Alaska: the last frontier

Vancouver-Seattle

This morning we're leaving Canada; a long trip lies ahead. We take a taxi (10 CAD) to the coach station, where at 9:30 the bus for Seattle departs (52 CAD for two people). After about an hour of travel we arrive at the US border, where there's incredible traffic. We wait two hours before entering; when our turn comes they ask us: who we are, what we do, how many of us there are, where we're going (1 florin... no, that was a movie), they take the fingerprint of our left index finger, then the right one, they take a digital photo of us and we have to fill out two forms (boy, what an effort it is to enter the USA). After paying 9 US dollars (not CAD, so since there's no ATM you need a credit card) our luggage goes through the X-ray... finally we're in the United States. We were supposed to arrive at the bus station at 13:05; we arrive two hours later.

From the bus station, a few metres towards the West Inn hotel, where the bus headed for the airport stops (10.25 USD). Thirty minutes and we're at the airport, where we take a taxi to our hotel, the SeaTac Valu Inn, which is in the small town of Des Moines along International Boulevard.

Seattle-Anchorage-Cantwell

To start with, today we're celebrating our first wedding anniversary. The flight that will take us to Alaska is with Continental, which in about 3 hours arrives in Anchorage, where after collecting our luggage we head to the Dollar rent a car desk. Our car is a beautiful sports car, a Dodge Neon — small detail, it has an automatic transmission. After a bit of practice we launch ourselves onto the roads of Anchorage; today we have to do a good 280 miles (crazy, that's what we are). The weather is exceptional, it's incredibly hot even though the roadsides are full of snow. We stop at the various viewpoints of Denali National Park to admire the beautiful Mount McKinley. We continue towards Healy, where we'll sleep the first night; near mile 180 the sky darkens, a little wind starts to rise, dragging the snow along the roadsides.

The weather changes suddenly; all at once the road turns completely white, you can no longer see the double yellow line, the snow falls heavily, visibility is reduced to about 50 metres.....a hell...and to think that a few hours earlier it was hot. After a good skid with the car we decide to stop at the first gas station; we're in Cantwell. Even though we have our coats, scarves and gloves, the locals are walking around in short-sleeved T-shirts and shorts (gulp!!!). I go into the service station and ask if all this is normal (obviously yes) and if the weather is like this all the way to Fairbanks (obviously yes, 2°). Given our tiredness we decide to stop and not continue on to Healy; we ask if there are any accommodations nearby, they direct us to the Lazy J cabins, the first crossroad on the left.

We go back to the car, but which crossroad??? the road is barely visible...we turn onto a road obviously covered in snow, we go a few dozen metres, a couple of houses can be seen in the distance lit by a faint light. I decide to stop the car since I can't continue, the snow is getting higher and higher and if we get stuck I really want to see how we'd manage; I get out on foot, walking a few metres towards the house, my feet sink into the soft snow, the cold is biting, my hands quickly turn blue.....I hurry back to the car, turn around and go back to the station to ask for more information... fortunately a kind girl decides to accompany us; we immediately follow her SUV... having arrived at the Lazy J cabin we go to the "reception" but there's no one there, it's seven o'clock, there's only a sign saying to go outside and knock on the house a hundred metres away....noooo.

Fortunately a "passer-by" who was looking for a drink helps me look for this guy.....my goodness, what a strain...and to think that today was our wedding anniversary.

Cantawell-Talkeetna

Needless to say, we wake from a deep sleep; personally I didn't manage to sleep much (the remorse, the accumulated tension or the light until 10:30 p.m.), obviously needless to say it kept snowing all night.... what do we do?? for the moment breakfast, since as they say, you think better on a full stomach. We load the backpacks into the car (we notice that the bottle of water left there the night before is completely frozen) and set off in the direction of Fairbanks......needless to say the road is worse than yesterday, in an hour of driving I come across about ten snowploughs that seem to "caress" the blanket of snow on the road, we go at about 20 km/h and every time we come to a descent it's a nightmare; when the situation worsens we decide to make a nice U-turn and go back. At 4:30 p.m.

(7 hours later!!) we arrive in Talkeetna, driving the whole way at 20 km/h; the first thing to do is look for a place to sleep, we choose the cheap and very spartan roadhouse, meanwhile it keeps snowing. For food I recommend the excellent Latitude 68 (I think) where you eat really well. We find an internet point and connect to the road conditions website (we notice that the road towards Fairbanks, after Healy, has been closed....thank goodness we turned back).

Talkeetna-Palmer

Since it kept snowing this morning we have to shovel to "free" the car from the snow; the road isn't the best, no comparison to yesterday, "rapidly" we arrive in Wasilla, where we stop at a fantastic little shop along the road (where a guy carves tree trunks creating beautiful animal figures...unfortunately there's no one there and we'd really love to buy a little bear about 25 cm tall (30 USD)...we decide to take the item after pinning the money to the wooden walls of the little shop with drawing pins (we weren't about to run off, after all)...while Manu is busy wrapping the piece, the guy appears and catches us red-handed....obviously he sees the money and thanks us. After Wasilla we stop in Palmer; our accommodation is the Pioneer motel (spartan too, like everything here in Alaska).

Palmer-Copper center

Today we have to go to Glennallen so as to rejoin the original itinerary. We take Highway No. 1, beautiful, by now you can't see snow any more except on the surrounding mountains, the sky finally clears... we make a few stops to take photos of these breathtaking views. We quickly arrive at Copper Center, where we stay at the Copper Center Lodge, very nice even if the rooms are fairly small (all with en-suite bathroom). We decide to eat at the hotel restaurant, where for the first time I taste halibut, good if it weren't for those horrid little sauces that drown it. In the afternoon we decide to take a nice "walk" in the direction of Valdez; on the road we admire the beauty of Wrangell St. Elias National Park.

On the left at a certain point we see a huge lake (obviously frozen), but there's something....it's a group of caribou crossing it...on the shore there's a larger group waiting for them, maybe they have to figure out the best route; in fact after a little while they all set off to join them. Manu and I decide to turn back, get in the car and look for a little road that will take us to the shores of the lake. Passing through various private properties we manage it and from behind the trees we can watch them, they're beautiful; at a certain point they notice our presence and start fleeing into the surrounding grove. Unfortunately we can't see them any more, so we decide to return to the road.

We wait about ten minutes and at a certain point we see them crossing, only that an SUV comes racing up, the caribou at the front suddenly back up, the group closes ranks and, raising a big cloud of dust, they return to the grove. At this point we get ready with the photographic equipment, we know they'll pass this way, it's only a matter of time....at a certain point I hear a strange noise coming from behind me, I turn around and see them behind me, I tell Manu to turn around....what a sight (and what photos). Certain that the day has given us a nice surprise, we decide to continue our walk in the direction of Valdez; at a certain point Manu (who throughout the whole trip kept repeating only: I want to see a moose) shouts saying: "look, a moose", unfortunately as happened in Norway I only manage to see the animal's rear end...what a shame, no point waiting..

even though it's a very large animal it knows how to camouflage itself excellently. We go back to get petrol and resume our outing (at this point it becomes a safari). Having reached the junction for Chitina, we decide to change itinerary and head towards the latter... and we do well: after a few metres we meet a pair of moose (a mother with a calf), Manuela practically throws herself out of the moving car to take photos...beautiful, as soon as a car arrives from the opposite direction the moose quickly vanish.

Copper center-Anchorage

Today we head back; we stop along the road at the Mendeltna Creek Lodge (mendeltnalodge@cvinternet.net), very nice, we drink a very good hot chocolate for only two dollars. To soften the tiredness we make numerous stops along the way; we arrive in Anchorage at 2 p.m., our hotel, the Inlet Inn, is practically in the centre, the room is really hot, about 4000°C, an oven. After coming up with a system with Manu to let a bit of fresh air into the room, we decide to take a walk around the city....I have to say it's fairly disappointing; we see the first houses built here in Anchorage and the monument dedicated to the dog that inspired the legendary Iditarod, as well as an unspecified number of tramps. Towards evening we decide to eat a very good grilled salmon (even though it's not the season) at the Bear Tooth; the place is really nice and the food good.

Anchorage-Seward

Today the Kenai Peninsula awaits us, a truly fascinating place that is only 125 miles from Anchorage. Once we arrive in Seward we head to the Keani fjord tours desk where the grey whale watch tour is waiting for us. The boat leaves at 12, the sea is extremely rough (flashback New Zealand), during the four hours of navigation we manage to see a beautiful bald eagle, a pair of sea lions and a colony of sea lions....unfortunately not even a shadow of the grey whales. After the trip, still quite queasy from seasickness, we head to our hotel the Van Gilder, for dinner at the excellent Christo Palace.

Seward-Anchorage-Seattle

This morning we have a nice breakfast with the almost ever-present cappuccino, before returning to Anchorage we decide to drive a few miles in the direction of the Exit Glacier, unfortunately the road is closed. We turn back and stop along the road at Moose Pass at Alaska's beetle bears, a beautiful arts and crafts "shop"...I highly recommend you stop there. We arrive at the Anchorage airport where without too much difficulty we return our lovely Dodge. After the usual three hours of travel we arrive in Seattle, we are back at the Sea-Tac Value Inn.

Seattle-London-Naples

After leaving our luggage at the reception we head to the bus stop right outside our motel. Bus 174 drops us off on 4th in about 50 minutes, today is Sunday we stroll along the beautiful streets of the city until we reach the symbolic tower, the Space Needle, located in a lovely playground, satisfied we return to the airport, at 17:00 our flight to London departs.