood: 
Where we lived when I was a kid there was a long hallway from the living room to Mom & Dad's bedroom.  From the head of their bed Mom could see all the way to the couch and end table.  One Christmas - I was probably 4 or 5 years old - I snuck out of my room on Christmas Eve and hid under the end table.  I hid so I could get to see Santa!  But Mom saw me from her bedroom and told me to go back to bed.  *Sad*  All I wanted to do was meet Santa!  But Mean Ol' Mom (you know that's what MOM stands for, right?) sent me back to bed.  I had to travel all the way to North Pole, Alaska, just to meet Santa.  True story.

However, I have overcome adversity.  Finally I have met Santa Claus!  But I looked horrible so you will never see photographic proof...

The Santa Claus House is really cool, if you like Christmas, which I do!  So many ornaments and decorations!  It's really cool.  If you ever get up to North Pole, go to the Santa Claus House.  Santa is there until 6 daily.  Tell him Kristin sent you.

Just watch out for the polar bear...

once again, Jeff narrowly escapes bear attack in Alaska...

Then go for dinner at the Pagoda.  Best Chinese food I've ever had.  EVER.  Not kidding.  I'm not usually a big fan of Chinese food, but someone said to get Chinese food in North Pole (me: "What's the name of it?"; them: "It's North Pole; there's only one."  BTW - there are at least two Chinese restaurants in North Pole) and we ended up there.  It's also the restaurant that Guy Fieri went to on "Diners, Drive Ins, & Dives".  I've never watched his show, but yes, it was excellent food.

Speaking of, we went to The Cookie Jar in Fairbanks, another restaurant featured on that show.  Again, good food.  I think if Jeff had to chose between me and the dinner role, he would have spent quite some time thinking about his decision.  He loved those dinner roles!

Hmmm, what else did we do?  We went to Pioneer Park

which was a big bust (totally not worth the time we spent there), but Jeff did get to have some Korean food and he drove a dog sled

(not really).

We easily found the WELS Lutheran Church, which looked really cool.  Too bad we weren't there for Sunday Service.  Jeff's pastor knows their pastor.

Fairbanks Alaska WELS Lutheran Church

The wonderful owners of The Aurora Express let us check in early after our overnight to the Arctic Circle!  Everyone give her some love!  We were only there two nights, but slept three times  :-)  and if we ever went back we would most definitely stay there again.  I felt really tired after the long trip North and the hot days in Fairbanks, so I didn't get too many pictures of the place, but here, enjoy!

We stayed in the caboose of a train!  It's on tracks and everything.  As you can see, they've refurbished the place.  No air conditioning, but it was out in the country and we slept with the door open, plus the windows in the upstairs observation deck were always open.  We went up there both evenings and just chilled out.
It was barely out of town, up on a hill, and the view, to the East, was...

Not bad, huh?

As we wasted time until we turned in the rental vehicle, we went downtown and Jeff wanted to make sure we got pictures of the Inuit Statue.

By the time Sunday rolled around, I was glad to be leaving Fairbanks.  But was I ready to spend 12 hours on a train to Anchorage?

See the full itinerary here...

Our first trip on the Alaska Railroad and Driving the Dalton!

All Aboard!  We took the train from Denali to Fairbanks.  If felt like a very long trip at times, but we were up on the side of the mountain for part of it, so, yes, it was slow tracks.  I will spare you the details of the train ride because, well, it was part of that Gray Line tour package, and suffice it to say, the train ride was a large part of why we didn't like the package tour.  Also, when you're on a train ride with a lot of your family and even more strangers, please don't blast your cultural music.  And if you're a tour guide, please don't let a rude family ruin everyone else's expensive train ride...

And now, the reason we're all here...  Pictures!

When leaving Denali Natl Park, the train travels along the Nenana River.  You can see the area where the train travels halfway up the bank on the right.

We stayed at the Westmark in Fairbanks.  There are two parts to the hotel; we were in the new part.  Nice looking room, but weird layout.  Let's just say that we had to move some furniture b/c the layout was wonky.

The next day we did one of the coolest things of the whole two weeks...


So, do you watch "Ice Road Truckers"?  You know the one, where they have semi truck drivers driving way up north during the winter, driving on winter roads and frozen bodies of water.

Yep, they're crazy.

But if you've seen it, you know what the Dalton Highway is.  The Haul Road.

We totally drove the Haul Road.  Awesome, I know.  We went to the Arctic Circle for the summer solstice.  Most rental vehicle companies won't let you take their vehicles off the highway.  We rented from Arctic Outfitters, and our s.u.v. had 2 full-size spare tires, big ol' mudflaps, and a C.B. radio!

We left Fairbanks around 2 pm.  We stopped at this place at Joy, AK and used the (ew!) outhouses.  I do not recommend it.  I can now say with all certainty that I will never willingly use an outhouse again.  I'd rather squat on the side of the road.

Jeff's dad always had a Milepost when they would travel in Alaska.  It's an annual book about road conditions and tells you, by the mile-marker, about the road, changes in grade, curves, pull offs, scenic views, dangerous areas, etc.  Jeff made sure we had one for our trip.  As the navigator, my job was to watch for mile-markers and let Jeff know what was coming.  I probably should have chilled out a little, but I was so darned scared that we'd end up in the ditch or something, I took my job very seriously.  And just FYI, even though it's called a highway, it's not like those of us from the Lower 48 would think of a highway.  It's mostly gravel.  Like a country road.  Not a fan.

The trip was well worth it.  It took about 6 hours to get from Fairbanks to the Arctic Circle, not including the time we spent at the Yukon River Camp.  We stopped there for lunch and fuel.  It looks like a dump, but lets think about the weather up there most of the year and we can all understand why it looks run down.  I was so happy they had a real toilet that I didn't care how not-nice it was - at least it wasn't an outhouse.  The guy who waited on us on turned on the gas pump was really nice.  If you're headed to the Arctic Circle, stop at the Yukon River Camp.

Drunken Forrest

In the tundra the ground doesn't thaw evenly.  It can cause trees to tip to one side or the other.  They're just fine, and the next year they may end up upright or leaning to the other side, but they do look drunk.  Hence the name Drunken Forrest.  They're all over up in the North.

Alaskan Oil Pipeline

The Dalton was built in order to allow workers to service the Pipeline.  But you can't always see it.  In fact, sometimes it passes beneath the road.

worth it for the views

Jeff put his toes in the Yukon River, and so did I

bridge over the Yukon River

Across from the Yukon River Camp is a rest area.  You drive under the pipeline to get to it.  Beware mosquitoes.

Hmmm...  is the road wide enough for both of us?

Finger Mountain

12:01 AM at the Arctic Circle.  Notice the sun has not yet set.  Yes, it says 59 degrees, but that's not accurate.  We didn't have 3G access, so our temps were always wrong on our phones.  According to the Escape, it was 76 degrees out.  At midnight.  At the Arctic Circle.  Huh?

3:36 AM

We got back to Fairbanks around 4:30 AM and we slept in the Escape in the WalMart parking lot.  Closest to camping I ever want to get...

See the full itinerary here...

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We've since moved to Alaska!  Read about Our Alaska Life here...

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