On the Road Again with Merle

[beezwax]

After so many years of continuous use and development, the resort has been able to fully capitalize on the potential energy here. Hydrothermal energy provides all of the needed heat and electricity for the resort. In this next pic you can see one of several greenhouses on site. When you order a burger in the restaurant, the lettuce and tomato were grown right there. Same for your salad fixings.



That strange blueish building in the background of the above photo is pretty neat. It’s an “ice museum” that is kept below freezing, all year long, using the hydrothermal power. So even in the middle of summer you can go inside this building and look at ice sculptures. I didn’t take Merle inside on this trip because that entrance is a separate ticket fee, and I figured you all got plenty ice carving in my last post. But one “cool” bonus feature of the ice museum is that there’s also a full-service bar inside. They have a signature cocktail that they serve in a glass carved from ice. I found one of the ice glasses stuck in a snowbank outside, but sadly the drink was missing.



There are a lot of other weird and wonderful things at this resort. This is a Rolligon. It’s a type of vehicle that has huge, very low-pressure tires. Because the weight of the vehicle is spread over such a large surface area, it’s able to roll across soft marshy terrain without getting stuck and/or damaging the terrain. They’re used a lot on the oil fields in the North Slope, to travel across the tundra there.



And this beauty is a DC-6A. It was retired just a few years ago, but flew over 50,000 hours in 60+ years of service, flying back and forth from the hot springs to Anchorage.



I don’t know if you can make it out in the pic, but the name of this aircraft is “Good Grief.” There’s a painting of Charlie Brown just behind the nose in his bright yellow sweater. Perfect.

 

[beezwax]

Alright you knew this was coming, didn’t you? Before Merle left his nest and set off into the world to seek his fortune Barrett purified him in the waters of Lake Minnetonka. There’s no way I was going to let Merle conclude his visit to Alaska without taking a dip in some of the healing waters of our hot springs.



I’ve read that the chemical composition of Chena Hot Springs is unlike most other hot springs in the US. For whatever reason it seems to be more similar to the waters in some of the thermal spas in central Europe. In any case many people swear by its rejuvenating properties. All I know is it feels great on a winter day. Not at all by coincidence, I had a little point-n-shoot camera with me in a waterproof housing, so I took some over/under shots of Merle as he soaked in the restorative mineral bath.





You really need a large dome port to properly shoot over/under splits. The flat port on my little housing doesn’t handle the diffraction well, but I think it’s still fun to see both halves at once, like peeking into a hidden world.

I’ll leave you with one final shot from the trail. This was some days ago but I hadn’t gotten around to posting yet. It was an absolute pleasure to host Merle for part of his journey and to share this portion of it with all of you. And I look forward to hearing of his many adventures still to come!



(I know I said I wasn’t going to keep mentioning them but those two dark lines just to the left of Merle are moose hairs. I didn’t notice them until after I’d stuck Merle in for the pic, they must have come off when a moose rubbed against the tree… the moose are everywhere this year!)

 

[beezwax]

Okay it’s 3am here, I was planning to sign off with my last post but as I was writing it a couple hours ago I was kinda kicking myself thinking man Merle has been with me for three weeks and I haven’t taken any pics of the aurora with him! They’re not out every night of course, but they are a regular part of winter in Fairbanks and there have certainly been missed opportunities in the last three weeks. So, I just got dressed and went outside and this is what you get lol.



This is NOT any kind of way to take nice photos of the aurora. I was standing on the road with Merle in one hand and my phone in the other. I didn’t have my camera or tripod set up, but at least Merle got a chance to see the lights before he goes, they’re definitely another something special in the high latitudes

 

[bigfish64]

Okay it’s 3am here, I was planning to sign off with my last post but as I was writing it a couple hours ago I was kinda kicking myself thinking man Merle has been with me for three weeks and I haven’t taken any pics of the aurora with him! They’re not out every night of course, but they are a regular part of winter in Fairbanks and there have certainly been missed opportunities in the last three weeks. So, I just got dressed and went outside and this is what you get lol.

View attachment 1758459

This is NOT any kind of way to take nice photos of the aurora. I was standing on the road with Merle in one hand and my phone in the other. I didn’t have my camera or tripod set up, but at least Merle got a chance to see the lights before he goes, they’re definitely another something special in the high latitudes

Didn’t quote all your posts this morning beezwax, but they were all fantastic, from the rings to the Aurora. Thanks for three great weeks.

 

[redsparrow]

Wonder trip! Thanks for hosting Merle and sharing his visit with us. Interesting from the wild life, to ice sculptures, the hot springs and gold field a very enjoyable journey. Thanks again, -James

 

[Peregrin]

What a great Alaskan adventure! Thanks beezwax !

 

[Old Engineer]

Okay it’s 3am here, I was planning to sign off with my last post but as I was writing it a couple hours ago I was kinda kicking myself thinking man Merle has been with me for three weeks and I haven’t taken any pics of the aurora with him! They’re not out every night of course, but they are a regular part of winter in Fairbanks and there have certainly been missed opportunities in the last three weeks. So, I just got dressed and went outside and this is what you get lol.

View attachment 1758459

This is NOT any kind of way to take nice photos of the aurora. I was standing on the road with Merle in one hand and my phone in the other. I didn’t have my camera or tripod set up, but at least Merle got a chance to see the lights before he goes, they’re definitely another something special in the high latitudes

Thank you very much for ALL of the Very Fine Photos of Merle in Alaska my friend . I enjoyed them all .

Harry

 

[JJ_Colt45]

Thanks for sharing all the great photos. It's beautiful country for sure.

 

[JohnDF]

this project was about wedding bands-- rings that I made myself, out of gold that I pulled from the earth myself, doesn’t get much cooler than that, right?

It really does NOT get any cooler than that.

There's a place I could hang out in.

The Alaskan adventure was purely epic... thanks for taking Merle and us along.

 

[btb01]

beezwax that was an excellent end to Merle’s time in Alaska! I love the story behind your wedding rings, that’s too cool. Thanks for the photo showing your Xtratufs in their natural habitat! Those hot springs look like a great place to get away and relax, thanks for all the great photos. I’m sure Merle is feeling rejuvenated after his dip in the springs.

Okay it’s 3am here, I was planning to sign off with my last post but as I was writing it a couple hours ago I was kinda kicking myself thinking man Merle has been with me for three weeks and I haven’t taken any pics of the aurora with him! They’re not out every night of course, but they are a regular part of winter in Fairbanks and there have certainly been missed opportunities in the last three weeks. So, I just got dressed and went outside and this is what you get lol.

View attachment 1758459

This is NOT any kind of way to take nice photos of the aurora. I was standing on the road with Merle in one hand and my phone in the other. I didn’t have my camera or tripod set up, but at least Merle got a chance to see the lights before he goes, they’re definitely another something special in the high latitudes

I think that photo is awesome!

Thank you again for showing Merle around and sharing so many interesting bits of Alaska with us. I really enjoyed it!

 

[sunknife]

I really enjoyed the post from Fairbanks. Spectacular pics and descriptions of the area, nature, attractions and everyday life, thanks for taking the time to post all of this.

 

[abbydaddy]

Well friends, this leg of Merle’s tour is coming to a close. He’s been with me for three weeks today, and it’s time to continue spreading the joy. I’ve been thinking about what I can say to wrap up his adventures in this corner of the world. It’s been a lot of fun sharing glimpses into daily life here with you all. Fairbanks doesn’t have the kind of jaw-dropping beauty that people usually picture when they think of Alaska (mountains rising up from the sea, glaciers calving, etc). There’s plenty of that to be found in coastal AK, but the tundra and boreal forest have a quieter beauty, and an interesting history of their own. Fairbanks was established at the turn of the last century, when the northern gold rush was in full effect. I guess technically it was established when a steamboat ran aground here, and so they unloaded and set up shop lol. But the town grew from the mining activity, and to this day there is still a lot of gold mining in the area-- individual gold claims but also large-scale commercial gold mines. <Insert obligatory gold panning photo here>

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This is me quite a while ago (2010). Mostly I’m including this pic for Barrett, so that he can see some Xtratufs at work in their native environment! I spent a few weeks that summer working on a “hobby” claim, paid for my time in raw gold. I was recently married at the time, and I’m also formally trained as a metalsmith (jewelry), so this project was about wedding bands-- rings that I made myself, out of gold that I pulled from the earth myself, doesn’t get much cooler than that, right?

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Before anybody jumps to the wrong conclusions, NO this was not the result of one single pan. We were using heavy equipment, an excavator and loader and a trommel washplant. This was a cleanout after several days of running many cubic yards of paydirt. And here’s what part of it became eventually (we were married with the titanium bands, but the gold bands I made some months later, because no self-respecting jeweler has off-the-shelf wedding rings lol).

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So for understandable reasons Fairbanks is known as the “Golden Heart City” or the “Golden Heart of Alaska.” But there is something else in the ground here that is also a hallmark of the area, hydrothermal activity a.k.a. hot springs! There are a number of natural hot springs in the greater Fairbanks area. My favorite one is a real journey, it’s a difficult eleven mile trek from the nearest road. Just a couple remote cabins and some wooden outdoor tubs that you need to hike/ski/snowshoe in to (or snowmachine/dogsled). This much of a wilderness trip wasn’t in the cards during Merle’s visit, so instead we took him to a far more developed hot springs about an hour’s drive from town. I figured since we weren’t able to line up a tropical beach destination for Merle’s next adventure, the least we could do was get him some R&R at a hot springs before wrapping up his visit in the arctic (and packing him off to balmy North Dakota )

Chena Hot Springs has had places to soak and stay (bathhouse and cabins) for over a hundred years, and by now has become a proper resort. Today there are multiple indoor and outdoor pools, and multiple lodging options.

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I had been hoping Merle might make it out to Chena. I loved my visit there a few years back.

 

[beezwax]

Thanks all for the kind words, it was an honor and a pleasure to be a part of this. Merle has been returned to the semi-capable hands of the US postal system, traveling to paulhilborn next. Onward!

 

[paulhilborn]

Thanks all for the kind words, it was an honor and a pleasure to be a part of this. Merle has been returned to the semi-capable hands of the US postal system, traveling to paulhilborn next. Onward!

Looking forward to Merle's arrival, thanks for the hospitality and awesome time that was shown to Merle in your great state. Thanks Caleb

 

[beezwax]

Merle has left Alaska-- tracking says the package departed from Anchorage yesterday. Not sure of the current location as there have been no further blips on the radar since then, but delivery to ND is expected on Friday (as always take such estimates with a healthy dash of salt). While we wait for the next leg of Merle’s epic journey I thought I’d share the very last pic I took of him, just before I packaged him up on Saturday. But first, some context.

A while ago in another life (before marriage and kids) I was bi-polar. Not in the mind, but of the body I worked for a few seasons as a carpenter for the US Antarctic Program, going back and forth between summer in Alaska and “summer” in Antarctica. Quotes there because summer in Antarctica is still pretty wintery lol. But what both places have in common during summers is endless daylight. So, going between the two, for a period of three years straight I experienced almost no night time (only during transition travel). It was amazing. This is a picture of me at the south pole on New Year’s Day 2009.



I haven’t pulled up this photo in a long time, and looking at it now the first thing that jumps out at me is the Russian flag flying over my shoulder. I wasn’t very excited to see that, given what’s going on in the world currently. But to be clear, South Pole Station is a US base, not Russian. The flags from 12 different countries are flown around the pole marker, representing the 12 countries that signed the original Antarctic Treaty. That was in 1959 so it was the Soviet Union at the time, but that is why the Russian flag is there. Here’s another pic from a different angle on a less sunny day, you can see some of the other countries. And yes, there really is a ceremonial barber pole and mirror ball at the south pole!



Bear with me, there is a point to all this. So, when I was there the following year, I collected a bunch of snow. I scooped it right from the geographic south pole, filled up my nalgene bottle and took it with me. Kind of strange maybe but there aren’t a lot of (physical) souvenirs available in that place. As I was getting Merle ready for the post last weekend, I was thinking of the disparate waters that he has already touched upon in his journey. So I dug out that old nalgene bottle and gave him one more dip.



If you can’t make out the sharpie on the side it says “Snow from South Pole January 2010.” A parting shot from me just for fun, because this whole experience is just for the fun of it, right? One of the things I thought about when I had my time with Merle was the life of *things*…. If that [object] could talk, eh? I don’t know if Merle will be able to touch upon all seven continents during his world tour, but this bags the one that is surely the hardest to reach. As we go about our days the people and things that we intersect with leave marks upon us. Some impressions are visible and others are not, but these interactions change us I think, like a spiritual residue. Merle will collect dings and scratches from his travels, and develop a patina made from contacts with far flung places. It’s a beautiful thing!

 

[Old Engineer]

Merle has left Alaska-- tracking says the package departed from Anchorage yesterday. Not sure of the current location as there have been no further blips on the radar since then, but delivery to ND is expected on Friday (as always take such estimates with a healthy dash of salt). While we wait for the next leg of Merle’s epic journey I thought I’d share the very last pic I took of him, just before I packaged him up on Saturday. But first, some context.

A while ago in another life (before marriage and kids) I was bi-polar. Not in the mind, but of the body I worked for a few seasons as a carpenter for the US Antarctic Program, going back and forth between summer in Alaska and “summer” in Antarctica. Quotes there because summer in Antarctica is still pretty wintery lol. But what both places have in common during summers is endless daylight. So, going between the two, for a period of three years straight I experienced almost no night time (only during transition travel). It was amazing. This is a picture of me at the south pole on New Year’s Day 2009.

View attachment 1762446

I haven’t pulled up this photo in a long time, and looking at it now the first thing that jumps out at me is the Russian flag flying over my shoulder. I wasn’t very excited to see that, given what’s going on in the world currently. But to be clear, South Pole Station is a US base, not Russian. The flags from 12 different countries are flown around the pole marker, representing the 12 countries that signed the original Antarctic Treaty. That was in 1959 so it was the Soviet Union at the time, but that is why the Russian flag is there. Here’s another pic from a different angle on a less sunny day, you can see some of the other countries. And yes, there really is a ceremonial barber pole and mirror ball at the south pole!

View attachment 1762447

Bear with me, there is a point to all this. So, when I was there the following year, I collected a bunch of snow. I scooped it right from the geographic south pole, filled up my nalgene bottle and took it with me. Kind of strange maybe but there aren’t a lot of (physical) souvenirs available in that place. As I was getting Merle ready for the post last weekend, I was thinking of the disparate waters that he has already touched upon in his journey. So I dug out that old nalgene bottle and gave him one more dip.

View attachment 1762448

If you can’t make out the sharpie on the side it says “Snow from South Pole January 2010.” A parting shot from me just for fun, because this whole experience is just for the fun of it, right? One of the things I thought about when I had my time with Merle was the life of *things*…. If that [object] could talk, eh? I don’t know if Merle will be able to touch upon all seven continents during his world tour, but this bags the one that is surely the hardest to reach. As we go about our days the people and things that we intersect with leave marks upon us. Some impressions are visible and others are not, but these interactions change us I think, like a spiritual residue. Merle will collect dings and scratches from his travels, and develop a patina made from contacts with far flung places. It’s a beautiful thing!

Now that is something very very cool . Thank you very much for showing all that you have shown to Merle and Us from Alaska . It is going to be very tough for paulhilborn to come close to topping it . He does live in some beautiful country up there though .

Harry

 

[paulhilborn]

Now that is something very very cool . Thank you very much for showing all that you have shown to Merle and Us from Alaska . It is going to be very tough for paulhilborn to come close to topping it . He does live in some beautiful country up there though .

Harry

Harry, I mentioned the same thing when Caleb when I pm'd about Merle. I'll say it now that I won't be able to top Merle's experience with Caleb, I will however be able to add to Merles story

 

[Hammer67]

Okay it’s 3am here, I was planning to sign off with my last post but as I was writing it a couple hours ago I was kinda kicking myself thinking man Merle has been with me for three weeks and I haven’t taken any pics of the aurora with him! They’re not out every night of course, but they are a regular part of winter in Fairbanks and there have certainly been missed opportunities in the last three weeks. So, I just got dressed and went outside and this is what you get lol.

View attachment 1758459

This is NOT any kind of way to take nice photos of the aurora. I was standing on the road with Merle in one hand and my phone in the other. I didn’t have my camera or tripod set up, but at least Merle got a chance to see the lights before he goes, they’re definitely another something special in the high latitudes

As someone who spent a bunch of time in AK and Yukon, this (and many other pics of yours) brings back a bunch of memories. Thanks for sharing!

 

[beezwax]

Harry, I mentioned the same thing when Caleb when I pm'd about Merle. I'll say it now that I won't be able to top Merle's experience with Caleb, I will however be able to add to Merles story

Paul did say something to that effect when I contacted him for shipping details, but it's not a contest it's a collective effort and a communal experience. Like I said in my reply, the best part of this is simply getting to go about daily life with forum members all over the world. I'm excited to ride along as Merle continues his adventures

 

[btb01]

Merle has left Alaska-- tracking says the package departed from Anchorage yesterday. Not sure of the current location as there have been no further blips on the radar since then, but delivery to ND is expected on Friday (as always take such estimates with a healthy dash of salt). While we wait for the next leg of Merle’s epic journey I thought I’d share the very last pic I took of him, just before I packaged him up on Saturday. But first, some context.

A while ago in another life (before marriage and kids) I was bi-polar. Not in the mind, but of the body I worked for a few seasons as a carpenter for the US Antarctic Program, going back and forth between summer in Alaska and “summer” in Antarctica. Quotes there because summer in Antarctica is still pretty wintery lol. But what both places have in common during summers is endless daylight. So, going between the two, for a period of three years straight I experienced almost no night time (only during transition travel). It was amazing. This is a picture of me at the south pole on New Year’s Day 2009.

View attachment 1762446

I haven’t pulled up this photo in a long time, and looking at it now the first thing that jumps out at me is the Russian flag flying over my shoulder. I wasn’t very excited to see that, given what’s going on in the world currently. But to be clear, South Pole Station is a US base, not Russian. The flags from 12 different countries are flown around the pole marker, representing the 12 countries that signed the original Antarctic Treaty. That was in 1959 so it was the Soviet Union at the time, but that is why the Russian flag is there. Here’s another pic from a different angle on a less sunny day, you can see some of the other countries. And yes, there really is a ceremonial barber pole and mirror ball at the south pole!

View attachment 1762447

Bear with me, there is a point to all this. So, when I was there the following year, I collected a bunch of snow. I scooped it right from the geographic south pole, filled up my nalgene bottle and took it with me. Kind of strange maybe but there aren’t a lot of (physical) souvenirs available in that place. As I was getting Merle ready for the post last weekend, I was thinking of the disparate waters that he has already touched upon in his journey. So I dug out that old nalgene bottle and gave him one more dip.

View attachment 1762448

If you can’t make out the sharpie on the side it says “Snow from South Pole January 2010.” A parting shot from me just for fun, because this whole experience is just for the fun of it, right? One of the things I thought about when I had my time with Merle was the life of *things*…. If that [object] could talk, eh? I don’t know if Merle will be able to touch upon all seven continents during his world tour, but this bags the one that is surely the hardest to reach. As we go about our days the people and things that we intersect with leave marks upon us. Some impressions are visible and others are not, but these interactions change us I think, like a spiritual residue. Merle will collect dings and scratches from his travels, and develop a patina made from contacts with far flung places. It’s a beautiful thing!

Very cool!

Paul did say something to that effect when I contacted him for shipping details, but it's not a contest it's a collective effort and a communal experience. Like I said in my reply, the best part of this is simply getting to go about daily life with forum members all over the world. I'm excited to ride along as Merle continues his adventures

I couldn’t have said it better myself.