Alaskan Cruise - Day 13

---

Yesterday we spent the day in Fairbanks. Kay & I headed for the Riverboat Discovery & the guys rented a car & drove to the hot springs.

I enjoyed the riverboat trip much more than I thought I would. It began with a seaplane demonstrating a take off & landing for us. Although we had been around seaplanes several times on this trip, this was the first time it was done just for us & done so close you could really see what happens. The next show was at the Susan Butcher's Trail Breaker Kennel. We learned more about mushing & saw a demonstration. Our final stop of the trip was at an Chena Indian Village, home of the Athabascan Indians. Here we had an opportunity to see how the natives caught & processed their salmon, hunted & trapped animals & existed before & after western culture was introduced in Alaska. Our tour guide's name was Haley & she did a great job of letting us in on Alaskan culture.

We ended the day with a final dinner together. It was a time of wonderful fellowship & sharing of favorite events that had occurred over the past 2 weeks. We said our goodbyes to Trey & Andrew since we would not see them in the morning. Tomorrow we all head for home.

---

Photos

Haley telling us about the life of a trapper
above her are L-R: beaver, mink, ermine & ?.
below her are L-R: wolf, wolverine, lynx & red fox. (Haley's grandfather was a trapper)

Haley models a fur
This is a typical fur sewn by the women of the tribe that makes the long cold winters bearable (no pun intended)

Comments

[Kathleen]

Athabascan village sights
Another sight in common ~ we picked the best tours, huh? What did you think of the native costume? I was amazed at how beautiful and intricate on the weaving. Also, did you order any of the canned salmon that they used on the snacks? Oh my gosh, we've really enjoyed it!