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The Roadrunner heads up to Fairbanks...Beep Beep.
Entry 13 of 19 | show all | print this entry |
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Matt: My alarm clock went off at the ungodly hour of 8 am as today we planned to hire a car and drive 400 miles from Anchorage to Fairbanks. After much research Debbie negotiated the best car hire deal by using her "feminine charm" on the red blooded male (complete with the mandatory Alaskan tattoos/ tagging system) manning the rental desk (good work Debs). (Yay me!)
We set off on our journey, once again without any maps but since there are only 3 highways in Alaska even the Poppy/Debbie combination would struggle to get lost. (Debs: how rude!) The road was flanked by snow capped mountains until we reached the Eastern boundary of the Denali National Park. Debbie and I were too busy watching out for bears, moose, wolves etc to keep a beady eye on either Poppy or the speedometer... Unfortunately the State Trooper coming the other way was a little more observant. In a flash we had passed him. We looked back and sure enough his lights had started flashing and he was turning round to pursue us. He approached the driver's window and asked Poppy if she knew what speed she had been doing. Poppy did what she does best and played dumb. She informed the law enforcement officer that she had only just taken over at the wheel and had not realised just how fast she had been going. The speed limit was 65mph, Poppy was clocked at 88mph and we still don't know if that was before she applied the brakes. (Debs: I highly suspect it wasn't!) The next slight hitch was that Poppy did not appear to be on the rental and insurance document (don't worry it was the rental company's mistake) - speeding is one thing but uninsured driving deserves a spanking. Fortunately after a brief delay the officer decided that it was going to be far to much hard work to fine the simple English girl so he let us go - girls get it so easy! (Poppy: In my own defense, I had literally just taken over the driving about 2 minutes previously and was busy getting to grips with driving a new car. In fact I had just looked at the speedo, realised that I was going too fast and started to brake as I saw the white car coming the other way flash past and realised, belatedly, that it was a police car! I would also like to point out that Matt had been driving with the cruise control set to 80mph and Debs had been carefully keeping her speed to a mere 75mph so i was clearly unlucky to be the one driving at that particular time!)
The remaining stretch of the journey passed without incident (no bears or moose) but it was very entertaining to watch Poppy's frustration and need for speed grow whilst she stuck rigidly to 65mph. (Poppy: Thank god we have cruise control, otherwise I think the task would have proved impossible!)
Once we arrived in Alaska we headed for Frontside B&B, a small B&B / hostel with plenty of "character". The hostel was run by a chap called Steve, a 50ish year old bachelor complete with white wife beater, cut off shorts and hiking boots. He was a friendly guy but on first impressions was a little odd with an impressive squint. He was also completely shocked that people may actually want to stay in his B&B. (Poppy: In our usual fashion we had selected it from a tourist guide and turned up unannounced. We knocked on the door and having got no answer noticed a sign that said please ring bell. After looking in vain for a door bell we noticed a rope hanging from the balcony above the sign and pulled that at which point a large ship-style bell rang. Our host appeared on the balcony, looked down at us in a slightly accusing/confused manner and asked what we wanted. It was now our turn to look slightly confused as it seemed obvious what 3 people with a car full of stuff would be doing outside a B&B, but maybe not in fairbanks! Anyway, we soon cleared up any confusion and secured ourselves a room for a very cheap rate in return for offering to make the beds as they weren't quite ready!) The building was a sight to behold and is best summed up as an American version of the Weasley's house in Harry Potter complete with a plastic polar bear riding a sledge on the roof. We stayed in the basement flat (yes, we were still a little concerned) which smelt and looked quite like a canal barge.
The room was littered with oriental ornaments/junk but was adequately equipped. The highlight of the flat had to be the bathroom with a wooden door that didn't shut fully, behind which was a sliding prison door,
and the most impressive loo that any of us had ever seen. It had a heated seat and a separate knob labelled "Water Pressure". Whilst sitting contemplating the origins of the Universe I turned the knob out of curiosity. Initially nothing happened apart from a very quiet motor noise then suddenly, without any warning, a jet of water shot me in the arse. I leapt like a salmon in a bid to escape the aquatic insult but this bidet device had quite some power as the jet of water hit the ceiling and the far wall.
Debs: You have no idea how disturbing it is to be quietly enjoying a drink with a friend and to suddenly hear a guy (who you assumed was simply going to the loo) start giggling frantically and calling our names, inviting us to come and watch what he's doing? Concerned doesn't even come close to how we felt, but all was ok, he just wanted to shoot the ceiling with his bidet! Incidentally, although in appearance, Steve may have seemed a little less than desirable he was in fact a dude! He sorted us out with lots of advice, let us borrow his cell phone and didn't seem to mind too much when we returned at 11pm one night having told him we'd left, so thank you Steve!
Poppy: Also the room and house were probably one of the coolest places I have ever stayed. The collection of stuff ranged from a musket (apparently with working mechanisms according to Matt) hung on the wall with a plastic rose in the end and a small cushion saying 'Hug me' hanging from it to a full colour, relief frieze of chinese flowers and dragons stretching several feet along the wall, definitely an awesome place to stay!
Matt: We hoped to catch the end of the Northern Lights (normally visible from September - end of April) whilst in Fairbanks but this was obviously not going to happen as the sun didn't set until 10.30pm and it remained light for several hours.
After a few too many beers and hands of Shithead (which I lost again) we decided to retire for the night.
Where I stayed:
Front Street B&B
Latest Comments (1)
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Awesome B&B! (reply)
May 21, 2008 22:44 EST by id-poke-er
That place looks like Aladdins cave! Awesome find!
They had those heated seat, jet bidet toilets in Japan... a most strange sensation having your bum heated whilst being rinsed with a jet as powerful as a fully charged super soaker!
Glad you guys are still having fun!
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