We spent the day in Fairbanks.  In fact we didn’t move the RV today!  We signed up for a river boat cruise that took us down the Chena River.  It was interesting listening to the history of the area and the cruise included:  i) a sea plane demonstration with take off and water landing, ii) off shore visit of a famous dog sledge racing training and raising farm, iii) and a stop at a Chena Village, that has been moved to its present location for the benefit of tourists. 

The Chena River has changed its course and merger with Tanana River and a sand bar has formed.  For the benefit of the tourist a recreation of the former Chena Village is now in a place where folks can go ashore.  On land we saw Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Midnight Snack.  These are 4 reindeer or caribou that are on display to show what they look like up close.  We were also informed that caribou is delicious, as is moose.  Moose are also very territorial and are solitary creatures that only associate with each other during mating season.  This explains why we’ve seen small groups of caribou on the road side, but only a couple of individual moose along the way.  There are more caribou than people in Alaska.  There are also more moose in Alaska than people.  At the village, we also saw a salmon wheel, smoke house, and furs on display.   The natives claim a semi-subsistence, by stating that their meat is hunted and the rest of the diet is paid for.

 When we got back to the RV park, we decided it was the perfect day for a bike ride.  We rode into downtown Fairbanks, nothing to write home about, as there’s nothing quaint to the center of the city, for the second largest city in Alaska.  It will be interesting to see how Anchorage compares.  Fairbanks is working on being a bicycle friendly town, and in several places bikes have to ride on sidewalks and are prohibited from street use.  We stopped at the Alaskan Raw Fur Store, which was fascinating to apply our newly learned knowledge on the different types and warmth values of furs.  The most expensive fur was an extra large ranch raised silver fox selling for $675. 

The least expensive fur I saw was a $40 skunk pelt.  We then rode over to the Alaskan Bowl Factory.  There they turn amazing birch wood bowls, only during the summer time because it’s too cold in the winter time.  The locals only talk in terms of summer and winter.  Summer is from May to September.  At least that’s what our cruise guide told us.  He also told us that today there will be 21 hours, 40 minutes of daylight, one second shorter than yesterday.  We rode about 10 miles today, off and on, nothing too taxing.  Fairbanks is relatively flat, however the mountains rise up quickly.  In the winter time, the Chena River freezes over and airplanes with skis can land, snowmobiles ride over the river, dog sled teams mush down the river, and cross country skiing is also done all on the river.  Right now, there’s all sorts of boats, rafts, kayaks, canoes and general water toys at play.  The Chena River is a slow current river, compared to the Yukon.  It’s also not all that deep, but I couldn’t tell you how warm the water is.  Not very, based on all the screams of temperature shock we heard from people who got wet.  The bike trail is along the river in several places.

Tomorrow we’re headed off to Denali National Park.  I just hope the weather holds and the sky stays clear enough we can see Mt. McKinley.