Tag: Alaska 2024

… for 15 seconds. But I’ve got my love to keep me warm.

… Alaska residents have, or are working on obtaining, a pilot’s license.

Many of the smaller aircraft trade their wheels for pontoons when the ice leaves the rivers. Pontoon planes are so prevalent that the Fairbanks International Airport also has a lake next to the main runway for these planes. This is a 1952 Piper Super Cub. It can take off and land in as little as a couple hundred feet at half the speed you drive on the interstate. There’s many of these old craft still very much in service and well maintained.

It’s a common story of when the runt rises. It’s the same here with Granite. Named after a strong rock, Granite was a runt and passed over by all the men mushers. Susan Butcher saw him differently. She worked with him and he with her to form a winning team for the Iditarod for 4 consecutive years.

They don’t treat the women any different than the men for this race. It’s grueling and she did it. Lost to cancer, her legacy lives on as does the race. She wrote the words of her story before she passed. These dogs are amazing.

There isn’t a motor on this 4 Wheeler. She doesn’t need it. Pure joy when the dogs were released to run. dmc

Wow! Stepping into the 1890’s and right back out again to a modern city in Fairbanks, AK.

This was the last time going thru customs and using passports. The 45 min flight was quick and punctual unlike the flights that challenged us on the front end of our trip.

Arrived so early that we had to day check our bag and find something to do.

First stop is donuts. Walked here from the hotel and these donuts at “The Donut Shop” took us all the way back to Point Pleasant. Baby Soft Angel pillows perfectly sugared.

Now what?

The high today is 81 and breezy. Googling info about the northern lights we found ourselves at the University of Alaska’s museum of natural history.

Meet OTTO. Otto is a 1250 lb Grizzly bear. They can get up to 1400 lbs. We sat next to a Canadian couple at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s. They just came from Denali which is where we are going. They came too close to an encounter with a momma Grizzly and two cubs. I saw the picture. NOPE!

We saw the Dynamic Aurora film and many other wonderful pieces of art, northern animals, birds, and cultural artifacts. It was a good day.

Puffins have always been on my favorite sea bird list. Tried to see them off the coast of Maine back in 2000 but only saw a whale dorsal fin. Not this time either but still love the look of them. I left my artwork to share with others.

Now for a nap! dmc

June 8th travel: about one hour on a chartered 737 from Dawson City YT to Fairbanks AK.

Not far from this very spot is where gold was first found. George Carmack and wife Kate Carmack were the ones to start what would become the stampeders trek to this area. In the span of just 4 years it swelled to the point of gold, bars, and brothels.

They don’t mention Kate Carmack except to say that she may have been doing the menial tasks of washing laundry or dishes at the creek when she discovered gold there.

Being a woman was hard then and the men of the time would have never admitted the discovery of what became such an historic event, was discovered by a woman. Women certainly had their place here and became legendary for opening businesses that supported the quest for riches. Belinda Mulrooney, an Irish immigrant and intrepid entrepreneur, became the richest woman in the Klondike.

Belinda Mulroney arrived in Dawson City in 1897 from Pennsylvania. By 1899 she had three claims in the Klondike valley. One, called 39 above, produced 19 thousand dollars in one cleanup in the summer of ’99. That year she had 12 men working for her on her claims.

But gold mining wasn’t Ms. Mulroney’s only business venture. With money from her claims, she built the Fairview Hotel, a three story building complete with dining room, office, bar and electric lights.

In 1898, there was a shortage of fresh drinking water in Dawson. Belinda Mulroney setup and ran a company called Hygenia Water, a bottled water company well ahead of its time.

It’s worth looking into how women had both supporting roles and also rose to become business owners and miners in what was considered by most to be the adventure of a life time. Even though most died or returned home empty handed, that spirit of adventure was thought of fondly. Surviving such a tenuous journey is nothing short of heroic. dmc