A perfect start for the day as we slept in until about 10:00am. Then it was off walking to the Fairbanks Cultural and Visitors Center.
On the way we stopped at the Ice Museum and watched a video about their annual ice sculpturing festival which last most of the winder. After the movie, we put on warm coats and walked into a 20-degree area with a whole bunch of ice sculptures including a small sled run which both of us road down and it was a lot of fun. Then we watch a demo of making a small ice sculpture.
After that we continued out walk to the visitor’s center whch was a huge building with a large number of displays about the history of Fairbanks which was really interesting. This was a huge building with a large number of displays about the history of Fairbanks which was really interesting.
About a couple of hours there, we walked back to the main
street in town and ate at a nice little restaurant.
Alaska has Burroughs instead of counties and the Fairbanks Burrough
has about 100,000 people, not the town which has only about 7,000 people.
After lunch we took a Uber to the University of Alaska Museum
of the North. As we were walking into
the building the power went out for the University and about ½ the town of
Fairbanks.
So, we walked about a mile downhill to the botanical gardens
of the University which was amazing.
After spending about an hour there, we took their shuttle
back to the Museum and spent until they closed at 6:00pm and then we took an
Uber back to hotel, changed and took an Uber to a restaurant called The Pump
House.
The Pump House is on the National Historical Registry and inside
was an amazing assortment of “stuff” from the past. We had a wonderful maple glazed salmon dinner
followed by an apple dessert with a side of vanilla/caramel ice cream.
Then it was back to the hotel to pack for tomorrow which
will be riding the Gold Service Alaskan Railroad to Denali for a couple of days
of fun.
Night from Fairbanks
