Some scenery on the drive:
There is a whole lotta nuthin' on the Elliott Highway:
Minto Flats:
Being manly in Manley:
The Manley Roadhouse:
The slough on which we camped:
When car camping, folks get spatially greedy, so we each brought our own tents. The result was something that looked like a hobo camp:
Autumn enjoying herself:
The Elliott is dusty!
Home sweet home:
Chillin' at camp:
The Manley Airport:
The Manley Trading Post:
The Manley
The hot spring water is diverted from this creek:
Into this greenhouse:
Where grapes, tropical flowers, and other non-arctic things grow:
And visitors can enjoy hot tubs:
Mmmm S'mores!
The next morning, I took the dawgs for a walk to the end of the Elliott Highway--the farthest west one can drive on the US road system. I made two observations:
1) The Alaskan definition of "highway" is very generous.
2) It's ironic to walk to a place known for being the farthest one can drive.
The local community hall:
The Stanley Dayo Race Trail:
The dowgs lead the way:
When we got back, the human boys had breakfast going:
Chewie eyeballing the grill. Note how carefully the veggies are balanced with beer bottles. Only a campsite full of physicists can achieve this.
Stick biscuits!
The dogs were pooped after walking to the end of the accessible world:
The Manley Gas Station. To get gas, you ask the guy at the garage to call the owner to come over and turn on the pump for you.
The Wildwood General Store, on the drive home. I bought some cookies and was very, very disappointed to discover that they were some kind of fat-free health crap.
Alaskan limo for sale:
5 comments:
More importantly, see if the cookies labelled with expiration day. If in doubt, you have Autumn and Linden.
So how did you choose Manly as your destination?
And by your group's arrival, did you shift the population by 10% or so?
During our recent camping trip to Yosemite, Tania made biscuits on a stick over the campfire. She used buttery crescent dough, stuck some chocolate inside, and made herself a chocolate croissant. Brilliant! I think she also added a marshmallow but it melted into oblivion.
Mudder--it's quite a busy little tourist shop, but aside from that, the irony is that cookies made without butter don't actually go stale. I read somewhere that a good rule to follow to avoid bad stuff in food is "Don't eat food that doesn't go bad." I'm not sure what the heck was in those cookies, but there was no butter. :(
Rena--It's a local hot spring spot. Also, I wanted to go to the end of a highway, in this case, the Elliott, just to say, "Been, there, done that." I think "end of the highway" is a phenomenon pretty unique to Alaska. In other places, highways only end for some geographical reason (like Highway 50 hitting the ocean, for example). Only in Alaska does a highway end just because the state decided, "Meh, that's enough highway for now."
Oh, stick biscuits were a new one on me! Before joining this circle of friends, I'd never really car camped. I had never enjoyed camping all that much, regarding it as a concession that one must make in order to hike farther. I guess I was more of a backpacker than a camper. I carried only the tiniest stove and ate things like rehydrated beans and tortillas.
But this crew definitely has some car camping experts! They whip out gourmet campfire meals and have gigantic stoves and charcoal grills and pancake griddles and waffle irons and dutch ovens for biscuits. It's quite astonishing! I still always bring my instant oatmeal along, but I haven't touched it in years! :)
Heh, you guys were posing manly in Manley in one of the photos. XD Anyway, it's nice to have a dip in a hot bath after a long drive, no? It's a great feeling to just relax in the water...
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