July 7 - Traveling theAlaska Highway

The next town south of Fairbanks is North Pole.  The place is totally Christmas-themed including most street names.  The only church we saw was St. Nicholas Catholic Church.

We stopped in Delta Junction which is the northernmost point of the Alaska Highway.

Just below Delta Junction, the main oil pipeline crosses the Alaska Highway.  It wasn’t feasible to stop to get a picture of that, but the visitors’ center had a display of pipeline-oriented signs and objects outside.  Jim especially liked the “pig” which is used to clean the inside of the pipe and inspect it.

We stopped at a restaurant in Delta Junction called Taste of Europe that had just opened two weeks ago.  Many of the items on the menu were Eastern European.  Ardith had a cup of borscht that was absolutely delicious.  Jim had Uzbek Plove – seasoned rice with beef, carrots, onions and garbanzo beans.  It had a very distinctive central Asian flavor that Jim really enjoyed.  The place was nicely decorated including 2 very good paintings by the owners’ 18 year old niece.  We were speculating if such a nice place would survive in the middle of nowhere.  It would probably thrive in DC or Annapolis.

We entered Canada again but didn’t discover the time change until looking at the clock in our motel room that night.   While Canada has many cultural similarities to the US, it is distinctly different.  Most of the differences Jim especially likes, starting with the most obvious – nearly full use of the metric system.  He also likes the fact that there are no dollar bills, but they do use 1 and 2 dollar coins.  The ones are nicknamed loonies because they have a likeness of a loon on them.  Like the US, they still need to abolish the penny, though.  Most prices, except in international chains, are in even multiples of 5 cents.

Another difference is in vocabulary.  The main thing for tourists is to remember Washroom vs. Restroom.

Jim really likes the fact that almost all the restaurants he has used in Canada automatically bring honey when you order hot tea. In Maryland, most restaurants don’t even have it available.

This route put us back on wild roads with beautiful scenery.  It is evident that they have been working graveling the roads since our trip over them 4 weeks ago.  They are better this time although we have to watch the portions that have not been finished, and dealing with dust from the fresh gravel makes visibility a bit challenging.

We caught a few glimpses of Mt. McKinley and its friends in the Alaska range, but McKinley itself was only vaguely visible through thick stands of evergreens.

We stayed in the Talbot Arm Motel, Destruction Bay, with an attached restaurant that we had eaten in on our way up through Canada.  Ardith thought that was a pretentious name until she discovered that the area we were in was called Talbot Arm of the bay.  The view of the water from the restaurant and motel room was quite impressive.

We had a slow, but persistent internet connection, so Jim as able to do his thing.