Our Last Days in Fairbanks and Good Bye to the Smiths

 Sunday July 10, 2022 - Today we took a ride on the Riverboat Discovery.  It was a bit touristy, but it was fun to be out on the river.  We stopped in front of Susan Butcher's sled dog property and her husband talked about dog mushing.  Susan Butcher was the second woman to win the Iditarod and won a total of 4 times in 5 years prior to her death in 2006.  We also stopped at a native Alaskan village where we heard about various aspects of Athabascan life.  In the afternoon we explored downtown Fairbanks, where we looked around the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center.  We watched an interesting movie there, and were surprised to find Jack Reakhoff in the movie, talking about life in Wiseman, AK.  We had lunch at the HooDoo Brewery, where there was a great food truck - Grandma's genuine Navajo Tacos, so so good!  After the cultural center we went to the dive bar, Midnight Mine next door, that Manny had told us we should check out.  It was a fun spot with darts, pool and an outside patio.

Riverboat Discovery

Jen with Susan Butcher

a float plane took off next to the boat

Susan Butcher's husband and their two daughters still train and mush sled dogs.  He came out and talked to us about the sled dogs

After a run, the dogs all jumped into the river to cool off

The Nenana joining the Tanana River.  The Tanana is the milky color and the Nenana is more clear.

Kev looks good in a fox pelt

Ok, we ALL look good in a fox pelt

The moose/elk arch next to the cultural center

 

Monday, July 11, 2022 - We decided to have a communal breakfast this morning, and wow was it good...cheesy eggs, sausage, bacon, english muffins, pancakes and fruit, quite the smorgasbord!  We then headed off to the Museum of the North on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus and then to the engineering building to see the Chris McCandless bus from "Into the Wild".  UAF is refurbishing the bus which will then be housed at the Museum of the North.

Yum!

I want it all!

Skeleton of a 43 foot Bowhead Whale

This looks like a table my Dad would design

The "Into the Wild bus"

Looks like they have a lot of work to do

Tuesday, July 12, 2022 - Today is a 4.5 hour drive to K'esugi Ken Campground in Denali State Park.  I booked us a night there, so we didn't have such a long drive to Anchorage for the Smiths and to the Kenai for us.  We drove through the area of the fire that's been causing so much smoke in Fairbanks (Clear, AK).  It was quite smokey and we saw trucks being used in the fire.  The K'esugi Ken campground was a quick drive off the Parks Highway and had lots of hiking, but no views of Denali, since it was a cloudy day.  We had one last bonfire with the group and a birthday party for the guys.

We stopped in Nenana, and who could pass up another round of root beer floats?

A smokey drive to Denali State Park

Water trucks queuing up for the fires

Stampede Road, outside of Healy, where Chris McCandless was dropped off for his hike into the wild

A look down Stampede Road

Smoky Mountains (not in Tennessee but in Alaska)

A stop along the Nenana River for lunch

lunch view

We've collected a lot of stickers on this trip, our wall is getting full!

Janet and I hiked some of the trails at K'esugi Ken

This is where the view of Denali is supposed to be...

Grizzlys in the area

the fireweed is 6 foot tall here

and the cow parsnip is even taller

Kev had a little mishap while using the "facili-trees".  He stepped into the mud, lost a shoe and kind of tipped over

guess we'll need to head to the laundry

Janet & Bob, final pic with their rig

Finally a bonfire.  In Fairbanks and Denali NP we weren't allowed to have a fire

Janet bought the Summer birthday boys a cheesecake

What a wonderful time we've had with Janet & Bob...one last selfie!

North Pole - Arctic Circle - Chena Hot Springs

Thursday July 7, 2022 - We had a busy day today.  In the morning we drove 20 minutes from Fairbanks to the town of North Pole. A developer back in the 40s named the town North Pole, hoping to attract a toy company, so that it could say the toys were made in the North Pole.  The toy company never materialized but the town embraced its name and has gone all out with Christmas.  It was fun to hit all the tourist attractions there, but we could see why Gene and Gerry said they didn't need to visit North Pole again, as they had visited on a previous trip to Alaska.  Chena Lake Recreation Area was close to North Pole, so we headed there for lunch and a walk around the lake.  In the evening we had a flight to the Arctic Circle.  It was a one hour flight to Coldfoot, AK which is the halfway point on the Dalton Highway (the Haul Rd) that goes from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay.  This is the only truck stop on this highway and our guide told us, that 30 people live there year round.  We then took a van from Coldfoot to Wiseman, about a 30 minute drive.  In Wiseman we got to meet Jack Reakhoff, who has been a full-time resident for the last 45 years.  He showed us around his home/property and explained what it is like to live there.  What an interesting guy, and quite a typical Alaskan character.

The welcome sign to North Pole, AK

who can resist a sleigh pic, in front of a ginormous Santa

Santa was up for a selfie

and then asked me to sit down with him for a formal pic

a snowman bench is pretty cool (hehe)

Santa peaking over Janet & Bob's RV

Lunch (and fudge) next to Chena Lake

an accidental picture from the picnic table

Chena Lake

A walk after lunch

Alaska has a lot of birch trees

a birch forest

a stop at the bowl factory on the way home

Tiny had been decorated by Uncle Gene for Kev's upcoming b-day

The flight to the Arctic Circle!

It was a smokey flight, from all the forest fires going on in AK, but we could see the Haul Road below, with the Alaska Pipeline running next to it (on the right)

Coldfoot, AK

the drive to Wiseman, AK (population 13)

There are lots of mosquitoes in Wiseman, so they gave us bug spray and head nets

Jack Reakhoff telling us about life in Wiseman, from his kitchen

A walk around Jack's property, with moose antlers everywhere from all the moose he has processed over the years

 

Jack carried around a zapper to keep the mosquitoes at bay

A view of one of their gardens (it was about 10:00 at night in this photo)

more gardens

wolf skulls on the wall above the garden and solar panels on the roof.  In Alaska people don't lie the solar panels flat on the roof, they put them at about 90 degrees since the sun is never directly overhead.

the fireweed was in full bloom 

and almost as tall as me

i can always find a cute bench

a road crossing in Wiseman

Wiseman, AK (63 miles north of the arctic circle)

Jack's collection of antlers and skulls

beautiful drive back to Coldfoot

Coldfoot truckstop

There were about 6 semis behind the truckstop in Coldfoot

Coldfoot Post Office

Coldfoot airport

Heading back to Fairbanks at 11:00PM

The smoke cleared up on our flight back to Fairbanks

Friday, July 8, 2022 -  We ran into a guy in Healy that overheard us talking about our upcoming trip to Fairbanks and he gave us a list of things to do there.  One spot he recommended was Bun on the Run, so we stopped there on our way to Chena Hot Springs.  It was a cute little trailer with great baked goods and was well known for the cinnamon rolls.  It was an hour and a half drive from there to Chena.  The resort had lots of activities and beautiful gardens everywhere.  We did a tour of their ice house, gardens and hydroelectric power plant and then headed to the hot springs for a soak.  It does a brisk business in the summer, but is especially popular in the winter, where it has great aurora borealis viewing.

A stop at Bun on the Run

Kev's got some goodies for us

yummy cinnamon rolls

flowers flowers flowers

an old car makes a nice flower planter

an old snow machine also makes a nice planter

a pretty bench with caribou wood carvings

more flowers around the hot springs

The ice museum had lots of sculptures and artwork.  The sculptures are done by a husband/wife team who are world renowned ice sculptors.  

This is their workshop, full of all sorts of cutting tools (as well as chain saws)

A view into the ice house

 

sculpture of duelers on horseback

love the parkas they gave us to wear while in the ice  house

the whole gang

a polar bear sculpture

Gene and Gerry at the bar

appletini in a hand carved martini glass

cheers

Jen in the igloo

the resort grows all their own vegetables using hydroponics.  They have 31 varieties of lettuce

nice bench in front of a dragon planter

more old car planters

hot spring time

Saturday, July 9, 2022 - Today was a trip to Gold Dredge 8.  This tour was about 20 minutes outside of Fairbanks.  We got to see the Alyeska pipeline up close and learn a bit about it.  It is 800 miles and runs from Prudhoe to Valdez.  It took 8 billion dollars, 20,000 people and 3 years to finish the Alaska pipeline.  They thought the lifespan of it would be about 20 years, but it's still going strong 45 years later.  With the tour we got to pan for gold and explore an old dredge.  It was fun to see an actual dredge after watching Tony Beets get an old dredge running on Gold Rush.  

The "pig" that cleans the inside of the Alaska pipeline

train ride out to the dredge

A view of the dredge from the train

First we pan for gold

looks like Kev's got some flakes there

It's fun to pan once you get the technique down

What I ended up with after 15 minutes of panning.  When they weighed it they said it was worth $25 

exploring the dredge

the sluice box

The dredgeline, finally we see the buckets on an actual dredge.  We've seen these buckets all over the place as planters

This dredge is called dredge 8 based on the size of the buckets.  Each bucket holds 8 square feet of dirt

We saved our ice martini glasses and got another night's fun out of them

Aunt Gerry's ice glass sprung a leak and spilled into the plate, so she had to drink from it

The ice house guide said when you're done with your ice glass you were to throw it to the ground and when the ice shatters, make a wish