Day 25 - Fairbanks, AK

Fairbanks, AK- Day 2
Saturday, July 2, 2011

25^TH Day of Trip

by: Dot & Mel Bolton Rig #4



Dot and Mel in front of Discovery 3



We started out this morning with the sun shinning at 8 am to catch our bus for our area bus trip and our first stop was the “riverboat discovery” cruise where we boarded the Discovery #3 after checking out the gift shop.



Cindy and Ron, really?



We boarded for a 3-½ hr cruise and learned about Charles Binkley who made the rivers of Alaska a way of life for five generations.  Charles was not in search of gold but wanted to chart and navigate the Yukon and Tanana Rivers.  He was a pilot and boat-builder and piloted freight vessels in the 1940’s. In 1950 he and wife Mary started an excursion business, build in 1955 his first sternwheeler, Discovery #1.  Living here were Indians, Eskimos, trappers, miners, and prospectors, they appreciated all their cultures.  Samples of their cultural and scenic diversity were introduced along the riverbanks for folks to appreciate and visit.

fish preparation demonstration

We walked with our tour guide Ashley who is of Eskimo descendant and learned how the natives survived.  We learned about Susan Butcher who with her lead dog Granite, won the Iditarod 4 times in 1986, 87, 88, and 90. 





Mel and Dot with Ashley





We boarded the boat for the return trip and were served samples of salmon on crackers and given the chance to purchase cans of salmon. 

L to R: Mel, Ken, Carol, Carl, Dick, Karla
waiting in line for salmon



  

We then were driven to the Pumphouse restaurant for a lovely lunch of soup, sandwiches, chicken and fish casserole, salads and apple-rhubarb pie with whipping cream.

Our next stop was to see the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline, which is 800 miles long, which was constructed in the 1970’s.

Off to the El Dorado Gold Mine where we boarded a train, given ponchos incase it rained and learned about underground tunnels called drift mines to find gold. 

We watched a panning demonstration when the sky opened up and the ponchos and umbrellas can out. We were given a sack of dirt/gravel and tried our hand at panning.  Mel got $20.00 worth of gold and I got $8.00 worth and had a necklace made with it. We then returned to our camp, tired, a little wet and happy to have had the days experience with our new 42 friends.