Friday, July 17, 2009We finally found Bullwinkle; yes, we saw a moose, actually two moose with antlers! The antlers were not that big, but they were antlers and we were excited to find the elusive Bull Moose. One of the moose we saw was right along Eielson Air Force Base. I pulled over to take a picture with my phone (we did not have the camera) and while I was sitting there, another car pulled up behind me. I remember I had just passed a sign that said “No Stopping, No Parking, and No Pictures” and figured I was going to get a ticket by the Air Police. First Nina at the Canadian border and now me in Fairbanks; we just need to stop playing tourist and taking so many pictures. Luckily, it was just another tourist looking at the moose, but still I high-tailed it out of there. In addition to the moose, we saw a black wolf. Now talk about big; the wolf was very huge and he looked wicked. I would hate to have a pack of those coming at me. Nina and I felt that the wolf was probably more intimidating than the grizzly bear. Today was the clearest day since we have been in Alaska. The forest fires are only thirty miles away but the wind changed to reveal an entire snow covered mountain range we had not seen before. We went to the Moose Lodge for a steak dinner tonight. I will probably join the Moose Lodge since they have supported the school in the past and I would like to see them continue their support. Tomorrow I am going fishing for trout and arctic grayling. I will have to fish a lot in order to recoup the price of my fishing license. Even though I have an Alaska driver’s license, registered to vote, and registered my car in Alaska I still have to buy a non-resident license since I have not lived in Alaska for twelve consecutive months. It is the same for a hunting license.