Day 2 - 6/3/08

This is our cabin at the Rivers Edge Resort in Fairbanks. It was much larger than it looks, and very nice.
A woman at the Resort told us they'd had a blizzard 4 weeks ago and a freeze as recently as 2 weeks ago. You certainly couldn't tell that. The trees were green and there were lots of pretty, bright flowers. They tell us the plants come to life very quickly after the last freeze.



We slept (or passed out) well last night and woke ready for adventure. Today we spent the morning on a stern wheel riverboat called "Discovery." The day was beautiful and the guides had a well-planned, informative trip planned. Like other glacially-fed rivers in the area, the Chena is very shallow this time of year. Fairbanks receives only about 11" of rain each year. The rest of the water comes from snow melting in the mountains. Within the next few weeks all the rivers will be be at normal depth.



The riverboat displaces only 39" of water. Five generations of family have run the riverboat. The same family also owns several tourist attractions in Fairbanks.
The boat stopped at a sled dog camp and we learned how they are trained, how they work, and how they are conditioned from birth to pull sleds. We saw a demonstration of how they train dogs during the summer by having them pull an ATV (engine removed) at about 20 mph--it was unbelievable. Those dogs love to run!



We also visited a replica Athapascan indian village. These were the original inhabitants of the area. The woman who displaayed native beadwork she'd done, has a chief's coat on display at the Smithonian. There were examples of various kinds of huts used at different times or for different purposes. We learned a lot about how the natives lived--and in some cases still live. the guides at the village were all college kids and of Athabaskan descent. All are proud of their heritage.

In the afternoon we visited the Eldorado Gold Mine. We learned about placer mining. It's a much more involved process than I would have imagined. Then we got to actually pan for gold. Good thing we don't do this for a living! Cheryl's gold was worth $7; Wally's was worth $2 and mine was worth $9--whoo hoo!

Here is a gold nugget they had on display at the mine. I couldn't believe how heavy and solid it felt in my hand.

Cheryl and I arranged a shuttle to take us to the Botanical Gardens to letterbox. It started to rain so I cancelled the shuttle. The sky was very overcast so I didn't trust the rain would clear off--which it did immediately after I cancelled the shuttle. Bummers!