June 22, Fairbanks

Pam, Dave and Alan all agreed that they had a great time at the ball game last night. There were lots of people there, and the locals did a good job of welcoming the visitors and they were as interesting as the ball game itself, which ran through midnight with no lights on the field.

We all trekked out to Chena Hot Springs today. It’s 56 miles out in the country, at the very end of the Chena Hot Springs Road, appropriately enough. The drive is very nice, going back and forth across the Chena River. It was prime moose-watching country, and we were pleased to see one grazing alongside the road.

There weren’t a lot of people in the hot springs, and it's not as sylvan as Liard, but it's still a nice place to soak and chat with other travelers. It was very hot, so we moved in and out until we were all nicely parboiled.

The drive back could be a problem, what with the relaxation from the steaming hot water, but the road provided some entertainment. Because it was late afternoon, we saw moose after moose. Some of them were in the distance, but some of them were right near the road. Two big moose and a baby were snacking in a pond in easy view of the road, so we joined the “moose jam” to take pictures. And then there was the one that decided to jump out of the streambed right at the edge of the road just as we were driving by, thereby terrifying all three of us. I could see the whites of the moose’s startled eyes as he swerved right and we swerved left. I didn’t get a photo.

Tomorrow we move on down the road to Denali.