A Peek With The Greek: Charismatic Megafauna

-13 this pre-sunrise Fairbanks morning and the song Charismatic Megafauna by the Ratfish Wranglers (a strummy Alaskan punk folk band - think Bare Naked Ladies crossed with the Vampire Beach Babes) is blaring within my cranium. 10 days ago I came to Fairbanks following in the steps of Jack London and the adventure of the Yukon Territory, today I leave 10 days later. I have new friends Jess, Murray, Johnny, Susan, Larry. Jameson and a closer friendship with my pal Marty. The 7 of us tacked the Northern Lights for 6 days and ate great.

One of the highlights was on the road to the Chena Hot Springs Resort. We had found a trappers cache, a sort of free standing tree house on stilts. It had a wooden ladder, moose antlers and a moose jaw at it's enterance. We wanted to use it as prop for the foreground of our photography. The cache was located in frontof the Angel Creek Lodge/Saloon. A log cabin that was a big rectangle, on the left was the bar, the right was the liqour store part. It had 9 bottles of booze. The customary pool table was on the right hand side while a tubular wood burning stove with a convection fan on top, was in the mid-left foreground. Seka the tan white lab roamed the premises with a laconic ambling that reflected true ownership in the building. We stopped for a drink and to plot our next few hours. Some of us bellied up to the bar and got a Makers Mark bourbon or wine. We were the only people there and as we talked, laughed and grew into our seats we started to feel really comfortable. The bar was laden with tchochki momentos - antlers here, a cheesehead there, my favorite bumper sticker on the trip so far: "Eat Moose, 12,000 wolves can't be wrong!" all made it this lodge charmingly tacky.

Our waitress Maria made the room warmer. She was of a certain age or slightly older. She wore jeans and a gray Harley Davidson T-Shirt. A petite figure,dirty blond pulled back she made sure everyone was happy. Steve, owner and bartender, not the same. A 6 foot curmudgeon Steve, with a truckers hat, begrudgingly got us our drinks.Our team gelled and felt very comfortable together, much more comfortable than our suburban. We left Angel Creek feeling we should go back. We went to Chena Hot Springs and waited for a teammate to bath in the rejuvenating waters of Chena. We went to check out dinner at Chena and almost immediately called Angel Creek, "will you stay open for dinner for 7?" Curmudgeon Steve answered, "Are guys the old group or the young group." I guess he didn't like the younger group. We went back for burgers and had a blast. We would soldier on into the hours of the night where morning starts, taking pictures, but I think Angel Creek is one of my highlights.