Things I Intend To Do In Alaska
Jun. 9th, 2003 12:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwyn1. Sleep from about 5:30 PM on 1 September until 11 AM on 2 September. Fairbanks, Alaska is four hours earlier than NJ. Since I am to be at the airport two hours before my flight, that means being at the airport at 6:15 AM and bouncing through the time zones until I land at what my body will insist is 9:30 PM. I am writing off the remainder of the first day unless there are auroras involved.
2. Take a fly/drive trip up to Gates of the Arctic National Wilderness. It costs around $250 to fly up there, then get driven back and taken for tours of things like the local tundra and forest and wildlife and stuff, but I get to cross the Arctic Circle. An arbitrary line, I know, but it's something none of my family has done before. Even Great-Uncle Francie only ever served in the Aleutians.
3. Visit one of the local natural hot springs. The nearest, far as I know, is Circle Hot Springs; that's something like fifty miles away. There's a shuttle bus. It's a little expensive as the springs are part of a resort area. I'll deal. This is why I've got a vacation account that I'm not touching again until the Friday before I leave.
4. See auroras. One good clear night of weird fires in the sky, that's all I ask.
5. See the Fairbanks Large Animal Research Station. They've got caribou and musk-oxen on the campus of the state university in Fairbanks. I wanna see the musk ox, I wanna see the caribou, I wanna buy some qiviut on scene. Too little to knit into anything, I'm sure, but it'll still be a neat souvenir.
6. I'm told Fairbanks has a botanical gardens. This would be interesting to see, as I doubt the research facility will take an entire day. Perhaps they will have some Alaska giant vegetables on display.
7. The University's museum is supposed to be excellent, too.
8. Wanna ride a horse in Denali National Park for a day or so.
9. Wanna raft on the river - probably. Or, potentially, camp in the park but I've never done that before so I dunno.
There were other things, but right now it's late and I'm tired. I will remember them as they arise. Oh, I do want to set foot on Mt. Denali (McKinley) if at all possible. I don't wanna climb it or conquer it or anything; I want to set foot on it, solely so I could say 'I was there and I met the mountain'. One foot. Then I turn around and leave. I dunno if that'll be possible, but it's a neat idea.
2. Take a fly/drive trip up to Gates of the Arctic National Wilderness. It costs around $250 to fly up there, then get driven back and taken for tours of things like the local tundra and forest and wildlife and stuff, but I get to cross the Arctic Circle. An arbitrary line, I know, but it's something none of my family has done before. Even Great-Uncle Francie only ever served in the Aleutians.
3. Visit one of the local natural hot springs. The nearest, far as I know, is Circle Hot Springs; that's something like fifty miles away. There's a shuttle bus. It's a little expensive as the springs are part of a resort area. I'll deal. This is why I've got a vacation account that I'm not touching again until the Friday before I leave.
4. See auroras. One good clear night of weird fires in the sky, that's all I ask.
5. See the Fairbanks Large Animal Research Station. They've got caribou and musk-oxen on the campus of the state university in Fairbanks. I wanna see the musk ox, I wanna see the caribou, I wanna buy some qiviut on scene. Too little to knit into anything, I'm sure, but it'll still be a neat souvenir.
6. I'm told Fairbanks has a botanical gardens. This would be interesting to see, as I doubt the research facility will take an entire day. Perhaps they will have some Alaska giant vegetables on display.
7. The University's museum is supposed to be excellent, too.
8. Wanna ride a horse in Denali National Park for a day or so.
9. Wanna raft on the river - probably. Or, potentially, camp in the park but I've never done that before so I dunno.
There were other things, but right now it's late and I'm tired. I will remember them as they arise. Oh, I do want to set foot on Mt. Denali (McKinley) if at all possible. I don't wanna climb it or conquer it or anything; I want to set foot on it, solely so I could say 'I was there and I met the mountain'. One foot. Then I turn around and leave. I dunno if that'll be possible, but it's a neat idea.
