6/7/13 Fairbanks

Last night we drove about 60 miles to Chena Hot Springs and Ice Museum.  On our way we picked up a couple with their adult daughter from Ohio.  The daughter had just graduated with a teaching degree and this is her graduation present - a trip to Alaska.  The other young lady that joined us works at the hot springs.  She was one of those people who is not sure what she wants to do in life so is trying everything.  Her last job was in Hawaii working for a Boys and Girl's Club and now she is working at the desk at the resort on the hot springs property.  At any rate, we had dinner when we arrived (around 8 PM).  The salad was very fresh as the veggies are grown hydroponically in the greenhouse on the property.  Dave and I had halibut for our main course while the rest of our group had salmon.  Have I ever mentioned that Lana is the Salmon Queen?  She eats it at every opportunity - she even had a salmon omelet for breakfast yesterday morning!  After dinner, we toured the Ice Museum.  We donned parkas and saw the workshop where the ice sculptors (a husband and wife team) work.  There were tons of ice blocks being stored in there also.  The next room highlighted some of the art work - all made of ice!  There were full-sized statues of horses, knights, samuri, animals, etc.  There was also a bar all carved of ice where you could sit on an ice stool (covered with reindeer hide) and sip appletini's poured into glasses carved from ice.  Lana and Kelly tried them out - very cold, especially on the lips!  At the back of the museum were hotel rooms carved into the ice.  You can stay there for $200 a night.  Of course, the beds would be covered with reindeer hide and heavy down comforters!  There was even an ice outhouse in the room!  I was happy to get back outside after the tour to warm up!  The setting here is quite woodsy and the mosquitoes were out in force - some of them were quite large (in fact, the mosquito is the unofficial state bird).  From the ice house, Kelly and I went to the hot springs, which felt wonderful!  The funniest thing happened though.  As we walked down the ramp to enter the hot springs, there was a goose on the other side of the fence who honked as we went by - it seemed that he was laughing at us in our bathing suits!  What a rude bird!  We hopped back into the van and arrived back at our hotel at about 1 AM - yikes!  It was still light out though.  It doesn't ever really get dark.  In Fairbanks, you can golf and play baseball at midnight!

This morning, we got up early and had a welcome breakfast where we met our guide for land tour as well as our fellow passengers.  We then boarded a bus and visited a goldmine that was active until the 1950's.  It is now a tourist attraction and quite well done.  We had a talk about the Alaskan pipeline (Aleyska, meaning great land).  We could see a bit of it right near the mine.  There are 800 miles of pipe that runs both above and below ground and presently carries about 600,000 barrels of oil per day.  They have something they call a stupid pig, which runs through the pipe scraping the sides to loosen the petroleum products that clog the progress of the oil.  When they run through the pipe, it is the only time you will hear any noise emanating from the pipes.  There is also a smart pig, which runs through and takes measurements and images to make sure the pipe is not damaged in any was.  The above ground portions of the pipeline are situated so that they can take an 8.5 earthquake and not be damaged.  It was very interesting.  Each Alaskan gets a subsidy from the pipeline of between $300 - $2200 each year.  We then took a train to the mining operation.  On the way, various methods of mining through the years was described and demonstrated from the used of pick-ax and shovel to the dredge method.  We were each given some gravel to pan at the sluice way.  Everyone found at least a few flakes of gold.  Each of our findings was weighed.  Lana and I each found $6 worth, Kelly found $9 and John was the big winner with $21!  It was great fun and Lana and Kelly purchased glass pendants, which included the found flakes.

Our next stop was to the stern-wheeler (five decks high) on the Chena River.  We had lunch of miner's stew, cheddar and ale soup or vegetable pasta and then boarded the boat for a ride on the river.  Along the way, we had a demonstation of a small sea plane take-off and landing right next to the boat.  Small planes are very important in Alaska as there are people who live in isolated places with no roads.  We also stopped along the banks at a dog training facility where sled dogs are trained.  There were a couple of 5-week old puppies (absolutely adorable) who were trying to climb over a log on command - very amusing.  The older dogs gave a demonstration by pulling a tractor. They were very excited to be pulling and were extremely fast.  The woman who won the Iditarod Trail sled dog race an unprecedented four times with her dog Granite lived there until her death a few years ago.  Granite was a shy, scraggley pup, but Susan Butcher, the handler, believed in Granite and trained him to realize his potential.  His winning the race justified her time and patience.  Susan's husband continues with the training and has written a book about Susan and Granite.  We continued down the river and then turned around to head back.  We stopped at a mock-up of a native Alaskan village and fish camp.  Some high school aged native Alaskans gave demonstrations and talked about the life of their forefathers.  They all did a wonderful job.  We paddled back up the river, which is high at this time of year, past a variety of housing from small cabins to palatial homes until we got back to the dock.

Dinner tonight was quite fancy and featured five different types of wine - all of whom were described by the resident wine expert.  The meal consisted of salad, halibut in wasabi and coconut sauce, beef tenderloin, vegetables, fingerling potatoes and Bananas Foster.  I think the key here is to just have a taste of everything as there is just too much food!  Tomorrow we will head to Denali National Park so hope to see some wildlife.