North to Alaska 2010

Delta Junction to Fairbanks, AK

On the road again - and passing several lakes, rivers and ponds. In our Milepost, they always tell you what fish can be caught at each lake, river and pond and when it is. This book has been worth every bit of the $30.00 we paid for it. It would be nice if there were books for every state!

We are looking at the Tanana River with a panoramic view to the south of us of 3 great peaks of the Alaska Range: Mount Hayes - elevation 13,832 feet, Hess Mountain -a 11,940 feet and Mount Deborah - 12,339 feet. It is every bit as beautiful as the last mountains we were in near Valdez. A short stop at the Birch Lake rest stop - the lake is full of lily pads with yellow flowers on them.

Another stop along the way at The Knotty Shop - this time for ice cream. There is an advertisement in the Milepost for one free one scoop ice cream - dish or cone. We are never ones to pass up a bargain on ice cream. This is the most unusual place - every where you look there are logs and animals made from burls. The burls are abundant on the spruce trees - it is caused from a foreign substance that makes the tree grow around it to get away from it - and this is what forms. The shop had several items made from them - bowls, platters and that sort of thing, but mostly they are used as posts - porches, mail boxes - and these unusual animals.

Getting closer to Fairbanks, we are going through the North Pole. We stopped to see Santa but the parking lot was full, so we will come back another day to see Santa and get our picture taken with him. I can hardly wait!!

Finally we arrive in Fairbanks and find John and Fran at the Pioneer Park parking lot where there are several RV's parked there. This park was built in 1967 as the Alaska Centennial Park to commemorate the 100th anniversary of U.S. territorial status and provide a taste of Alaska history. They have a gold rush town with a narrow, winding street of authentic old buildings that once graced downtown Fairbanks; the First Presbyterian Church, constructed in 1904; and the Pioneers of Alaska Museum, dedicated to those who braved frontier life to establish Fairbanks. Of course, there are the "tourist" shops that sell food and crafts and an art gallery. Pioneer Park is home to the renovated SS Nenana - a twin to the stern-wheeler we saw in Whitehorse.

This van was also parked in the lot - he is from California and we saw him there the last time we were there. He got more attention from people and had more pictures taken than anything else around. The sign on the side say "It is hard to soar like an eagle when you are surrounded by turkeys". As you can see - he has his entire van covered with eagles - all screwed on tight!

After getting set up, we discussed what to do for dinner and decided we would splurge at the Alaskan Salmon Bake which is part of the Pioneer Park. It is an all you can eat buffet with salmon, prime rib, halibut, cod and on Fridays they offer snow crab legs, plus there is a salad bar, bread bar and dessert bar. The cost is $31 per person so we were determined to get our fair share - I started with a small salad and crab legs - Ken started with the salmon and prime rib. I tried everything - small bites - and went back 4 times for the crab legs. They were done to perfection!

After dinner we walked through the park - at 10:00 pm and it was pretty light out still. We are only 3 days from summer solstice so it will be light for most of the night - takes a little getting used to.

Tomorrow we will go exploring and see what this area has to offer.

A few final pictures.