The first two nights in Fairbanks were spent in a recreation area, but without services and without drinking water. We have come to expect many of the government owned parks do not have drinking water available. Most taps or pumps have signs that say the water must be boiled anywhere from 1 to 10 minutes before drinking – quite a range! However, we weren’t prepared at this park and there was no notice at the entrance. It was only when we couldn’t find potable water when we dumped our tanks that we found out the water wasn’t safe for drinking. After the first night, we drove into town to scope out the full service campgrounds in the area. We figure we need to get our trailer batteries well charged before we head to Denali since we will be there 6 days without hydro hook ups. The generator will charge them, but it needs to run a fair bit and if we have a good charge base, it will be easier to maintain them for the 6 days.
Just before arriving in Fairbanks we had a visit to the North Pole (Alaska) where Santa and his reindeer are in residence.
Fairbanks also provided us an opportunity to do laundry – but it was the most expensive here so far – $3.00 for a regular load of wash and the same amount for the dryer (at least it runs for 60 min.). It is very convenient at this park and open 24 hours a day. Joyce also noted as we arrived the large number of rhubarb plants at the entrance, some of which were going to seed. Upon inquiring, they were happy to let us pick what we wanted since no one at the park seemed to want it. So, another rhubarb pie, rhubarb muffins, stewed rhubarb…. maybe even a rhubarb crisp to come! At the price of fruit here, free is great!
We had a couple of nice day trips while in Fairbanks. The first was to the Chena Hot Springs. A nice paved road, taking an hour to drive took us to an interesting location with hot springs pools. Before we visited the pool, we took a tour of their geothermal operations. When the current owners purchased the property, they decided to invest money to utilize the hot springs for more than recreation. They have a very large geothermal operation, now at the point where it will be able to supply all the electricity for the resort year-round. Most of their buildings have in-floor heating from the geothermal supply. They operate a number of huge greenhouses where they are producing huge numbers of vegetables each year. In 2016 they harvested over 9,000 pounds of tomatoes alone, in addition to such vegetables as potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, celery, carrots, lettuce, as well as many others. They also are raising reindeer, goats and chickens with the eventual hope to have reindeer meat, goat milk and cheese and eggs and chicken for meat. They are working to have a fully self-sustaining resort for the guests in their 80 lodge rooms and 75 staff. Summer is their slow season – in the winter people come to view the northern lights and sit outside in the hot spring pool. We took our lunch and enjoyed a trip to the pool after our geothermal tour which included a view of their power plant and green houses.
A highlight of our time in Fairbanks was the morning we spent on the Riverboat Discovery, a stern wheeler boat and family-owned business that has been in operation since the 1950s. With a trip on the Chena River, we saw a bush pilot take off from the water and heard his talk about his life, saw a famous sled dog operation from a former Iditarod champion, Susan Butcher who has since passed away and is now being run by her husband, and had a chance to walk through a replica of a native Indian village.
It was a most informative and interesting morning, well run and with excellent staff participating in the morning. Then in the afternoon, the same family operates a tour of the Gold Dredge No. 8 which we visited. First off was a talk and viewing of the Alaska Pipeline and then we boarded a narrow gauge railway up to the dredge. Along the way we heard lots of history of the gold in Fairbanks, how the dredge operated and the amount of gold in the area. We each got a small bag of “pay dirt” at the dredge and then had a chance to pan for gold with it. Between Paul and Joyce we netted about $30 worth of gold flakes which we had made into a necklace.
We finished the day off with a trip to the Pioneer Village and the Alaska Salmon Bake. Fresh, barbequed over a wood fire-salmon, beer-battered cod from the Bering Sea, and prime rib at an all-you-can-eat gave us an authentic Alaskan meal.
Fairbanks also provided a bit of down time for us. We’ve been travelling pretty constant for over a month now and we needed a chance to slow down a bit and not have to go somewhere for a day. We also experienced summer solstice here – the sun goes down at 1247 and rises at 2:59 without real darkness in between. We’ve been surprised that we have managed to sleep as well when it hasn’t been dark for 6+ hours at a time. It is also easy to get into the habit of staying up late because you don’t realize how late it has gotten until you check the clock! We need to change that around and get to bed BEFORE midnight!
Our next stop will be the grand national park of Denali. Stay tuned for what’s up there…. We do expect a bigger wildlife population from what we’ve read.
Following Joyce & Paul's Travels in Retirement 