July 19, 2011 - Day 11 of Vacation - Out and About in Fairbanks

On Tuesday morning we got up and ate breakfast then headed out with a list of things we wanted to try to get done.  First we drove over to the Steese Highway to stop at the view point for the pipeline.  There were 3 buses there ahead of us.

A section of pipe

MS and JM by the pipeline - The little one was too interested in picking up things off the ground to even think  about saying cheese.

After checking out the pipeline, we drove downtown to check out a few things.

JM in Golden Heart Plaza with the Chena River and Fairbanks' oldest church in the background.

The first unknown family.  

We should have walked around the plaza a bit more to look at things but we were kind of in a time crunch that morning.  Instead we went into the Yukon Quest Office long enough to check it out.

Jodi Bailey - a rookie musher who completed both the Yukon Quest and Iditarod this year was there with some of her dogs.  MS and ST were excited to see them.  We left the building with 2 very small toy dogs for the older girls (which they bought with their own money) and a little larger one for ST.

Then it was time to walk back over to 2nd Ave to the Ice Museum for the 11:00 show.

It was a little cold in the front room that they let you go in but we got a few pictures.  That room is kept at 20 degrees.

Blaine and ST

Val with Mr. Inch in the "Ice" glass

After we looked around a bit, the ice carver "Andy" made a neat carving of an angel fish.

We left the Ice Museum and went over a couple of blocks to the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center.

JM by the antler arch

MS and her stuffed puppy by the antler arch.

JM and her stuffed puppy Scooby Do by the eagle.

The girls and their puppies cutting up some (plaastic) salmon to dry.

ST by the big stuffed bear.

MS near the quilt they are raffling off.

We left the cultural center and drove to Subway for lunch.  Then back down College Street to stop in at Creamer's Field to check on the birds.

This is the first time ever that the birds weren't close enough to see with the naked eye - instead we needed binoculars to see the many sand hill cranes that were there.

Next stop was Pioneer Park (it used to be named Alaska Land but for some reason they changed the name).

We went into the rail car that Pres Warren G Harding rode in when he was in Alaska to drive in the golden spike joining the north and south sections of the track.  We checked out the bedroom in the car and it had this little 1" thick mattress setting on springs - sure didn't look comfortable at all.  Plus, it wasn't even the size of a twin bed - more like a raised cot.

Then we went to  the carousel and took a ride.  The carousel is one of the few things they charge for at the park.  All 3 girls chose a horse that was on the inside so it was a little harder to take pictures of them.

Poor purple reindeer had a broken leg.

We then looked around the museum a little and a few stores where they sell "good" alaskan souvenirs that you  just can't live without.  We came to the place called 40 Below.  6 of us decided we would check it out.  Tata and ST stayed outside.

First you put on parkas, gloves and hats that they have for your use.  Then they handed us a small cup of hot water, stuffed us all into a tiny entry way, closed the door and opened the door to the 40 below room.  It was so noisy in there.  Definitely wasn't the nice peaceful 40 below weather that one would actually experience in this area.  I am not sure why they had to have a fan blowing.

JM threw her cup of water into the air and we saw it turn into snow.  MS came into the room for just a second but she gets so cold anyway that she just wanted out immediately.

We got a picture of JM with the therometer pointing at 40 below.  

And I got a picture of Jill, Val and Blaine (oh and Mr Inch) by the 40 below.  And we all exited out of that place.  They didn't even have children's t-shirts so I was only able to buy an xs adult one for JM.  They definitely have a racket going on there.  

Our next stop was in a bead shop named Charms by CJ.  We were in there at least 20 minutes as MS looked through every bead several times trying to determine which one she wanted to buy.  She finally settled on one that glows in the dark.  Then she posed with the owner of the shop who had made the bead.  And they put the bead on a small leather strap to tie around the stuffed puppies neck.

Meanwhile, ST had fallen asleep so Tata was content to sit on a bench and let her sleep while we looked through the rest of the shops.  Finally, we walked through the old riverboat at the park.  Inside, they have a lot of dioramas of small villages around here which are pretty cool.

A few more pictures and time to head for home.

On the way out, I convinced the older two girls to pose by the flowers but the little train came around and they were more interested in that than saying cheese for a camera crazy Nana.

We got home and cooked halibut tacos for dinner.  They were pretty tasty.  After dinner, I went in to my office to do a little work on pictures.  The girls followed me in and tried to make a tent with quilts and my Aunt Mary's old quilting frame.  I got the brooms to use as they were the only two round things I had that would fit in the round holes and turn this into a square structure they could pile quilts on.

They grabbed every quilt available and soon had a tent about 12 square feet inside and played until time to eat dinner.

Jill had made her delicious oreo cake and I had made a little chunky mango cake for MS.  When it was time for dessert, I borrowed the little cake and stuck a candle in so we could sing a belated happy birthday to Val.

All too soon, it was time once again to hit the hay.  It had been a busy day.  We got to see and do a lot - another day gone, only 3 to go.