07/18/11

Up!  And it’s 50 degrees this morning!  Which is wicked cold for me right now!!  I did not sleep in all my clothes last night, so I really really really don’t wanna unbundle myself from my cocoon.  No really.  I don’t.  Maybe I’ll fall back to sleep again…2 hours later…UP!  Fo’ realz!

Oh.  Ma’.  GAWD!  ALASKA!!!  It’s REAL!  And the feeling is just like the Yukon but even more so!!!!  It’s the last frickin’ frontier, man!  And I’m here!  Crossing the border!!!!!!!!  WHOA!!!!!

Rest stop.  This was posted before on the internets, but I thought I would just jot it down here for documentation.

I’m taking pictures because, yea, it’s amazing and BIG!  Everything is SO BIG!  Sky, land, mountains, everything.  I’m having trouble breathing it’s so amazingly gorgeous.

I pull up and park across from a truck towing a camper.  Bring out my phone to take some video, start recording in the car by letting you know where I am and what I’m about to show you, look up and see an older dude staring at me, then waving at me, then walking over to my car.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough space on my phone to capture the entire conversation (secretly), but this is what happened:

[4 dudes about 60 years old all esscited to talk with me]

Hi! You on your way to college??
Nope. I'm traveling.
You're from MAINE??!!!!!
Yep.

You drove all the way here??!!

Yep.

Do you know people in Alaska?

Yep.

Oh!!  Where??

Fairbanks, Wasilla, Girdwood.

Hmmmmm…you alone??

Yep.

Traveling??!!!!!

Yep.

[Dude walkes up to another dude 10’ away]

She’s ALONE and going to Alaska!!

Uh oh.

Yea!!!!!  She doesn’t even know.

Nope.  Someone like that shouldn’t be traveling in Alaska alone….does she understand??!!

I don’t think so.  She’s just so………..Gawd.

Yea.  She knows people there right?!

Yea.

Let’s just hope they’re guys and they take care of her and protect her while she’s visiting.

God, I hope so.

[Right stage:  Amber is 10’ away and within hearing distance.  WTF??!!!!!]

The best part about this is that they were genuinely concerned about me being a girl and going to Alaska alone while at the same time giving me leering looks and hand gesturing how “hilly” the road and mountains were.  Then…staring at me as I walked back to my car and drove away.  Creepy.  I’d say that the tourists from Minnesota may be a wee bit more scary than the Alaskan dudes.  (shrug) jus’ saying.

FAIRBANKS!  Ah!  Thank goodness.  Gimmie crushes please…oh, but I haven’t had a shower in what 3-4 days?  And I’ve been sleeping in my car that whole time?  Mmmmmmm.  Yummy.  Crush anyway.  GO!

Ryan.  Gimmie.  Ryan works at Julia’s Solstice Café in Fairbanks and he may or may not know that I’m arriving today.  Whoop!!!  Ahahahahaha!  So, I just drive up, park, walk in and ask if he’s working.  And YES!  Ryan!!!  YAY!!!!!!!!  I knew Ryan in Pennsylvania.  That was in 1992.  I was um…5?  (snarf)

I also got to meet Morgan and Brandon.  Brandon is the only person that I have ever randomly met who knew that my arm band was an ouroboros.  He is also the only person that I have ever met that instead of stating “Wow, you have a firm handshake!” said “WOW!  You have a MANSHAKE”!!!!  hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!  Nice!  So Ryan doesn’t get off of work until 7:30 so I gots to make myself scarce and perhaps tour this city called Fairbanks!  That’s in Alaska…in case you forgot…that I’m in Alaska!!!!!  Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!

1:30 pm:

Being a tourist by first going to the Fairbanks Convention & Visitors Bureau.  The woman there let me know where to go and what the most popular sites were around town.  Ok, so Fairbanks IS a city.  There are almost 100,000 people in Fairbanks, but this is kind of a muddled number because they just “recalculated” it by including the villages (which are the really small settlements that surround Fairbanks).  In comparison the population of Portland Maine (city) is 64,000.  Of course Maine’s total population is about 1.3 million people whereas Alaska?  They got around 700,000…and their state is the size of ½ of the United States.  Whoa.

Hungry.  I stop into this cute little place and order a veggie burger!  YAY!  Sit outside to enjoy the fact that…yea…I’m in Alaska, get my food, take a bite and ugh.  Semi-warm microwaved veggie burger.  Gross.  (sigh)

Walked around a bit taking photos, passed by some “Natives” sitting on a bench and heard one of the BEST comments…”WOW!  Honey!  Don’t make me get up and trip!!!!!!!”  Aweshum.

The ice sculpture museum gave tours and a short video on how ice sculptures were done so I went into the shop to see when it was and how much…unfortunately, the 2 dudes were a wee bit more than creepy and I didn’t feel like sitting alone in a dark room with them hanging around so I skipped it.  Meh.  Be safe Panda Pants.  Trust your inner warnings.

Ok, so now it’s about time for Ryan to get off of work…almost…well…in 2 more hours so I betcha I can take a nap here in the visitor’s center parking lot and no one would notice.  Yes!  Score!!  Nap!

7:00 pm:

Ryan’s off of work and we’re gonna go to the Marlin, which is the local “dive” bar for Fairbanks where all the cool kids hang out!  There’s an upper deck that’s all fenced in with plywood…I guess they had an issue with underage peeps scaling the 1^st story and getting booze, so they put plywood up to discourage it…and on said plywood?  An amazing feat of graffiti!!!  That I had JUST seen posted on the Facebook!!!!  WHOA!  Weird! 

We hung out here all night meeting a ton of people including Danny, who had this amazing black, neon green, and bright pink Hawaiian shirt on.  If I make fun of you, you know that I like you and feel comfortable with you.  Danny didn’t get that I guess and asked Ryan why I hated him so much.  (snarf).  Whoop!

2:45 am:

I drove Ryan home because, well, it was better than lettin’ him drive!  And to sleep the sleep on the floor of the Cabin.  No running water, outhouse, no heat (good thing it wasn’t winter!!).  Perfect.  Alaska…and it’s STILL light out.  And no, the sun will not go down today.  (heart)
You drove all the way here??!!
Yep.
Do you know people in alaska?
Yep.
Oh!! Where??
Fairbanks, wasilla, girdwood.
Hmmmmm...you alone??
Yep.
Traveling??!!!!
Yep.You drove all the way here??!!
Yep.
Do you know people in alaska?
Yep.
Oh!! Where??
Fairbanks, wasilla, girdwood.
Hmmmmm...you alone??
Yep.
Traveling??!!!!
Yep.

07/17/11

6:00am:

And…….I’m up! brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!  And cold!  Good thang I slept in all my clothes last night.  And there’s a wee lil’ creek right by my car down this embankment!  What better way to start the morning than to splash wicked cold water on your face and neck and head from a creek…in the YUKON??!!!  AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!  Perfect.

There’s a woman and her two small children across from me at the campsite and when she walks by I say good morning!  She walks over and starts talking to me.  I guess her and her kids are just traveling for a week down to Liard Hot Springs in BC and they are camping out while they do it (she’s native to the Yukon!!!!).  I offer her my small pile of wood and kindling, since in the Yukon all of their campsites offer free firewood!  And…I’m tired of carrying it around!  She’s very excited about it.  Yay!!!

“No Hunting Sheep”…don’t do it in the Yukon!  There are signs up, so don’t chu do it!!

And this day, July 17^th 2011 was one of the most amazing days on my trip.

Ready?

Driving on the highway (which is paved right now), crest a wee hill, and there standing in the middle of the road?  Full grown wolf.  And I had to stop, because she was smack in the middle of my lane staring me down as I got closer and closer.  And I stopped with her right in front of my car.  She looked at me for a moment then trotted around to the driver’s side door.  I, of course, had fumbled for my camera and took a couple shaky shots out through the windshield.  When she stood beside the car……..her head………was level with the window.  And she waited looking me dead in the eyes and quivering at the jaw just barely.  So we stared at each other there in the middle of the highway with no one else around.  Finally I broke my gaze, because I was feeling the need to just open the passenger side door and invite her in.  She would have been the perfect companion for the rest of the trip…other than the fact that she probably would have eaten ma’ face off.  But I’m sure it would have been out of love.

I started to slowly drive away all blurry eyed and shaky.  And what did she do?  She started trotting after the car!!!!!!  AH!!!  Gimmie!!!  Don’t you tempt me so, missy!!!  And drive.  Away.  With a sad heart, yet also with a stronger one.  A wolf.  In the Yukon.

And the rest of the story?  Well, it gets boring because, really!  What could compare to THAT??!!

Drove to Tok to see if a hotel room was in my future.  Naw, twasn’t.  $130.  Ouch!  Drove back to a campsite and camped out with some whiskey and cheesesticks.  Oh, and all of the campsites in the Yukon are either on a lake, river, or creek!!!  They don’t have showers, but if you’re feeling up to it you can jump in the water for a nice refreshing…OOOF!  Damn that’s cold.  Ok, maybe you should just toss it on your face and leave the rest to nature.

07/16/11

5:00 am:

UP!  UP!  UP!  Just drive!  Why would you have a gas station that is open at 5am and NOT have coffee ready and waiting for me??!!  WHY?

And traveling on 37 N. you find Mushroom buyers!  They are set up in clearings alongside the road, they live in tents and tarp structures for the season, and they buy mushrooms from people who forage for them in the forest!  Supposedly, you can get big cash for these mushrooms…if you know what you’re lookin’ for!

The highway here is rocky.  Literally.  They don’t pave them…well, they pave some of it and then it’s back to rocky!  So you’re going 65 on the paved part and all of a sudden you have to slow down to 45-50 so you don’t go flying off the road!  Oh and it’s barley wide enough for 2 cars so when you see that semi truck comin’ at cha, yea, you’re the one who better be sure to get as far to the right as you possibly can without falling off the road! 

Need to pee soooooooooooooo bad and after seeing a coyote and cub on the side of the road just hanging out I have decided that it would NOT be a wise choice to just pull over and run into the woods…so now?  It’s an emergency!!!  Seriously.  It hurts.  I know this is too much information, but you may need it if you do this trip!  If you see a rest stop and you think you may have to pee, pull OVER!!  Don’t think, oh man, I can totally wait until the next one…because the next rest stop or gas station?  It’s 2-3 hours away.

Finally………..in the distance………..as I crest a hill………..there on the horizon………..is the vent pipe for the public rest stop outhouse!  HORRRRRRAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!  OH!  And a sign lettin’ me know I just entered the YUKON!!!!!  WHOA!  Have you ever had that feeling where you cross over this imaginary line into another state like Illinois!  Wheee!  Colorado!  Wow!  California!  Phew!  It’s like that when you cross over into the Yukon, but different and amazing.  IT’S THE FRICKIN’ YUKON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Right there!  Right after you cross this threshold (and after you manically run to the outhouse and hope ya’ get yer drawers down in time).  YUKON!!!  It’s like a punch in the belly while someone is pinching the back of your arm (all in a good way)!!  And then?  Well, then you just start leaking from yo’ eyeholes because you have driven from Maine to the Yukon.  Yea.  Yep.  You just did that Amber Pants.  Well done, lady!

There’s a town about 15km in the opposite direction of where I want to go, but I’m crazy hungry and sleepy and would love to sleep in a bed maybe?  So I drive there…there ain’t much, but I stop at a hotel and ask if they have any vacancies.  Nope.  (sigh) ok…wait…what??!!  Really?  The next hotel has a couple rooms left and it’s $110!!!!!!!!  GAH!  No!!!!! 

9:00 pm:

I drove to the gas station/ice cream stand/cafeteria/grocery store to pick up some water and plot what I should do next.  Hot food would be nice so I walk up to the counter and ask if they could make me a grilled cheese sandwich with French fries.  The cook looks at me for a wee bit then smirks and says, yea, I can probably to that for you.  It’s usually a breakfast item, but since you asked so nicely I’ll make you one.  AND!  Instead of just French fries, I’ll make you some potato wedge fries instead.  Would you like that?

Would I like that??!!  YES PLEASE!  Gimmie!!!  Put it in ma’ face!!  Wait…….grilled cheese is a breakfast item?  Ye’all are a wee bit crazy in the Yukon huh?

I sit down with my MilePost book and begin to slowly shove said food in my mouth…ok…it wasn’t so slow.  I devoured it like a hyena, but hey!  I was surrounded by local Yukonian men!  I do what I want!  I ain’t no lady!! 

After my delicious dinner I get some water to go and some…….cheese sticks as backup, walk up to the counter and begin checking out.  The lady at the counter notices my book and lets me know there is a free map of the Yukon by the exit door.  I thank her and grab one while she’s ringing me out.  As I’m looking at it she starts explaining it to me, then her co-worker comes over and helps out pointing out the best campsites and what route to take and where there may be more construction!  WOW!  Thanks guys!  They were really excited to help me and I (hearts) them for it because now it’s ¼ to 10 and Iza wicked sleepy and have warm food stuffs in my belly. 

9:45 pm:

Leaving the all in one store/food place, pack up my car with the water and cheese sticks, trying to avoid the 2 cars that are in back of my car (perpendicular) and full of teenagers.  And I hear

Boy:  “Oh. My. Gawd.  Who is THAT??!!”

Girl:  “How am I supposed to know?  I don’t know everyone around here!”

2^nd girl:  “She has Maine state plates.  She ain’t from here.”

2^nd boy:  “Who cares!!  Look at her!!”

Girl:  “She’s looking at a map.  She’s probably lost.”

Boy:  “Well get over there and tell her the directions to my HOUSE!!!!!”

Girl:  “Um…what?  Ok?”

Amber:  [Door closed, keys in ignition, backing out, driving out of town]

AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

10:30 pm:

First campground spotted!!  Pull in, “register”, configure Leeloo to sleep mode.  Crash out!  My phone isn’t working here…it’s the Yukon!  (snarf)  I hope everyone knows Imma ok!!!