Fairbanks, AK (08-10-14)

Posting this in a hurry, since we have decided to trek at least part way up the Haul Road, or Dalton Highway and will have no connection at all.

I freely admit that before I came to Alaska, I knew so little about the state, it’s really sad.  I knew that there are quite a few towns that are only reachable by plane or boat but I had no idea which ones they were- except Juneau.  I knew that one. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I thought that maybe Fairbanks was one of them (them being: Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, and Nome, among others). But nope. Fairbanks is in the interior of Alaska.   

The climate here is dryer than many parts of Alaska, and It can get quite warm here in the summer- today was 81 degrees and sunny. I think its the first time Paul wore shorts since we left the lower 48. I’m just glad we won’t be here in the winter, when it can reach –40.

First thing on our agenda was to check out Pioneer Park.  We figured it might be a bit hokey but we could walk to it from the RV park so we figured it would be worth visiting.  Its a free park that has several small museums, a miniature gold rush town, and assorted stores and eateries.

OK, I guess some parts of it are hokey!

One of the museums is housed in S.S. Nenanna, an old riverboat.  It was full of dioramas of the small towns along the route that Nenanna traveled when it was in service.  Most towns in Alaska are situated on rivers, since that was the easiest method of travel before the road system was developed.

After the diorama was finished, a 90 year old woman came in to see the display and realized that this diorama is of her and her father back in 1925.  Her father was one of several mushers to deliver serum to Nome in the 1925 Great Race of Mercy.

One of the other museums had a lot of memorabilia.  I was surprised to see this old typewriter.  I had no idea that the original typewriters had no shift key, so they had keys for both upper and lower case letters.









  After a surprisingly interesting afternoon, we started the trek back home.  The sky in front of us was a pretty blue.










The sky behind us was an ominous gray, with rumbling noises coming from it.  We had a 2 mile walk and ended up jogging most of the last mile. The weather had been so nice, we had left the skylights open.  We did make it back before we got soaked!







The other thing that's been happening is online. Anyone who “does” Facebook  may be familiar with the Ice Bucket Challenge. The challenge was started in Massachusetts by athlete Peter Fretes, who was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He started the challenge to raise awareness of the disease and at this point, many professional athletes and celebrities have responded.  But it’s also spread like wildfire on Facebook.  The way the challenge works is someone makes a video nominating a few of their friends to take up the challenge within 24 hours, or forfeit and donate $100 to the ALS foundation of their choice.  The person offering up the nomination then completes the challenge themselves by dumping a bucket of ice water over their head.

I don’t usually participate in these types of things on Facebook, but in this case I was happy to do so.  27 years ago my mother lost her battle with ALS and died at the young age of 55 (the same age I am now).  Anything that brings awareness to the disease is worthwhile to me!