On our way to Chitina we passed through the town of North Pole.  They have a great area called Santaland.  They have a gift shop with everything Alaskan and everything Christmas.  Reindeer are on the grounds and Mr. and Mrs. Claus are there, too.

1.)  Richard in Santa’s chair hoping someone will sit on his lap

2.)  Carole sitting on Tom’s lap in Santa’s chair 

3.)  Mr. and Mrs. Claus late for work, trying to sneak in back door.

Along the way we passed a place where we were able to get a nice look at a section of the 800-mile Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS).  The pipeline started up in 1977 and runs from Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska to Valdez, the northern most ice-free port in North America. 

This brings to mind fuel prices.  Actually riding around in a bus that holds 290 (approximately) gallons of diesel, it stays on my mind most of the time.  We paid as much as $5.39 per gallon in Canada.  Horrendous!!!

Until later, Dolores and Richard