Everyday the color literally becomes brighter and more beautiful.
And if it’s not the beauty of the colors in the trees, it’s the splendor of the mountains and rivers that amazes us.
At Big Delta, we stopped at Rika’s Roadhouse for lunch and wandering around the beautiful grounds. Rika’s is an old historic roadhouse where travelers would stop for food and lodging.
Rika’s had fallen in to serious disrepair, but at some point was restored and now there is a good restaurant, beautiful gardens, and the original roadhouse has been turned into a museum with furnishings as it once was, many years ago.
There is even an old car left where it stopped running many years ago.
The Delta River runs along the edge of the property. It also provided easy access for river traffic.
Finally the caravan arrived in Fairbanks, but not until we made an important stop.
Santa Claus Village at the ‘North Pole,’ is a huge (this is only a small part of it) Christmas store…and fudge shop.
It is a wonderful place to pick up some Christmas decorations. Also, you can send Christmas cards from here that are postmarked, “North Pole.”
They have a pen of reindeer out back. Little kids and big kids alike enjoy this place.
Finally, the RV park is in sight.
Guess what?!? Santa was there, too, this time parking motorhomes. He is such a multi-talented kind of guy!
We are spending four days in Fairbanks and there is a lot to see here.
The Alaskan Pipeline is one of our first stops, and one that you might think would not be very interesting.
However, Spike spent at least a half hour giving us lots of very interesting facts about the pipeline. It was fascinating information.
The pipeline itself is very large and so Don did his part to make sure it stayed in place.
Just in case you wanted to know how far away Fairbanks is from…well, anywhere….
No visit to the pipeline is complete with out seeing and learning about the Pig that runs through the pipeline.
This is a cutaway of a pig inside the pipeline.
This sign explains the work of the pig. One of our guys who is a retired policeman had his picture taken next to the “Retired Pig” sign.
Spike also told us about the Smart Pigs and the Dumb Pigs. Smart Pigs are high-tech electronic pigs, and Dumb Pigs are just mechanical. Either way, it’s still a funny name.
Another thing that Spike told us was about the security in place to protect the pipeline.
Even here, just visiting it, we were being watched by planes overhead and one false or suspicious move and within minutes, the place would be crawling with people with guns asking a lot of very pointed questions about what we were up to. After hearing that, we all chose to behave ourselves.
The Wood Bowl Factory was just across the road from the RV park and we checked it out.
Here you can watch through the glass as the workmen carve out beautiful wooden bowls of various kinds and sell them, not just in the factory store, but throughout Alaska.
A few of the gals found a local Farmer’s Market that was a fun stop.
I didn’t try this but heard the honey mustard, ‘Moosetard,’ was very good.
This guy brought his own private bee farm…and sold honey.
Certain veggies, including zucchini, grow huge here.
One of the highlights of a visit to Fairbanks, is taking the Discovery Boat Tour.
Discovery is a big sternwheeler that goes down the Chena river in Fairbanks. It is a very scenic ride, as well as interesting.
Alaska has more private pilots than any state in the union…by far. It seems that everyone owns a float plane and this one took off near our boat…
…and sailed right past my window, circled around and landed back on the river.
Homes along the river range from huge estates like this one…
…to very small, modest-anything-goes sort of ones. There is no homeowners association here.
Of course for some, having a car or two in the garage is not enough. You just have to have a boat and a plane at the end of the dock…
Spike is very involved with both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod Dog Sled Races so we visit some of the major mushers and kennels.
Susan Butcher is a household name in Alaska and worldwide among Iditarod followers. She was the first woman to win the excruciating 1000 mile Iditarod race and, in fact, she won it four times.
They coined a phrase in her honor, “Alaska is where men are men and women win the Iditarod.”
Unfortunately, Susan passed away from Leukemia a few years ago.
Her home, husband, David Monson, (also a musher) her two daughters and the famed Trail Breaker Kennel are also on the river, so the boat stops for a brief visit.
One of the handlers brought out an armful of puppies for us to see. (Future sled dogs.)
These dogs are Alaskan Huskies and are bred for what they do, (run) not for looks or any of the other things that breeders usually look for.
Often they mix in other breeds to get a quality that is needed for racing. As a result, they are not very “pretty” dogs, but they can run like the wind through impossible conditions.
Susan and David’s older (teen-aged) daughter, Tekla, has become a very accomplished young lady at dealing with the tourists on the boat. I was very impressed with her self-confidence, professionalism and ability.
The dogs are going to put on a demonstration for us.
As soon as they get hooked up to in the harness, they are begging to run at the top of their voices. This lead dog has all four feet off the ground and they are all barking in excitement.
Part of the training program is to have them pull an ATV in the summer when there is no snow. The ATV is tied down till David lets the dogs go.
Off they go!!!
They circle around about a mile track and race back into the yard.
As the sternwheeler moves on down the river, we come upon a native Athabascan village. This is a fish wheel, where the natives catch the salmon.
We are shown how the salmon are skinned and cut to be dried on the racks below.
We disembark the boat and go ashore. There are demonstrations of how the natives lived and how some still live totally off the land.
The snowshoes they used…
The clothes made of animal skins. This coat took about a year to make.
These are the types of dwellings they made to live in.
It was all very interesting and very well done.
Pioneer Park is another stop of interest.
There are a lot of old historic buildings here that were originally in downtown Fairbanks and have been moved here. Most have been turned into little shops.
A group of guys with antique and classic cars were lined up to take a cruise beginning in Pioneer Park. What we did not know was that they would soon end up at our RV park. I don’t know why that was their destination.
However, one of the ladies on our tour owns a large antique car museum in Tallahassee, Florida so was quite interested in them. In talking to some of the drivers, they found that a couple of them had been to her museum in Florida. Quite a coincidence.
This railroad car, called Denali, was used by President Warren Harding in 1923.
The President was on a trip to Alaska to drive the Golden Spike for the Alaska Railroad. Denali is the Indian name for Mt. McKinley, meaning ,“The Great One.”
Our last stop is once again Iditarod-related and is at Trail Breaker Kennel.
This is Brent Sass. He has run the Yukon Quest and is this year running both the Quest and the Iditarod back to back. (They are run two weeks apart.)
Brent, who has Wild and Free Kennel (next to Trail Breaker) is an interesting man. He is a bundle of energy and never stops moving. I was impressed by his quote on his poster, “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” A couple years after this we saw him on some Alaskan survival TV programs.
Brent has 60 dogs. This is his lead dog, Silver, who Brent adores. Silver is an outstanding lead dog and he is bigger than most Alaskan Huskies.
Brent brought us an armload of little month-old puppies for us to hold and play with. Silver is their father…
…and Chicken is their mother. Brent loves all his dogs and knows each one by name as well as it’s personality and abilities.
Even the 93-year-old member of our caravan, Marge, enjoyed playing with the puppies.
You are never too old to hug a warm puppy.
Next stop, Denali.
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