Day Twelve - North Pole, AK

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On the list of activities today was a lazy morning, The Santa Claus House, The Home Depot for plumbing repair pieces, a trip to Walmart for provisions, the Fairbanks Ice Museum and twilight golf with the sun still high in the sky.

Mike took another look at the water leak we'd sprung and couldn't figure out the true source. Each time he thought he'd found it he'd been proven wrong with wetness when he went back later to check it. He happened to see a mobile RV repairman working on a rig nearby and asked if he might have time to take a look when he'd finished. When Paul, the repairman, came to see about our problem he checked all the pipes and connections and could find no holes or loose fittings. He finally asked what was above the area they were looking at. Mike told him it was the bathroom sink. They went inside to check everything there. Eureka! The connection to the sink itself was loose. A few twists of the wrist and it was good as new. Well, almost. In finding the issue it was also discovered that one of the pipes in the P-trap assembly was wonky and the o-ring was pinched out of shape. Thus the trip to Home Depot. While Paul was chasing down our leak, Dave came over and asked if he'd have time to look at his refrigerator. Their freezer wasn't keeping things frozen while it was running on propane. Paul didn't have time, but his buddy Ryan (also an RV technician) would be able to take a look at it later in the afternoon.

With our trailers squared away, we set off for The Santa Claus House. Fun street names we passed on the way included Runamuk Rd, Memory Rd (should have been Ln), Saint Nicholas Dr and Santa Claus Ln.

Yes, it was as you would imagine; Christmas everywhere! There was even a red barn trimmed in white that housed a small gift shop, restrooms and their Antler Academy of Flying & Reindeer Games. Several reindeer (caribou) wandered around in a large pen. Visitors could, for a fee, have the experience of going into the enclosure and feeding them! We chose to stay outside the pen and take pictures. They were fun to watch, especially when they'd perform yoga stretches in order to scratch their back hooves with their antlers.

The main building was white trimmed in red. How else would Santa's house be painted? There were several Christmas window displays including two large displays spanning four windows each. Inside were several fully decorated Christmas trees. At the left end of the store was Santa's chair where kids could get their pictures taken with the jolly old elf. The chair was empty at the time we were there. He must have been on a cocoa break. Most of the shop was filled with Christmas-related gifts and souvenirs as you would expect. One end, though, had t-shirts, hoodies and other items that sported North Pole, Alaska graphics. Between the Christmas items and the non-Christmas items was a small snack bar where you could get cocoa, ice cream, coffee and other snack items and a seating area where you could rest until you were ready to continue browsing or shopping. I found a few things to buy, Teri did some Christmas shopping. Great idea! I was not prepared to do that and I think it would have given Mike a heart attack.

Back outside between the two buildings was an enormous Santa Claus looking over his list. In front of him was a very small sleigh in comparison, but just the right size for people to sit in for photos. Nearer the main building was a Christmas tree as tall as the big man. I googled the Santa statue and found it is 42 feet tall. The base was originally 8 feet tall. It's only two or three feet tall now. A couple of posts I read online claimed "according to legend" it was originally built for the Seattle World's Fair in 1962. Why would they have a giant Santa? The Santa Claus House website only mentions the builder (Wes Stanley of Stanley Plastics in Enumclaw, WA), that it was built in the 1960s, and it appeared "in a Seattle shopping mall during the Christmas season for several years." There was also an enormous, fully decorated Christmas tree about the same height as Santa. I wouldn't want to be the one in charge of decorating that one!

Finished with our visit to Santa's house, we made our way to Home Depot and Wallyworld. The Walmart had a little different look to it than the standard. The facades between the entrances resembled storefronts of the old gold-mining frontier days. It was pretty neat to see the area's history incorporated into the building of a large chain store.

Ryan had called Dave to let him know what time he would be able to look at their refrigerator. We got back to camp in time and Ryan dug into the mechanics of the fridge. Everything seemed to be working fine (isn't that always how it goes?), but Ryan explained to Dave and Mike what to look for and how to fix it if it happened again. They talked for quite a while until the conversation had to be cut off for dinner.

Today I got to do the best thing about road tripping - laundry! My favorite thing in the world to do when we're on the road (the evil necessity that it is). I hope you read those sentences with as much sarcasm as I typed them. While the machines were doing their thing I worked on the blog, trying to get caught up. I was only a couple days behind. Teri and Dave have a machine in their rig. She said she does laundry overnight whenever they need it. I'm beginning to think a washer/dryer wouldn't be a bad thing to have after all. Unfortunately, ours isn't outfitted to accommodate one, plus we would lose valuable storage. We don't do extended excursions often, whereas they do one every few years so it makes sense for them. We just make sure we pack several rolls of quarters.

After dinner we got the dogs settled in their homes on wheels, loaded up our golf bags and shoes and headed out for our "twilight" round of golf. Fairbanks Golf Club is a nice little nine-hole course. It is the northernmost golf course in the United States. When we arrived there were several people sitting at tables on the deck and a few still on the course. We checked in, paid our greens and cart rental fees and grabbed a scorecard. On the counter near the till was a container of golf balls with the club's name and logo. I picked up three, the only souvenir type item in the pro shop, and went to pay for them. The man working there let me have them free of charge. That was so nice of him!

We grabbed a couple power carts, loaded up and drove to the first tee box. Our round began at 7:10 p.m. There was nobody behind us so starting a little late didn't affect anyone else. The fairways were very hilly, almost like a miniature version of the mountains and foothills around us, and the cart path caused PTSD. It was no better and sometimes worse than the roads we'd been dragging our houses on! By the third hole I had acquired five more mosquito bites to add to the bites I had when we arrived. Of course I had neglected to pack either of our two bottles of DEET. Teri, on the other hand, was prepared and let me use hers. A little late, but it seemed to keep the little buggers at bay after that. Just before I teed off I looked at Mike and Dave and asked, "Whose idea was this??" Dave pointed directly at me with a grin on his face and said, "Yours." Ah yes, I was the one who really wanted to start as late as possible. With the mosquitoes, perhaps 7:00 wasn't the best choice. I don't know if 8:00 (their last tee time according to their website) would have been much better.

When we got to the fourth hole a couple women behind us asked if they could play through. They were in a tournament (that explains all the people on the deck) and were in the process of finishing their round of 18. They nearly ran after their tee shots, seemingly eager to let us continue. I shouted for them to take their time, we were in no hurry. They ran anyway. Maybe they just wanted away from the mosquitoes, too.

It was nice to play with all my correct equipment. Mike and I had met up with a friend of mine from church a few weeks ago and played the Par-3 course at Battle Creek in Marysville, but he grabbed the wrong set of clubs for me. He brought my old bag with the clubs I had weeded out from his hand-me-down clubs and the set I already had. I had enough of the right clubs to play, but it might have gone better if I had MY clubs. Who am I kidding?!?! Also lacking in the set I was playing with were balls and tees! Kinda difficult to chase the little white ball if you don't even have one.

The Fairbanks course was fun to play. Like I said, the fairways had a lot of rolling hills creating lots of valleys. There were even a few deep spots in some of the valleys where the grass grew taller because the mower wasn't able to get down in there to cut it at the same height as the surrounding areas. The greens were a little slow so we had to remember to put a little more into our puts. It was rarely enough. One particularly bad hole for me took me FOUR strokes to get past the ladies' tee! I always play the men's tees. Maybe I should start using the ladies'. It was a short distance, one you wouldn't use a driver for your tee shot. I kept topping the ball and it would go about ten feet. I think I ended that hole with an actual score of fourteen, but I don't count after ten. The only water hazard was off the tee box on the ninth hole. Mike and Dave made it over just fine. Me? My first ball almost made it over before dropping with a splash. My second ball came off the tee low and skipped off the water like a flat stone three times before losing momentum. My third try ended up slicing before going swimming. At that point I gave up and dropped a ball on the opposite side. Mike finished with two pars, Dave with one and I finished with only having to stop counting at ten on three holes. We finished at about 10:00 and it was still quite light out. All in all, we all had some good shots, some not so good. I think we all lost at least one ball, but we had fun and were glad we did it. I think we're planning to play again when we get to Prince George (at least that's what my calendar says).

I'll talk to you again soon.

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