The next day Fiona and I signed up for a ‘flightseeing‘ tour to a little town on the Yukon river called Beaver. There are no roads to this town, the only access is via plane in the winter or boat in the summer.

Dee, our pilot, can be seen peeking her head over the wing of her Cessna 208. Dee told us she is one of two female pilots in Alaska. She took us, along with three other people on a four hour flight tour of the area.

Sunrise over the White Mountain Range. Our trip took us past the Arctic Circle, a first for both of us!

Another sunrise shot from the plane.

The tiny town of Beaver, Alaska. The only building with running water is the laundromat. Everyone in the village showers there, as it has the only hot water. All supplies have to be flown in, as there are no roads. Gasoline for their snowmobiles costs $5 a gallon.

Cliff, our Indian tour guide, displays a moose antler he found while out trapping small game in the nearby woods. Moose evidently rub their antlers against trees in the winter, causing them to fall off. You learn something new every day.

I am the Ninja of Beaver. Fear me!

A few of the homes in Beaver. Cliff said that by April they might have running water in the houses. Yes, we are talking April 2007! He designed and was implementing a scheme to somehow get water to flow without freezing in the -70 degree weather. Cliff owns the gas station as well. Not sure if he is mayor of Beaver or not. Either way he’s an enterprising guy.

During the walking tour, my feet started going numb. Beaver was the first and only time in Alaska that I got VERY cold. It was only -5 at the time, which Cliff said felt like 100 degrees to him. It’s funny to me to even write the words ‘only’ and ‘-5’ together. Cliff said at this time of year it is normally -40, and can get down as low as -70. There is no way -40 could EVER be tolerable!

Cliff invited us into his house to warm up, where we sampled smoked salmon caught from his front yard – the Yukon river – and then some moose. I LOVED the moose, in fact I ate the whole plate of it! More moose, please!

All too soon it was time to go. Thankfully this was not our plane, since there is no deicing equipment in Beaver.

Another of the many excellent views of Alaska.

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