Off to Fairbanks!

But first, a final picture from Anchorage.

We took the Alaska Goldstar to Fairbanks...

We love trains.  Lots of scenery, usually good food and beer, friendly staff, no weight restrictions on luggage, no seatbelts...the list goes on and on.  So when we decided to extend our trip north to Denali, we learned that we could travel by train all the way up to Fairbanks - and then back to Denali.  Sold!  It’s a day-long ride, but the scenery is fabulous: forests, lakes, trumpeter swans, eagles and, hopefully, moose.

It rained most of the trip so the mountains and marshlands looked particularly wet and lush.

Turns out most of the wildlife up here hangs out around these ponds, rivers, and marshes.  There's lots of food, fresh water, and protective cover.

See that green blob in the center of the pic...just left of the two trees...about two-thirds back?  That's an abandoned beaver dam.  Beavers love to dam up rivers and streams, but once their den takes root with grasses and moss, they move out.  Ironically, they don't much like standing water.

I think these are the Talkeetna River, the Little Susitna River, and the Indian River

It’s strange - our fascination with wildlife.  Last week when we went whale watching, everyone on the boat scanned the waters for the least little sign of a whale (and you’ll recall, we were well-rewarded).  Today on the train, someone saw the butt-end of a moose darting into the woods, and the whole car whipped out cameras, stood to get a glimpse, and pointed in various directions..all to no avail...the moose was long gone.  (We are hopeful we’ll see another.)

Okay, this is like that fucking Bigfoot picture.  See the dark spot in the upper center left?  It's a mama moose running through the brush.  Behind her (and not in the picture) was her calf.  

Wildlife, by its very nature is wild.  It’s unpredictable.  It is, at once, mesmerizing and terrifying.  Wild.  And I think our domestic selves - if only for a moment - yearn to live vicariously through the beasts.

So we cross our fingers and peer into forests and visually sweep the meadows along the way to Fairbanks hoping to catch a glimpse of our wild moose selves.

And now...a blast from the past:

Look at them Moose Goosers

Ain’t they recluse?

Up in them boondocks,

Goosin’ them Moose

Goosin’ them huge Moose,

Goosin’ them tiny.

Goosin’ them meadow-moose

In they hiney.

Look at Them Moose Goosers,

Ain’t they dumb?

Some use an umbrella,

Some use a thumb.

Them obtuse Moose Goosers

Sneakin’ through the woods

Pokin’ them snoozy Moose

In they goods.

How to be a Moose Gooser?

It’ll turn ye puce!

Gitcher gooser loose and

Rouse a drowsy Moose!

- Mason Williams/Them Poems