6: 20 am
Grrr...I had some trouble with my laptop on the last leg of the journey and it looks like it didn't save the final entry. To recap the arrival in Fairbanks:
We landed just fine and right on time at 9:00 pm local time. That means we traveled a total of four hours back in time. We managed to find our tour bus that would take us to the hotel, met breifly with our tour director (Toni -- she seems really nice) and got the information for Wednesday. Steven and I collapsed in bed around 10:30 local time (that's 2:30 AM for those of you back East!). Slept well for the most part, but it never got darker than about 4 o'clock on a winter's afternoon in Rochester!
We're touring Fairbanks today -- will keep you posted! Till later...love you all!
6:09 pm – back at Sophie’s Station Suites
Yes, that said “suites”. Not sure why we need an entire suite for a two-night stay, but it IS nice. A kitchen bigger than Mom & Dad’s, a living room, bedroom big enough for not one but TWO queen-sized beds and a full bath! I’m sitting at the bar that borders the kitchen and living room to type this.
We began the day early – Steven and I were both up by 5:30, still on Eastern time rather than Alaskan. By 8:00 we were in the lobby, ready to board the bus for our tour of Fairbanks…and what a tour it was!
We began with a riverboat cruise along the Chena River (prounounced “Shee-na”). The riverboat, the Discovery III, is a real paddlewheel drawing only 38 inches of water. Good thing too, since the river is only about six feet deep in its deepest places. There were three tiers of seating with the pilot house above that, so this was no small boat!
But it wasn’t just a riverboat cruise. We pulled away from the dock and turned around and there was a plane ready to do a takeoff off the water (and a landing, of course); he radioed to the boat and talked to us about life as a bush pilot in Alaska. Very cool.
Down the river a bit we paused by a kennel that trains Iditarod dogs. In fact, the man who spoke to us from shore was part of the winning team of that race several years in a row. They had three new pups who were very cute. Then they hooked up a team and they pulled a modified ATV around the track. Did you know that at full tilt they can do over 20 miles an hour????
Further along we came to an Athabascan village. This living museum was set up to teach people about the Athabascan tribe of native peoples. It was wonderful! Our tour guide on this part was a native college girl who really knew her stuff. She’s planning to be an elementary teacher in a school that teaches her native language first and English second. The tribe is being very active in preserving their culture while still enjoying the benefits of technology. A balancing act to be sure!
The riverboat had free homemade donuts and gave away samples of their specially prepared salmon. I don’t generally like salmon, but this was really good! They also had something else available and Steven and I both decided we couldn’t resist. So yes, we can both now say we’ve eaten reindeer! We had reindeer hot dogs and found they’re tougher than regular pork or beef dogs. And spicier! Steven says that’s to cover up the real taste of the meat. Could be, but it was good J.
Also learned the difference between reindeer and caribou. Our tour guide was surprised we didn’t know the difference: reindeer can fly! Actually, the only difference are reindeer are what they’re called when raised in captivity and caribou are what they’re called if they roam free. Same animal, different names for different ways of being raised.
Back on the bus and our driver (Steve) took us for a tour of Fairbanks, pointing out some of the interesting stuff along the way. There isn’t much here; the city’s probably about as big as Auburn, only spread out a little more. Still, there’s a lot of pride in the tough spirit it takes to live in this climate. The “make-do” attitude is prevalent and we saw it everywhere we went. Doesn’t matter if you don’t have what you need – make do or make it from scratch.
Accent wise people don’t seem to have a very different accent from upstate New York. A little harsher in the vowels perhaps, but not much. You can tell the Athabascan native speakers, however, as their English is slightly stilted and much more musical. A very pretty accent!
Lunch was at Gold Dredge #8 and, as far as I’m concerned, the worst part of the day. No choices in the meal – only beef stew, and not very good stew at that. Buscuits were late coming out, although they were warm and there was only water to drink. If you wanted anything other than that, you had to buy it. On the upside, this was the only downside to the entire day!
Went to the Eldorado Gold Mine next, with a stop along the way to see the Alaskan pipeline. Know why its not underground? They can’t put it in the permafrost because of the heaving the ground does. It would rip apart within months if it were even sitting on top of the permafrost. In fact, the roads here are often like riding over corduroy because of the shifting that goes on as the sun thaws, then refreezes the top few inches. Our bus driver called them the “woo” parts of the road because you go “Woo!” when you go over them.
Grrr...I had some trouble with my laptop on the last leg of the journey and it looks like it didn't save the final entry. To recap the arrival in Fairbanks:
We landed just fine and right on time at 9:00 pm local time. That means we traveled a total of four hours back in time. We managed to find our tour bus that would take us to the hotel, met breifly with our tour director (Toni -- she seems really nice) and got the information for Wednesday. Steven and I collapsed in bed around 10:30 local time (that's 2:30 AM for those of you back East!). Slept well for the most part, but it never got darker than about 4 o'clock on a winter's afternoon in Rochester!
We're touring Fairbanks today -- will keep you posted! Till later...love you all!
6:09 pm – back at Sophie’s Station Suites
Yes, that said “suites”. Not sure why we need an entire suite for a two-night stay, but it IS nice. A kitchen bigger than Mom & Dad’s, a living room, bedroom big enough for not one but TWO queen-sized beds and a full bath! I’m sitting at the bar that borders the kitchen and living room to type this.
We began the day early – Steven and I were both up by 5:30, still on Eastern time rather than Alaskan. By 8:00 we were in the lobby, ready to board the bus for our tour of Fairbanks…and what a tour it was!
We began with a riverboat cruise along the Chena River (prounounced “Shee-na”). The riverboat, the Discovery III, is a real paddlewheel drawing only 38 inches of water. Good thing too, since the river is only about six feet deep in its deepest places. There were three tiers of seating with the pilot house above that, so this was no small boat!
But it wasn’t just a riverboat cruise. We pulled away from the dock and turned around and there was a plane ready to do a takeoff off the water (and a landing, of course); he radioed to the boat and talked to us about life as a bush pilot in Alaska. Very cool.
Down the river a bit we paused by a kennel that trains Iditarod dogs. In fact, the man who spoke to us from shore was part of the winning team of that race several years in a row. They had three new pups who were very cute. Then they hooked up a team and they pulled a modified ATV around the track. Did you know that at full tilt they can do over 20 miles an hour????
Further along we came to an Athabascan village. This living museum was set up to teach people about the Athabascan tribe of native peoples. It was wonderful! Our tour guide on this part was a native college girl who really knew her stuff. She’s planning to be an elementary teacher in a school that teaches her native language first and English second. The tribe is being very active in preserving their culture while still enjoying the benefits of technology. A balancing act to be sure!
The riverboat had free homemade donuts and gave away samples of their specially prepared salmon. I don’t generally like salmon, but this was really good! They also had something else available and Steven and I both decided we couldn’t resist. So yes, we can both now say we’ve eaten reindeer! We had reindeer hot dogs and found they’re tougher than regular pork or beef dogs. And spicier! Steven says that’s to cover up the real taste of the meat. Could be, but it was good J.
Also learned the difference between reindeer and caribou. Our tour guide was surprised we didn’t know the difference: reindeer can fly! Actually, the only difference are reindeer are what they’re called when raised in captivity and caribou are what they’re called if they roam free. Same animal, different names for different ways of being raised.
Back on the bus and our driver (Steve) took us for a tour of Fairbanks, pointing out some of the interesting stuff along the way. There isn’t much here; the city’s probably about as big as Auburn, only spread out a little more. Still, there’s a lot of pride in the tough spirit it takes to live in this climate. The “make-do” attitude is prevalent and we saw it everywhere we went. Doesn’t matter if you don’t have what you need – make do or make it from scratch.
Accent wise people don’t seem to have a very different accent from upstate New York. A little harsher in the vowels perhaps, but not much. You can tell the Athabascan native speakers, however, as their English is slightly stilted and much more musical. A very pretty accent!
Lunch was at Gold Dredge #8 and, as far as I’m concerned, the worst part of the day. No choices in the meal – only beef stew, and not very good stew at that. Buscuits were late coming out, although they were warm and there was only water to drink. If you wanted anything other than that, you had to buy it. On the upside, this was the only downside to the entire day!
Went to the Eldorado Gold Mine next, with a stop along the way to see the Alaskan pipeline. Know why its not underground? They can’t put it in the permafrost because of the heaving the ground does. It would rip apart within months if it were even sitting on top of the permafrost. In fact, the roads here are often like riding over corduroy because of the shifting that goes on as the sun thaws, then refreezes the top few inches. Our bus driver called them the “woo” parts of the road because you go “Woo!” when you go over them.
(edited to add video of pipeline)
The gold mine was a lot of fun. We were expecting something of a 1950-era, tired, tourist-trap type place, but that’s not what this was at all. The Eldorado is a working mine that they open to tours at specified times. You take an open-car train around to the mine, including a stop underground to see a presentation on that aspect of the history of mining. Then around a little further and another presentation on panning for gold and a little further on is a presentation on the above-ground operation of what we’d seen underground.
The gold mine was a lot of fun. We were expecting something of a 1950-era, tired, tourist-trap type place, but that’s not what this was at all. The Eldorado is a working mine that they open to tours at specified times. You take an open-car train around to the mine, including a stop underground to see a presentation on that aspect of the history of mining. Then around a little further and another presentation on panning for gold and a little further on is a presentation on the above-ground operation of what we’d seen underground.
(edit to add video link. Watch panning for gold here. If the video doesn't come up, try again later. It's still processing as of this edit)
The train lets you off at the gold slue and that was the most impressive part of all. A long slue is built into the hillside, dirt is put into a hopper at the top and water is released from a trough above it. The water pounds down into the hopper and carries the dirt along the gold slue, which has bars across the bottom to catch the gold. Gold is heavier than the dirt and most of the rocks, so it stays behind since it’s carried on the bottom. I took videos and will upload them if I can.
Then we got the opportunity to pan for gold ourselves. We were all given a poke sack of dirt and directed to the troughs of water where pans awaited our dirt. I have to admit, I had a riot trying to learn how to swirl the water and dip the pan to let the “wave in and the same wave out” that would carry the rocks away. The helpers all kept telling us, when we would say, “I’m afraid I’m going to wash the gold right out,” that we just had to trust the gold. It would fall to the bottom. Honest.
And they were right. It did. Nothing like the thrill of seeing that first glint in the bottom of the pan! Even though they were “only” flakes, it was still VERY cool. Steven and I each collected about $12.00 worth of gold, Steven’s mom collected about $19 worth and Darlene took the prize at nearly $25 worth.
Back on the bus to come back to hotel, and not a moment too soon. Jet lag set in and I had trouble staying awake to watch the scenery go by. I love the black spruce that look like bottle brushes sticking straight up off the hills. Where there is black spruce, there is permafrost. Walking on it is like walking on a sponge. The Athabascan village is built on the permafrost and we all remarked on how springy it was. And the scent! They have a warm, dusky pine scent…not the sharp tang of the pines in New York.
Steven and I had planned to take in the Museum at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks tonight, but we were just too tired. Instead we went for overpriced drinks and appetizers at the hotel’s lounge. Just got back and wanted to finish this post before heading to bed. It’s now 1:17 am back East, but here it’s just 9:17 and the sun hasn’t set yet. The sun goes “down” (as in lower than the horizon) for about five hours a night, but since it doesn’t go far, it’s twilight all night long. I love it!
Okay, tomorrow we’re on the train for Denali and a new hotel. Hopefully I’ll have free wi-fi there as well. Till then…
Cindy
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