North to Alaska: Fun in Fairbanks

We are finally in Anchorage, Alaska after 38 days and it seems like we just left last week. We are staying at Elmendorf Air Force Base for the next few days. We have not had internet for about five days so we will try and catch up on our blog over the next couple days. So on with the Blog, our first three days in Fairbanks we stayed at the Chena River Recreation Area which was close to downtown and other places such as a Safeway grocery store and a Fred Myers (a large store like Walmart) both within easy walking distance along with several fast food restaurants. The Chena River Park was a nice campground with limited amenities. The first night we were in a site with no hook-ups ($18/night) and the next two nights we had a site with water and electricity ($28/night). The CG had restrooms and a dump station; but, no showers. The next five nights we stayed in our friend Danny’s yard and then off to Manley Hot Springs for three days of fishing, hiking, four wheeling and sightseeing (the trip to Manley Hot Springs will be another post). Back from Manley, we spent another three nights in Fairbanks camping in the Walmart parking lot with other campers. Our last night in Fairbanks there was 43 RVs in the parking lot. While in Fairbanks we went to the museum at the University of Alaska which was very interesting with a lot of Alaskan history, facts about Alaskan wildlife, the long summer days and long winter nights and the people who first came to Alaska. Next it was off to the Fairbanks Farmer’s Market for lunch where we had hotdogs. Mine was made from reindeer and Linda’s was made from elk. If you like crafts, art and food you would enjoy the Farmer’s Market. We spent the evening at Pioneer Park which is a unique place with all kinds of shops selling nice crafts and Alaska souvenirs. However, the two biggest attractions at Pioneer Park are the fantastic salmon bake and the live show about the history of Fairbanks. The menu at the salmon bake was: grilled salmon, prime rib, crab legs and fried cod fish plus many kinds of salads and vegetables. Did I mention it was all you can eat plus dessert? Delicious chocolate caked covered with berries… The play was excellent with the cast acting out the early pioneers who came to Fairbanks in search of gold using song and dance to tell the story. Also we had a great time going downtown taking in all the activities as Fairbanks celebrated the summer solstice. Every year on summer solstice Fairbanks has a Triple A baseball game beginning at 10:30 PM with no artificial lighting. The game was called at 2:30 AM because of rain and darkness with the score tied 1 to 1. During our stay in Fairbanks we also rode the Discovery III Riverboat, visited the El Dorado Goldmine and the Kinross Goldmine. All of these are covered in their own posts. Of course to make our visit complete we had to visit Santa at the North Pole. The whole community has Christmas decorations year round and Santa’s reindeer live in the backyard. Our last night in Fairbanks we celebrated with our friend, Danny by having a marvelous dinner at Pike’s Landing on the Chena River.

We are in front of the museum at the University of Alaska - Fairbanks with our friend Larry. Larry's wife, Jeanie, had camera duty. We met Larry and Jeanie between Whitehorse and Dawson City and we have traveled together all the way to Fairbanks.

Totem pole at the museum

Carved ivory at the museum

A couple pictures of the Farmer's Market

Several pictures of downtown Fairbanks celebrating the Midnight Sun Festival

Larry and Jeannie enjoying the salmon bake at Pioneer Park

The Alaska House Art Gallery in downtown Fairbanks

A sample of Native Alaskan artwork

One thing we have noticed is the Patriotism in Alaska. Almost everywhere we have been in Alaska we have seen memorials to our soldiers and our country.