Travel Tips & Adventures

By Guest Author Peggy Bradshaw; Photos by George Bradshaw

One of the most popular tourist attractions in Fairbanks, Alaska is the Discovery Sternwheeler boat, docked on the Chena River not far from downtown. It is owned by the Binkley family, who have been in the riverboat business since the days of the Klondike gold rush. It has been a tourist attraction since 1950 and has been continuously captained by members of the Binkley family.

Take a ride on the Discovery Sternwheeler

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Ah, if only everyone could be Carefree – or travel there. It’s a town in Arizona north of Phoenix, by the way, but it is also a state of mind.

 
On a recent stay at the Carefree Resort & Villas in Carefree, the experience lived up to the name.

Carefree Resort & Villas entrance

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Guest Author Peggy Bradshaw; Photos by George Bradshaw

Stepping onto the dome car of the Alaska Railroad you do not realize that this train is not just a tourist train.

Domed car of the Alaskan Railroad

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One of the major attractions in Central Oregon for those who want fabulous scenery is Mt. Bachelor and the Cascades Lakes National Scenic Byway.  And, if you ski, during the season, Mt. Bachelor is a very popular location.

Mt. Bachelor

Mt. Bachelor with ski lifts (not taken during the ski season)

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After the strenuous drive on RT 242  (see our blog on September 17) to get to Bend, we were prepared to really relax! 

Our hotel in Bend, the Shilo Inn, offered rooms with fully-equipped kitchens and  a view of the river.  A separate building contained an enclosed pool with spa and sauna.  Furnishings were a little worn, but the amenities were good with freebies offered for their full breakfast buffet, so not a bad deal all together.

We headed to downtown to look around and saw the following fellow sitting on a bench.  From a distance, he looked quite real!

Bench sitter in downtown Bend

We have already talked about the Farmer’s Market (see  our blog on October 9) we visited and had a chance to stroll the path along the Deschutes River.  We did not tell you about the very unusual restaurant that has a tree going through the roof in the middle of of a room.

Truly – a tree that goes through the roof!  When the restaurant owners decided to add another room, they didn’t want to destroy the 300-year-old tree.  Oregon people are like that.  So, they built the tree into the room.

Pine Tavern Restaurant

Trees in Pine Tavern Restaurant

Through the roof!

 Besides the unusual attraction of a tree going through the roof, the Pine Tavern has a spacious patio overlooking the Deschutes River.  We opted to sit there with an idyllic view. The patio has round tables with mis-matched linen napkins.  

Our waitress Nikki, was most accommodating.  She offered to make iced decaf tea for me, since they didn’t have anything decaf.  Although I remember liking the food, I don’t remember what we ate because we suddenly had a hovering bee that just wouldn’t go away.  

When we brought the bee to Nikki’s attention, she commented that there was no extra charge for the bee.  The way she said it, it was funny and we laughed and relaxed.

The view was mesmerizing and,when it was time to leave, we did so reluctantly.  As we left we saw two staffers sitting at empty booths in the restaurant folding napkins!  All of those napkins do need to be folded!

We liked the Pine Tavern Restaurant.  Good food with an old-fashioned, gracious atmosphere.

http://www.pinetavern.com/

By Guest Author Peggy Bradshaw, Photos by George Bradshaw

Eighty-four miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska begins the primitive road known as The Dalton Highway, or the Haul Road. It was first called the Haul Road because almost everything supporting the oilfields of the North Slope of Alaska was transported across this road on tractor-trailer rigs. It ends 414 miles later in Deadhorse, the industrial camp at Prudhoe Bay. A primitive road from its beginning to its end, there are very few stretches of pavement. It is the farthest north road and involves risks and challenges, but at the same time gives the opportunity to traverse a remote, unpopulated part of Alaska to the very top of the continent.

Highway through Atigun Pass

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By Guest Author Peggy Bradshaw, Photos by George Bradshaw

The tundra of Alaska is a stark but beautiful landscape. As the coldest of all the biomes, tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and a short growing season. Tundra also contains permafrost, which means that the soil is permanently frozen and can be from 10-35 inches deep, making it impossible for trees to grow.

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Besides our visit to the Sea Lion Caves (see the September 15 blog), we stopped for lunch and a little sightseeing in Florence, Oregon. On the coast just a few miles south of the Sea Lion Caves, Florence just happened to have a Mo’s Restaurant, a regional chain with a waterside restaurant. We were hungry and headed to Mo’s.

Eating at Mo’s

There are branches of the chain in many towns and the advertising, including giant billboards, really pays off. The restaurant was extremely busy. We waited briefly and were seated way near the back. The wait staff moves briskly and so do the prep people, who were industriously sprinkling toppings on some entrees when I passed by.

"Greeter" at Mo's

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Guest Author Peggy Bradshaw; Photos by George Bradshaw

Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear wrote a letter to sculptor Korszak Ziolkowski asking if he would carve a monument to the great Oglala warrior Crazy Horse. Ziolkowski worked on the carving of Mt. Rushmore and Standing Bear wanted the white man to know that the Indians had great heroes also.

The carving was started in 1948 on Thunderhead Mountain, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a mountain considered sacred by many tribes. Many tribes oppose the defilement of the sacred mountain.

How the Crazy Horse Monument is supposed to look when completed

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Vancouver, a major city in British Columbia with a population of over 2 million, has an amazingly diverse group of neighborhoods. We never saw any rundown homes, but we did see many panhandlers, especially in downtown areas. (more…)