Fairbanks, Alaska

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This morning Barbara gave Ruth and I a haircut. It is nice to have a beautician in the group. Then we all went to the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. It has some very interesting exhibits there including Otto, the brown bear who is 8'9" and weighs 1,250 lbs. They also have on display Blue Babe, the world's only mummified Ice Age steppe bison mummy. They also have Alaska's largest public display of gold. We saw two movies - one was on the Aurora. This was really fascinating. I would love to see the Aurora but since it doesn't get dark, it's not possible. They say that Fairbanks is a very ideal place to see it. I hear that in the winter and early spring, it is beautiful. We also saw a movie about winter in Fairbanks. During the winter I believe they have about 3 1/2 hrs. of daylight each day. Something that was interesting to me was that in the summer, the sun rises and sets in the North and in the winter, the sun rises and sets in the South. We then went to Pioneer Park which has a set up of an early pioneer village and lots of old machinery. Jim was interessted in the steam operated shovel. It helped build the Panama Canal, worked in Hawaii and dug sections of Davidson Ditch which was the Alaskan "water pipeline." It was very interesting to us to see a sign attached with the words Evansville Ind. Jim thinks maybe it was a Bucyrus-Erie since they made those in Evansville. We then had supper there. It is called Salmon Bake in the Park. All you can eat, salmon, prime rib, fish and all the trimmings. Very good.

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