Antimony - A day in Denali and beyond

Antimony

Mineral Producing in Denali - 1905 to 1978

Today's element of the day is Antimony with atomic number 51. I have struggled on many days with thinking of an element or mineral to include as the blog title, following Robin's challenge, but today's was one of the easiest, because 5 million pounds of Antimony was mined in Denali from 1905 to 1978. 

Waking at Denali Perch

Drew and his new friend - the gas heater

We slept surprisingly well in the Denali Perch Resort Cabin. I woke up in the middle of the night dreaming a bear was knocking the door, but when I woke properly I realised it was just the gas heater (yes we had to leave it on) making a clunking noise.

The desk, even Jack hadn't heard all the words before!!

I finally woke at 5am and spent the next two hours fighting with blogger, due to the slow wifi connection. The blog post kept crashing and entirely failed to enable any photos to be uploaded. I'm not very patient with technology when it doesn't work. So I have some choice words that I can report on when I next go to confession.  

Drew woke up at 7.00am having slept well. I made coffee for both of us in the machine and abluted. For a cabin they had a very nice shower which worked well, still you had to get out of it into a cold room which was a bit bracing.

Leaving the Cabins

We packed and checked out at 9, driving up the hill to the Perch to drop off the key, and then driving to the other side of the Creek, to the competitors place as they do breakfast, and the Perch doesn't. A quick look at their more rustic cabins <<Co-pilot's note: by rustic he means logs.>> made us comfortable we had made the right choice in staying in the Perch. 

Breakfast

McKinley Creekside Cafe

The unit across Carlo Creek from the Perch is called McKinley Creekside. Its cafe is a lovely facility, and though it was very busy we were seated right away.

Chilaquiles with a side of Reindeer Sausage

I went for Chilaquiles with a side of Reindeer Sausage, this was two eggs, fried corn tortilla chips, black beans, ranchero sauce, cotija cheese, pickled poblano peppers, pico de gallo, tomatoes, sour cream and salsa, with the reindeer sausage coming as an extra. It was excellent, fully of spicy flavours to awaken the palette in the morning.

Two Egg Breakfast

Drew had the Two Egg Breakfast with two eggs, over easy, fried potatoes, sourdough and reindeer sausage. Drew agreed that the reindeer sausage were much juicier than those we had in Homer, which were like the venison sausages we get at home. These were full in flavour, not unlike the ones I had at the Bridge Restaurant in Anchorage.

We left at 10:00am and headed for the National Park.

Denali National Park

Entrance to Denali National Park

Denali National Park entrance is 13 miles from where we stayed last night. On arriving at the park you are directed to the Visitors Centre which was full of fascinating objects bringing together the geology and zoology of Denali National Park, along with a history of the park and its development.

Visitors Centre

No description of mine could do it justice, but it is worth looking at the images on Flickr, the Visitors Centre ones start here and move forward.

We spent an hour and fifteen minutes in the Visitors Centre including watching an 18 minute film called "Heartbeats of Denali" which gave a flavour of the animal inhabitants of the Park

The Mountains in the mist

From the Visitors Centre you are able to drive 13 miles up to Savage River and back. To go any further you must pay for a tour on one of the Park's bus routes. When we entered the park the temperature had been 46°F while it had gone up to 50°F by the time we left the centre, it was still cloudy enough for us not to want to go on a longer tour. 

Savage River

The route up to Savage River and back gave an opportuntity for great photos of hills, clouds and a mighty river. All can be seen on Flickr, from here on. The clouds made the mountains look even more mysterious, than does their size, but yet again Denali itself wasn't coming out to see us. 

We left the park at 1:00pm, though the clouds were lifting, as the later photos show, they didn't seem to be clearing all together.

Nenana River

Nenana River

Almost immediately after leaving the park we came to the Nenana River. This river is a glacial flow from the park, and is the route of the road North from the park. It itself is a large fast flowing river, so we stopped to take photos and walk over the bridge to get the best views. We left the Riverside view at 1:15pm and headed north along the AK-3 until coming to the town of Nenana.

Nenana

Nenana

In the UK we would probably call Nenana a village not a town, but whatever you call it, it is a pretty place. As the only substantial habitation between Denali and Fairbanks it had the advantage of somewhere for us to stop and eat Lunch, all be it a late lunch.

President Harding was here

The town's claim to fame, as well as being where the Nenana River flows into the Tanana River (which then flows on to Fairbanks) is that this is the point that the railway reached when it was formally opened by President Harding, the first US president to come to the State of Alaska. Harding sank the Golden Spike, which signalled completion of the railroad. 

The Tripod

Bored rail workers, waiting at Nenana, invented a new game of betting on when the ice would break using a Tripod as the indication. So, since 1917, the Nenana Ice Classic has taken place every year. This year there was one winner who correctly predicted, or guessed, the exact date and time that the Tanana River ice broke as April 14th, 2019 at 12:21 am AST. 

Roughwoods Inn and Cafe

Roughwoods Inn

Having explored Nenana, it doesn't take long, we went to the Roughwoods Inn and Cafe for lunch.

Four pieces of fried chicken and fries

I opted for a four pieces of fried chicken and fries. The chicken was delicious, and unlike a KFC was rich in chicken, not just batter. The batter was mildly spiced and the chicken was meaty. It appeared the four pieces made up a half of a chicken.

Roughwood Cheeseburger with fries

Drew opted for a Roughwood Cheeseburger with fries. He really enjoyed this as the burger was nice and meaty, the bread and salad was very fresh, the bacon on the burger was a nice additional flavour, perfect for Drew.

Photos Online

Captain Jack at the Holiday Inn Express

Dinner complete in Nenana we headed up to Fairbanks arriving at 4.30pm. Having checked in and sorted our luggage Drew headed to the gym for an hour and then went to do the washing, it is a week since our last wash, so he needed to use two machines. 

Washer and Dryers at the Holiday Inn Express

I started loading up the photos from Thursday, Friday and today (Saturday) that I had not been able to load before. By 5:40pm I had loaded up Thursday's photos to Flickr (251 photos). By 7:00pm I had completed Friday's photos (307 photos) and Drew was back with the clean, dry, clothes, so we sorted them and put them in the wardrobe or drawers.

I began to edit today's (Saturday) photos and prepare them for uploading, but we had to leave then for dinner. 

Dinner

As I've noted previously on the blog we couldn't book restaurants in Alaska online, so needed to wait to be close enough to ring them. Like many hotels, this hotel allows free calls to local numbers. So when we arrived I had rung the restaurant we hoped to visit to see if they had a table for 8:00pm (to give us time to do the photos and clothes washing). It turned out they didn't but could accommodate us at 8:15pm.

So we left the hotel at 7:45pm and walked the 1.4 miles into the town centre to Lavelle's Bistro. This was a wonderful find, and one of the best restaurants of the holiday. 

French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup - where sweet onions are simmered in rich homemade stock then topped with crusty French bread and Gruyere cheese. Drew says this was tasty and warm, but not to hot. Clearly cooked fresh and not in a microwave. Drew would use more salt if he was cooking it. The cheese was rich and the onions very sweet.

King Crab and Artichoke Dip

King Crab and Artichoke Dip - this was a really rich indulgence and was served warm with Parmesan cheese, sliced almonds and fresh pita chips. It was a surprise that the crab had worked so well with the artichoke to make a taste of delight. The additions add a salty and nutty texture and it was just so easy to mop it up with the pita bread.

Caesar Salad 

Caesar Salad - this had lots of lettuce, the croutons were gently toasted and the sauce tangy. Drew feels it was a nice little free addition. 

Green Salad

I had the Green salad with balsamic vinaigrette, the vinaigrette was very tangy, just as I like it, the greens were simple and joined by cherry tomatoes and cucumber. 

Seasonal Vegetable Risotto

Seasonal Vegetable Risotto - a deliciously creamy risotto with seasonal harvest vegetables which were peas, sweet corn and mushrooms. <<Co-pilot's note: I understand they have a very limited growing season up here>> It was creamy with lots of cheese cooked through it. The rice was crisp, Drew needed to add more salt, but overall it was pleasant and tasty.

Oven Roasted Half Duck

Oven Roasted Half Duck this was finished with a Raspberry glaze, thankfully not to sweet, and served with mashed potatoes and sautéed vegetables. The mash must have been made 50% potatoes and 50% butter, it was so rich, but the duck was the centre of this plate and the raspberry added a frutiness to it, it didn't take away from the rich duck flavour. The crispness of the skin was perfect and the flesh was juicy and delicious.

57F a nice temperature for a walk

We left Lavelle's at 9:30pm very content. The temperature had fallen, but was still comfortable for walking and we returned to the hotel at 10.00am. I then named and uploaded another 194 photos (from today) and was complete at 10:45pm - time for bed. Yep 752 in an afternoon!!