Fairbanks 2

We spent the week recuperating in Fairbanks at the Elk Lodge. We really enjoyed ourselves at the lodge with its amenities. We had free laundry, showers, a bar, and a restaurant open 4 days a wk for lunch and 2 nights for dinner. Food was excellent and everyone was friendly.

The Elks Lodge is on the Chena River, a great float river. On Sunday we sat outside and just watched the people float down the river in various "boats". I have no idea how cold the water was but it had to be pretty cold, maybe warm by Alaskan standards. 


After some resting and stocking up(glad to get American "normal" food again) we did some light touring. We visited the Visitor Center to find out some critical information for our RV, where to dump the tanks when we leave and get water on board again. Going to Denali next this was critical since we knew the campground in Denali had nothing. A normal national park campground. I figure we won't have any cell or internet either. Probably no TV either. Barebones is the national park routine.

We managed to get some haircuts and I asked which market has the best meat, essentially the answer was none. Sams Club was considered the best but they are no longer in Alaska. She asked where we were going, told her Denali and she recommended Three Bears Market in Healy. he said everyone stopped there on the way back to Fairbanks and stocks up on meat, prices are reasonable also. Sounds good to us. We will make a stop.

We visited 2 Ice Museums in and near Fairbanks. Both were interesting but not up to what we expected. At the Visitor Center, we saw 2 movies: one on bears and one on the Borealis. We skipped the Riverboat Cruise and the Museum tour. We had done both of these on our last trip here and we are not really museum people. We did go and visit the pipeline, there was and info board and it was interesting but not much there.

This part of Alaska does not have the impressive mountains that we have seen on our trip north. Once we start heading for Denali we should start seeing mountains again.

We visited a Migratory Bird Sanctuary and saw some Sand Hill Cranes plus the ho-hum Canadian Geese. We also found a place to get the car washed, looks a lot better now.

As planned this was a lazy week to recover from the trip before starting on the meat of the trip: Denali, Kenai Peninsula, etc.

Our First Moose Viewing!!!

We stopped at a wood bowl factory,nice, but we were looking for the Burl Bowls

etc.

Visited an Ice Museum, actually 2, this is the first

And here is the second. We both had expectations of the ice carvings one sees on TV. We et ourselves up to be disappointed.

The second Ice Museum was much better than the first but still didn't meet our expectations.