A Breakfast to end all Breakfasts
Saturday started at guess again 4 AM, will I ever sleep on this trip? We packed up our gear and went to have the classic breakfast at the infamous Roadhouse. This is a true Roadhouse and one of the last in the country, don’t think Patrick Swayze Roadhouse but rooms and food. Oh the food, it was more than you could ever want and all you can eat served family style. It wasn’t until 10 or so for us to eat so I was a little cranky, hangry. I don’t do brunch. I wake up early and typically want breakfast at 7 or 8 and can’t wait too long after that and once you’ve had breakfast anything else I eat that day is more towards non-breakfast food. But once you’ve had this breakfast all that fades away, it was a downright smorgasbord. Everything is made from scratch and is fabulous. I particularly liked their hot sauce, I should have bought some to take home.
From there we had a little time (more than I thought we would) before we started our next journey. I wished I explored more as everyone else got to meet the mayor of Talkeetna, a cat named Denali but I thought we had to be at the train station. We were taking the Alaskan Railroad train, called the Aurora Train during winter, which is the last flag stop train in the US. Meaning train stop or no if you wanted to get on or off at any point you could. If you wanted to get on you just flag it down and on you go.
The Most Scenic Train Ride
We were taking the train from Talkeetna up to Fairbanks, an 8 hour trip through the most scenic and breathtaking country I have seen. But before we get on the train just to mention the train station at Talkeetna, this is not so much as a station rather than a hut to stand in to avoid the winds. We were out there waiting for train with some others who were wanting to get on. Talking to a few was quite interesting as they had their cabins they live in off the grid. One guy lives up here in the backcountry during winter and Colorado in summer. I told him it seemed backwards to which he laughed and said yes. He was a retired injured vet and had broken his back a few years back and the cold seems to make him feel better and his balance isn’t great so snowshoeing makes him more stable and mobile.
Once we got on the train we were treated to an amazing experience. There were sections in between the cars where you could pull down the windows and stick your head out to get some amazing shots and with the cold, wind and snow it literally took your breath away at moments. We watched as people got off the train at random seeming desolate areas, threw their snowshoes on and away they went into the woods. Strange it seemed but it is how they live.
So we traced through Denali National Park, they say of all visitors maybe 1 in 5, 20% of people will ever see Mt. McKinley or Denali as it is America’s tallest peak it has its own weather system and is usually shrouded in clouds but today we were lucky and had a clear blue sky and Denali showed her beautiful face to us. Then with the magnificent winter light we were treated to pinky hued skies as we traced through the land and had great shots of the train as she twisted and turned through her path over bridges and gorges along the way. As my new friend Korey exclaimed, is this real life? We were like kids in a candy store all of us taking turns to click away at the landscape. Soon enough we were plunged into darkness and waited out the rest of the ride, all the while I joked I waited for the train to turn into the Polar Express to take us to the North Pole. How little did I know that the train was taking us almost to the North Pole. Reaching to Fairbanks we collected our bags and continued onto our hotel where I saw the sign, North Pole (next town over).
Will we see the light?
Sunday we had a free day so while I still awake obscenely early I had a later start and enjoyed a leisurely lunch before we had an editing class to review some techniques in Lightroom/Photoshop. Quick early dinner and we left for our evening adventure. We arrived at Aurora Bear, the location of our shoot for the Northern Lights, and immediately were greeted with puppies! How can you beat this, non-stop puppy party? We were all set up in the yurt, our respite to prep gear and to stay warm and got an overview from the owners Frank and Miriam.
When it came time to go out to shoot, we were plagued with cloud cover. No worries as they had planned for such an occasion and we had some setups with some light sticks and a pixel stick which you can program different images in to get some different shots and you can’t help but become kids when you start shooting flames around and have some moments with Star Wars. I was a little partial to the ghouls/ghosts personally.
We packed it in and went home to get some rest. The next day we had a free day and a group was planning on heading over to the North Pole. I was tempted but I was tired and figured I would get some naps in so I could be rested for hopefully a long successful night shooting the auroras. I spent the day, not napping but taking it easy and doing some editing. Had a nice early dinner and was all set to go. We had an earlier call to leave tonight than before which I didn’t quite get as had already done an overview and since the lights usually don’t start until 11 PM or so I didn’t know why we were heading out around 7 but out we went.
Game On
Well we had a surprise guest this evening. Dallas made an appearance for us. He was hoping to be able to meet us at his place but he had a guest speaking engagement in Florida and with some weather issues down south had some delays. He didn’t need to or have to but in order to spend some time with us he drove from Miami up to Fort Lauderdale, then caught flights back to get home and drove 4 hours up from his place to meet us in Fairbanks. We was going to follow us up to Aurora Bear but first we needed to stop for pie. Not just any pie mind you but from the Hilltop truckstop which everybody raves about. There was so many different options of pie, I ordered apple but they had run out so I tried their triple berry, yum!!!!
Much to our surprise, as the weather gods weren’t initially looking favorable for us did we have mostly clear skies and even better, while we were heading back outside to continue on with the drive we were seeing some faint light starting.
Once we arrived back at Frank’s place the light show had started. Every stood outside admiring the lights and hurried inside. If I could go back and redo one moment of the trip it would be this. The absolute excitement of the team on finally seeing the lights, I would have loved to record that moment inside of the yurt. Watching the look of anxiousness the pointing to Dallas to outside, and saying hey oh, can we, I know you’re here, can we…… Like little kids at Christmas everyone just wanted to get outside to shoot. The question came, “hey Dallas, can we shoot a little first?” Of course he is so acoomdating, even though he is probably dead tired and said yes of course, this is what you came for.”
Now I have seen the Northern lights before (once as a kid in my hometown and again while in Iceland, so while exciting to see the lights and I wanted to get some shots I was taking my time pulling my gear together while everyone else hurried around me. Someone had rushed back in grabbed my shoulders and shook me, it’s happening! They exclaimed. Oh how I loved, loved this moment. We were given the all clear to go out and shoot a little. We set up got some shots and then we gathered for a group photo, including Dallas to have a host of the team under the lights. Oh the ladies go gaga over Dallas, I chuckle to see their little hearts go pitter patter. After our group photo we went in to have Dallas give his presentation. It’s amazing to hear about what he does and how he decided to do training and prep for his team, trying new techniques to ensure his team was well cared for and could support the race.
We had a great night for shooting, it was quite warm out that most of us didn’t really need our hats and mittens and could just sit in the snow and enjoy the show, what a way to close out our week.
Most people were leaving in the early morning unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a flight out until midnight the next day so I had some downtime in Fairbanks and enjoyed wandering the town.
Our flight was uneventful mind you the hour or so delay on the ground, we pushed back and had a mechanical issue they were hoping to tinker around with to reset but weren’t able to and had to pull back up to the gate and call the mechanic. The mechanic had already gone home for the day so they had to call them back in which took some time and by the time we were all set to go again we had to refuel to compensate for what we had burned off. This ate into my short layover I had in Seattle. I noticed that mid-flight I was already rebooked on a later flight 5 hours later assuming I wasn’t going to make my original flight. Chatting with the flight attendant I asked is there any way I can make it. She looked at where my connecting gate was and how much official time I would have based on projections of our gate time and said I can’t officially tell you this but you may or may not want to run, at least walk vigorously. She guided me to the fastest way to the gate and once we got connected I was off. You bet I ran and I did make it, barely, but if avoids me having a 5 hour delay I was up for anything. I was even treated to a wonderful sunrise with Mt Rainier.
