Day 31--Fairbanks and The North Pole

Polar Bear in Gift Shop

Cute little couple in gift shop

Driving back to Denali

Santa and his raindeer at North Pole, AK

Driving to

Fairbanks

Wednesday August 4, 2010. Pete and Leslie got up early and left for a hike in Denali. Larry and I did some cleaning at the RV and I did some laundry. Larry picked Leslie and Pete up at the visitor's center over in Denali Park at 10:30am. When they got here, they took off to get lunch and then were leaving on a rafting trip at 11:45. Larry and I took off in the car and drove north out of Denali Village up RT 3 Parks Highway and stopped at a little gift shop just off the highway near Nenana which was about 35 miles up from Denali. We talked to the lady that worked there and she was very interesting. She and her husband moved from Texas and live in a 'dry' cabin not too far from the shop. By 'dry' she meant no water, nothing for heat but a wood stove and I assume no plumbing. She is a school teacher in Anderson(near Nenana) and she has 20 students. The population of the entire school she said was 35 students. The gift shop was so cute and had a lot of interesting things in it. The guy who owned it had every animal imagineable displayed in the shop that he either had killed or collected. There was also a little old man and woman that were stuffed figures setting on a bench that were very unique. We picked up information regarding Fairbanks and found it was only about another 70 miles on up RT 3. We decided to go on up as we probably will not be heading north again after we return to Anchorage.

We spent the afternoon--what was left of it--driving around Fairbanks. We went to the downtown area that a guy told us how to reach but it was not all that interesting. We considered going to Ester and try panning for gold but we just didn't have much of the day left when we reached Fairbanks. We decided to drive north about 11 miles to a little town called the North Pole. Basically there is not a lot there other than Santa's House, which for the most part is a tourist trap. There was a large building that had a lot of authentic Alaskan made items--and as always--priced for the rich and famous! The rest of the place was Christmas items. Some were very nice with a price to match, and some were cheapy with a price NOT so cheap! That is the name of the game here--if you don't have the money stay home--which is probably what we should have done. We ARE spending the girls inheritance!! We paid to have Santa send a letter off to Morgan and Addison at Christmas post marked from the North Pole -- of course! They had Santa there and outside was all of his raindeer--which were real Alaskan raindeer. So at least we can say we were at the North Pole!@! With that and about $4.00 you can buy a cup of coffee here!

The car was so incredibly dirty from being pulled up here behind the motor home and then we are staying in a REAL dust bowl . It had 3 inches of dirt and dust on it when we left here today and was so bad we could hardly see out the windows. After we drove back to Fairbanks from the North Pole, Larry dropped me off at Walmart to restock our grocery supply and he went over to Fred Meyer to buy gas. He then found a car wash to run the car through. I thought $8 was really pricey for our last car wash in Wasilla but in Fairbanks you can get a quicky, drive-thru car wash for $14.00. So at least it looked better until we drove 10 miles out of Fairbanks and ran into rain. We drove in rain for about 50 miles until we came to an area where they are doing road construction. We had to wait in line this morning going up but coming home it was so late they were no longer working. Also the 7 miles of dirt roads from earlier today, was now 7 miles of mud tonight!! Guess what the newly washed car looks like now?? It only money I keep telling myself---AND you can't take it with you I hear! The highway was in really good shape after we got over all the frost heaves coming out of Denali. The road had many heaves fro about 10 miles out of the village and then it was a wonderful road--will with the exception of the area they are working on.

I was feeling bad all day that we did not plan the trip today so Pete and Leslie could have gone but when we got back to Denali, they had enjoyed the day here so much they didn't care. Actually for what we saw, the trip was hardly worth it. We were about 30 miles out of Fairbanks on our way home when it occurred to me that we should have used what time we had to see the pipeline. I have heard several say it is pretty impressive. At least it probably would have been more interesting than the North Pole. I guess that is for another trip someday. Anyway Pete and Leslie roamed around Denali Village this afternoon and relaxed a little after their rafting. Tonight they went to the Salmon Bake for dinner. Pete had King Crab (again) and Leslie had Salmon. They said it was very good.

Tomorrow we drive back to Anchorage. It is about a 6 hour drive so we should arrive early afternoon if we get out of here at a decent hour. Pete is trying to get tickets to a concert for him and Leslie for tomorrow night. He has a friend in Anchorage that is working on obtaining tickets for them. Larry and I are rather looking forward to the hearing the band from last Friday at the Golden Nugget tomorrow night. They are playing Thursday night rather than Friday this week so if Leslie and Pete don't get the tickets to the concert I guess they will have to settle for local entertainment.