We decided to take the Historical City Tour and let someone else drive and provide information on Fairbanks. Our tour bus picked us up at the campground office at 8:30 this morning. The tour driver was retired from University of Alaska where he was in charge of the photographic department. The first stop for the day was the same place we went for the Salmon Bake last night, Pioneer Park. You could access the park even though it was not open for business. The stop was more to acquaint us with where the park was located and provide an overview of what it offered. They have buildings which once were residences in Fairbanks that have been moved into a group within the park and set it up like on old pioneer town. The buildings are now leased out to various crafts people. (We went back there later in the day to see what kinds of stores they had. The shops turned out to be jewelry, tusk carvings, a couple museums, food, etc.)
Cabins moved from downtown to Pioneer Park
After driving thru the city and having various buildings and landmarks pointed out, along with the history, our next stop was the Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitor Center. This had displays on life in early Alaska with displays of how people lived and survived in Alaska, including how their cabins were set up. They also had a film about life in modern day Alaska and how they enjoy skiing, dog sledding and other winter activities.
This was right downtown. Orginal shotgun log cabin plus 3 additions and start on 4th addition.
Log Church that was downtown.
Arch of antlers by Cultural & Visitor Center
Several buildings have paintings on the side.
Next stop was to see the Pipeline north of town where it runs above ground. Approximately half of it is elevated above the ground and half is buried. On the way to the University of Alaska’s Museum of the North, we went along the original road north out of Fairbanks. Along the road we could see some very nice log homes, some small log homes with sod roofs, and some homes that were built on the perma-frost soil. Many of the older homes built on the perma-frost soil are now sinking in various sections as the soil has absorbed heat from the home and than thawed to allow the above home section to sink. The University of Alaska’s Museum had displays of much of the wildlife of the area, also additional displays on early life for the settlers and Eskimos, displays of tanned hides, and Eskimo baskets and intricate beadwork. Our guide kept the tour interesting with some personal anecdotes on his life since he and his wife moved here from Texas in 1976. We were back to the campground by about 12:30.
Karen at mile 450 of the pipeline.
Karen and friend at museum. No it is not me!
After a little lunch, we went back to the Pioneer Park to see what all was there. As I said before, it was some old buildings set up with touristy type shops. We then stopped back by the Fred Meyers store for a few things we had forgotten the other day. We came back to the camper for some relaxation time and grilled out for a light supper. After supper we decided to take a short ride to see if we could get pictures of some of the things we saw on the tour, but were not able to photograph.
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