Nenana… a town of character. And characters.

We’ve officially been as far north as we planned for this trip. On July 10, we started heading south on the Parks Highway. We had one more night to “kill” before our reservations started in Denali National Park so without any plans, south we drove. Nenana is the town of Jessie Holmes, a star of one of our favorite shows Life Below Zero, so I knew I wanted to stop there. On the way, we also passed my favorite sign for the trip. (No, we didn’t stop.)

We pulled in to the Visitor Center of Nenana and it was a stunning art gallery of Aurora Borealis photography, manned by the local artist. We found out that 2 time Iditarod finisher, Jessie Holmes does sled dog rides in the summer so we went down to the cultural center to see what we could find out. Sure enough, he had just finished giving a family a boat road so I went over and introduced myself. It was 91F and the hottest day we’d seen yet, and smoky so he couldn’t run the dogs for the last several days. He keeps 60 sled dogs at his home. We literally sat on a rock and just chatted with him for a couple hours. We offered not to tie him up all day, but he said it was too hot to move so we enjoyed the company. He had two dogs with him, a 12 week puppy “Neptune” who is already huge, and his lead dog Tempest. He regaled us with Iditarod stories and of course stories about the show. For those who watch the show, he’s actually going to be moving onto Denali Highway so will be building a new place soon. He thinks he can sell the cabin he just built on the show last year for $15,000!

By the time we wrapped up, the shops were closed and it was time for dinner. We headed to the Monderosa, after seeing roadsigns claiming “the best burger in Alaska.” (Everything in AK has been “the best” or “world famous”.) It was a very small spot, only one table was occupied inside, and the burgers were edible. (Their idea of the best burger means it’s grilled over open flame, but the patty and meringue pies were store bought and arrive frozen.) The highlight was our server and new friend Crystal who filled us in on real life in Alaska. She promised to bring us some chaga to try if we came to see her at breakfast, where she serves at another restaurant. Chaga is a popular tea product made in Alaska from fungus that grows on birch trees. It’s higher in antioxidants than blueberries, and basically cures all that ails ya.

We parked the camper behind the tripod of the famed Nenana Ice Classic for a photo and just decided it was as good a place as any to spend the night. As soon as the Nenana River freezes, they put this giant tripod on the ice. People far and near place bets on when the river will “break up”. They connect the tripod to a time clock. When the river ice melts enough to break up and begin to flow again, the tripod tips and stops the clock. Bets are placed up to the exact minute. Last year the prize was over $300,000!!! (It was started in 1917 and the first prize then was $800.) We were sitting at the table in the camper playing a game when I saw a smoke stack come uncomfortably close to us, and then we felt camper shake. No, it wasn’t an earthquake, which is a very real possibility here. It turns out that the train tracks we parked next to that clearly were overgrown with vegetation were actually used after all! We hopped out and talked to the two railroad men. They said we were parked 4 feet away from the tracks so we were okay where we were. They use the dilapidated track to park repair equipment, which is what they had just brought. We settled back in and went to bed. (Yes, that is the sun shining through the smoke at 10pm.) We should have known not to park by railroad tracks. All night, the trains would go by and blow the whistle. Let’s call it not the most restful night…

The smoke smell intensified overnight and permeated the camper at 4am, effectively ruining chances of sleep. We thought it was bad the day before… I had taken a picture of the river yesterday with the bridge and birds. I went back to the same spot and took the same pic, but what a difference 8 hours made! We knew there was rain in the forecast though.

We had breakfast at the Bitchin Kitchen (located inside the Chevron), so we could see Crystal again. True to her word, she gave me a bag with chunks of dried Chaga to try as a tea, and some Denali quarters. She introduced us to her boss Debbie. Debbie has lived in Nenana her whole life. She does wood burning so I bought a Christmas ornament that she made to remember this cool town. They filled us in on the inside scoop of Nenana, and it’s colorful characters. We went back to some shops, where we met Kat who had just moved here and wouldn’t take any money when she shared her homemade bag of almonds. Miles of Alaska was a true sourdough, Alaskan trapper and Mark really enjoyed hearing his tales of mammoth tusks and boat racing and other such Alaskan lore. Out of all the cities we’ve been to, Nenana is by far the friendliest! We truly enjoyed getting a true flavor of this town of 300.