Explore Alaska: Fairbanks

July 26, 2010

We left Denali National Park around 7:30am and headed for Fairbanks. We first stopped at University of Alaska Museum of North and watched 3 movies. One was about Aurora, the second one was about winter in Fairbanks, and the third one was about the museum itself. People in Fairbanks seemed to be fascinated with outhouses. They have annual outhouse race.

There was a fancy outhouse on display at the museum. There are still people, especially college students. still use outhouses even in the winter with temperature well below minus 20 (-20) degrees. After spending about 3 and a half hour in the museum, I took Matt to the pool to practice with Midnight Sun Swim Club.

This was the pool where Cara’s University of Illinois roommate Annie trained. After the practice, we met with Annie and her mom. Annie’s mom took us to to a Chinese restaurant then to their house. We had local blueberry and chocolate ice cream made by Hot Licks. They were really good ice creams.

We filled up gas the first time. The gas mileage of this RV was only about 8 miles/gallon. The tank capacity of the gas tank was 55 gallons. I had to use two separate credit cards to add 50 gallons. The gas price was $3.49/gallon comparing to$2.65/gallon in Maryland.

July 27, 2010

Our plan for the day was to go to the El Dorado Gold Mine and the Chena Hop Spring. On the way to see the gold mine,

we stopped by the Trans-Alaska pipeline viewing area and took a close look at the pipeline. It was interesting to learn that the oil was heated up to 100 degrees and pumped along the way through 11 pump stations.

This is a picture of a pig. Every month a pig is dropped in from one end of the pipeline at Prudhoe Bay and picked up at the end of the other end at Valdez to clean and inspect the pipeline. The pig travels at speed of 3-4 miles/hr and would take about 15 days to complete the 820 mile journey.

We arrived at the gold mine place around 11am. The next tour wouldn't start until 3pm and it would cost $34.95 per person for the 2 hour tour including a train ride to the mine, watch a demonstration of operation, and hands-on gold panning. It didn’t sound very interesting and we didn’t want to wait for so long so we decided to visit Pioneer Park back in Fairbanks. We spent 3-4 hours there then headed to Chena Hot Spring which was about 1 and a half hour drive from Fairbanks. The hot spring was nice and relaxing, the water temperature was comfortable. Afterward, I took Matt to see the ice museum which was a giant freezer with amazing ice sculptures. Inside the museum, it had ice beds, an ice toilet, an ice bar, an ice music chamber, and an ice altar for ice weddings. It was also available for overnight accommodation at the cost of $600 per night. There had been 11 ice hotel guests in 2010.