Blogs from Fairbanks, Alaska, United States, North America - page 9

Thursday, July 7th Chena State Park, Fairbanks 68 degrees and sunny. Starting mileage 10960 Talking with several RTers this morning, convinced us to tag along on their journey up the Elliott and then Dalton Highways toward Prudhoe Bay going as far as the Arctic Circle about 115 miles beyond Livengood. They were leaving camp at 10:30, but we told them we had things to do and would catch up to them. Got fresh water back at Pioneer Park as we couldn’t get close enough to the water faucet at the State Park. Checked our e-mail while we were there. We then headed north out of Fairbanks on the Elliott Highway that was mostly paved and followed the Alaskan oil pipeline for the 84 miles up to the community of Livengood where the two highways split. The ... read more

Postscript to Saturday’s entry. We had dinner Saturday night at an all-you-can-eat, salmon, prime rib and snow crab legs place that occupied a corner of Pioneer Park. It wasn’t that great for the price we paid, and that is why I most likely forgot it. The place was set up for tour buses to bring in hordes of people and since they were not there at this time, we could go right through the serving line. We did find a couple of RTers inside and joined them for dinner. That was pleasant. Sunday July 3rd through Monday, July 5th Pioneer Park, Fairbanks Alaska; Fair and 57 degrees. Starting mileage 10925. Started the day by driving to Creamer’s Field that is now a 2000 acre Migratory Waterfowl Refuge. Prior to 1966, this was a dairy farm started ... read more

After finishing our first year of teaching, Katherine and I packed our bags and headed off to America's last fronteir. We were going to visit Gwen and her husband, Tony in Fairbanks. The first several days we spent at their house, catching up and visiting local attractions such as Pioneer Park, North Pole, AK, and downtown Fairbanks. Pioneer is touted as Alaska's only historic themepark. It has no entry fee and it has several museums as well as lots of outdoor space for children to play. It is a good place to learn some Alaskan history. Another great place to learn about Alaksa is the Fairbanks vistor center in downtown Fairbanks. There isn't too much in downtown other than a few shops and restaurants but the Fudge Pot is a must taste stop. It specializes in ... read more

Today was the trip to above the Arctic Circle!! A trip I have been wanting to make since I was in Alaska when in the Air Force. Had an opportunity then to go above the Arctic Circle, but could not make the trip then. We traveled the Dalton Highway, also known as "The Haul Road". This is the road featured in "Ice Road Truckers". Much of the road I recognized from the show without the ice and sneaux :-). This was around a 400 mile round trip from North Pole, AK. The road was rough, but found it to be not as bad as others had said. No windshield dings, no flat tires, no major issues. There were a lot of frost heaves, gravel, and clay/dirt stretches. The bridge over the Yukon River was very interesting. ... read more

Today was a long, marvelous, busy day.It started with breakfast in the "lodge". It was better than just a continental breakfast, and the "lodge" actually had moose antlers over a stone fireplace. Then, we decided that since it wasn't raining and there weren't too many clouds, we'd drive back up the park road and try to get a glimpse of Denali. We got lucky! Only 30% of visitors get to see it because it is only "out", as in not enshrouded with clouds, about 10% of the time! We took pictures of snow-covered mountains nearby. Then, in the right spot to be able to see the mountain, we thought we saw a peak that was not a cloud. We got out the binoculars and there it was! The pictures make it look like it's floating. We ... read more