Alaska – Fairbanks

Sunrise 2:57AM

Sunset 12:48AM

June 18 Monday Another beautiful sunny day. We took a walk up to the RV park office about 9am  and ran into 3 couples that we had spent 5 days with in Watson Lake during the road shut down. They were all doing their laundry and waiting around and since we were in no hurry we sat and visited with them for about an hour. It was good to catch up with them-- where they have been, where they are going next and any recommendations they may have about what to see and do, campground information etc. We keep running into folks from those Watson Lake days and I just love seeing them.

I have been meaning to mention how beautiful the flowers are here in Fairbanks. Thanks to the almost constant daylight, the plants grow quickly and large here. I have included a picture of a beautiful yellow dahlia that is on the front porch of the RV office. 

Angel carved from walrus ivory

The first thing on our agenda this morning was a trip to the University of Alaska's Museum of the North. What a marvelous museum! It covers at least 2,000 years of Alaska's history from art, architecture, transportation, animals, people etc. There is no way I can describe it in this blog to do it justice. I will post a few pictures of the many things that captured our attention. If you ever get to Fairbanks, be sure to visit this museum

Blue Babe Ox found as is in the permafrost

Salmon skin raincoat

Menu with picture of Guy Fieri and owner of Big Daddy's

We had lunch today at another restaurant that Guy Fieri covered in his show “Diners, Dives, and Drive -Ins". It was Big Daddy's Barbeque which claims to be the best southern barbeque this far north. We each had a pulled pork sandwich to verify this and it was great!

After lunch, we headed to the museum of Gary's choice, the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum. I wasn't as excited as he was, but once we got there I really enjoyed it. It had beautiful antique cars, one of which was a boat tail Auburn, which has an auction value of $1.6 million. Gary would say this is one of the most comprehensive antique auto museums in the country. In addition to the antique autos, each display by year of auto, included displays of clothing from that era and pictures of the cars being used in Alaska and also movie clips from as early as 1900! There was very appropriate music playing in the background and the whole atmosphere was educational and so interesting. There was even a box of clothes you could dress in and an antique car to climb in to have your photo taken with your own camera. Of course, we did that.

Franklin - built in Syracuse

Back of the Boat Tail Auburn - you can understand how it got that name

Us -- out for a spin!

The last stop we made today was at the Fred Meyer's store. This is similar to a Walmart but much bigger.They are located in the larger cities of Alaska. It is a place that RVers know well for stocking up. We wanted to look it over and see what they have as we will be loading up the cupboards and fridge in anticipation of Gage and Reid's arrival later this week. They will be flying into Anchorage to spend 17 days with us touring Alaska. We bought a few things today,but will probably do a major shopping at Fred Meyers in Anchorage.

FYI, we did a tally today and we have traveled a total of 5,056 miles to date in the RV from Groton to Fairbanks!