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

(more…)

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

(more…)

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

(more…)

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.

(more…)

By Guest Author Peggy Bradshaw
Photos by George Bradshaw

When I first got off of the airplane at Deadhorse, Alaska, I wanted to get right back on and fly away. It was 33 degrees and it was June 23, summer solstice, and the wind was blowing at least 30-40 miles an hour. We all climbed onto a tour bus (which was warm) and were taken to the motel where we would be staying, the Arctic Caribou Inn, while we experienced our unique visit to the oil fields of the North Slope of Alaska. (more…)

By Guest Author Peggy Bradshaw
Photos by George Bradshaw

Glacier Bay is part of the National Park Service and vessel permits are required before entering Glacier Bay from June 1 to August 31. You can request a permit by contacting the National Park Service at Bartlett Cove. Comrprised of 3.3 million acres of mountains, glaciers, forests, and waterways, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve are a highlight of the Inside Passage and part of a 25-million-acre World Heritage Site – one of the world’s largest protected natural areas – designated by UNESCO. (more…)

Soapy Smith's Restaurant - Fairbanks, Alaska

To step into Soapy Smith’s Restaurant in Fairbanks , Alaska is to step back in time, yet it is a modern, up-to-date restaurant with good food and good service. (more…)

By Guest Author Peggy Bradshaw

The Native Heritage Center, located outside of Anchorage, Alaska, introduces you to native traditions and customs of both the past and the present. We stopped there on our way from Whittier to Anchorage. (more…)

Guest Author Peggy Bradshaw

When Gold was discovered in the Klondike in 1896 and a ton of gold arrived in Seattle in 1897, the gold rush was on! Everyone rushed to the goldfields through Chilkoot Pass. It was six hundred miles over treacherous and dangerous trails and waterways. Another trail was developed through White Pass and this became the route of the White Pass and Yukon Railroad.

White Pass and Yukon Railroad on its Climb to the Klondike Photo by George Bradshaw

(more…)

By Guest Author Peggy Bradsaw

The Alaskan gold rush lured thousands to Skagway, which became known as the gateway to the goldfields. By 1898, it was Alaska’s largest town with a population of about 20,000, not counting the 10,000 people living in the tent city of nearby Dyea. Today, Skagway has less than 1,000 residents but the population more than doubles on the days when the cruise ships pull into the dock.

Skagway boasted the shortest route to the Klondike, but it was far from being the easiest. Over a hundred years ago, the White Pass route through the coast mountains and the shorter, but steeper, Chilkoot Trail, were used by thousands of stampeders. The treacherous Chilkoot Trail, combined with the area’s cruel elements, left scores dead. The hotels, saloons, dance halls and gambling houses prospered, but as the gold supply dwindled, so did the population of the town, as the miners left to go to newly-discovered gold fields.

(more…)