Time Flies By, Part 1: Fairbanks

I'm wondering where they time has flown by since I last wrote! Much to tell, much to be in awe of as well as grateful for. I will divide this up into 3 parts: Fairbanks, Denali, and Thanksgiving in hopes that it will be easier to read.

Part 1. Labor Day Weekend
Fairbanks, September 4-7, 2010

Labor Day weekend (Saturday through Tuesday) Kent and I drove to Fairbanks. We had planned on going with the Van der Martins before Dorinda had died. I think it was too tough on Wes to go with another couple so soon and he made plans to do some hunting with friends so Kent and I went by ourselves.

We had a leisurely drive up on Saturday. When we were by Denali we couldn't see anything through the fog and rain going to Fairbanks or coming back home. I kept thinking, "This is a huge mountain, we should see it!" But we couldn't see a thing. We didn't make any stops other than a restroom stop (which was in a private park as there were no other rest stops for miles!) because between some road construction and no visibility we just wanted to get there. And we did. Glad we had a GPS though to find our hotel. It made it so much easier to find places.

On Sunday we went to the University of Alaska, Fairbanks' museum. It's a really nice museum. It was a good activity while it rained. The museum has wonderful Alaskan artifacts. Here are some of my favorites.
This is an outside view of the listening room. It is supposed to have amplification of sound in the room so you can hear earthquakes and what not. It was just a peaceful, quiet place while I was there. No earthquake.

The flowers around the museum were beautiful.

At the front of the hall where most of the exhibits are, you are greeted by a huge Grizzly bear.

The native dolls are quite labor-intensive works of art. They use doe skins for the skin. Different furs are used for clothes, coats, mittens and boots.

And the gold display. Wow! It is still beautiful. It's amazing how it doesn't change colors. No wonder it has been highly prized throughout the centuries.











We then visited Santa at the North Pole! You could tell we were at the right place. The light poles in town are all in the shape of candy canes.

I loved the murals painted on the walls.
There were even some reindeer out back.


OK, so it may be dorky but I got a kick out of seeing Santa at the North Pole. Kent got a picture but it really isn't very clear... Santa encouraged me to sit on his lap but I didn't want to hurt him so he couldn't drive his Christmas sleigh.

The rain did clear on Monday when Kent planned to go fishing. I enjoyed picking up rocks and reading. I actually got pretty good at skipping rocks. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery as we drove around finding the perfect fishing spot. He didn't catch a thing but we both enjoyed the sunshine and the serenity while fishing.







On Tuesday we drove home. The fall colors were beautiful but you couldn't see very far. Still couldn't see Denali.

We saw one moose on the way home and that was it for wildlife. We got home and had a cow and her baby in our backyard...they wandered around to the neighbors flowers, where the calf enjoyed a meal and then across the street for a meal of branches.