Twenty-six miles is too far to be from a place we want to explore. After a personal visit to the office and a phone call to the Camp Host, we managed to secure a site in Moose Loop at Glass Park Campground on Fort Wainwright, right in town. After having been closed and dismantled, a reversal of direction has begun to restore part of the campground to functionality. So far only half the sites had electric - they were $20 and those without electric $10. The new hosts were working hard to cut back the growth of several years. We were much more comfortable. There were still squirrels and birds for the cats to watch.
Alaska has several popular birding spots. Creamer's Field in Fairbanks is one of them and was high on our to-do list.
Curiosity sent us to the internet to find out what "fur or bear sealing" is. It appears that the state regulates bear hunting so strictly that someone has to certify or 'seal' your kill.
Even from the street some of the Sandhill Cranes are visible. We were not early enough to see the adults on their way to their breeding grounds. Quite a few non-breeding adults stay here and feed until it's time to fly south.
Linda thought this sign should be more widely used. Especially in campgrounds.
Not many birds were close to the fence this day.
We began to notice these plugs in Whitehorse but Fairbanks takes it to a whole new level.
Everywhere - businesses, apartments, public buildings, city streets - everywhere, there are outlets to plug your vehicle into to warm the engine so it will start. No, they're not coin operated or any other cost, they are just there. Someday we will ask someone to show us what the 'warmer' looks like.
Fairbanks gets really cold. It has one of the widest temperature ranges of any city in the world. The thermometer can fall to -66 in winter and rise to 99 in summer, a 165 degree difference. It's 125 miles from the Arctic Circle, is as far north as Reykjavik and considerably north of Helsinki, Stockholm or St. Petersburg. On the winter solstice, the sun is visible above the horizon for 3 hours and 42 minutes.
On the summer solstice, the day lasts 21 hours and 50 minutes. Linda wanted to see the 'Midnight Sun' on June 21st. An hour above Fairbanks is a point where the entire sun is visible at the solstice. She wasn't leaving until after that opportunity!
We thought we would drive partway up to the summit and get the 'lay of the land'. It also gave us a chance to go to Chena Hot Springs. On the way, we knew there was an exhibit where the Trans-Alaska Pipeline is visible. It went into operation in 1977.
The pipeline is 4' in diameter and it zig zags, the better to withstand seismic shifts.
The Fox spring was on our itinerary.
The pipeline stretches from Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean to Valdez, the northernmost ice-free port in the United States, in the south. It crosses three mountain ranges. Filled, it contains 9 million barrels of oil.
This sign was on a farm across the highway from the pipeline exhibit. No idea what the issue is but political expression interests Linda.
On the way to Chena Hot Springs, there is a state park with three campgrounds that are much nicer than the one at the hot springs.
The hot springs grounds are pleasant. There is also an ice sculpture museum, restaurant, the obligatory gift shop, picnic area and two pools, one of which allows children.
This young male moose was on his way to the gardens. They are shedding their warm, winter coat now and look pretty raggedy.
We saw two more moose by the road on the way back home.
A planned stop was the spring in Fox, where many Fairbanksans get their drinking water. We brought our gallon bottles to refill.
We lobbed along - one of us holding the button while the other held the bottle under. Then a kind local man reached over and jammed a penny in the button so it stayed in. He said that he'd been drinking this water for years and when he drank the water in town it tasted like a swimming pool! There was a steady stream of people arriving to get water. They were equipped with much larger containers.
An unplanned stop was this nearby brewery. We had some awful food and sampled a few very good beers. Linda bought a 4 oz tasting glass for her evening beer. Carole bought a shirt.
Hidden away on an obscure side street, we found a market that reassured us that we could find very good food here. They had not only meat and produce but artisan breads, fish and eggs. They also sold a progressive newspaper called The Ester Republic, "Where Progress is Our Least Important Product". It felt like home!
Not all of our quests are in our own best interests. We saw Hot Licks, the local ice cream shop, in our Lonely Planet. How could we not try it?
Linda couldn't resist trying a 'beer' ice cream - the Silver Gulch 40 Below Stout. It became an instant favorite.
If you click on this photo, it will explain that the ice cream isn't exactly made in Alaska. For the same reason that Creamer's Field is no longer Creamer's Dairy. It would be cost prohibitive to keep significant numbers of cows, since they would have to be in barns and eating hay for half the year.
Periodically, we do a lot of cooking in the camper. Linda loves the Wedgewood stove. We also use our small slow-cooker when we have electricity and make bread in the breadmaker. We feel that the benefits of making our preferred foods outweighs the inconvenience and the extra weight of the appliances.
Carole has perfected home-made brownies. Notice the shirt from Silver Gulch Brewery.
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