Saturday, October 1, 2011

Adventures in Wiseman, Alaska

August 30 and 31



We continued down the Dalton Highway to Coldfoot and Wiseman, Alaska.


Lots of beautiful fall trees on this trip.








It was cloudy at times and we saw several rainbows.

We needed a break from the tent on the truck, so stayed at this Bed and Breakfast in Wiseman, AK.

  It had no electricity, but had a gas hot water heater and lighting.  The wood burning stove was plenty of heat as we slept in the loft.

The owner, named "Clutch" woke us up around 1 am so we could see the Northern Lights.  


WOW!   
They were unbelievable!
They moved over the entire sky, we just stood and watched in every direction in AMAZEMENT!

My camera couldn't even begin to copy what we saw.  So I bought a photo that is as close as I could find.  Isn't this awesome??  
We are so grateful that God gave us such a fantastic show!



The next morning we were served biscuits and gravy.  Charlie calls them 'Oklahoma Puddin' and they were terrific.  Cooked by a friend of Clutch's, so you can tell this was quite an adventure!  Clutch had two barber chairs that we sat in as his quests for breakfast.  I am so sorry that I failed to get photos of all of this adventure.
After breakfast we hiked up this trail and visited the Wiseman Cemetery.  Very interesting and special for this small community.
On the way to the cemetery is this 'beer monument' almost full of beer cans!




This is Clutch and he was doing some final gold panning before closing everything up and going to Fairbanks for the winter.  Charlie is looking for nuggets.


He did find one small nugget and a few tiny ones.  How lucky am I, Clutch gave them to me!  They will have special meaning and remind us of such an adventure!

Coldfoot is only a few miles south of Wiseman and we stopped there as we left to check it out.
Then we went to the Visitor's Center for more interesting information.








Stopped at the Arctic Circle again as we left and this time it wasn't raining!


We traveled back down the Dalton Highway, crossed the Yukon River, and on to Fairbanks.


University of Alaska in Fairbanks.  
Beautiful campus and they say on a clear day you can see 
Mt. McKinley from the University.