Eastwards to North Pole to Santa Claus & Fast Eddy's

07/09/2014 by Fairbanks to Tok

I wake up early again, despite getting little sleep. The hotel breakfast - the first one on this trip - is okay, and we leave around 9 o'clock for Pioneer Park, where it is still empty. The sun is shining from a clear blue sky, and we stroll through the backdrop of original wooden houses from around 1890-1915, which were brought from somewhere in Alaska and assembled here.

Cache is what the elevated warehouses next to the houses were called, used to keep food away from bears and other animals. That can also be seen here. And a large paddle steamer.

Unfortunately, practically everything is closed. Some of the small wooden houses house souvenir shops, but they only open individually at 10 o'clock, and most of them are "closed for the season".

Our drive today takes us to the Richardson Highway, which leads east. In North Pole, we stop at the Santa Claus House, where you can see not only some reindeer, but also an oversized Santa Claus next to the Christmas shop.

North Pole, Alaska

Christmas overload...

We continue eastward under a still blue sky at 38-44°F (3-7°C). It's pretty cold. To our right are tall mountains and often the Tanana River, which is spread like a delta for miles and carries hardly any water.

Two moose (mother and child) are standing to the left of the road in a pond, feeding on aquatic plants. Beautiful photos!

The drive is beautiful but monotonous. Beautiful forests, yellow birch and aspen trees, snow-covered mountains ahead.

The Alaska Pipeline runs next to the road again before Delta Junction, now crossing the Tanana River. We take a few photos and shortly afterwards enter a small state park with old wooden houses. But here too, everything is "closed for the season" except for one house.

In Delta Junction the Alaska Highway ends, which comes up from Canada. There is a marker at the Visitor Center, but unfortunately it is also closed today because it is Sunday. So we continue, because otherwise there is nothing to do in Delta Junction, and you can't even get a cup of coffee here. We now drive on the Alaska Highway, which is very straight here, and the drive is quite long. Beautiful views, but somehow you just want to arrive.

We reach Tok around 5:15 pm and briefly stop at the surprisingly open Visitor Center.

Tok in all its glory

Shortly before Tok

We have already booked the Mooseberry Inn, a bed and breakfast. It is located just outside the town in a forest, completely quiet, and actually quite cozy.

Mooseberry Inn/Tok

The owner informs us that unfortunately there will be no breakfast here tomorrow because she is working in a café in Tok where the cook has disappeared, so she has to cook there tomorrow. Quite stupid, a bed and breakfast without breakfast. Well, we can't change it. And the breakfast we are supposed to get in that café should practically be the same as the one at the B&B. Hmm, I'm curious about that. The room is small, probably more like a children's room.

The bathroom is across the hallway, but nice and for our exclusive use. The room has a balcony, but we won't be using it. The sun is shining beautifully, but it's already too cold.

Tok has about 20 houses, including 3 gas stations and the well-known "Fast Eddy's" Restaurant, where we will have dinner tonight. Next time we are in Tok, we will stay at the motel here. Fast Eddy's is actually just a normal American restaurant. The salad is great and the beer tastes good. What more could you want? At Mooseberry Inn, I make myself two cups of peppermint tea and sit in the living area with two picture books in a rocking chair, looking at the wildlife of Alaska in these books. I learn that grizzlies can climb trees as young bears. I always thought: never climb a tree if a brown bear is chasing you. Now I have to ask him first how old he is. Only when they get too heavy can they no longer climb. But that's no different for me. Hmmm...

Our room is extremely warm because the central heating is controlled centrally and blows warm air into the room through a floor vent. It's -3°C outside. I set the alarm for 1 o'clock and hope to see the Northern Lights. Although the moon is bright, it is cold and clear. It should work. The alarm goes off and I put on my thick socks, a fleece jacket over my pajamas, and stand on the balcony and see - nothing. So I go down and out the door. Hopefully, I don't surprise a frightened brown bear while rummaging through the trash cans... I stand in front of the house in my socks, sticking to the ice on the wooden planks of the path. The sky is gigantic with stars, but I don't see the Northern Lights in the northern sky. So back into the warm room.

Daily mileage: 203 miles/327 km