Our Excellent Adventures

Posts Tagged ‘Pioneer Park’

Fairbanks, day 18

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

	Fairly early we heading downtown to the Visitor’s Center in Fairbanks. Parking spaces would be hard to find for a large camper but our 19′ fit right into a regular street parking spot.We visited the The Unknown First Family monument at the Visitor’s Center. We looked at the walking tour map which was mostly commercial sites and decided to head to Pioneer Park.
	Pioneer Park is a great place with lots of shops occupying authentic old cabins that have been relocated here. There is a steamship with very interesting diorama’s (miniature models of real locations in the history of the area).
	We saw display of the Northern Lights in a portable planetarium. The presentation was conducted by professors from University of Alaska and was very educational, almost like the real thing except for the sound of babies, who were afraid of the dark, wailing (come on, kids can not go EVERYWHERE).
	Next we froze in a -40° exposure to a Fairbanks winter. Boiling water froze in mid air when thrown from a glass. I hammered a nail with a frozen banana. Debbie’s ears did not warm up for hours afterwards! It was a great exhibit.
	We also leaned much more about Judge Wickersham, who shaped the history of this area in many ways.
	Next we went to the U of A Large Animal Research Station. We saw musk oxen and caribou. The University is studying the nutrition and behavior of these animals. How do I get that job?
	Lastly we visited Mary Shields, the first woman to finish the Iditarod, at her cabin. What a great time she gave us! We got to meet all the sled dogs, see Mary’s great garden, beautiful home-built cabin and hear all about sled dog racing and living in the bush. While having coffee and brownies we listened about her mushing adventure to Siberia and the Yukon Quest. If you go to Fairbanks make sure to visit Mary.



Musk Ox film here
Caribou film here