Chena Lakes and Fairbanks

It's been a while since we posted but we've been sooo busy that we're too tired to compose at the end of the day. So, in an effort to catch up, here goes.

We still had a couple of days before our reservation started in Fairbanks so we stopped in the Chena Lakes Recreation Area in North Pole, AK. The campground is beautiful with lots of treed sites, a nice lake, and miles of running/cycling paths. We got in a 5 mile run and did some cycling around the park during our stay.



While there we met a North Pole celebrity, yep, Santa Claus! Santa was helping out with boat rentals at the lake.
His given name was Thomas O'Connor and he was a Deputy Police Commissioner in NYC under Mayor Lindsay. He now works as a children's program advocate and legally changed his name when he found that people have a hard time turning down a request from Santa.













It was a beautiful day so we rented a canoe from Santa and headed out on the lake so Lynda could get some pictures.










The canoe Sherpa and tour guide.













Lynda got a few good wildlife pictures including Red-Necked Grebes and a Goldeneye Duck and 12 ducklings.

Mayflies and Nymphs were hatching all along the lake and the fish were going crazy jumping out of the water trying to nab a snack. Look closely and you can see the fly just about to meet his fate!

After our fun at the lake we headed off to Fairbanks for the Midnight Sun Festival and associated 10K run.

Here we are, prior to the race, in the parking lot at Pioneer Park, the finishing point of the Midnight Sun Run 10K.

The first order of business is to announce that an interloper from New Jersey came to Fairbanks and bested 25 other women in her age group. There were no age group medals so these screen grabs are the best we can do.

But enough about Lynda...I finished... 8th out of 28 with a 1:03:16 in my first 10K.

There were plenty of other things to do in Fairbanks beside race. There was the Solstice Festival, Pioneer Park, Creamer's Field, the University, etc., etc.

The University of Alaska - Fairbanks sits on top of a hill overlooking town. There is a museum on campus that has displays of Native Alaskan life, wildlife, sea life, archeological artifacts and movies about Fairbanks in winter and the Aurora Borealis. The campus also has an overlook facing Denali but we didn't find out about it until after we left Fairbanks.

Fairbanks has two southern style BBQ places but we only had time to visit Big Daddy's. We found out that Big Daddy's was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives so we had to try it. We each had ribs, fried okra, coleslaw or mac and cheese and a Denali Brewing Company Single Engine Red. Yum!

Pioneer Park which is a combination amusement park, museum and restored town .

At the entrance is an information booth with a sign that reads: Sunrise - 2:58 a.m. Sunset - 12:47 a.m. and this was 2 days before the Solstice.

Some old buildings were restored and moved to Pioneer Park.

For the kids, there's a narrow gauge train.

For adults there's the Alaska Aviation Museum and the restored paddlewheeler Nenana...

...and crepes! Here's the crepe maker, a french chef, finishing our cheesecake and blueberry dessert crepe...

...which went with our smoked salmon lunch crepe. They were so big and rich we cut them in half and shared them.

Creamer's Field is a former dairy farm that is now a wildlife preserve with hiking trails and viewing stands. The field is visited by Sandhill Cranes and other waterfowl. Lynda got a few shots of the Sandhills.

Sandhill Cranes

 

 Full flaps, landing gear down!













The hiking trail through the boreal forest has a partial boardwalk through the bog and the possibility of spotting moose.

The day we hiked through the forest it was raining (of course).






















During WWII Fairbanks was the transfer point for Lend-Lease fighter planes from American to Russian pilots. This memorial is dedicated to the flyers who ferried these planes across the U.S. and Canada to Fairbanks and then to Russia.



















Even though Delta Junction is the northern end of the Alaska Highway, Fairbanks has it's own distance sign to Dawson Creek.

If New York is 4527 miles, why did it take us 6500 miles to get here?










You never know who you might meet while traveling and we were lucky enough to meet The Pink Ladies. The Pink Ladies (Pearl, Kathleen and Judith)  traveled to Fairbanks from Dawson Creek spreading cheer and Mile 0 pins along the way. Happy travels Pink Ladies!

Next up, Denali National Park.