We hitched a ride out to Avis at the airport here and got ourselves a lovely baby blue camry. What a nice car! We went straight to McD's and had a goooood coffee and some breakfast. We then headed out to the town called The North Pole. I noticed on the map that Ellison Air Base is about four miles past the North Pole so I suggested to Bill that we go out there, take a look and we should see some F16's flying around. Its a training base.
So we did just that. As we approached the main gate to the base (we know we can't go in) we noticed a parking lot right there. So we pulled in and we just sat there and sure enough some big jets started to do their maneuvers and flying over our heads..so noisy and so exciting...at least to Bill and me!
After about fifteen minutes a young soldier approached our car and asked what we were doing. So we told him we were a couple of tourists from Canada and we wanted to watch the jets. He said we couldn't, wasn't allowed, so we said okay we will leave right now....nope....we had to stay right there while he called a superior. Before you know it our car was surrounded by a bunch of rifle toting, camo wearing, soldiers. We weren't allowed to move. I hadn't even taken any pictures and neither had Bill. We got a polite but stern lecture while our cameras were checked and then we still weren't allowed to leave. There was a soldier right at my window and when I tried to get out to help Bill with all the id etc they were demanding, he wouldn't let me out! Thats when I started to get pissed off. Come on, we are two fat old Canadians...what the F do they think we are going to do.
You know, this incident combined with the brainless 911 fear we saw ten years AFTER the incident in New York City, my opinion of some, and I stress that only some, of our southern neighbours is going south quick. So freaking melodramatic and unnecessary. We were there for half an hour while they took down all our passport info, driver's license numbers, addresses, phone numbers, place of birth blah blah blah. Actually to tell you the truth it was hard not to burst out in sarcastic disrespectful laughter. Our mentality here in Canada is so so different than that of the Americans. We run into this in Maui as well. Its just a different way of living. Canadians are never ever a target so I guess its easy to be pretty complacent about everything. But even with that understanding, there have been just one too many incidences involving fear mongering for my liking. I can't even imagine growing up with that kind of axe hanging over my head.
We were finally allowed to leave. And I think I had best not say anymore. The good people here, and in Maui, and for sure on the cruise ships are wonderfully friendly and our favourite people to travel with. But....I don't know. And now we are being earnestly questioned by our fellow American travellers about universal health care and how we like it and does it work Etc...Probably in light of ObamaCare program. So interesting.
We then stopped at The North Pole....a teeny town with a huge huge Christmas store. We spent a little time there, bought a few things and took a few pics. We didn't stay long. We then hit the local Walmart. Found all the stuff we needed, thermos, cooler, food, etc... And then we found our hotel, checked in and took off to the bush for a picnic...and I would say the mosquitos got more to eat than we did. They are like little helicopters. Now we are in a ratty hotel, and tomorrow we are off to Healy, Into The Wild!!! TTYL
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