Sailing Tarka: Alaska: part 2

If you're driving around Alaska you have to visit Fairbanks, isn't that right? I feel like I heard that somewhere... anyway we went there aaaaand ---- it was worth it!!!! Aside from the drive being as beautiful as one would come to expect from Alaska, it had good coffee, hometown-y muesums dedicated to dog sledding, locally brewed beer, a giant oil pipeline (a staple of any cool city), and the *town NORTH POLE!!! Where it is Christmas all year round! That could be some peoples' dream come true- or some peoples worst nightmare, but if your just passing through it is a cute novelty. We snapped some photos and as we drove away down Santa Clause Lane (no joke) we couldn't shake the song "Here Comes Santa Clause" from our heads.

Feeling like we literally saw everything in one day we headed for "The Denali Highway" expecting the best views and wildlife sightings yet. Although it was foggy for much of the drive the few clear moments were everything we imagined. We saw two young grizzly bears eating a fresh road-killed moose and again paused to appreciate the resilience of all the wildlife that has adapted so well to living in such a variety of conditions.

Once we got back to our squatted cabin it was a quick sauna then packing for a midnight flight to Las Vegas for my cousin Nicolette's high school graduation party. Jon sat this one out opting to explore more of Chugach state park and trying to remember what life was like before he and I became attached at the hip.

Here is some good advise: If you have realitives who are looking to relocate encourage them to move to Las Vegas and here is why -

1) Family is a PERFECT excuse to go to Las Vegas where there is 100% chance of sunny skies.

2) It is very close to Red Rocks National Park.

3) Plane tickes to Vegas from anywhere will be cheap!

The 1000 mile loop of driving around Alaska just wasn't enough for Jon and I so to see more we set out in search of our friend Victoria living in Seward.