I saw Santa Claus today

 

Tok has some fine bike paths, considering that Tok is just two roads crossing in the middle of nowhere. Carl and I both took a spin on them. The path toward Valdez is better, newer, smoother.

We were bound to North Pole when a Moose crossed the road. Too quickly to get the camera out, unfortunately, so you will have to assume what it looked like. Then we spotted another grazing down a power line easement. That one we photographed, but the photo is so poor you have to believe us again. Perhaps there is a finer moose photo in our future.

At Delta Juntion, we chowed down on a fine Buffalo Burger. This is becoming something of an obsession, and although the meat is lean, the fries or at least chips that come with it probably cancel out my good intentions.

Carl is longing for rare buffalo, so when the opportunity to buy our own came up just south of North Pole. we screeched and turned in. We tasted buffalo, yak, and reindeer sausage, bought some buffalo hamburger, a steak and some brats. Daisy got a free very large cow bone which she has not parted with since then. It's about the size of her head. Deltameats.com is their link if you want to order some, but wait till winter when the shipping doesn't cost so much. They can send it by slow boat during the winter and it won't thaw.

We passed the largest training AFB and the northernmost base in the US on the way into North Pole. Mighty impressive. Right now I hear them training in their 60,000 s miles of air space. From here they can cover the globe in short order.

So, finally, we arrived at North Pole, a town of 1500 about 15 minutes south of Fairbanks. The town decided to reinvent themselves in the 50's in the hopes that someone would want to build a toy plant here. The plant never came, but the tourists do, and they are very very busy mailing letters in December for the whole USA.

I wanted to find the post office, because who can resist that stamp, no? Carl said what street is it on? Santa Claus Lane, I said. He had this look on his face. It was the truth! I took several things into the post office, and the lady at the counter let me hand cancel them myself. She said I could get a job during the busy season.

This is indeed the funniest town. Do you want to live on Mistletoe? or North Star? Take your pick of any christmas name, and that can be your address. If you are a Catholic, you are really in luck. The church's name is, oh yeah, St. Nicholas.

My phone, which had no service in the Yukon, is dead. I could make a call, but could not see the screen. But you know what? There was an ATT right there on St. Nicholas Drive. Of course there has to be a phone store in North Pole. How else could all those xmas cell phone gifts get processed? There was a wonderful young girl there names Alyssa. She said yes ma'am and yes sir. She said my phone was terminal. Sigh. I looked at a lot of phones, but I just couldn't make this decision under pressure. I just got everything perfectly sync'd up to Outlook. I have this software, cables, the works. How do you just buy a phone without information? And UPS? and Ebay? At the North Pole? Things have really changed in the last two years. A phone is a musical instrument, an MP3, a streaming video, a whatever, you name it. I laid my head down on her desk to sigh. "I just want my old phone back." She said, "You know, when everything is going well, something has to go wrong. Be glad it is your phone." What a wise young lady. Of course she is right. I took the name of a website with me to look into which phones will sync with my outlook.

Then we moved a few feet south to Santaland RV. What a funny place. There's candy canes everywhere. Reindeer peeking from behind clapboard faux stables. A big Santa out front. Free tours of North Pole every morning. And they are right next door to Santa Claus House. There's reindeer behind Santa Claus house, one with a rack so huge it looks fake. And everywhere there are mail bins saying we will cancel your mail the North Pole. And private bathrooms. I felt like I was in a luxury hotel in Disneyland.

I searched all night to get smart about phones, and about 11 pm went to EBAY and bid on one. I didn't even consider if it was the perfect phone. Then I won the auction. Oh no. How do I get a phone to the North Pole? Nobody is going to believe that I am in SantaLand RV Park on St. Nicholas Drive. Do I just stay here till a phone arrives from Phoenix, regular mail? After I won the bid, I sent the seller about 5 emails telling him this was no hoax. After all, the guy said it was his grandma's phone. Surely he believes in Santa too.

North Pole is a great biking town. They have paths everywhere, and, it's pretty flat. We woke up the next morning and took one of those paths. I forgot about the prevailing winds, so I went a little too far when it seemed so easy. Since we have to come back to Santaland when my phone arrives, I am looking forward to another flat path ride. And private baths. And reindeer.

Mr. Ebay called Carl today, and he is going to ship it faster than snail mail. Santaland RV Park will hold the package till we come back. See? Life is good in North Pole.

Meanwhile, we headed 60 miles northeast to the end of the road, Chena Hot springs. The new masseuse showed up today, and in addition to parboiling in the outdoor rock pool, we are going to get pounded and tenderized. We are her first two victims since starting the job today. Lots of squirrels here. Daisy thinks life is good. I think life is yummy.