Day 16 – Saturday, August 8th
We woke up early in our parking lot home at Pioneer Park. It was getting light but the world looked very white. A thick fog had settled over Fairbanks. We could barely see the row of buses parked 50 yards away. We debated whether it was a good day to take a steamboat ride but decided to have faith that it would work out.
We got moving because we needed to catch the steamboat Discovery by 8:
15am. Steamboats? You ask. Why steamboats? Did you know that at one time, there were over 150 steamboats in Alaska and the Yukon? They were one of the main means of transportation. Here is what they say about this tour: “Welcome aboard! Your three-and-a half hour cruise will take you into the heart of Alaska and the heart of a family who has made the rivers of Alaska a way of life for four generations. You will see a bush plane taking off from a "bush" style runway, visit the home and kennels of the late four-time Iditarod winner Susan Butcher, and gain insight into the ancient Athabascan Indian culture. Alaskan Native guides who have worked and lived in Alaska will take you on a personalized tour of the Chena Indian Village.” How could we pass that up? Actually, it sounds like it could be a lot of hype, but we had this tour recommended by a guy from Anchorage who told us that this was the best tourist travel thinking not just in Fairbanks, but anywhere in Alaska. Okay then!
The smoke had cleared quite a bit BUT it was a truly foggy day. What great day for a boat ride!? As it turns out, it still was. It was too foggy for the bush pilot demonstration, but the host/narrator was excellent and the riverboat was staffed by local and Native Alaskans who were great. Before we left, Patti got to have her picture taken with the actual dogsled that champion musher Susan Butcher used.
We woke up early in our parking lot home at Pioneer Park. It was getting light but the world looked very white. A thick fog had settled over Fairbanks. We could barely see the row of buses parked 50 yards away. We debated whether it was a good day to take a steamboat ride but decided to have faith that it would work out.
We got moving because we needed to catch the steamboat Discovery by 8:
15am. Steamboats? You ask. Why steamboats? Did you know that at one time, there were over 150 steamboats in Alaska and the Yukon? They were one of the main means of transportation. Here is what they say about this tour: “Welcome aboard! Your three-and-a half hour cruise will take you into the heart of Alaska and the heart of a family who has made the rivers of Alaska a way of life for four generations. You will see a bush plane taking off from a "bush" style runway, visit the home and kennels of the late four-time Iditarod winner Susan Butcher, and gain insight into the ancient Athabascan Indian culture. Alaskan Native guides who have worked and lived in Alaska will take you on a personalized tour of the Chena Indian Village.” How could we pass that up? Actually, it sounds like it could be a lot of hype, but we had this tour recommended by a guy from Anchorage who told us that this was the best tourist travel thinking not just in Fairbanks, but anywhere in Alaska. Okay then!
The smoke had cleared quite a bit BUT it was a truly foggy day. What great day for a boat ride!? As it turns out, it still was. It was too foggy for the bush pilot demonstration, but the host/narrator was excellent and the riverboat was staffed by local and Native Alaskans who were great. Before we left, Patti got to have her picture taken with the actual dogsled that champion musher Susan Butcher used. This was really an educational trip where we got to hear about what it’s really like to live here, and especially what was it like for the Indian people who have lived here for over ten thousand years. 
The native village was really wonderful, and we also got the chance to see sled dogs in actions and have a great question and answer period with a young woman whose father and brother have 
raced in the Iditarod and she plans to race in it in a couple of years. These dogs are highly enthusiastic and ready to PULL! (a team of dogs pulled a quad ,with its engine turned off, on a course we could barely see due to the fog but they had a great start and ending.) AND we got to sample some simply marvelous Alaskan salmon while aboard ship. The young woman told us we could have as much as we wanted, and we took her up on that! Great!
One of the things that was on our agenda, from as soon as we saw it o
n a state calendar, was going to The Alaska State Fair. Actually, Alaska is so large geographically that it has five different fairs all of whom claim to be the Alaska State Fair. Go Figure! So, it is really more like a county fair, but fun anyway. Anyway, one of the things that we both remember hearing about since we were kids was the large vegetables, like 80 pound cabbages 
that they grow in Alaska. How can this be? Well, in the summer you get 20 hours a day of sunshine, plus a goodly amount of rain. That seems to call for quick growing food. And so, it is true or a myth that the veggies are big? True! We saw some very large cabbages, including some that weighed over 25 pounds. It turns out that the winning one weighed 60 pounds and took two strong men carrying it on a sheet of plywood!
This fair was on a much smaller scale than either the Ohio or Minnesota State Fairs that we both have enjoyed. But we did manage, as you can at any fair,
to eat our way through it! Mostly, typical fair food, but we were occasionally surprised to find things like reindeer hot dogs, and other “interesting” gourmet Alaskan treats. And we got to meet and talk to a number of really interesting local people who were nice and friendly. One of these was Bonnie Pagle, who worked for NOAA (people who do weather satellites, keep track of weather, and make forecasts)
. She was a delight, and after both Dick and Patti won prizes in her weather trivia game, we spent another half hour talking about our various experiences. She talked about her efforts to do weather education. She has a fun claim to fame in having a local interview with her show up on National Public Radio, with a friend in Seattle hearing her on his drive home! She had had to evacuate one summer as a forest fire came too close. She reflected on what it had been like to stand in her living room trying to decide what to take with her and what to leave, all within a couple of minutes. For the rest of the summer she drove around with these precious items in her car, just in case there was another fire.
We also got to go check in our bed and breakfast, this night we will NOT sleep in the parking lot of an amusement park. We will be here for two nights and are expecting to really enjoy ourselves there.
In case you are wondering, so far we haven’t had any Sarah Palin sightings. But we have run across her face on books and calendars in several gift shops.
The evening ended (again, long before it was dark ‘cause it stays light here until 11:30!) back at the 7 Gables Inn, watching the cheesy, but fun, old B movie on, you guessed it The Alaskan Highway. I guess you can say we are thorough when we set our sights on something.
The native village was really wonderful, and we also got the chance to see sled dogs in actions and have a great question and answer period with a young woman whose father and brother have 
raced in the Iditarod and she plans to race in it in a couple of years. These dogs are highly enthusiastic and ready to PULL! (a team of dogs pulled a quad ,with its engine turned off, on a course we could barely see due to the fog but they had a great start and ending.) AND we got to sample some simply marvelous Alaskan salmon while aboard ship. The young woman told us we could have as much as we wanted, and we took her up on that! Great!One of the things that was on our agenda, from as soon as we saw it o
n a state calendar, was going to The Alaska State Fair. Actually, Alaska is so large geographically that it has five different fairs all of whom claim to be the Alaska State Fair. Go Figure! So, it is really more like a county fair, but fun anyway. Anyway, one of the things that we both remember hearing about since we were kids was the large vegetables, like 80 pound cabbages 
that they grow in Alaska. How can this be? Well, in the summer you get 20 hours a day of sunshine, plus a goodly amount of rain. That seems to call for quick growing food. And so, it is true or a myth that the veggies are big? True! We saw some very large cabbages, including some that weighed over 25 pounds. It turns out that the winning one weighed 60 pounds and took two strong men carrying it on a sheet of plywood!This fair was on a much smaller scale than either the Ohio or Minnesota State Fairs that we both have enjoyed. But we did manage, as you can at any fair,
to eat our way through it! Mostly, typical fair food, but we were occasionally surprised to find things like reindeer hot dogs, and other “interesting” gourmet Alaskan treats. And we got to meet and talk to a number of really interesting local people who were nice and friendly. One of these was Bonnie Pagle, who worked for NOAA (people who do weather satellites, keep track of weather, and make forecasts)
. She was a delight, and after both Dick and Patti won prizes in her weather trivia game, we spent another half hour talking about our various experiences. She talked about her efforts to do weather education. She has a fun claim to fame in having a local interview with her show up on National Public Radio, with a friend in Seattle hearing her on his drive home! She had had to evacuate one summer as a forest fire came too close. She reflected on what it had been like to stand in her living room trying to decide what to take with her and what to leave, all within a couple of minutes. For the rest of the summer she drove around with these precious items in her car, just in case there was another fire.We also got to go check in our bed and breakfast, this night we will NOT sleep in the parking lot of an amusement park. We will be here for two nights and are expecting to really enjoy ourselves there.
In case you are wondering, so far we haven’t had any Sarah Palin sightings. But we have run across her face on books and calendars in several gift shops.
The evening ended (again, long before it was dark ‘cause it stays light here until 11:30!) back at the 7 Gables Inn, watching the cheesy, but fun, old B movie on, you guessed it The Alaskan Highway. I guess you can say we are thorough when we set our sights on something.
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