Muskox, Reindeer, and Huskies

On our last full day in Alaska, we started our day in Fairbanks at the Large Animal Research Station that is run by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. They have muskox and reindeer. We watched two muskox charge at each other over a piece of vegetation our tour guide was offering them. Their name is misleading because they don't have any musk glands, and they are most closely related to goats. At the Research Station we also saw and heard (they are very noisy!) some sandhill cranes. We also visited a muskox farm the following day in Palmer, which is about one hour north of Anchorage. While we were there, we heard a couple of male muskox roar. It sounds very similar to a lion's roar although not as loud. At the farm, we also saw four calves which were only four months old. After they've attempted to mate some females with a couple of males, they separate the females who *might* be pregnant and wait eight months to find out if they are pregnant or not. The only way they know is after the calf is born! Under the shaggy coat of fur muskox have a layer called qiviut that is insanely soft. They shed that layer once a year, and that is the reason the muskox farm exists. They sell yarn and other things made from the qiviut. Ian's one souvenir from the trip was a plush muskox.

After driving south for about two hours, we visited the Husky Homestead, which is near Denali National Park and is the home of Jeff King, who has won the Iditarod four times. Amanda Otto also works there and recently finished in 8th place in the Iditarod and second in the Yukon Quest. First, we got to hold a puppy, most of which will eventually be sled dogs for Otto, King, or one of their competitors. These dogs LOVE to run. They have a very large hamster wheel for both the puppies and the adults to use. We also watched the adults run as a team on a treadmill. Amanda and Jeff told us about some of their experiences. 

It was a cloudy day, so we didn't see Denali. On our way to Palmer, we ate dinner at a cafe that has a wonderful view of Denali when it's not hidden by clouds. The food was good, and the prices (by Alaskan standards) were reasonable. On the trip we mostly got our desserts from the grocery store. The exceptions were that four of us had gelato (and Paul got fudge) in Seward one night, and we all got ice cream in Palmer on our last night in Alaska. Although I booked our final night through Airbnb, it was actually a bed and breakfast. I hadn't realized that breakfast would be included so we had already purchased two breakfast sandwiches at the grocery store for Nadia and Ian to eat for breakfast. We left those in the freezer in the guest suite for someone else to enjoy as all five of us ate the homemade breakfast. Had we arrived at 7:00 pm, we could have bottle fed four newborn calves, but we didn't arrive until 8:00. 

The next morning, Oliver and I got up early so that we could bottle feed the calves. Oliver fed two of them. I was very content to leave the pen after I fed one of them as I didn't realize how pushy they could be and how they would try to suck my legs. My pants were getting covered in slobber! Oliver also picked raspberries and strawberries from their garden for our breakfast. She served us scrambled eggs, waffles, potatoes, fresh fruit, orange juice, and chocolate milk. Yum! Our first stop on Thursday morning was a Muskox Farm, and our second was at a Reindeer Farm. They actually had MANY different animals at the Reindeer Farm. We fed many different kinds of animals that day including a moose and reindeer. The animal I was most impressed by was a bison that would obey various commands such as giving the woman his knee or his hoof!!! That bison is more obedient than our dog.

After we left the Reindeer Farm, we drove to the valet parking lot near the Anchorage airport where we returned the Dodge Caravan minivan that we had rented through Turo (basically the vehicle equivalent of Airbnb). We took a shuttle to the airport and breezed through security. TSA Pre check is definitely worth the fee in my opinion! We purchased an early dinner at a McDonald's in the airport. Had we known our flight was going to be delayed, we would have waited on buying it. We flew to Seattle and then to BWI. We tried to sleep on the second flight. Some of us were more successful than others, but none of us got *that* much sleep. Joe picked us up at the airport in Maryland and brought us back to their house. Nadia, Paul, and I went back to sleep. I had a headache most of the day due to getting very little sleep and adjusting to a four-hour time change, but still we enjoyed spending time with Yvonne's family. Brenden spent a lot of time in my arms. 

On August 31 we spent the morning with Yvonne's family. The boys didn't get up until almost 10:00 am. After eating lunch, we drove to DC with Joel and Nathan as we had tickets to see a performance of Pilgrim's Progress at the Museum of the Bible by the same group that we had seen perform Prince Caspian. After the show was over, we walked Joel and Nathan to the nearest Metro station, and the rest of us drove back to get Milo and go home. We were very tired and went to bed shortly after arriving home. I was grateful I had done three loads of laundry at Yvonne's house the previous day. We had to wait until after church on Sunday morning to stop at a grocery store and buy things like milk, eggs, and bananas. 

Alaska is a beautiful state, and we were grateful to see a variety of animals and despite the clouds making it difficult, we were able to see the northern lights. We were all healthy, all of the places we stayed were nice, and we didn't have any difficulties with our rental vehicle. Most days the low was in the 40's or 50's and the high was generally in either the high 50's or low 60's almost every day we were there. We didn't have any issues with mosquitos, although we did encounter MANY pesky flies on the hike to Exit Glacier. The leaves were starting to turn colors, It rained a few times we were there, but many of the days it was sunny, which is not typical. We were able to see Denali on two of the ten days we were in Alaska, and a minority of people who visit are able to catch a glimpse of it. The price of gas was very reasonable, but the price of food there is rather high. Subway is the national chain (not counting gas stations) that is spotted most frequently outside of the cities. I wouldn't make many changes if I were to have a do-over on this trip. I would definitely make sure to take a picture of Denali when I saw it (duh!), I'd visit the Creamer's Field instead of the ice museum in Fairbanks (the ice museum was a spur of the moment addition when I realized how close we were to it while eating dinner our first night in Fairbanks), and I would have had us drive in a loop by adding a stop at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in between our time in Seward and our visit to Fairbanks. That would have added some miles to our trip. Over the course of the ten days, we drove exactly 1,200 miles. Time will tell if we ever return to the state. My guess is that it was a once in a lifetime trip for at least Paul and me. I'm very thankful we were able to travel to Alaska! 

Forty-eight states done and two to go! Within the next year we hope to visit our last two states. I already got our tickets for our flight to New Orleans in May and our return flight from Phoenix. I decided not to cancel our Alaska Airlines credit card which means in light of the annual fee involved that we've decided to fly on Alaska Airlines to Hawaii next August because we will receive two companion fares for about $100 each, which is much cheaper than what it usually costs for a roundtrip ticket to Hawaii. We plan to visit my sister in Maryland in December for Christmas, but we don't plan on flying anywhere or going on any big vacations until May. Now that I've finally finished blogging about our trip, I need to work on making a video, a photo book, and getting a print to put in the Alaska space in the map on our wall. I have a feeling it's going to be a picture of the bull moose that we saw up close and personal!

Museum of the North in Fairbanks