Aug 16, 2011

It is really amazing that I can sit here at 11pm at a picnic table outside of the Chicken Coop Saloon in Chicken, Alaska and write this! I have had a marvelous day and tonight has been most memorable!!
After leaving Denali State Park, I had the beautiful gift of watching a huge porcupine cross the road. They are a marvel!! Then not 2 minutes later, I watched a coyote for awhile. I drove north, then east to Fairbanks through lots of rain and the glorious mountains that surround Denali. There is so much vast acreage and wilderness space between Healy and Fairbanks; very little human settlement. The huge, tenacious Tenana River writhes like a giant anaconda. The sky was filled with magenta purple clouds.  I drove along the Chena Hotsprings Road for quite awhile and decided to camp at a place called the Tor Trailhead, which incidentally, was so lovely, I will return someday to backpack in there.
This morning I trotted to Chena Hotsprings, a place that I have wanted to visit for years! What a trippy resort!! My cure for 8 weeks of "shower deprivation" was swimming in the very hot water. It was just what I needed in transitioning from work, to roadtripping.
I got a ticket for the Ice Museum Tour and went crazy with excitement! It was filled with ice sculptures and colorful lights. At 20 degrees, we got to borrow parkas, play music on the xylophone made of ice, and fool around at the altar where some oddnicks get married, and in the rooms they rent out for 650 per night! Highlight was the "appletini" served in an ice glass. God, it was FUN!!!

Ice Museum

Ice Bar

Afterwards was driving time. I drove through 1.5 million acres of burned trees from the 2005 fire. I went  through rain, sun and rainbows.  I was feeling great! I drove all the way to a most unique little town: Chicken ! Population 5 year-round, 27 during the summer!! The people there mine gold, (not necessarily successfully), look for mastodon fossils (very successfully--one guy even gave me a hearty piece), and drink beers. I have never been treated with such warmth by total strangers. A guy even bought me an IPA. (they cost $7.50) I talked to all sorts of people and learned about gold mining and life in a teeny tiny town. I loved all the chicken statues and artwork. Apparently the folks who first lived there wanted to call the town "Ptarmigan" for the Alaska State Bird, but didn't know how to spell it. Such a delightful and wonderfully spirited town!!!!!!!!!!

Town Welcome Sign

                                                               Downtown Chicken (in total)

Chicken Location on AK map

Ha Ha Ha !  (not me)

This giant work of art is on Chicken Hill overlooking the Chicken River! It is very impressive!!!

This is not my car but I liked the bumper sticker.

I am finishing this up (the following day since I got booted off the wifi in Chicken) from the library in Dawson City, Yukon. The weather is fair and I have about 8 hours of driving ahead to my next destination: Watson Lake.

Love and joy to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!