Fairbanks day one!

After dodging more potholes and frost heaves than anyone wants to see we have safely arrived in Fairbanks. With four nights scheduled here this will be our longest stop in the tour so hopefully we get some rest and still see a lot. Our first adventure in on the Riverboat Discovery which is a replica of a time long gone. It will take us out the Yukon River to the confluence of a second river to reveal a unique phenomenon of two rivers that don’t mix! One of them is a glacier fed river that is full of the really fine silt that is created when glaciers flow. This very fine silt does not affect the fish that swim up the river, but it will not support the fish living in it. The other is spring fed and run off water which leaves it very clear.

While going up or down the river one of the stops was at the dog training facility of Susan Butcher. Susan was the second woman to ever win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, the second person to win four races and the first to win four out of five sequential years! Although she conquered the frigid trail several times, she could not win the race against cancer and died in 2007. Today her husband and family continue the tradition of sled racing and dog training.

Our next stop along the river was a recreated Inuit fish camp. In the summer the native people would set up camp along a river and harvest fish to prepare for cold weather. The camp consisted of lodging for the people, a smokehouse to preserve the fish and a fish trap to harvest the fish. The fish trap was an ingenious device that would use the current of the river to drive a wheel with nets attached that would scoop up the fish and put them into a holding area. From there the fish were cleaned then hung in the smoker to cure. I have heard the when the natives would leave to go trapping the sled would be full of smoked fish which was used to feed the dogs while trapping. When the sled was full of pelts or almost empty of fish it was time to go home.

The final stop is at a recreated native village, with several different exhibits but the inclement weather made some difficult to see. However we did get to see a very fancy fur coat. I believe it was called a “Sunburst” coat. I could not find anyone who would even guess what it was worth.

Once the boat docked, we were treated to a sit-down family style lunch that was very good. As we were leaving, we noticed a sign advertising the opportunity to experience -40 degrees and since it was there we got in line for the chance. I guess that with them opening and closing the door so frequently it couldn’t keep the temperature down but I can assure you -20 was cold enough to convince me that I don’t want to feel -40!

After lunch we went to a museum dedicated to the art of ice sculpture and although it sounds corny it was actually a lot of fun. I guess there isn’t much one can say other than it was something that we probably would not have done had it not been included in our tour. The curator / Ice artist was a hoot and possibly his presentation added a lot to the visit. The museum is located in an old movie theater and they put the sloped floor to a good use by setting up an ice toboggan run, unfortunately I cannot figure out how to attach a video of Judy coming down.

This was only our first day in Fairbanks but since I am not sure when I will have service again, I am going to post this before we move.