6/6/13 Fairbanks

Despite being exhausted from the air travel, I woke up at 4 this morning.  It was, of course, bright sunshine.  I actually woke up for a bit at 2 AM and took a peek outside.  It was dusky out, but not at all dark.  In the winter they get a mere 3 and 1/2 hours of sunlight - I don't think I could stand it.  At any rate, Dave and I took a walk along the Chena River which runs right behind our hotel.  I snapped a picture around 9 PM last night (see photo).  As you can see it is still quite light out.  The other picture of the river shows a road next to the hotel.  When the river is frozen in the winter, cars drive across - it saves about 4 miles to go that way.  According to our bus driver, the road stays open until the first car falls in the river!  We met up with John, Lana, and Kelly and had breakfast at 7.  Everything was very good and Dave even tried the reindeer sausage (I took a small taste).  We then took the shuttle into Fairbanks, downtown.  Our first stop was the Visitor's Center.  The exhibits were quite well done and we saw a short movie on the Aurora Borealis, which was very informative.  We are not here at the right time of year to enjoy it, so it was nice to see the film of such a spectacular display.  We each had our pictures taken under the moose arch (shades of Jackson Hole, WY) and then walked along the river into town.  We visited a so-so craft shop and then a very nice art gallery.  The weather here changes faster than in New England (obviously, Mark Twain never visited Alaska).  We had bright sunshine one minute and then rain the next.  Fortunately, we were aware that this could happen and had packed our raingear with us.  We ate lunch in a little sandwich shop called the Fudge Pot and then walked over to the dog sled exhibit (see the parking sign).  We hopped back on the shuttle bus and went back to the hotel.  We will go out tonight to the Chena Hot Springs and Ice Museum.  I will let you know how it went tomorrow.  Apparently, I am having difficulty putting the photos on the blog.  I will try to correct this.  Okay, I think I have it fixed now.  Talk to you tomorrow.