MOOSE!!!

This entry is mostly for my friend Linda, who is moose crazy! I will back up and tell you about Denali another day, but I will mention that our moose spotting began there. We saw a mother and a calf right in our campground at Denali. Luckily, we were in the car at the time. It was late in the day and we were heading back to our campsite after taking our showers. There they were, just walking along the edge of the woods at the side of the road! Being that close to a moose is intimidating. They are absolutely huge! Getting close to a moose is not a smart idea, especially if she has a calf with her. Of course the temptation was greater than the danger, so there we were, faced with a decision. We compromised by staying in the car, my husband's foot ready to hit the gas, me with the camera out the window, both of us silent. That was probably a run on sentence, but this isn't a grammar essay for English class. We watched as the mother fed on vegetation, reaching for the leaves on trees. The calf was all legs-spindly ones at that. Being a youngster, the calf wandered away from its mother from time to time. When it got more than a few steps away, the mother made noises that were obviously some kind of communication that the baby understood. She seemed to be telling it that danger was near, and it needed to stay close. I took some pictures, trying not to spook them or disturb them. Since they were in the middle of a campground, I figured they were used to people, but sometimes those are the most dangerous of animals. They get very bold when they lose their fear. We did not want to experience a moose kicking us or the rental car. She eventually wandered off into the woods and we continued on our way to the campsite.
The next morning while I was in the wash house and my husband was sitting in the campsite, the same duo walked right through our campsite! Of course I missed it. Typical. He wasn't sure what to do, so my husband stayed still and quiet until she passed through. Little did we know that this was the first of several moose sightings.
We left Denali and headed north. It was a warmer day. At 11:30 am it was 59 degrees. We stopped to get gas in a small town called Healy. When I say small  town, I mean small. These towns seem like they consist of not more than a gas station or general store. We would occasionally detour off of the highway to check out the "neighborhoods". Some of these areas were extremely secluded and rugged. I can't imagine what it is like in the winter. We weren't even way up north in Alaska where the paved roads end but it was pretty isolated. We stopped in a quaint little town called Nenana. It reminded me of the TV show Northern Exposure. It had a few streets and some businesses. If we go back, I would take more time there. They had a great little visitors center. The woman working there gave us very good information, great maps, and showed us a fancy way to fold the pages of our Lonely Planet book. It was a pretty cool little tip. She taught us to fold the page in a certain way that results in the tip of the page sticking out like a little bookmark. Credit for the idea was given to some other travelers that passed through there and stopped for information.  Visitors centers are great places to stop when you are traveling. They usually have local maps and very knowledgeable people staffing them. We make it a point to stop at them no matter where we are traveling. They can usually guide you to little hidden gems that you won't find in tour books. If you are looking for a place to eat, don't just ask where they would recommend that you eat. Ask where they eat. You will usually end up with a more interesting answer.
We continued north to Fairbanks. The city was large enough to contain big box stores, so we stopped to purchase a few things to make our sleeping accommodations more comfortable. Yes, it is possible to make sleeping in the back of a van a comfortable experience.
We turned off onto Chena Hot Springs Road. It was a beautiful drive with fabulous scenery. When we finally reached the springs, we were very disappointed to find a big tourist trap. We did not come to the wilds of Alaska to see a tourist trap. Some of it was probably pretty cool (literally, since they have a building made of ice), but it did not compare to what nature had to offer. They had man made pools that were fed by the hot springs. We took a quick look, but it just grossed me out a bit. It seemed like a bunch of strangers in bathing suits taking a hot bath together. They even rented bathing suits. Can you get more disgusting than that? They had things like rides pulled by sled dogs and other touristy attractions. We spent very little time walking around there. We headed back down the long Chena Hot Springs Rd, happy to be out of there. It was late afternoon by then, so we stopped along a river to take a break and have a snack. As we were sitting there in our folding chairs, two men pulled up in an air boat! Wait, were we in the everglades? Man, that WAS a long road!  No, it turned out to be just two guys out having fun. One was a retired engineer, and the other was a school principal. Turns out they made the boat themselves. It was all my husband could do not to ask for a ride. That would have left me there in the wilderness alone, so he did resist. The principal is in charge of several  K-12 schools that have a total of 32-35 students per school. What a different world.
Okay Linda, here we go. Shortly after we left, we came upon a male moose in a pond. We stayed at a safe distance, keeping the car between us and him, and the doors open. He put his whole head under the water to eat. When he came up, the water would stream down from his antlers. It was spectacular. We stood in silence and watched him for a long time. He could really stay down there for quite a while. Shortly down the road, we spotted a female moose doing the same thing. Then we came upon a female running along the side of the road in the grass. She crossed the road behind us. I was very glad that she didn't decide to cross in front of us.
We were able to get some great pictures of the various moose. When we were out west years ago, we learned that if you see a car pulled off the side of the road, you should slow down and be prepared to stop. Most likely they have spotted some wildlife off to the side. It seems that other people have learned that as well. We usually ended up with some company when we pulled of to watch the moose. Fortunately, there aren't many people around, so it didn't take away from our experience.  We saw more moose during our trip, but I will denote them when I get to their locations.
Some of you probably would have loved the hot springs, but I'll take happy hour by the river and some good moose spotting any day!