McCarthyYou get to McCarthy by driving down a 60-mile dirt road. At the end of the road, you park your vehicle in the lot, walk across a foot bridge and then walk another 3/4 mile to get to the town. Back in the copper mining days, it was the "weekend" town for the Kennicott mine workers to come down five miles and spend their hard-earned money on booze and "fun".
NenanaAlthough Nenana is home to only about a few hundred people, Alaskans from Ketchikan to Barrow are familiar with it because of the Nenana Ice Classic. Each winter, a wooden tripod is placed on the frozen Nenana River, which runs right past town, and entrants pay $2 to record their best guess as to when the ice will break up each spring. Alaska has no lottery, so the Nenana Ice Classic is as close as it gets, and the pot usually exceeds $300,000 or so. We liked a cafe there - the Two Choice Cafe. The two choices were take it or leave it!
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KennicottYou can get to Kennicott from McCarthy by walking five miles uphill to reach the town, or hiring a shuttle service to carry you there by vehicle. We chose the latter. The entire town was self-contained and the rules were strict there. All of the employees of the mine lived there with a hospital, schools and other amenities.The mine itself was 14-stories high. They had their own power plant and all the sidewalks were heated, which made it easy for the workers to show up for work during the long snowy winters. Jim took a tour of the 14-stories. I did not.
NinilchikLocated along the Kenai Peninsula, we camped on the beach in Ninilchik, The most interesting part of this town is the tides and access for the fishermen. You cannot get out of the harbor at low tide so you have to wait until the water rises before you can get your boat out and go to work. A few other campers were digging for clams during low tide and they were very plentiful. Charter services are available for world class salmon and halibut fishing.
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