Thursday July 17, 2014 North Pole, Alaska (near Fairbanks)

The riverboat Discovery III

The bus to take us to the days activities arrived at 8 AM.  I had set an alarm and we got up at 6. I made a cup of coffee each.  After dressing we caught up on what e-mail and Facebook posts that had come in that early.

The bus took us to the riverboat landing on the Chena River.  Of course there was the obligatory wait and opportunity to visit the gift shop.  On the riverboat they served coffee and blueberry donuts.

The riverboat, Discovery III does this picture make my boat look big?

The boat tour was narrated and was equipped with a video system that showed what the narrator was pointing out.  The first thing of interest was a float plane demonstration.  The pilot was able to talk to the narrator and that conversation came over the boat's PA system. The pilot showed landings and takeoffs and several aerial maneuvers.

Float plane demo

The narrator pointed out interesting structures and home along the river.  We stopped at the home of Susan Butcher, four time winner of the Iditarod Dog Sled Race.  Susan died of leukemia in 2006.  Her husband, David Monson, still runs a kennel, breeding and training dogs for dog sled races.  We were treated to a demonstration and explanation of how the training is done.  A team was then hooked to an ATV without an engine and we got to see them in action.  The course they ran was partly visible from the boat and other parts were on the video system.  Down the back stretch these six dogs pulled the ATV and the musher at 20+ MPH.

Sled dog training, teaching the puppies confidence
and overcoming obstacles

The tour included other demonstrations and conversations with people on shore.  We cruised to where the Chena River meets the Tenana River. Water was high on both rivers and the Tenana was moving swiftly and a lot of sand bars were visible. We didn't go there.  The narrator talked about navigation on the rivers and how important steamboats were to the developing of Alaska's interior.

On the way back up river we stopped for an hour or so at a village set up to represent early Eskimo and Athabaskan life.  One of the demonstrations was about the making of parkas in the old style.  Most of the crew of the boat were young people of either Eskimo or Athabaskan descendants and from remote villages.  All of them were college students or recent High School graduates planning to go to college.

On the way back up river we were also treated to a salmon dip made from wild smoked salmon canned locally.

This time it was a Bluebird bus

Back at the dock we had more gift shop time.  I don't think that when I say gift shop you get the full picture of how large a store this was.  Besides the building housing a hotel and restaurant the shop continued into a gigantic sprung like structure.  It must have covered two acres.  You have probably seen and been in these types of buildings.  They are tensioned membrane buildings, popular for conventions and there are really common here in Alaska.  We bought us jackets that were a good price.  Water proof with a polar fleece lining.  We han't notice but we got more than we bargained for.  The sleeves zipped off and the jackets are reversible.  This was pointed out to us later by Rebecca, who had considered buying them too.

Fire weed

Back on the bus we headed to Pike's Landing for lunch.  We were transported around to our activities by a bus owned by the RV Park.  The driver happened to be a retired Alaska State Trooper.  The bus was a bluebird brand, like the tour busses in Denali this brand is more often associated with school busses than with tour busses.

After lunch we went downtown to visit the Ice Museum.  The ice museum is an old theater converted to show a movie about ice carving and to display some of the intricate carvings. Fairbanks is the site of an international ice carving competition.

Modeling a native parka

While we waited for the Ice Museum tour to begin, Team Colt 45, Zoom 24 and I walked a block away to a visitor's center and bagged a geocache.

The owner of the museum introduced the film. After the film we were invited to get a close up look at ice carvings on display and to sled down a ramp carved from ice blocks.  I should add that the display area was kept at a balmy -20 degrees.

Which is the moose?

Back at the RV Park two of the couples that had engine problems had rejoined the group.  Now we are only missing one couple who are here in Fairbanks waiting for repairs.  Many of the group had impromptu  gab session at the RV Park.  A circle of friends but without a campfire.  One of the things we have enjoyed is meeting and talking with members of the caravan.  Even though the schedule seems tight at times the camaraderie makes up for it.

Discovery II, retired

This blog is an prime example of a problem I frequently have.  Deciding which pictures to include.  What you are seeing here are only a fraction of what we have taken.  I have had to delete a lot of older pictures from the SD cards to make room for more.  I don't have this problem on many trips I write about, ie, a month in Mexico may only mean visits to 3 or 4 places.  On this trip we sometimes move every day.  And, there is always more and different things to see.  I want to convey the essence of what we are seeing and doing, so there are a lot more pictures with this blog than there is writing.

My guess is not this time of year

There was an  interesting thing about our tours and demonstrations here in Fairbanks.  All the presentations seem to have an explanation of why someone would choose to live here.  Fairbanks has a population of 85,000.  It has the widest variation of temperatures known to any city.  It some times reaches 90 in the summer and 60-70 below in the winter.  There is a phrase that I always scoff at when someone talks about the heat in Las Vegas; "but it's a dry heat."  I say when it 110 it's 110 an that is HOT and no bones about it, dry or humid.  They have the opposite here, But it's a dry cold. They claim that in the winter here the snow is too dry to make snowballs and snowmen.  They also claim wind doesn't blow much in Fairbanks so wind chill isn't a factor.  My opinion is that 60 below is still 60 below and that is COLD, and no bones about it..

Another interesting sign

Starting with a block of ice

Andy and his finished carving

After a full day and taking care of some business on the computers we were in bed by 10:30. Tomorrow is a "Free" day.  Time for shopping and housekeeping.