June 18 - Fairbanks

We picked up a coffee at the office of the RV Park and waited for our little city tour bus to arrive. Gail, from California, was our host and she was a hoot. Lots of fun stories and interaction with the 8 of us on the bus. The tour took us by Pioneer Park and then through some of the downtown area, including the old red light district. Fairbanks is full of little old post-war square houses but there are still a very large number of old log houses still in use as well. We visited the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor's Center which is fantastic! A very well done facility that houses an excellent collection of artifacts, runs some movies and is a great place to get oriented to the city and surrounding area. 

Fairbanks has about 30,000 people, with a surrounding catchment area of about 100,000 so it's definitely the hub of this part of the north.

Off we went again, this time up the Steese Expressway to a pullout that has an information area about the Alaska Pipeline and then you can walk in to where a portion of the pipeline is above ground to see it. What an incredible engineering feat this was, back in the 70s, and a huge part of the complexity of it was building above permafrost as well as building along a fault line. 

Next we headed up to the University of Alaska which is a very interesting place to visit. They have a huge agricultural program there and at the base of the hill it's built on, there are lovely farmed up fields. There is a botanical garden as well. The other thing the University is known for is it's study of the Aurora Borealis. NASA even has a dish on campus as part of their own research. We spent some time in the University's Museum of the North. A very modern, beautiful building that houses a wonderful collection of artifacts as well as art work so it's also a gallery in it's own right. This is a really worthwhile stop. 

Back downtown, we drove to the Golden Heart Plaza which is a beautiful public garden and gathering space. The Chena river meanders through the entire city and the city planners have done a brilliant job of capitalizing on it's benefits. Miles of walking and bike paths follow portions of the river with many little foot and driving bridges along the way. The river is used a lot for recreation so there are lots of boats, jet skis and people floating the river. It's beautiful. 

In the afternoon, we went back out. Our first stop was the Alaska Raw Fur Shop. Here is the sign in the window... 

There is a certain "I don't know what" about a shop filled with dead animal stuff that seems terribly concerned about cleavage. But there you go... I checked myself and took the chance and went in. :) 

We went back downtown and headed to the Fairbanks Ice Museum. This is right on 2nd Ave downtown. The story is that, back in the 1980s, some Chinese ice carvers came to Fairbanks and since then, a huge ice carving festival has developed over the years to become an international event. Carvers come from all over the world. Andy, a Chinese immigrant, is one of the carvers who has moved to Fairbanks permanently. He took over the old movie theatre on 2nd Ave. and has converted it into an ice sculpture museum. The first part is a 20 minute movie about the festival and ice carving and then he opens up the refridgerated museum section which you can wander around in. Many of the carvings are interactive - you can sit on the ice stools in the ice bar or go into the ice log cabin and sit at the ice table, there is a dog sled, polar bears, a miner panning for gold and even an ice slide you can slide down on crazy carpets. It's pretty awesome, really. After that, Andy does a small 15 minute ice carving demonstration using Dremel tools and drills. 

What we really liked about Andy and his Ice Museum is that it's not your typical polished tourist trap. He's just an honest, genuine artist who is trying to creatively make a living with his craft. If you're in Fairbanks, it's a fun thing to do. 

After that, we went across the street to Big Ray's - an outfitting store that blew our minds! It's HUGE!! They have  every conceivable item you could possibly want for outdoor activities with the most enormous selection of norther wear from Carharts to Patagonia. And boots?!? They must have 300 different kinds. Three floors of everything. They also have online sales so check it out. Very impressive. 

For dinner, we hit Big Daddy's rib place... the tout themselves to be the best southern food in the north. It really is like the southern BBQ we had in Texas a few years ago. Good ribs, fun atmosphere... 

We ran into some great folks we originally met back in Dawson City so we dropped by their campsite and had a great visit. Fran and Ron are from Australia and Marilyn and Frank are from New York/South Carolina. We had a hoot of an evening with exchanging of emails and lots of offers of places to stay if we decide to visit them. You never know!