Gold Digger! (It's Not What You Think!)

For those of you who haven't listened to popular radio in over ten years, you're missing some of the humor in this title and accompanying picture! If you know the Kanye West song, I'm sure you got a good laugh. Today we saw lots of Alaskan culture--from travel on the Chena River to a Chena village portraying the old Athabascan [Indian] way of life to sled dogs to panning for gold to the Alaskan Pipeline--okay, so the pipeline may not be culture, but it sure has had an impact on the people and economy. It was a bit "touristy," but it was interesting. We boarded a paddle boat and cruised the Chena River where we stopped at a replicated old Chena Village. In the village, we learned about animal pelts and their warmth (wolverine--very, mink, not so much). We also saw traditional, ceremonial Athabascan dress. Further down the river, we learned about Susan Butcher, the second female winner (in 1986) of the Iditarod, the second four-time winner (in 1990), and the first to win four out of five sequential years. She died of cancer in 2006, but her family still carries on her legacy at Trail Breaker Kennels. I got to pet some of the dogs, and we watched them take a little run behind an ATV. This afternoon, we headed out to The Eldorado Gold Mine. That little bit of gold in Tim's pan--$27.50! On the way back from the gold mine, we make a quick stop to see a segment of the Alaskan Pipeline.For those of you who are Discovery Channel buffs, we also drove by the Carlisle Trucking Company of Ice Road Truckers fame.

I would be remiss not to mention the weather--oh you St. Louisians, don't be jealous...here it comes...cool...might I even say very cool. It drizzled all morning, but not enough to dampen spirits (no pun intended). We started in the 50s and never got above 70. The sun came out this afternoon--it was glorious!

We almost, almost titled this post "One of These Things Just Doesn't Belong Here." Can you tell why? Let me put it this way.: On the tour bus, at 4:15 p.m., on the way back from the last little trip of the day, our tour guide, Patrick Fitzgerald (and yes, think good Irish boy), said, "The rest of your tour [on land] will be slower paced than today. Oh, don't get me wrong, you won't be bored, but it will be much more relaxed. So between now and dinner, you may want take a little siesta." Thank goodness we have some of our own excursions booked, because if we had moved any slower, we may have slipped into a coma. Apparently, the gentleman behind us did not feel the same way because he was sleeping sitting up in his bus seat before Patrick finished his sentence. 'Nuff said. : )

This would be a good time to remind you that if you want to see additional photos, don't forget to click on the link on the right to the corresponding dates. Extensive dinner photos will be included--tonight we dined on a four course wine-tasting dinner and got to know some of our fellow cruise-tour folks. It was good, but I believe we'll get better food on the ship. We started with local Alaskan spring greens (Isn't it summer?) with a raspberry vinaigrette, then on to two entrees--wild Alaskan halibut and veggies, then a beef tenderloin and rosemary potatoes. We finished with bananas foster and a local vanilla ice cream--all in all, Tim and I say 3 1/2 stars out of 5. We finished the night like this--don't forget, the sun that you see warming Tim's face and making him squint was shining at 9:30 p.m. It was a beautiful evening out on the terrace!