Wednesday, June 17
Fairbanks
This morning we moved from River View RV Park to Rivers Edge RV Park. The new park is in Fairbanks rather than seven miles out of town in North Pole. Much more convenient!
The afternoon schedule had us on Riverboat Discovery, on a paddle wheeler journey down the Chena River. The Binkley family’s steamboat tradition goes back over 100 years and five generations. The ride is enjoyable with diversions such as watching a Super Cub take off near the boat, watching a sled dog demonstration, and visiting a Chena Indian Village. Villages similar to this one were found along the river after steamboat captains like Charley Binkley began bring prospectors in search of gold in the late 1800’s. At the Village some representatives of the Athabaskan Indians demonstrated the way their ancestors did things such as cure fish and how they used the different parts of the animals they hunted for food, clothing, dwelling, etc.
Later we met Jane and Dave, 210 Roadtrek owners who we had contacted through cyberrally. We had dinner at Chena’s Grill overlooking the river near our campground.
They are planning a flight to Barrow for the summer solstice.
Thursday, June 18
Fairbanks
This morning we went out to Dell and John’s homestead north of Fairbanks about 15 minutes for coffee and scones. Dell’s father purchased the property about 50 years ago. The original homestead had been subdivided some by Dell’s parents but Dell and John still own a fair amount of land. You see no neighbors and there is a beautiful view across a sloping meadow, down through birch trees to the Chena Valley. Dell says that it is what Realtors call a “winter view” since the view is even more breath-taking in the winter months when the trees have lost their leaves. John says it takes him about three days to mow the meadow and rid it of dandelions each year.
An easement for the Alaskan Pipeline was purchased from Dell’s parents and the pipeline runs down one side or their land. The family watched the construction of the pipeline from their front porch. It is buried along this stretch so it just blends into the meadow that it adjoins.
Friday, June 19
Chena Hot Springs
The Hot Spring were wonderfully warm and relaxing. The road up to the Springs has a number of trails and we hiked up one of them for about half an hour to a beaver dam. The trail was supposed to continue but we couldn’t find the way.
Saturday, June 20
Chena Hot Springs to Fairbanks
We left the Hot Springs early to partake in some of the Solstice day events in Fairbanks during the weekend. In the morning we went for a guided tour on public land that used to be a Dairy Farm and is now a protected habitat for birds and water fowl. We had a great guide and saw Canadian Geese, young Sand hill Cranes, an owl and various other small birds. The walk was through a boreal forest, much of it on a boardwalk. There was one area where the action of the permafrost was evident. On a portion of walkway installed last year there was a section that had dropped three to four feet. The ice of the permafrost is only about three feet underground and when it melts strange things happen.
Fairbanks
This morning we moved from River View RV Park to Rivers Edge RV Park. The new park is in Fairbanks rather than seven miles out of town in North Pole. Much more convenient!
The afternoon schedule had us on Riverboat Discovery, on a paddle wheeler journey down the Chena River. The Binkley family’s steamboat tradition goes back over 100 years and five generations. The ride is enjoyable with diversions such as watching a Super Cub take off near the boat, watching a sled dog demonstration, and visiting a Chena Indian Village. Villages similar to this one were found along the river after steamboat captains like Charley Binkley began bring prospectors in search of gold in the late 1800’s. At the Village some representatives of the Athabaskan Indians demonstrated the way their ancestors did things such as cure fish and how they used the different parts of the animals they hunted for food, clothing, dwelling, etc.
Later we met Jane and Dave, 210 Roadtrek owners who we had contacted through cyberrally. We had dinner at Chena’s Grill overlooking the river near our campground.
They are planning a flight to Barrow for the summer solstice.
Thursday, June 18
Fairbanks
This morning we went out to Dell and John’s homestead north of Fairbanks about 15 minutes for coffee and scones. Dell’s father purchased the property about 50 years ago. The original homestead had been subdivided some by Dell’s parents but Dell and John still own a fair amount of land. You see no neighbors and there is a beautiful view across a sloping meadow, down through birch trees to the Chena Valley. Dell says that it is what Realtors call a “winter view” since the view is even more breath-taking in the winter months when the trees have lost their leaves. John says it takes him about three days to mow the meadow and rid it of dandelions each year.
An easement for the Alaskan Pipeline was purchased from Dell’s parents and the pipeline runs down one side or their land. The family watched the construction of the pipeline from their front porch. It is buried along this stretch so it just blends into the meadow that it adjoins.
Friday, June 19
Chena Hot Springs
The Hot Spring were wonderfully warm and relaxing. The road up to the Springs has a number of trails and we hiked up one of them for about half an hour to a beaver dam. The trail was supposed to continue but we couldn’t find the way.
Saturday, June 20
Chena Hot Springs to Fairbanks
We left the Hot Springs early to partake in some of the Solstice day events in Fairbanks during the weekend. In the morning we went for a guided tour on public land that used to be a Dairy Farm and is now a protected habitat for birds and water fowl. We had a great guide and saw Canadian Geese, young Sand hill Cranes, an owl and various other small birds. The walk was through a boreal forest, much of it on a boardwalk. There was one area where the action of the permafrost was evident. On a portion of walkway installed last year there was a section that had dropped three to four feet. The ice of the permafrost is only about three feet underground and when it melts strange things happen.
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