Monday, 27 May 2019
Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
Jump in taxi to railway station. Young lad taxi driver says, “Ah, I’ve just dropped off some people at the station with your accent.” Really, I say. Where were they from?
Australia.
A tip is not forthcoming.
Video chat with my youngest niece. Except she’s not so young now. 18th birthday today. Where has the time gone. Happy Birthday!
Board the Denali Star train on the Alaska Railroad. A 12hr journey to Fairbanks through some stunning scenery. Am in a Gold Star carriage. With all the elderly cruise ship tourists. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks included in the price. Soon after departing the breakfast service starts. Sat with a 30 something Doctor from Dallas and an elderly American couple. Doctor Dallas is a big broad lad. I too am big and broad. The bench seats aren’t that wide. Am hemmed in between window and doctor. We’re squashed together like peas in a pod. An uncomfortable breakfast.
Breakfast conversation turns to elderly American couple discussing their medical history with newly acquainted doctor. Not what I want whilst eating reindeer sausages.
There’s a lot of trees enroute. And I mean a lot. There must be billions of trees. Pleasant few hours trundling through the amazing Alaskan scenery and snow capped mountains. A highlight is travelling over Hurricane Gulch bridge, with a river in the canyon below. The benefit of travelling Gold Star is that there’s an open observation gallery on the top deck, which affords great opportunities for photography. When there’s a space at the front. Necessitates leaning over little old ladies for a quick photo at times.
Still very full from breakfast, lunch is served only a few hours later. Placed next to Doctor Dallas again but I box clever and make sure I sit on the aisle side to at least have some breathing room on one side.
Having been quite fresh as we left Anchorage it gradually becomes warmer the further north we travel. The best scenery is skirting around the eastern edge of Denali National Park. It’s sensational scenery. Many people disembark the train at Denail to spend a few days in the lodges there, especially all the cruise ship tourists on their cruise extensions. What goes off comes on and a new batch of cruise ship tourists board.
For some inexplicable reason, am tempted by a Bloody Mary cocktail at 1600hrs. Last time I had a Bloody Mary was travelling the Trans Siberian in 2010. It was disgusting then. And it’s disgusting now. Note to self, no more Bloody Marys.
Still full from breakfast and lunch, early dinner is served. Lessons have been learnt from breakfast and lunch. Make sure I’m the last to enter the dining car and grab a table that is completely free and dine in space. Bliss.
Minor commotion with a cruise ship tourist. She’s ordered a Caesar Salad. Train has run out of Caesar dressing. So it’s just a salad. Oh boy. She’s not happy. Waiter apparently exacerbates the situation by the way she perceives he handled the ‘situation’. Dinner over we all head back to the upper lounge deck. But she’s got it on her. She’s making a crisis out of a drama. She’s small, gobby and has attitude. And she’s clearly had a few cocktails. She’s not the petite type either. You know the sort. The Supervisor is called. An inquest ensues. She doesn’t like the way the waiter talked to her. She wants to make a formal complaint. Deary me. Discussion with Supervisor takes 20mins over the small matter that there was no Caesar dressing for her sodding salad. Supervisor leaves her to stew and she carries on moaning with her coven of female friends for the next hour. The culmination of which is that she’s now ‘distressed’. She’ll be claiming for counselling next. In the words of Rene, from British TV series ‘Allo ‘Allo, “You stupid woman!”
Landscape has changed substantially now. Much flatter. Pass an old trapper’s cabin dating back to the turn of the 19th century. Stuck in the middle of nowhere. A decaying log cabin with memories of a former life. Apparently the old furs still hang inside along with the furniture.
Big mosquitoes hovering outside the train windows as the train enters Fairbanks. Mrs Cincinnati has said they’re the State Bird of Alaska. She’s not wrong. Actually very warm, even at 2000hrs.
Taxi to the Springhill Suites by Marriott (https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/faish-springhill-suites-fairbanks/). Do you remember the Dukes of Hazard? Do you remember Uncle Jesse Duke? Do you remember the long grey beard? Do you remember the blue dungarees? Do you remember the pot belly? Do you remember the baseball hat?
Well, his Fairbanks cousin is driving the taxi.
Told that I can expect potholes the size of a bath when I drive the Dalton Highway.
Jolly good.
