"Northern Lights" - Alaska
	Day 2:  Thursday, July 18, 2002

Let's face it -- we were not going to be up with the sun no matter what we tried.  So, we settled or 8:30am, wandered around beautiful downtown Anchorage, including a trip to Wal-Mart (again) to pick up a t-shirt of the Alaska Highway.  (The map from the rental car people was less than ideal, and somebody opted to leave the Rand McNally at home... brilliant, eh?)  And

So, we found the highway, with the help of the shirt.  Five, maybe six miles out, it started raining harder.  Great.  There's nothing like driving a built-9-inches-off-the-ground Buick.  Taking the term "hydro-plane" from a mere theory in driver's education to a literal dramatization along Alaska's Highway 3.  While it was pouring down, we managed to find a place or two to stop, although we did get fully dampened in the process.  But nothing is too good for the cause:  Tour 2002.  Thus, we found a river with a weird-looking foggy, rainy backdrop. 

Onward to Wasilla - the home of the Iditarod and the Iron Dog.  Although I don't know what the Iron Dog it, but I've heard of the other thing.  So, we went to go see the Iditarod place.  Quaint.  But it was also pouring cats and dogs, less the cats, so I was content with the being.  They also have a lake, which is also quite wet, even when it's not raining.  But, it is.

Only in Alaska.  But worth stopping for.  And speaking of worth stopping for...

We spent something like two hours skirting Mt. McKinley -- at 20,320 feet, it's the highest mountain in North America.  Not that we could see it through the cloud cover. But lots and lots of other things to photograph as we went along... Even found a mountain surrounded by some clouds.  Neat. 

Anyway, we got to Denali National Park and Preserve around 2:15pm or so.  It's massive, and once I looked at the guide book, it was apparent we were going to need to visit this place the next time.  Why?  The park's road is 90 miles from Highway 3 to the end of the line.  However, you can only drive yourself the first 15 miles.  Doing the math, that's 75 miles in, 75 miles out.  On a shuttle bus with 60 other people.  Plus stops, restroom breaks (yes, they stop for potty breaks).  Five hours was my first bid... and thus, we took some photos here, and here, and here.  And if you think I just rush, rush, rush -- yes, I do stop and smell the flowers from time to time.

But before you know it, more rain clouds.  And those suckers come in FAST - another two minutes and the sky was a rustic gray.  And this isn't altered, and we were only going maybe 10 miles an hour - it was pouring fast and heavy.  We got back onto Highway 3, and as it poured on down, I understood why the area was marked as a "slide area."  There was a fair amount of sediment coming down the hillside with the streams of water.  Fun to watch, but we opted to drive as far from the hill side (on our passenger side of the car) as we could without crossing to the other side.  Fortunately, the near-zero-visibility only lasted for maybe 5-6 minutes, and we were back to 75 MPH in no time.

Ah, sun again, and a pretty valley.  It's somewhere, no where in particular, about Ester, Alaska. 

We hit Fairbanks about quarter before six.  The city itself is scattered between the trees, which is a refreshing change from towns that scatter trees around the city.  Only two things are clear from here - the high school (can't really blame 'em there), and a giant McDonald's sign... very nice.  Well, no, not really.  It does have a halfway decent river running through town, the Chena River.

In the hills is University of Alaska at Fairbanks.  It had a rather cool-looking experimental something-or-other building... don't know what, but had to snap a picture anyway.

Back in town, we bumped into a monument that actually had Eskimos on it, and a sign mentioning the station of the Alaska Railroad - and noting its claim to fame.  Apologies on the weird shadows - sure, it's sunny 20+ hours a day, but the sun is still at weird angles for pictures.  I'm hoping for a good night and some solar activity to see about this 'northern lights' thing... last night didn't work out (overcast).  But in only like 6 hours, it'll be dark enough to know for sure...