When I chose to take time this summer to visit Alaska, in my planning for the trip, I decided not to have a detailed plan for each day of the trip, as I did for my 1997 'See the USA' trip. So, last night, I collected some visitor and tourist information from my motel lobby, and this morning, I stopped into the local visitor's center to
I was a bit disappointed by the information I collected because it didn't seem to list very many attractions for visitors, and in particular for this visitor.....me. But, I made the most of the day.
On arrival at Fairbanks yesterday, I logged more miles such that my total to date was 4100 miles. Certainly time for an oil change. I was able to located the local Ford dealer and I was on his doorstep at 7AM, following my 6:00AM breakfast. I got my oil and filter changed, and because of the very dirty, dusty roads I've been on in Canada, the Yukon and Alaska, I also had the Ford dealer replace my air filter. I'm all set for my return trip to after visiting Anchorage next week.
The Fairbanks visitor's center opened at 8:00AM, and that fit right in with my having the car serviced at 7:00AM. I talked with the center's volunteer and received a lot of good information. I decided to spend the morning touring 'downtown' Fairbanks, not knowing any better, but I thought I should see what the town had to say for itself.
Well, given the major fire in Fairbanks in 1906, and the major floods in recent years, the downtown area, along the Chena River, doesn't have much to say. To net it out, there are very few buildings that have been preserved to reflect what life may have been like at the turn of the century.
The turn of the century is significant, because it was 1902 when gold was discovered just north of Fairbanks and caused the equivalent of a gold rush as had occurred in the Klondike just a few years earlier. I found some log cabins in the downtown area that are still in use as private residences today.
I hate to sound negative, but downtown Fairbanks strikes me as a town, where originally there was a reason for people to migrate to the town, but now, one would question why they stay. I guess one answer is the Alaskan oil pipeline, and what mining and lumber industry is still important to the area. Everything else is in support of the core economy. I was not impressed with 'downtown' Fairbanks.
I had expected my walking tour of downtown Fairbanks to take much longer, and because it did not, I drove over to my 'second choice' of something to see and do. I visited the University of Alaska, Fairbanks campus, and there, I was impressed. A very new, modern campus, that suggests attendance and commitment.
I spent several hours at the University's museum, which although not large, the quality of what it had to present was well done. Obviously, the museum focus is on the history of Alaska, the native peoples, the people who made Alaska what it is today, and the artifacts of both of those populations. Between Fairbanks and the Yukon museums, I have learned a lot about mining, lumber, the people of the north, the weather, and the challenges. Most interesting.
The museum offered a separately priced audio/visual program regarding the northern lights. Having seen a similar program at Watson Lake, I chose not to see this one. I did read the displays in the museum, which attempt to describe the phenomenon, but they were no more clear than what I saw/read in Watson Lake.
Before returning to my motel room, I found a barber shop and got myself a trim. If the Explorer needs some maintenance, so do I. On return to my motel room, I made some phone calls and now have reservations for a 6-8 hour, narrated bus tour of Denali (Mount McKinley) on Sunday. You can only drive into the first 14 miles of the national park and in order to go any further, you have to use the shuttle or a paid bus tour. I thought the tour sounded like a good sightseeing choice. I plan to get to Denali on Saturday, so I'll see the first 14 miles of the park on my own.
I also called to make a reservation for a flight to the Artic Circle. I still don't understand the sign I saw two days ago, announcing that I had entered the 'western' part of the artic circle. Anyway, I booked a flight for tomorrow night, to fly up there, land for some local presentations and then fly back to Fairbanks. The flight leaves at 8:00PM.
That may sound a bit strange, but given that this is July, this area has about 20 hours of sunlight per day. And even at the wee hours of the morning around here, you can still drive without your car lights on. I'll tell you how my artic circle trip goes tomorrow or the next day.
Well, for this afternoon, I bought a seat on the paddlewheeler, Discovery III. It left Fairbanks at 2:00PM and I was on the Chena and Tanana Rivers until I got back around 5:00PM. For $39.95, it was a most enjoyable and informative trip.
The Binkley family goes back several generations, and now they're even training the eleven grandchildren to be riverboat pilots. The trip was very well orchestrated, with not only on-board narration of what there was to see, but the paddlewheeler stopped at various points to observe demonstrations on shore. Well done.
Original paddlewheelers were steam ships, burning about a cord of wood per hour to develop the steam needed to go up or down river. But the paddlewheeler of today had two diesel, 500 hp engines to move us along the rivers.
Orchestrated, or choreographed things to see along the three hour trip included a bush plane taking off and landing at a grass strip along the river's edge. The pilot used only 200 feet of the runway, which suggests these little planes can land and take off at most anywhere. Our narrator said that even sand bars are used as landing strips.
Discovery I is still in existence and it's used a training vessel for the younger members of the Binkley family. We passed the Binkely river-side home and Jim and his wife were on the lawn, waving to us as we passed by. Actually, he wasn't smiling at us per se, but rather money in the bank, so to speak.
Homes along the Chena River go for top dollar. A one acre lot goes for about $50,000, I'm told, and from the looks of the homes, they must go for $100+ per foot to build. Lots of modern log cabin homes along the river front, using .5 to 1.0 miles of white spruce logs to build the structure.
Our paddlewheeler passed by a place called the Pump House near Cripple Creek (not the Colorado Cripple Creek). Story has it that the gold mining being done some distance from the Chena River did not have enough water to be used for the sluices and such. So a pumping station was developed to pump water from the Chena River to the mining sites, and the result was very, very profitable.
Our riverboat tour passed a reindeer ranch, which we saw again later on the trip, when we literally stopped and went ashore to visit a place called the Indian Village. Reindeer are nothing more than domesticated caribou.
Our stop at the Indian Village included demonstrations of life before the western culture arrived here in Alaska. We saw how salmon is caught, filetted, smoked and stored. We heard about animals and furs for clothing. We heard about hunting and living off the land. Most interesting. I took lots of pictures to remember my trip on the riverboat, including one of me with Discovery III.
So, for a day with no preplanning, it actually worked out pretty well. I hope tomorrow is as interesting. I'll keep you posted.