Tod Ringenberg gave a presentation on his 2-week trip to Alaska, to include the wilderness areas of the Alaskan interior (Fairbanks and Denali), followed by a 1,700 mile cruise from Anchorage (Whittier) to Vancouver, Canada.
- Areas of interest included Denali (formerly Mt. McKinley) the tallest mountain in North America (20,320’), a trip to British Columbia on a restored 1900’s narrow-gauge train, an abandoned Alaskan gold mine near the Trans-Alaskan oil pipeline, salmon fishing in the Ketchikan area and whale-watching in Juneau bay. Juneau has about 35,000 residents and is the only state capital in the nation that is accessible only by plane or boat.
- Fairbanks (vacation starting point) is often referred to being a part of the Arctic desert, because of its arid climate and extreme temperatures (- 65 degrees below zero) and lack of rain and snowfall. Fairbanks has a very short growing season (50 days) but because the sun shines for nearly 20 hours a day, their vegetables and flowers grow to extreme portions. Resort chefs often have their own gardens, maintained by hotel interns and students from the University of Alaska.
- Rivers in the Fairbanks areas are often used for roads in the winter. Because Alaska has over 100,000 lakes connected by numerous rivers, there are few bridges in the remote areas. Drivers use the lakes and rivers as short-cuts to downtown Fairbanks. The first sign of spring in Fairbanks is often considered the date that a car plunges through the ice!
- Visited the training facility for sled dogs for the famous Iditarod Sled Dog Race (1,000-mile race). The dogs often train by pulling an ATV around a track … actual training on snow involves relocating to more remote areas of Alaska.
- Princess Cruise lines owns the entire range of accommodations (wilderness lodges, restaurants, cruise buses, dome-liner express trains and cruise ships themselves). Excursions along the way were privately owned but were closely monitored by the cruise lines. Many of the tour stop-off points were at town that had a population of only about 1,000 – this quickly increases to over 12,000 every time a new group of cruise ships arrive at port.
- Tourist season in Alaska is generally from May to September … most wait-staffs are from the Russian states or eastern Europe (in Fairbanks) but cruise ship staffs are from all over the world.