{"id":139,"date":"2017-07-19T21:16:25","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T21:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/?p=139"},"modified":"2017-07-19T21:16:25","modified_gmt":"2017-07-19T21:16:25","slug":"fairbanks-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/19\/fairbanks-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Fairbanks Fun"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello! \u00a0I’ve been a little slow getting updates out, sorry! \u00a0We spent almost a week in the Fairbanks area, staying in North Pole, Alaska (just outside Fairbanks) and then another campground just north of Fairbanks. \u00a0We did some tourist things, like visiting the Santa Claus House in North Pole, a museum on campus at University of Alaska Fairbanks and a river boat cruise. \u00a0We also got a good hike in at Angel Rocks trail, in the Chena State Recreation area, about 1 hour from Fairbanks. \u00a0Today we are in Cantwell, Alaska, near Denali National Park. \u00a0I’ll do a separate update for this area soon.<\/p>\n

The Santa Claus House was fun – Christmas galore! \u00a0We went twice – the first day, we had a Facetime call scheduled with the grandkids, Greyson and Connor that fell during the time we were there. \u00a0The 4 hour time difference makes it harder to connect back home at a time that works for the kids. \u00a0I showed them the inside of the Santa Claus store, including Santa’s empty chair. \u00a0Santa was not in, but it was fun to show them the Christmas things. \u00a0We went back the next day to pick up a few more gifts, and Santa was in! \u00a0When he finished with the kids on his lap, I was taking his picture when he asked me how I was – we started talking, and I told him about my Facetime call yesterday with the grandkids, showing his empty chair. \u00a0He said, “that won’t do…let’s give them a real hello!”. \u00a0A store helper came over and took a video of Santa talking to me and saying hello to Greyson and Connor. \u00a0He also let them know he double checked his list, and they are both on the good list!!! \u00a0I was able to send the video to Steph who reports it was a big hit.<\/p>\n

We spent an afternoon at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, visiting the Museum of the North which was really nice, a lot of history of the area, native life, animals, etc. \u00a0We found a nice food truck for lunch nearby and also a farmers market for some yummy almond cake and rhubarb jam. \u00a0There were a lot of food vendors that seemed to be of eastern european decent, and the almond cake was from one lady that reminded me of a Russian grandma. \u00a0It was kind of like a tart, kind of like a dense one layer cake….and very good. \u00a0Sorry, I didn’t get a picture of it!<\/p>\n

On another day, we went on a riverboat tour down the Chena river, a significant river that runs through Fairbanks. \u00a0It was a warm and sunny day (which has been a rare thing for us so far). \u00a0The tour was extremely well done. \u00a0The narrator on the boat was excellent. \u00a0The boat took us by the sled dog kennels and home of one of the famous Iditarod race champions, Susan Butcher. \u00a0Susan died a few years ago from cancer, but her daughter and husband still run the kennels and her daughter will race for the first time next year. \u00a0Susan won the race 4 times with her lead dog named Granite. \u00a0There was quite a story behind Granite and Susan and the challenges they overcame. \u00a0The boat stopped by the kennels and we saw a training session with the sled dogs, it was fun to watch them work – they love to pull!<\/p>\n

The boat then stopped at a living museum that demonstrated native life and how they survived on the land for centuries. \u00a0A “fish camp” was set up to recreate how native Alaskans caught and preserved salmon (by using a smoke house) each summer for winter food supply. \u00a0We also saw native Alaskan clothing and household tools used for everyday life. \u00a0We really enjoyed the tour and learned a lot.<\/p>\n

Gerry had his own special outings too! \u00a0We were able to get out and do these things while Gerry was at doggy day care. \u00a0First he went to Chelseas Pet Resort – really nice place and perfect for a day of fun. \u00a0He also got his very first bath while there. \u00a0Then he went to visit Travis and Jenna at their house. \u00a0We met Travis at a Petco store while buying dog food in Fairbanks. \u00a0He was really nice, and after talking to us for a while offered to have Gerry come visit him and his 2 dogs at his house on his day off. \u00a0We said yes and Gerry had a great time – they had 2 lab mix dogs, a nice house with about 1 acre and a big fenced in area for the dogs. \u00a0Another super nice person we have met on our trip.<\/p>\n

We got in 1 hike while in the Fairbanks area (I know, we are getting lazy….have to pick up the pace a bit!). \u00a0We drove to the Chena State Recreation area and hiked Angel Rocks trail. \u00a0It was just under 4 miles, and a very nice hike. \u00a0There were a lot of people on the trail, it was a Saturday and a lot of locals were there in addition to tourists like us. \u00a0So no animal spottings, but we had a great lunch on the trail and enjoyed the outing. \u00a0So did Gerry – he’s becoming a good trail dog.<\/p>\n

Some pictures below, and more also at this link:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/1drv.ms\/a\/s!Ap-2lg-EnL0pj1vOmy5bClPTdk6S<\/a><\/p>\n

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Angel Rocks trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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This picture was taken at 12:30 am, at our campground near Fairbanks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello! \u00a0I’ve been a little slow getting updates out, sorry! \u00a0We spent almost a week in the Fairbanks area, staying in North Pole, Alaska (just outside Fairbanks) and then another campground just north of Fairbanks. \u00a0We did some tourist things, like visiting the Santa Claus House in North Pole, a museum on campus at University … Continue reading Fairbanks Fun<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151,"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions\/151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journeyreeb.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}