Tok, AK - A Few Down Days

Leslie, Saturday and Sunday, June 12 and 13, 2010
Tundra Lodge and RV Park

After several days of driving Saturday was supposed to be a “down day” in Tok.  A down day is a day when no alarm clock is set; I’m supposed to get to sleep in. :-) Traveling almost nonstop can be exhausting so we try to schedule down days every 5-7 days Alaska.  Because for most people Tok is the first town in Alaska, the Visitor’s Center here has information for all areas of the state. The Tok Visitor’s Center also considers itself the unofficial welcome to Alaska.



Nah, we weren’t here at 40 below zero but the photo was fun. 

We spent an hour picking up brochures and speaking with the Visitor’s Center staff and then walked to the National Lands Center, a facility run cooperatively by all the federal agencies that administer lands in Alaska.  The idea behind the National Lands Center is that so many different agencies control federal lands in Alaska it is difficult for people to contact the appropriate agency.  The National Lands Center is intended to make it possible for visitors to find all resources in one spot.  The National Lands Center also has exhibits of animals and fauna native to Alaska.

Walking back from National Lands Center to the Tok Visitor’s Center we spent some time speaking with a Visitor’s Center employee who is a long-time resident of Tok.  This woman was quite a character. Formerly she had run one of the bars in Tok and she told many stories of entertainment in the winter in Tok.  Quite funny!

As we wrote yesterday our campground has excellent WIFI in the club house so we spent some time catching up on the outside world.  We’re glad to see you are all still holding it together.

Sunday we planned to go to Chicken, Alaska.  It rained hard all night.  I just heard that over 1 1/2 inches of rain fell so we cancelled our plans for Chicken.  It didn’t seem to make much sense to drive 77 miles each way along a poor road in the pouring rain.  We’ll have another chance to visit Chicken at the end of the summer when we pass through Tok again.

Since we stayed home, we got a second “down” day to catch up on reading.  Tomorrow we’ll leave here for Glen Allen.