21 Nov Trains in AK!
The next leg of our adventure was a train ride from Anchorage to Fairbanks. We were starting in the Costal region and traveling 300+ miles into the interior of Alaska. It was going to be a 12 hour train ride.
This wasn’t the first long train ride we’d taken together as a family. About 10 years ago We took the train from New York all the way to Washington state. That took almost 4 days. So by comparison, this seemed short. We were all very excited about the ride. There is something so peaceful and serene about traveling by train. All the hustle, bustle, stress and anxiety of flying is gone. You don’t have to think about anything or stay seated like in a car. You just sit back, relax, read, wander, talk to people, have a drink, stare out the window, nap, and day dream.
So when you combine that with a beautiful fall day in Alaska…and being with your family it’s pretty much perfect.
It was in a field very much like this that I saw my first…the first moose of the trip.
I was looking out the window and there I saw him. Large, dark, a immense rack, standing in a marsh.
“Moose! Moose on the right!” I yelled and pointed. He took off, not because of my yell, but the thundering train no doubt. As he ran through the marsh, his lumbering, off-kilter gait made him almost appear to be moving in slow-motion, water splashed up, each droplet caught by the low morning light.
It looked like a nature film…
but it was better. It was real.
Mt. McKinnley is almost always in clouds…once again we were blessed with amazing weather.
I <3 trains.
When I saw this car…I knew I had to get a pic. I always try and get shots of cool custom cars for Dave…since he builds them. The corvette with the even bigger engine and massive intake was too tasty to pass up.
In the hills behind my Grandparent’s and sister we saw some mountain goats…that’s sparkling cider they are drinking=)
I got my Dad a Corsican vineted, California bottled wine for his birthday…he saved it for the trip.
After the ride I was gloriously loopy. The way only a 12 hour train ride and incredible sites can make you. We got some hand-crafted icecream and wandered around the hotel for a bit. I rode the exercise bike that felt like each turn of the pedals was powering a band saw cutting lumber next door. A rusty band saw. The crew from the train was in our hotel too and I had half a mind to go drinking with them…but I didn’t really see the point.
Of course, now if I was in that same situation I would…but that’s another story all together.
Eventually I head to bed…I remember in our bathroom, the toliet was low and tilted to one side. So sitting on it made you feel even loopier then before. hehe. Also, there was about 4 different shades of paint on the walls, cream, white, eggshell, and just a spot of blue.
The next day we’d be flying to Barrow, AK. The most Northern US city…and well above the Arctic Circle and next to it…the Arctic Ocean.
-Luke
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