June 10, 11, and 12, 2015 Fairbanks, Alaska

By leaving Chena Hot Springs early in the day, we were able to arrive in Fairbanks early enough for important errands like getting an oil change for “ye olde” truck and new wiper blades. Fairbanks, as I may have mentioned, lies in a basin surrounded by hills and mountains thus making it the record cold spot and the record hot spot for the Alaskan interior. But people who live here, seem to love it and have activities for all seasons.

Fairbanks came into being in 1901 when Mr. Barnette opened a trading post on the banks of the Chena River. Gold was discovered on the Cripple Creek (named after the Colorado gold mining town) which became the richest mile of creek in Alaska and attracted gold rushers from Dawson City, Circle City and other gold rush towns in the Yukon and Alaska. Instantly, it became the third largest city in Alaska. Once the gold rush ended, oil became king in the area with the construction of the Alaskan Pipeline.

After the oil change, I finally was able to visit a couple of very nice quilt shops: Northern Threads, which is also a yarn shop, and Material Girls. I traded money for lovely fabric in both shops. Then we stopped at Fred Meyers. We were first introduced to Fred Meyers in Seattle and really like it. Like WalMart and Target, it has everything. It was very difficult not to go completely crazy in the produces department.

On Thursday, we took a ride on the Riverboat Discovery III. The riverboat travels the Chena River to the point where it joins the Tanana River with a stop at the old trading post site, Chena. Now this is a cultural education site giving you a chance to see how the Athabaskans lived in the past. During our ride, the captain slowed to a stop by the sled dog kennels of Susan Butcher. Susan was the second woman to win the Iditarod Race and went on to win it three more times. Although Susan passed away in 2009, her daughter, Tekla, continues to operate the kennel and train dogs for mushing. In fact one of her dog handlers completed the Iditarod this year…I her stats were 12 days, 12 hours, 22 minutes and 2 seconds! She brought three dogs from her team and several retired dogs from the kennel to meet and greet the boat passengers on Discovery III. Tekla gave an exciting demonstration of dogs working as a team pulling an ATV rather than a sled.

Friday, we visited the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. It is famous for its studies on the aurora. It is a beautiful campus. One of the gems on campus is the Museum of the North. I highly recommend a visit here. You may think you know all about Alaskan history but trust me, you do not. One of the things I found interesting, the aurora produces an induction current. So when building the Alaska Pipeline, the engineers had to adapt the design for this induction current to prevent oxidation of the pipeline components.

One last tidbit about Fairbanks. In August of 1967, there was a devastating flood along the Chena River destroying much of the town. The Chena is a glacial river so in August it is at its highest level for the season. Now add 6 inches of rain in 5 days and there was a major problem. When we visited Pioneer Park the high water mark was at about 2.5 to 3 feet. The problem now became getting rid of the water and starting reconstruction before the weather turned cold. It was a nasty miserable mess.

We spent three nights at the Riversedge Campground. Beautiful old cottonwoods shade the grounds and guess what I discovered…I am allergic to cottonwood! By the way, I forgot to mention, Fairbanks claims the farthest north Harley Davidson dealership and they were having a rally so Harleys were everywhere.

Tonight, we are camped on the banks of the Nenana River at the Tatlanika Campground and Trading Post, a very fun place. We will head on down toward Talkeetna tomorrow. This is the place I have been waiting for.