Travels with Shelby

19-22 July, 2016 – Fairbanks, AK

The Chena River flows right through downtown Fairbanks, and the Tanana is the large braided river on the south side of town.

The Elks Lodge in Fairbanks sits right on the Chena River as it flows through the historic downtown area. The sites are very narrow, with 30-amp posts obviously installed before the days of slideouts, but by parking in every other spot we had plenty of room. We pulled in facing the river, and were entertained by all the large logs, trees even, that were being rapidly washed downstream due to all the rain that had been falling here and in the mountains. The Lodge is open daily for lunch and two nights for dinner, and has showers and a washer and dryer available to campers.

Elks Lodge in Fairbanks - at the end of the building is an indoor driving range, so golfers can keep up their skills during the winter! Motorhomes are parked beyond the lodge.

The view from our front window of rafters on the Chena River (and the coal-burning power plant across the river). We saw rafters only on our first day in Fairbanks - after that there was so much large debris floating rapidly down river that people would have been in danger.

 The lodge is walking distance to the very nice Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor’s Center and to the restaurants of downtown Fairbanks. When we asked about the Discovery III paddlewheel boat cruise, the visitor center host called for us and made our reservation for that afternoon. As in so many places we’ve been in Canada and Alaska, bright flowers are cheerfully abundant in beds and containers around the downtown area.

Barbara and Shelby at the antler arch outside the Visitor's Center - the arch is made up of moose and caribou antlers.

The Discovery III cruise down the Chena River to its junction with the Tanana River was informative and interesting. We were amazed at the number of very large, sumptuous homes along the river. We were lucky that the rain held off during the 3 hour cruise/tour, as it rained most of the time that we were in Fairbanks.

The Discovery III  - we sat in the front row on the bow (out of sight to the right) - chilly, but good vantage point

Susan Butcher's daughter shows off the family's sled dog training center as the boat held  its place in the river.

"Wild caribou" on the banks of the Chena near the junction with the Tanana - that turned out to be domesticated reindeer kept in the Chena Native American demonstration village. 

The reindeer returned to their pen. It's hard to imagine that they grow those huge antlers every year.

One of the Butcher center's employees answered questions about the sled dogs, which are actually mongrels with the genes of many different dog breeds.

One of our young native interpreters at the Chena village, modeling a fur coat worth >$25,000. The hood is lined with wolverine fur, which does not accumulate snow and ice, so keeps the wearer's face from freezing.

One of the many large homes along the banks of the Chena. We wondered how much it costs to keep them warm during the winter - or maybe they move into the little house on the left (or go to Arizona)?

The Fountainhead Antique Car and Costume Museum was a great place to visit on a rainy day. They very graciously welcomed Shelby to tour with us - we're always happy when she is allowed to accompany us. The museum has more than 50 perfectly restored and operational antique vehicles that are displayed along with representative clothing from each time period. Large wall posters give the history of automobiles and roads in Alaska. I've only included a few photos here - if anyone wants to see more antique car photos, just let us know and we'll send them!

The oldest car in the collection, an 1898 Hay

1919 McFarlane 4-passenger Sport Touring car, originally owned by Wallace Reid, the "American Valentino of silent movies." The McFarlane was considered the American Rolls Royce - Al Capone owned two!

1936 Packard, the newest car in the collection

Poster on the museum wall: September 28, 1911 - Enroute on a  100,000 mile durability run in an Abbot-Detroit (Bulldog) car, taken in Skagway, AK in front of an Elks Lodge.

The Museum of the North at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus had interesting displays about the history of Alaska and the natural history of the area. We did think that the $12 admission price was a bit steep for what the museum presents - maybe we've just been to too many museums in the past month!

The Pioneer Park in Fairbanks houses a number of older building that have been relocated here and are now either museum displays or retail establishments. A small train takes visitors on a narrated loop around the park, and there is a large children's playground. We did not partake in the Alaska Salmon Bake, as the weather wasn't conducive to outdoor eating, and we're not really fans of big buffets.

Lulu the Great Dane greets visitors from atop this table outside one of the Pioneer Park buildings. She apparently spends all day hoping someone will give her a few pats as she stands on her table.

 We ate out twice in Fairbanks, and were happy once. We had high hopes for Gambardella's Pasta Bella after seeing a parchment baked salmon with white wine and capers on their on-line menu. It was not on the menu at the restaurant, but our waitress said they still make it, so we ordered it. They must bake them in their pizza oven, and we think they forgot about them, as the parchment paper was charred, and the salmon grossly overdone. We probably should have sent them back, but didn't. Our last night in Fairbanks, we walked over to Big Daddy's Barbeque. Tom's ribs were excellent, and Barbara's pulled pork sandwich had so much meat on it that we made two more sandwiches for lunch the next day. It was very tender, nicely smoked, and as good as anything from North Carolina, although not quite so succulent as the ribs in Whitehorse!

Next edition will be Denali National Park.