Chena River and Heading for Home

Today we had a morning boat trip down the Chena River and then we had an afternoon flight back to Seattle. We got on the Discovery III boat along with two to three hundred other people. While this looked like it would be a huge tourist trap it was actually well done.






We headed down the river and saw a sea plane take off, this is pretty common as almost everyone out here has a plane in order to cover the travel distances when going from one place to another.


In fact they can land and take off just about any place, no matter how small.


We stopped along the way to see dog sled training at four time winner of the Iditarod, Susan Butcher’s kennels.






We passed a few reindeer along the way before arriving at the Chena Village.


While this was not a real working village it did have a very authentic feel and was well worth the stop.






It did have authentic tour guides and an old lady who grew up in a village very similar to this one. She made amazing clothes and could gut a fish in minutes using only her teeth and fingers.


And just like that we were back at the dock, catching a shuttle to the airport. Our original flight was delayed so they put us on an earlier one, which stopped in Anchorage so we were actually an hour late. The journey had ended.


VIDEO: Train to Fairbanks and the Chena River