Rumbling through the wilderness

We still don't have much luck with the weather, we got up this morning to rain. There was a little sunny break during our ATV tour but for most of the day it rained and rained, lame.

So we did the Black Diamond ATV Treasure Hunt Tour this morning. We picked this particular tour because from the description we had this seemed like the best one where we could actually go at our own pace and take breaks to take photos. One assumption we made, which turned out to be incorrect, is that we would have our own ATV each. We were actually in one ATV with a guide driving. After a quick discussion after we realised this we were happy to continue that way.

The tour took us to dry riverbeds, through thick forest, up the mountains and we even got to spot a moose and her two calves close up. The mountains in the distance had fresh snow on their peaks so they looked especially nice today, even with the grey clouds hanging around. Simone has better moose pics on her blog as I didn't have my telephoto lens with me today.

We had a little break after about an hour to have a fully cooked breakfast. We had fruit, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, juice, panfried potatoes, hot chocolate, bacon and reindeer sausage. We could have as much as we wanted. Breakfast of champions!

Yesterday I made a reservation at local restaurant 229 Parks that has been recommended to us by locals and, as subsequent research has shown, which comes highly regarded by the foodie folks on the interwebs. This place is not really advertised locally and the sign on the roadside is easily missed. The building itself, which was built by the owners themselves, has no name on it. They go by reputation alone and judging by the fully booked place they don't need any help getting patrons into the place.

One of the things they pride themselves on is using fresh, organic local ingredients according to availability. This also means the menu changes almost daily, hence there is no menu available on their website.

Simone and I shared a serve of spicy spot prawns on homemade pasta, with crispy prosciutto. The level of spice was just right and we both agreed this was a great and tasty dish.

For my entree I had the fresh scallops, which apparently sold out the night before. They were cooked to perfection, silky smooth and the prosciutto with it made it even better. Now don't think that every dish on the menu comes with prosciutto, it just works out that the ones we ordered did.

Simone had the halibut, which was also very tasty. Head chef Laura actually served us the two entrees herself.

 For dessert Simone had two scoops of homemade vanilla bean and chocolate icecream and I chose the icecream sandwich, based on an online recommendation. My serve was huge! I could barely finish it and it only cost $7.

Husky Homestead and rain

Unfortunately the weather turned for the worse today and most of the day it was raining. In the morning we went to do the Husky Homestead Tour we had booked, this is basically a tour of the kennels of 4 time Iditarod champion Jeff King. As it was he himself drove the small bus that picked us up from a hotel down the road and drove us to the 50 acre kennel property closeby.

This is what the brochure and website advertise:
"Step back from the crowds and join an intimate group for a personal tour of the homestead and kennel of four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King."

We arrived and we were 4 people total in the bus. Great we thought, nice small group. We got out, got handed some 5 week old pups to cuddle and all was good. We all got to cuddle the puppies except for the woman of the other couple, who said she wasn't a dog person. What the hell are you doing on this tour lady, and what person doesn't like to hold dog puppies???? Are you a psycho or what the hell is wrong with you? Get outta here. It's a tiny furball puppy. That was the first person I have come across or had heard of who did not like puppies. Anyway, Simone and I enjoyed puppy time.

Little did we know that a few minutes later two bigger buses would pull up and about 40 people stepped out. We had to give the pups away as there obviously were not enough so everyone could hold one. Lame! I want ma puppy! And mine was fast asleep in my arms damnit! Rage!

How I felt when the kennel lady told me I have to give my puppy back:

So outside we got to hear about the dogs a bit, sledding, training and we also saw them being harnessed and put in front of a small ATV, going for their morning training run.

This is the running wheel that Jeff designed.

Jeff and his old dog Salem (12yrs old)

Inside we got to see the sled and various other equipment and Jeff told us about racing, his family life with the dogs and kennels etc. It was quite informative but from the pace you could definitely tell he's been telling the same thing three times a day for many years.

 Racer in full gear.

Puppies failing at french kissing.

Whilst I think we both enjoyed the dogs and got some interesting info out of it, I believe that the $59 you spend per person is too much for what you get, and the advertising is absolutely misleading. Stepping back from the crowds and joining and intimate group to me sounds as if I am there in maybe a group of 10 people max. Not two busloads of tourists.

"Meet champion sled dogs" - one dog was lead around that you could give a quick pat. From that statement I expect to meet several dogs and spend at least a few minutes with them.

It's all a very slick, streamlined commercial tour designed to make the most out of the summer numbers of tourists. On the one hand I can understand that they have to come up with a way to make money so they can keep the kennels running and get the $100k it takes to prepare a sleddog team for the Iditarod each year. The 12 employees need to be paid etc etc. But I also believe that you have to be honest in your advertising and that your price needs to be fair. This was not the case here and I wonder how many other people had different expectations.

After the tour which took about 2.5 hours we drove back to our place where we had to swap cabins. As the weather was horrible at that stage, the rest of the day was spent planning ahead for the trip, booking rental cars, writing blogs, watching videos and browsing the net (when the connection would allow it). Let's hope tomorrow will bring better weather, we are doing the ATV tour in the morning.

Alaska - Denali National Park

Yesterday after flying to Anchorage in the morning, picking up our rental car (got upgraded to a Jeep Patriot) and doing some shopping in Anchorage and a 4 hour drive we arrived at our first Alaskan destination - Denali National Park. We are staying at McKinley Creekside Cabins, and as you can see from the first photo they are not kidding, our cabin is literally 10m away from the creek. We have a microwave and fridge, so we will be storing and eating our own food (hence the shopping) as well as making use of the local joints.

I was surprised at how colourful it is right now, so many variations of green in the plants, going right up the mountains. Driving along here it really feels like you're driving in a postcard landscape :)

Today is our first activity, we have booked the photography tour with local photographer Terry Boyd.

Terry has made this area his (summer) home for 10 years and knows where all the good spots are to take beautiful photos and what the preferred hangouts are for the local wildlife. Unfortunately our luck with the weather let us down this morning, it was overcast and drizzled with rain. But we made the best of the situation, since overcast = long exposure water shots! On our way we came across this moose and her offspring. I'm only posting a few shots here, I took a lot more.

Terry took us to a beautiful little creek where we had the perfect setup to take some long exposure shots, with the help of Terry's tripods. The flowers on the bank of the creek have come in bloom a few weeks ago, an added bonus. Again I have only picked one shot that I think came out quite nice.

Both Simone and I learned new things about how to set up your camera properly for the various outdoor scenarios and how to make sure all the settings are correct so you get the best chance for a nice photo.

After showing us various locations that would have been brilliant had the weather not spoiled it, and writing down additional locations to check out during our stay here, we got back at lunch time. After a short break we continued to one of the locations that Terry is not allowed to take us. For some reason no independent operator is allowed to take tourists into the park. Only one company can take people in, what a crock of shit.

Anyway that location is Savage River and we found it quite easily. There is a looping trail there that we walked, and it provided for some great photos. By that time the sun had partially made it through the clouds, so we got some better light. It was quite windy though and I was glad I was wearing some layered clothing.

Some of the rocks had a golden sheen to them.

One of my favourite shots from Savage River. I had to take the wide angle lens out for a few shots here, there was just so much to fit into the frame!

Another favourite. The sun came out at just the right time here on our way back to shine onto the mountains.

We started walking where the RV is parked, on the right side of the river westwards into the valley and then across the river and back.

On our way back we stopped at the visitor center, and a train had just arrived from Anchorage. Unfortunately I couldn't take photos of the locomotive, but the carriages looked cool too.

Tomorrow we are going to do the Husky homestead in he morning and get our puppy fix on :)