7/9/17 - Day 2 in
Fairbanks
This is our second full day in
Fairbanks
and we are on our own today - no tours planned. Slept 11 hours last night
and that re-invigorated both of us. We had a slow morning and then headed
out for Santa's House, here in North Pole,
Alaska. What a fun place.
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Santa says 'Hello'
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Santa's House
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And Here is Santa Himself
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We met many of the other travelers here who had the same idea we had.
I got to sit on Santa's lap, and we picked up a few things for the
grandkids. Also mailed cards to the grandkids from the North Pole (I hope they notice the post mark!). Almost everything in North Pole is Christmas themed. Even McDonalds got into the swing of it.
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McDonalds in North Pole
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Back to the RV for chores. I cleaned the motorhome and Tom headed to
the laundry with our dirty clothes. I joined him when I got done, and
folded. Tom then washed more of the dirt and mud off of the
motorhome. I must admit, we look pretty good now (at least until the next muddy road). I finished a good
book and now I need a new one. All in all, a very good 'catch up' day.
7/10/17 - Day 3 in
Fairbanks
Our third full day in
Fairbanks,
and rain today. The bus picked us up at 8:30 a.m. again. We headed
to the Alaska Pipeline. Not much to see here except a big pipe, but is
the lifeblood of the oil industry in Alaska.
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Alaska Pipeline
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Then we went to Dredge No. 8 in Fox,
Alaska,
one of the last producing dredge gold mining operations. It ceased digging
for gold in 1954 when the amount of gold produced did not cover the cost to get
it. Now, the only gold mining in
Fairbanks
is done on a much larger scale and by much more advanced equipment.
Still, they keep Dredge No. 8 open to explain the process and let us pan for gold,
the old-fashioned way.
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Dredge No. 8
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Tom and I panned for gold, and we
recovered $17 worth of gold, but we learned that they don't buy it back.
If you want it, you have to have it set in jewelry which costs much more.
Most of our tour people got $20-$40 per couple. I guess we were slackers.
We are bringing home our BIG dig reward. Here is a picture of Chris, our
Wagonmaster talking to us on the bus.
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Chris Martin, our Wagonmaster, on the bus
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We had lunch at an Asian buffet, and I really didn't like it. In fact,
my stomach didn't like it either. When we stopped at the Antique Car Museum,
I stayed on the bus and rested, and Tom went in. Here is what he wanted
me to put into the blog. First, a 1914 Woods Mobilette -Model 3
Tandem Roadster (this car was advertised as America's first 'cyclecar'). Only 2 seats-- one behind the other. The brakes
were optional for $10, and the speedometer was optional fro $11.
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1914 Woods Cyclecar
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Here is the garage where they are working on 4 cars in different stages of
restoration.
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Restoration Garage
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This is a 1923 Mercury-Bodied Model T Speedster by Ford. Because there was a demand for a faster, and more aerodynamic body than the Model T, kits were introduced to 'soup up' the Model T. These backyard speedsters were essentially the world's first hotrods. The Mercury body was one of these, and 70 are known to still exist today. This car
really looks cool.
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1923 Mercury-Bodied Speedster
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And this is the Model T Snow Flyer built by Virgil White of New Hampshire, on a 1917 Ford Chassis. Note the skis on
the front of the car, and crawler tracks on tandem wheels on the back. Mr. White patented this kit adaptation and called it a 'snowmobile', 35 years before the modern snowmobile appeared.
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1917 Model T Snow Flyer
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And last is a 1903 Columbia Mark XIX Electric Surrey. The sign says,
"Many consider the
Columbia to be the first
commercially viable personal
electric motor car ever produced in the
United States". Columbia was the production leader among all U.S. makes of automobiles. At the time, electric-powered cars were more popular than their gasoline-fired cousins, especially in large cities where battery-charging stations were readily available. The Columbia surrey was sold as a taxicab as well as a personal automobile. This is the only Mark XIX known to still exist. Tom has many more pictures, but will save them to show to Dad when we get
home.
The bus picked up everybody at the
Antique
Car Museum
and drove us to the
Ice
Museum. We saw a
short video about carving ice and the competition every March in
Fairbanks, when ice carvers come from all over the world to compete here. After the film, we went into the
cold room (temp was 30 degrees) to see ice sculptures and take some
pictures. They had several ice sculptures of Alaskan themes – a dog sled
team, a skier, and a sled run.
Tom took
a run on the sled run and looked like a pro.
Here are some of my pictures.
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Sled Dog
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Linda, the Musher
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Tom on skis
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Beginning of ice carving
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Finished ice carving
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We came back to the campground and had a couple of hours to rest. Then
we all met up for a Wagonmaster meeting at 6:00. Then they entertained us with three men who played guitars and a fiddle, and
they sang.
Many of the songs were written
by the men themselves.
Most of the songs
were very familiar, and one of our group actually got up and sang Johnny Cash
songs with them.
It was a lot of fun.
Then a storyteller showed up (he looked like Santa Claus, white beard and
all).
He told tales and recited some of
the more famous poems of the
Klondike.
His favorite poet was Robert Service, who is
very famous up here.
Service actually
lived in
Dawson City in the gold rush days on
8th street
(I think I put his cabin on my previous blog).
He wrote short stories and rhyming poems of the North and the men who
lived here.
Probably his most famous
poem was “The Cremation of Sam McGee”.
The story teller recited that poem with great flair and brought it to
life.
I really enjoyed him.
He also took us outside to point out an
eagle nest in the trees on the other side of the river.
We could see it and the fledglings in the
nest.
Sorry, no picture of that as I
didn’t have my camera with me.
All in
all, a very full day, and quite enjoyable.
Tomorrow we travel to
Denali
Park.
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