If you drive a little out of downtown Fairbanks, you may stumble upon some interesting places. We drove to the University of Alaska campus and stopped at their museum. It has typical native Alaskan artifacts and other stuff we have already seen many times across the state, so we continued driving. On the northeast side, beyond the military base, there is a special area to walk up close to the Alaska pipeline, including information placards about how it was built.
The pipe is much bigger than you would think and it is all above ground. It took some very smart engineers to complete a massive project like this, especially in a very Arctic climate. Dad was pleased to find out that one lead engineer was from his alma mater, Purdue.
My favorite outing from Fairbanks was a trip to Chena Hot Springs Resort. It was about 60 miles away from our campground, but well worth the drive. We packed our swimsuits to take advantage of a warm soak in the hot springs pool.
I can’t remember a single summer when my swimsuit was only worn once. This day was the one and only day in a swimsuit. ALL summer. Wow! I could not survive multiple summers in this kind of weather. On the bright side, at least you don’t have to shave your legs as much while wearing pants year round!
The resort was at the end of a road, practically in the middle of nowhere. The grounds were very pretty and I took lots of pictures. The landscape designer had some really creative ways to show off their beautiful flowers.
Here is a great way to recycle something old and rusty into an awesome feature. I have seen a lot of old trucks just waiting for a makeover like this.
Near the entrance to the resort is a fairly large ice museum. It is open for tours at three different times per day, but we didn’t want to wait longer for a timeslot. Everything inside is made of ice. One big tour bus brought people all the way to the resort just to see it. I don’t think any of the passengers brought a swimsuit.
A small runway was also on the property. I was surprised to see such a large plane sitting right there at the end. I think it was set up to become an attraction and not in use any longer.
The leaves are starting to change color, with winter fast approaching. The moose on the feature photo at the top of this story was hanging out at the entrance to the resort. I posted a video of her approaching our truck on Facebook. I don’t think she was very afraid of people.
We have been trying out a lot of Alaskan beers all over the state. It only seemed fitting that we visit Silver Gulch Brewery in nearby Fox to try their special brews. We grabbed a bite to eat and sipped a few suds. My favorite was Timmy’s Little Helper. At 11.3% ABV you can’t drink too much of it!
Directly across the street was the Howling Dog Saloon. It wasn’t open at the time, so we couldn’t go inside and check it out. I definitely love the name of it though.
On the west side of Fairbanks, if you are coming from the Denali area, there are a couple different steamboat tours that you can take. The Riverboat Discovery company owns three boats that can accommodate 150, 400, and 900 passengers respectively.
The Discovery gift shop is huge. I guess it needs to be in order to accommodate all of the tour buses from the Princess Lodge.
My favorite boat was the Tanana Chief. It goes out for a two hour evening cruise about three days a week. We left town on the morning of their next trip so we could not make it work out with our schedule. The boat is visible from the highway when you get into Fairbanks.
As I was taking the photo below, a group of ducks walked over to me and followed me back to the truck. I was sorry that I didn’t have any food for them.
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A Sunday brunch cruise is scheduled twice a month. It does not surprise me that so many boat tours are offered throughout Alaska. There are so many huge rivers to explore, and I’m excited to see the mighty Yukon river in a couple of days over in Canada. Overall, I think three days gives you enough time to experience Fairbanks and the surrounding area. There are a few more things to do that I did not point out, like gold panning, but I’m sure you can find them if you come for a visit.