Alaska - Day Three
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Okay, I guess I didn’t mention all the hassle about getting a hotel room in Fairbanks. I’ll fix that now.
When I got to town, I called a B&B, talked to the owner, and made a reservation. Of course, I couldn’t go there right away because he wasn’t home until 7pm. So I ended up booking the flight to Fort Yukon and wasn’t going to get to the room until after 10:30. I called and left a message to tell the guy this. When I landed, there was a call from the guy explaining that since I wasn’t there at 7, he gave the room to someone else. Fine. Now I have to find a room. I’d seen a Super 8 motel and figured they’re cheap, I’ll go there. $140 bucks a night is what they were charging! Seems “the season” had started. So I asked them if there was any place less expensive in town and they directed me to a brand new hotel. I went there. Their “season” didn’t start until the next night so I ended up with a room for $59. A nice room. A brand new room with wifi and everything!
The next morning I hit the road back to Anchorage...but not before stopping in at the world famous Alaskan pipeline. It may seem strange that I went out of my way to see a piece of civil engineering, but it’s one massively impressive piece of pipe!
On the drive back, I stopped in Talkeetna, a small town supposedly the inspiration for “Northern Exposure.” It was very cool. I ate lunch at great little place called The West Rib and did a little sight-seeing before continuing on my journey.
That night I met up with my new friend Grace again and we went and explored some of then nearby trails. we could do this well into the evening because the sun doesn’t go down until very late and it was still bright out at 1am. Of course, this was a problem when trying to get something to eat, since at 10 or 11pm it was bright daylight out and all the restaurants were closed. We eventually found an open bar where we could grab some fish and a beer.
