Many homes in AK have a cache to store food out of reach from bears & moose!
Enjoying the Chena Hot Springs
The Ice Hotel & Chapel at Chena Hot Springs
Experiencing a Fairbanks Winter at the Pioneer Museum
Hammering a Nail into a Board in the "Cold Room" at the Pioneer Museum
After camping for 1 night in the family campground at Eielson AFB we motored down the road about 125 miles to
Fairbanks. What fun to see a couple of moose feeding along the roadway as we drove along! Along the way we stopped in
North Pole, AK to visit with Santa. Unfortunately Santa hadn’t awakened or had his breakfast yet so we were
unable to tell him in person how absolutely wonderful, very special, & very very good our 5 grandchildren are. We did leave messages for him in that regard however! We were also able to pick up a few tidbits from Santa’s workshop. North Pole, AK is a cute little post office stop & they have marketed it well. Everyone has to make a stop at the North Pole! A short distance down the road we drove into
Fairbanks & headed directly to the visitors’ center, as is our norm. We were able to collect some great information from a rep who was so knowledgeable about her city & her area. After lunch of fish & chips in an old miner’s pub in the city we drove across town to the campground we had heard very good things about. So far we have not made any reservations ahead of time & have been very fortunate. (
Denali is another story & we do have advance reservations there!) Yes, River’s Edge Resort & Campground had a place for little BF we moved right in. It’s a lovely facility with very nice clean accommodations & a fabulous restaurant neighboring the site. We’ve had 2 very good meals at Chena River Restaurant, but since it comes at a high cost we’ve eaten “on board” most of this week. The
Chena River flows thru & around
Fairbanks, hence the name of the restaurant & many other establishments in the area. It was fun to find ourselves camped right behind some Harley “buddies” we’ve been seeing at several campgrounds along the trip. After securing our campsite we drove back into town & visited the Museum of the North located on the
Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks campus. The museum has a wonderful exhibit on the culture & life in each of the 5 or 6 different districts of
Alaska. It is a fabulous museum & since we didn’t have enough time to see it in its entirely we vowed to return at a later date which we did on Friday afternoon.
What a lovely city
Fairbanks is! Population is about 37,000 so it is not too large & definitely not as small as we had been seeing crossing the
Yukon in
Canada. (I have since learned that there is a
Yukon in AK as well.)
Both Bennie & I were able to find reputable groomers the 3
rd day we were in town. Steve sat outside in the parking lot of the shopping center in the BF while my hairdo took 2 hours & Bennie was in for 4 hours!
One can only imagine what Steve did to fritter the time???
Fairbanks has the most extreme temps of any AK city. In the summer it can reach 90 deg & in the winter minus 60 deg. The winter
norm is -40 to -50 deg. Every car & truck has a little plug hanging from its’ hood in order to plug into electric outlets at their homes & businesses during the nights & days in order to keep the engines warm & the fluids from freezing. During our stay in
Fairbanks we visited the nearby Ft. Wainwright Army Post for some supplies & a haircut for Steve, visited the Pioneer Park, where we had the experience of going into a room that had temps at -40 & -50 degrees in order to experience the winter temperatures of Fairbanks, & we took a coach tour to the Arctic Circle which is another story for the next blog entry! We also did a little hiking around the University that took us along some winter cross country snow trails. On Saturday we visited the Chena Hot Springs Resort. Readers may be noting the general theme in our travels is to visit
hot springs! We do love them & they are each unique in several ways. This
hot springs was VERY HOT! About 111-115 degrees & the pool was surrounded by huge rocks.
It was an enjoyable & a fun afternoon for us. At this resort they also have the Aurora Ice Hotel where everything inside is made of ice carvings & the temperature is a constant 20 deg. It has an ice bar with ice stools covered with animal hide so you can sit on them, ice chandeliers, & many other ice features. Unfortunately the tour hours were different from when we were there so we were not able to go inside & see if it is really as incredible as it sounds. It is apparently a popular place to hold weddings & receptions! So, we had a most pleasurable stay in
Fairbanks & we found it to be a very unique & friendly city. I thought it would be fun to return there in the wintertime to experience that severe cold & also to see the aurora borealis. Time to move on toward Denali, the main attraction in all of Alaska!
