Fairbanks, Alaska

Friday, 17 Aug 2018 – This second day was definitely a relaxing one.  It was after 9:00 AM when Sally awoke, though Jesse had been up for more than an hour.  Soon we found the Edgewater Dining Room just down the hall and had our first experience with high-priced Alaskan food.  We shared an $8.00 bowl of oatmeal and a $14.00 omelet, which was equivalent to our typical breakfast at home, but not what we’re used to on cruises.  Our server was Coleman, from Salt Lake City.  Soon he will be going on a two-year mission for the Church of the Latter Day Saints.

River Walk

Our room was located in one of the 3 or 4 large buildings at the lodge, each consisting of about 4 floors, but our building seemed to be the most centrally located. In fact, we felt fortunate that our room was on the main floor, near the entrance and very near the dining room.  Our room was handicapped accessible, which helped to explain its convenient location.  The view from our window was of the Chena River, a view which relatively few Lodge rooms would have.  After unpacking a few of our belongings, we went for a walk completely around the Lodge, which turned out to be about one-quarter of a mile along the river and then back past the side and front of the buildings.  Along the way, we met two other couples, both of whom had completed the cruise portion of their cruise tours first, rather than the land tour first as we were doing.  The weather was overcast and cool, but not cold.

At dinner, our waiter was Marko, a young man from Serbia who spoke excellent English.  Again, the food was expensive.  We shared clam chowder ($8) and squash lasagna ($18); the lasagna was one of the least expensive dinners on the menu, but it was very good.  Also, we were able to use a $5 coupon, which we received for not having our room serviced this morning.  (We used a similar $5 coupon each day at Fairbanks.)

Princess Riverside Lodge

Saturday, 18 Aug 2018 – This morning we were both awake by 7:00 AM, and at about 9:15 we walked down the hall to the dining room.  This time, our waitress, Cynthia, said she had always lived in Alaska.  Very talkative, she told us that they don’t get as much snow in Fairbanks as along the coast; July is warmest and the dining room’s veranda is used most in June and July.  (Now, people were eating only inside.)   She said that winter is now on its way.  Although most of their rain falls in August, it’s a “dry cold,” which isn’t too bad, in her opinion.  On our walk yesterday, we had seen the lodge’s surprisingly healthy-looking vegetable garden; although the growing season is short, the plants enjoy long days of sunshine.

Antler Arch

In mid-afternoon, we took the lodge’s shuttle into town.  Although we had hoped to get off at a grocery store and buy milk and cold cereal, the shuttle made only 3 stops – and none were near a store.  The first stop was the Pioneer Park, which was the most popular visitor’s site in Fairbanks.  The park was opened in 1967 as the “Alaska 67 Centennial Exposition” to celebrate the centennial of the Alaska Purchase.  The park commemorates early Alaskan history with multiple museums and historic displays on site.  Since it was very near closing time, we opted to skip that stop.

The second stop was the Fairbanks Visitors’ Center, where we got off the shuttle.  There we watched a movie about Alaska, and then walked through a museum with displays of historical Alaska.  (Jesse walked through faster than Sally would have liked!)  After that, we walked for a half-mile along the river to the third shuttle stop where the “Log House” was located.  Along the way, we chatted with a few tourists and a few un-prosperous-looking locals.  (Only one asked us for financial assistance.)  The Log House turned out to be a tiny gift shop.  But they were showing a short film, which we didn’t bother to watch.  We sat for almost 30 minutes on a bench and waited for the shuttle to swing by for our return to the lodge.  While sitting there, the sun shone on us and felt hot. (We weren’t wearing summer clothes.)  In fact, this turned out to be one of the sunniest days for our Alaska visit.  While waiting for the shuttle, Jesse did walk around the area to do a little window shopping, but there wasn’t much there except for some really heavy outerwear, suitable for the harsh Alaskan winters.

Golden Heart Plaza

Alyeska Pipeline

Almost immediately after our return to our room, our Bettendorf friends, Val and Ed, called; they had just arrived at the lodge after their flight from home.  The four of us then went to dinner in the dining room.  This time, our server was Yana, from Bulgaria, and we two split a house salad and squash lasagna, with Jesse also having a bowl of chowder.  Of course, we discussed our trips up to this point.

Sunday, 19 Aug 2018 – This morning Val and Ed called us at 6:30 AM, waking us up.  As a matter of fact, they had already eaten breakfast and were ready to start their land tour.  We couldn’t understand why they were getting ready so early.  (It wasn’t until that evening when we found out the reason!)

Tanana Valley Railroad (Replica)

When we went down the hall to the dining room, we found a large crowd of people already eating there.  However, we waited only a short time until our server Temelk (from Macedonia) waited on us.  Very soon, we went out to the front of the lodge where we were to meet for our “Morning Gold Dredge 8 Tour and Afternoon Riverboat Cruise.”  One bus (G1) was already loading, but we were told that our bus (G2) would arrive soon.  It did, and we boarded.

Our first stop was Dredge 8, where we enjoyed a close-up view of the TransAlaska pipeline and a presentation about its history and operation.  Then our group boarded a hand-built replica of the narrow gauge Tanana Valley Railroad, which delivered supplies to gold camps in the early 1900’s.  On the way, the conductor told stories and sang songs from those old days.

Panning for Gold

After the train stopped, we toured Gold Dredge 8, a National Historical Monument.  After the tour, we were each given a bag of sandy soil and a pan to try our hand at panning for gold.  And some gold was guaranteed; it was just a question of how much.  It was a trick to let the tiny pieces of gold sink to the bottom of the water in the pan, while allowing the lighter-weight sand and pebbles to wash out of the pan.  After panning, we all went to the gift shop where our gold was weighed; our combined gold was worth $34.00 – which was much less than a few top performers collected.  We were also treated to complimentary coffee and homemade cookies prior to re-boarding the train for our return trip.

          Our bus then took us to the Fairbanks Steamboat Landing.  First was lunch, which was served family style at the Discovery Dining Hall.  Considerable food included beef stew, fruit salad, and brownies for dessert.  We took a little too long, not noticing that people had been boarding the only remaining authentic Discovery III Alaskan sternwheeler on the river front for a cruise along the Chena and Tanana rivers.  As a result, our choice of seats was reduced and we were unable to get seats along the outside of the boat.  Still, our inside seats turned out to be satisfactory, except that we were unable to watch a sled dog demonstration at the Trail Breaker Kennels facility on the banks of the river because people were standing in front of us and blocking our view.  Soon, we saw a seaplane take off very close to the boat.  The boat stopped at the “Old Chena Indian Village,” where people were divided into groups to hear two young women at 3 cabins tell about the animals that lived there, how they made clothing from furs, etc.  Back on the riverboat, much of the scenery was of comfortable-looking private homes lining the river banks.  We noticed that some motorboats that were speeding down the river had dogs standing on the front, facing into the wind, obviously enjoying the ride immensely.  No doubt, these dogs were sled dogs in the winter.  Complimentary coffee and donuts were served to the passengers along the way.

          It was after 5:30 PM when we arrived back at the Fairbanks Lodge.  Jesse called Val on our mobile phone.  Although we knew they had left the lodge earlier than we did this morning, we supposed they must have seen sights in a different order.  Val suggested that we eat at the Lynx Creek Pizza Restaurant.  We had no idea where this was.  When Jesse inquired at the desk, he was told that this restaurant was in Denali. Yes, Val then informed him that they had been bussed to the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge; they had taken the riverboat tour, but had not panned for gold.  This was when we realized that we had not reserved the same land tour!  At any rate, we were not very hungry since we had eaten plenty at lunch; we had only clam chowder for dinner.  This time our waitress was Monika.  After dinner, we realized that Sally had left her jacket on the Riverboat!  We checked with lost and found, but her jacket was not there.

          Meanwhile, we had been informed that our large suitcases were supposed to be set outside our hotel room door by 6:30 AM on Monday so that they could be checked through to the Princess ship.  Jesse also realized that he had not printed out our Princess boarding passes and luggage tags!  Luckily, he was able to used one of the lodge’s computers and printers to accomplish this.