Denali to Fairbanks

 A more civilized start this morning, with bags out at 8am and departure at 9am. It had rained over night, but the skies were clearing and the air was fresh. I walked over to get a coffee and check the forecast fairly early, then back to my room to put out my bag and finish getting ready. Then walked over to the main lodge lobby. You can really get your steps in at this resort!

It's only about a 3 hour drive to Fairbanks, and we had a rest-stop at a very funky gift shop/campsite. Lots of memorabilia scattered around. The country-side was more rolling hills and plains as we left the Alaska range behind. We passed through a very quaint town ofStill lots of spruce trees, quite stunted and skinny. The road is quite bumpy as it's built over permafrost. We pulled into Fairbanks about noon. I got a sandwich and took it across the street to a riverside park. There were some musicians playing, and lots of plaques with city history to read. Then onward to Gold Dredge 8 where we had a tour of the site including information on the building of the Alaskan pipeline, a little old train to take us to the dredge site with explanations on the history and how it works. And we finished off with panning for gold. It's a lot harder than it looks in the demonstration!

We checked into our hotel about 4:30pm, the Westmark Fairbanks. a standard hotel on the edge of the downtown area. It had started to rain lightly but I decided to walk downtown to the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Centre. It was well worth a visit, lots of interesting displays and films on life in Fairbanks and area past and present. And it's free. It was raining harder on the way back and I was glad to get back to my room to check emails and dry out. I wasn't too hungry so opted for a salad topped with chicken for dinner. Then back to the room to get my bags ready for the flight to Dawson City tomorrow.







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