Monday, 8/15 was our Fairbanks day, which started with a three hour tour on the Riverboat Discovery. We lucked out with another beautiful, sunny day, so we found seats on the open deck at the front of the boat. As the boat headed out, the guide talked about how important planes are for life here, and then a bush pilot demoed a water landing near the boat.
We also stopped at the riverbank where a late dog sled racing champion lived, where her family still lives and runs a kennel. They had a live conversation with the owner who showed how the dogs train in the summer.
The bulk of the tour was spent on shore at the Chena Village Living Museum, a reproduction of an Athabascan village. The tour guides explained how people lived and survived here, including how they processed salmon, made canoes, and kept warm. They also explained that the summer growing season for food is great in Alaska due to how much daylight they get. Some huge veggies up here!
We had time to wander freely and visit the sled dogs and the reindeer. Two funny memories from those:
- Zadie wanted to meet a reindeer before deciding whether to try a reindeer hot dog. While she did not seem overly impressed with the reindeer, she decided against the hot dog.
- The girls both picked out souvenirs in the gift shop before the tour started, Ruth a really comfy Alaska sweatshirt and Zadie a little stuffed animal sled dog which she carried around during the tour. When we got to the real sled dogs, they saw her stuffed animal and immediately ran over and jumped up on the side of the enclosure trying to figure out what it was. They freaked her out! That toy spent the next chunk of the tour in a backpack.
After a pub lunch at Brewsters, we stopped in downtown Fairbanks at their huge park along the river, Pioneer Park, where Zadie worked off some energy before we started our drive back south. This place was like Raleigh's Pullen Park on steroids.
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| Near our lunch stop |
Back on the road, we stopped to try seeing Mount Denali again on the trip south, but it was covered by clouds like before.
Our quiet, scenic boondocking spot more than made up for it though. What a beautiful place to relax for dinner and spend the night.