Why Alaska. We fell in love with it the first time we visited in 2022. I think this quote/ paraphrase from John Muir sums it best.

You should never go to Alaska as a young man because you’ll never be satisfied with any other place as long as you live.

We got our rental car at the airport and drove to the first hotel on our trip. We are heading to Denali tomorrow. We also stopped at the local Wal-Mart to obtain some supplies (snacks and drinks). Lots of things were piled in the aisles of the store. It would appear they were in the middle of restocking most of the shelves. We learned that it is difficult to obtain alcoholic drinks in Alaska. Ended up at a local store called The Brown Jug. Although there is no state tax in Alaska, there is a tax on alcohol.

Also learned (from hotel staff when we checked in) that most restaurants in Fairbanks do not open for breakfast. Most open around 11 a.m. and close by 8 p.m. Locals tend to rely on McDonalds and Taco Bell for breakfast if they really want to venture out in the morning.

Today was a complete day of travel. We didn’t take a lot of photos to share a this point (a small gallery is below). I will be adding many more photos in the days to come. It is great to return to Alaska. I feel that I have experienced only a very small part of the state during our adventures in 2022. This time, we are starting with the interior part of the state. Overall, Fairbanks is much different than Juneau. It also helps to have a rental car so we can see more of the state. We did note that some highways cannot be driven on in a rental car. They are too rutted and prone to gravel being tossed up by passing trucks. More on that in the coming posts.

In case you didn’t know, you can click on any photo in these galleries to see a larger view. You can also navigate from one image to the next in that larger view using the < and > icons on each side of the photo. To return to the main page, just click/ tap the X in the upper right.