Fairbanks- the Golden Heart City

Since the topic of the past few days has been about celebrating the discovery of gold in these hills of Fairbanks, we became 100% tourists and headed to the Discovery Gold Mine.

Such a well done little adventure, the train led us into a mine and small dredging operation and to a replica of an old miner's cabin by his own personal gold stream.

This old sourdough told us the details of a placer mine and all of the hard work it

involved yet very few of these early adventurers became rich.

Or, if they DID strike gold, their dreams turned sour as they lost all their

money through swindlers, women, or drunkenness.

On the way to try our hand with a tin pan and nicely warmed "stream", the old sourdough gave me some tips on seeking my fortune in gold. Since he didn't appear all that wealthy,

I didn't take his advice to heart.

But we did find a few gold flakes in our efforts and were satisfied with them.

Recently we had a nice Sunday brunch at the Pump House Restaurant.

We sat on the deck overlooking the Chena River and watched kayaks, canoes, motorboats and the big paddlewheel boat of tourists sail by, waving to all of them.

This location just happens to be the actual pumping station that sent water from the river

up the hills so that gold dredging could take place.

It is also the restaurant where Josh and Kathleen had their wedding reception dinner.

On the restaurant grounds are pieces of equipment from the "olden"

days when the pump house worked to find gold.

This is one of the water pipes that eroded the mine walls of the softer rock,

exposing the strains of gold in its beauty.

And this is a giant dredge that dragged the dirt and crushed stone from within the mine.

The iron chain needed to carry the weight of this dredge and its load was huge!

(Now that's a real ball and chain!)

We posed for a picture on the deck after we had eaten.

This birch tree has been carved with a picture of Felix Pedro, the man

who first found gold here.

This friendly man is no one we know.

He just jumped in to the picture and made us laugh.

It was a good day on the river.

Go, Little Duckie, Go!

A traditional part of the Golden Days Celebration Weekend

is the Rubber Duckie Race.

We joined in and "purchased" a little, yellow, rubber duck.

He wasn't for our bathtub at home, however.

At precisely 2:30 in the afternoon a net filled with 1,000's of these little guys

was opened, spilling them into the Chena River from a bridge just upstream

from the downtown area.

If you look closely to the back of the river in this picture you can see a line of yellow.

They bobbed along down the river, some floating on their backs,

some on their sides, and others getting stuck in the grasses along the river.

The crowds along the riverbanks cheered with all their might.

Can you see the mob watching the river race?

Each little duck wore a collar identifying it to its "owner".

The first one to the finish line won $10,000.

Other prizes included airline tickets, gift cards and other great prizes.

Once the first 60 winners were hand picked out of the river,

the recovery of all the, sad but true, losers began.

Big nets scooped them up and dropped them unceremoniously into a boat.

Meanwhile, we headed to the announcer's booth to see if our little

rubber duckie was a winner.

Jack shows off the ticket we are sure (well, hopeful, anyway) will win.

But alas, our little duckie never made it in with the winners.

He may have lost his way and headed into the weeds or tumbled blindly downstream,

upside down in a very embarrassing position, or even been forced to the back by more aggressive duckie floaters. We will never know his fate.

But we do know we had fun joining our voices with all the others as we cheered him on.

We enjoyed watching the race and the netting of the wayward ducks.

And the flowers around Fairbanks just keep getting fuller and bigger and brighter.

A Golden Day for a Parade

We join the crowds who love a parade.

Fairbanks comes out in a big way for the Golden Days Parade every year.

The theme is always the same--gold!

The many, many floats pay tribute to the gold mining days that brought dreamers

and miners up here to develop this town.

Felix Pedro was the very first to discover gold in Fairbanks and he

is always a prominent figure of the parade, walking his faithful old mule--

and showing off his giant gold nugget to all.

This parade goes on for about 2 hours and represents almost every club. school,

organization and cause in this area:

Karate kids and can-can girls, gardeners and mammogram promoters,

it's fun and entertaining.

Abigail loved all the excitement but wasn't fond of the firetrucks when

demonstrated their loud sirens for us.

But she waved at all the 1890's costumes and old cars

(with a little help from her grandparents).

And we all cheered the riders of these old-fashioned bikes,

wondering how DO they mount and dismount?

For these grandparents, watching Abigail was just as entertaining as

watching the floats and costumed paraders.

It was a golden day for us to be with her and her Mama and Daddy.

Wilderness Relaxation

We recently had a weekend off and headed south to the

McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge that is positioned just 40 miles

from Mt McKinley.

Walls of tall windows and dozens of cushioned chairs all face this view.

This pretty lodge's theme is the Alaskan wilderness with its animals,

trees and mountains.

Outside, bronze statues stand among the grounds.

Jack tries to break up these two battling mt. sheep.

No fighting, boys!

Inside, a huge stone fireplace adorned the spacious lobby full of soft chairs and couches.

A warm fire crackled and welcomed me since it grew dark and rainy out.

The set of tools were designed as pretty vines

and the screen was decorated with a dog team and musher.

Even the walls in the restroom had tiles with bears, moose, and fox.

Jack becomes buddies with this friendly bear in the coffee shop.

So many tasteful decorations filled the rooms and restaurants,

reflecting the themes of the wilderness. I appreciated each one.

Even the furniture in our bedroom was wooden with carvings of pine trees.

This pretty lamp was by our bed.

And these moose wandered on the bottom edge of the mirror.

Even the hot tub outside faced the tall trees and North America's tallest mountain.

What a pleasant weekend of rest and relaxation.

May I Suggest...?

My husband decided to come up north for the summer

as long as he could find a job.

And he did just that.

No matter that he'd had no experience in waiting tables, he became a server.

He serves at the formal dining room at the Princess Hotel.

Here he stands by our apartment ready for work.

Pretty classy guy in an apron, huh?

And here he is in action.

So much to learn in a short time and he is doing a great job!

He has mastered computerized ordering, timing from appetizer to entree,

and balancing a tray filled with plates of food from the kitchen to the table.

Serves many folks on cruises and has met people from all over.

One night Kathleen, Abigail and I surprised him and came in have dinner at one of his tables.

He did a wonderful time serving us our meal.

We look forward to doing it again really soon.

(And can I add how much I like eating with linen napkins and water goblets?)

You Know You're in Alaska When...

I know I'm in Alaska when I wander around the parking lot at the apartment

complex where I am living for these summer months.

This license plate describes the winter months and the old plug for the engine warmer still hangs out all summer, reminding us of what is to come.

This goofy moose still sits on the MiniCooper.

I called him Mini-Moose in a blogpost last summer.

The lion's share of vehicles are working ones that represent companies

and state departments that thrive up here. Some examples:

Kathleen worked for several years for Alaska's Dept. of Natural Resources.

Forestry is in that same area and I recognized the DNR logo.

Helicopters fly along the entire length of the pipeline

every day doing a visual check. All 800 miles from Prudoe Bay to Valdez.

Did you know that 88,000 barrels of oil go through the pipeline each HOUR?

And that there are 42 gallons in each barrel?

And, speaking of the pipeline, this company truck looked like this

when we arrived at the apartments.

But it more often looks like this... or worse.

Like this.

Lots of cars and trucks look like this. Going north means the Dalton Highway

(does Ice Road Truckers ring a bell?) that is mostly unpaved.

This is true for many roads in this state.

Mud and cracked windshields are just part of life.

My favorite pictures that say we are in Alaska are these two:

I saw this car in a local store's parking lot and wanted a closer look

at the dog sled strapped to the top.

And when I approached the car, I was tickled to see the handsome driver.

But, of course, that was his sled on top!

I'll bet his passenger was in buying some dog treats

before heading home to this road sign:

Yep, I'm back in Alaska for sure!

Midnight Sunshine on Solstice

Some things in my life just never get old.

The long summer days that never become night just thrill me.

Every night.

I sometimes wake at 2 or 4 AM and go to the window to ponder the blue sky and soft clouds.

***************************

The cycle of sunset and sunrise does actually occur.

It's like they almost overlap and you can't distinguish one from the other.

Mostly the sky is soft blues and pinks, but these pics are from the rainy night of Solstice when we were at that crazy midnight baseball game I just wrote about yesterday.

That's why the dark clouds are so distinctive.

Here is the sun beginning its descent.

It's amazingly long, often seeming to hover in the sky for hours, gliding along to the north,

then slowly and almost imperceptibly slipping downward.

Gradually it lowers until dipping just below and out of sight.

Called "civil twilight", this it the time when the sun is just at or 6 degrees below the horizon,

in other words, barely set.

On this, the longest day of the year, civil twilight ends and begins at exactly the same time,

shortly after 2 AM.

Then, in less than an hour after civil twilight begins, sunrise occurs.

And the new day dawns, kissing the previous one goodnight as she passes.

For me, this never gets old.