Here's Fairbanks, Alaska. Important landmarks are Fairbanks International, University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), Fort Wainwright (10th Army Division) and the Chena River which flows from East to West across town to its junction with the Tanana at lower left.
The Alaska Highway AK-2 (locally the Richardson Highway) comes in from Delta and North Pole at lower right. The Parks Highway AK-3 to Denali and Anchorage leaves at upper left. The Steese Highway AK-6 past the Birch Hill Recreation Area at upper right leads to the town of Circle to the northeast, off which branches the Elliot Highway to Manley Hot Springs, off which branches the Dalton Highway AK-11 to the Prudhoe Bay oil fields.
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We loafed away a good part of the morning, just relaxing after a couple of very early risings.
Then we decided to travel out of town to look for ungulates and small animals. We went across town to the Steese Highway. We went out about 70 miles but saw no live animals. We did see some very nice scenery and a couple of dozen pickups with ATVs.
It appears that quite a few folks live off this road, and use the ATV to get out into places the truck can't take them.
As for what they do out there, the business just down the road buys animal skins for their fur, so there must be some trapping going on. There are some still working small gold claims. Some work at the largest gold mine in Alaska, the Fort Knox mine, and like to live out there.
Later, we found out that today was the last day of caribou hunting season in this district, so that was the reason for the ATVs.
The Dining Room was not yet open so we entered the Saloon as nearly the first customers. An excellent server pounced on us and showed us that most dishes on the DR menu could be had now in the Saloon. D had crab-mac-and-cheese followed by a single crab leg which she thought was very good. I had a basket of chunks of halibut, fries and coleslaw, that was just what I wanted.
We went outside and hiked the grounds afterward, taking pictures.
The photo at right shows a mining "pump" that was really a nozzle through which was forced water. It was sent at a wall of dirt to wash it down to be set through a sluice to separate the gold. It was called "hydraulic mining" back then.
Which we did. Just kinda loafed the end of the afternoon away and stayed in, reading, during the evening.
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Up early, breakfast, took the hotel shuttle to the Riverboat Discovery attraction. We did this last in 2001.
Summary - it's just as good a tour as it was fifteen years ago, but a few changes have been put in place.
We took seats on the port side forward for the best views; a couple of hundred passengers were along with us, most off cruise line tours. D found a few "little" things for the folks back home.
We turned to go downstream, first witnessing a floatplane takeoff and landing next to the ship.
Then we went to the home of Susan Butcher (died young of leukemia), the famous lady Iditarod musher and winner in 86, 87, 88, and 90. Her husband, Dave Munson, carries on and is a past winner of the Yukon Quest race. Trail Breaker raises and trains dogs, and one of their young trainers has finished the Iditarod race. We remember Susan from our previous trip, when she addressed us. Dave put a team through their paces pulling an ATV. He would increase their load by putting on the brakes. When finished, the dogs all hopped into the river.
Then we had an hour ashore in the Village, receiving three separate lectures on Athabaskan life aspects. First was on survival techniques. The last one was on how furs are made into clothing, and then decorated for ceremonial use.
D picked up a book in the "post office" for the kids signed by the author Dave Munson.
The shuttle took us back to the Resort. We took the car to Wendy's but found the menu there very lacking so we went back to Sam's Sourdough restaurant. I had the special beef noodle soup & cheeseburger, D had the roast beef with fixings. Good home-cooked food.
We toured out to the UAF Georgeson Botanical Garden and walked around it in. The season's almost over, so it wasn't very colorful, but the huge cabbages were still there to be seen. It's a very good host to a huge number of plants and small trees.
We decided we'd seen enough. We returned to the cabin again. We did some computer things, then I took the car to the airport and turned it in. I rode back with the hotel shuttle that had taken some departing folks there.
We'll dine later in the Chena Grill and have a relaxing evening (except for packing). We entrain for Denali in the morning.