Alaska Trip 2011: June 6-10 - Fairbanks

This is page 22 of our Alaska 2011 trip journal. Click here for the first page. If you want to bookmark this journal, http://jeanne-travels.blogspot.com always links to the newest page.

We spent several days in Fairbanks. We did many of the tourist attractions, and worked in a bit of rest and relaxation as well. We camped at North Pole, which is just outside of town.

Fairbanks is essentially another tourist town, but not to the extent of some other towns. We did not see the crowds and the row after row of jewelry stores that you see in places like Skagway. Fairbanks is also the farthest north town of any size in Alaska, though it is still about 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle. It was also a good place to re-stock our supplies, as it was the first place we have seen with major stores in over a month.

It's amusing to see what they call an expressway here. Basically it's a major throughfare that might or might not have four lanes instead of two. They did have one road that actually had an on ramp.

Santa Claus House

The biggest (only?) attraction in North Pole is the Santa Clause House. It's basically a tourist stop, but nicely done. They had very yummy fudge also.

Of course, Santa Claus has reindeer. Reindeer and Caribou are very similar, with the main difference being that the reindeer is a domesticated species. These reindeer are snoozing in the shade.

Besides reindeer, apparently Santa also has a moose...

I loved the murals on the outside of the building, done in ceramic tile.

Large Animal Research Center

LARS is a research center affiliated with the University of Alaska, primarily focused on Musk Ox and Caribou. They give regular tours to see some of the animals they study here. These animals are pretty much acclimated to humans, so it was a bit like visiting a zoo.

The first picture is one of the musk ox bulls. Most of the time, they keep them separate from the cows and calves.

Looking at these pictures of musk ox cows and babies, one question comes to mind... How could such an ugly mama have such cute babies?

This weird display was to illustrate the difference in size between the bulls and the cows. The bulls are about twice the size.

There weren't too many caribou within sight of the tour, but we did see a few. Although tame, these are actually caribou, not reindeer. The biggest difference between the species is that the reindeer are domesticated, but there are other minor differences as well.

The coming of warm weather has the animals losing their winter coats. This makes them look pretty scruffy.

There was a mama and baby caribou hiding in the corner, a little difficult to see.

Riverboat Discovery

We took a cruise trip on the Riverboat Discovery down the Chena River. This narrated tour was well-orchestrated, and illustrated some selected aspects of the Alaskan lifestyle and history.

Shortly after launch, we were greeted by a bush plane who just happened to be landing on the river nearby. Then he took off again, saying he needed to be some place in the mountains later in the afternoon.

Of course the touch-and-go was orchestrated for the tour, but it was to illustrate that a lot of Alaskans have their own planes and fly. The distances involved and the lack of roads in many places make it almost a necessity for some people. Here is a house where they basically park their plane in the driveway.

Our next stop was at a sled dog kennel. Sled dogs are still a necessity for travel in some places in the winter time, but dog mushing is also a major sporting event, with many dogs being raised just for the sport. The people at the kennel showed some of the ways they train the dogs and keep them in shape.

You always hear people say how the dogs love to run, and love to pull. While I never doubted that they enjoy it, I did not realize HOW MUCH they love it. You should have seen these dogs as they were getting hitched up to an old tractor they use for summertime practice. They were SO excited and eager to go. When it was time, they took off at a full run.

There was a variety of houses along the river, with a variety of "stuff" around them. One homeowner had some old riverboats, including this one.

The tour went to the confluence of the Chena and Tanana Rivers before turning around and going back. The first picture shows the clearer waters of the Chena flowing into the milky Tanana. The second picture doesn't show the confluence as well, but I still thought it was pretty.

Eldorado Gold Mine

This tour started out by taking you through an old gold mine, explained how the mining was done, and demonstrated panning for gold.

After the demonstration, they handed everyone a little bag of dirt, and let you try your luck at panning the gold out of it. You get to keep whatever you find, and everyone is guaranteed to find something, or they give you another bag to work. They told us our "take" was worth about $50 between the two of us, but then we spent more than that on a locket to put it in. So they get you one way or another. I figure they are probably seeding the bags so everyone gets something, but still, it was fun.

The Alaska Pipeline

On the way back from the gold mine, we stopped at a pullout that ran right up next to the pipeline. The small information center here was closed at the time, but you could still read the storyboards and get an up-close and personal look at the actual pipeline.

Pigs are used inside the pipes to clean gunk off the inner walls, or to run telemetry to check the condition of the pipes. The displays here included two examples.

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