Salt On The Road
A Travel Photo - Journal Of Tryna and Al Morton

Summer 2006 - The Alaska Border to Fairbanks



2006-06-12: Beading

Carlene Northway, an Athabascan woman we met at the visitor center of the Teslin National Wildlife Refuge, first demonstrated how her people did beading on leather and then let me try my hand at it. It was fun but difficult. From the lookout platform, we were able to spot moose feeding in ponds off in the distance.

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2006-06-12: Pancake Toss

We spent the night at the Sourdough Campground in Tok where we got to partake in reindeer chili for dinner followed by a show and pancake toss. The show was very entertaining but unfortunately we were not successful in tossing the pancake in the bucket so no free breakfast for us.

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2006-06-13: Delta Junction

We arrived in Delta Junction, the northern terminus of the Alaska Highway so we can honestly say that we have now traveled the Alaska Highway from one end to the other.

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2006-06-13: Alaska Pipeline

Just outside of Delta Junction we got our first glimpse of the Alaska Pipeline.

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2006-06-13: Rika's Roadhouse

We made a stop to tour Rika's Roadhouse, a restored 10-acre homestead. This roadhouse was built in 1910 and sold in 1923 to Rika Wallen, a Swedish immigrant who had managed the roadhouse since 1917. She ran the roadhouse into the 1940's and lived here until her death in 1969.

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2006-06-13: Break-Down

Hey Al, did you figure out what's wrong with the car?

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2006-06-13: Quartz Lake

We spent the night at Quartz Lake, a shallow, picturesque lake.

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2006-06-13: Sunset

Because we turned our clocks back an hour when we entered Alaska and because there are fires burning nearby and because I evidently was not really tired tonight, I was able to capture this sunset like photo at around 11:45pm. Can you believe there are still people on the dock fishing at this hour!

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2006-06-14: Farmers Market

We arrived in Fairbanks today in time to go to the Farmers Market. It was rather small and because it's so early in the season about the only produce available were cucumbers. This company name did give me a chuckle though - and her flavored mustards were tasty.

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2006-06-14: Native Statue

This 18-foot bronze monument "Unknown First Family" by sculptor Malcolm Alexander stands in Golden Heart Plaza in downtown Fairbanks. It is dedicated to all families past, present and future and to the indomitable spirit of the people of Alaska's Interior. It commemorates the 25th anniversary of Alaska statehood.

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2006-06-14: Santa

We are camped in North Pole, Alaska just down the road from Santa Claus House. I was fixing dinner tonight and who did I see out my front window but Santa himself. He and Mrs. Claus are camped just across the street from us! They come here from Yuma, Arizona each summer, don their Santa togs each day and play Santa and wife from 11 - 7 five days a week at Santa Claus House which is just down the street from us.

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2006-06-15: Pioneer Park

Off today to Pioneer Park, a historical theme park with museums (native, air, and pioneer), shops in pioneer homes that have been moved to this site and a narrow gauge train.

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2006-06-15: Mush Team

Here we got to see a sled dog team as well as the sleds they pull. All of the dogs in this team have participated in the Iditarod at least once.

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2006-06-16: University Of Alaska Museum

At the University of Alaska Museum of the North we were able to discover fascinating stories about Alaska's people, places and wildlife. We were able to walk through cultural and natural history displays from Alaska's 5 geographical regions and view some of the museums 1.5 million artifacts.

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2006-06-16: Ornate Outhouse

In one of the art galleries we found this rather ornate outhouse. Is this really art??

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2006-06-16: North Pole, Alaska

This statue of Santa is said to be the largest in North America.

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2006-06-16: Santa & Mrs. Claus

A visit to the North Pole wouldn't be complete without sitting on Santa's lap!

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2006-06-16: Giant Moose

Talk about a giant moose!

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