Fairbanks Area

Driving to and being in the Fairbanks area for a week gave us a good lesson about old Alaska and the native culture.  Even the landscape changed to reflect better the picture we had formed in our minds over the years as to how Alaska would look. 

Nenana was our first stop after leaving Denali and gave us our first look at the interior of Alaska including the confluence of the Tenana and Nenana Rivers which fortified the small towns role in Alaska.  To this day, Nenana is still a major river port with barges loading and unloading food and supplies for the interior villages.

We then traveled on to the Fairbanks area and took up residence for another week in Santaland RV Park at North Pole.  From there we took several day trips in our exploration of the area.  The Museum of the North at the University of Alaska Fairbanks was one of the highlights showing why it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state.  From the architecture of the building to the magnificent displays inside it was truly a class act.  Collections within the museum include archaeology, documentary films, history of the native culture, gold mining and many fine animal displays.  Also featured is the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline, artifacts representing the Russia-American influence in Alaska and even 36,000 year old mummified Alaska steppe bison which is an especially treasured highlight.  We were fortunate to be in Fairbanks during their annual Golden Days Celebration which gave us more opportunity to interact with the locals at Pioneer Park, a local attraction, featuring another fine museum of Alaskan artifacts, original buildings from Pioneer Fairbanks as well as old-fashioned celebration fun including free food and entertainment.  Another enjoyable and educational experience was our tour on the Riverboat Discovery as it cruised on the Chena River.  Our trip included a demonstration by a bush pilot, viewing of Susan Butcher's Iditarod champion sled dog kennel, and a guided tour of a Chena Indian Village.  That was especially informative as native guides explained various facets of Athabascan culture including fishing, hunting, food preservation and the making of clothing from animal hides to protect themselves from the severe winter weather.  We also saw modern culture as we viewed many upscale houses on the riverfront.

One of our goals, as we planned our Alaska trip, was to reach the Arctic Circle.  We accomplished that Friday, the 23rd, by driving the Haul Road, officially named the Dalton Highway.  That proved to be a very long day trip, and thankfully, a much easier drive than had been anticipated.  Although the 115 miles of the Dalton Highway is unpaved, the gravel road surface was generally good.  We even found the truckers, who we had heard, were infamous for throwing rocks all over oncoming traffic, were very courteous and slowed down when we met them.    There were many interesting stops and sights along the way including the small village of Joy which consisted of a general store and genuine "outhouses".    A prominent feature along the Dalton Highway is the Trans-Alaska Pipeline as it runs parallel most of the way.  We stopped at a visitors center, along the Yukon River where the pipeline crosses the river on a dual-purpose bridge constructed to carry both vehicle traffic and the pipeline.  A "must-stop" is at a place called The Hot Spot, a popular cafe featuring one pound burgers.  We were advised ahead of time to ignore the outward appearance of the place and stop there anyway.  We did and were not disappointed.  We also found their restroom facilities to be another outhouse complete with a warning sign to beware of bears.  When questioned, the owner of The Hot Spot told us the sign was not a joke.  In fact, they had seen a couple of bears on the property that morning and, there was even one spotted while we were eating.  As we proceeded on North the terrain took a noticeable change to mostly tundra with very few trees or other vegetation.  We finally reached the Arctic Circle at mid-afternoon and promptly crossed that off of our "bucket list".   The trip back was quite uneventful except for the fact that Jim's truck became a different color from all of the mud caused by a road maintenance crew applying water to the road.  We're not sure why but it was the first time we had ever seen a water truck spraying a road from two inch nozzles.  Needless to say, Saturday found all of us on the truck clean-up crew.   The other notable feature of Saturday was the celebration of John and Glynda's 40th wedding anniversary.

Aside from routine activities, that pretty well concludes our Fairbanks experience as we will now move on toward Tok and points Southward.