The Discovery III Stern-Wheeler

Today we took a cruise on the Discovery III Stern-Wheeler down the Chena River. Your three-and-a-half hour cruise will take you into the heart of Alaska and the heart of a family who has made the rivers of Alaska a way of life for five generations.

The Brinkley family's steam boating goes back over 100 years and five generations to the Klondike Gold Rush. In 1898, when Charles M. Brinkley hiked over the Chilkoot Pass with other stampeders, he was not so much in search of gold as he was the chance to chart and navigate the Yukon. He became a respected pilot and boat-builder in the north.

The cruise down the Chena River takes us to Susan Butcher's home and the site of her world famous Alaska Husky Dog Kennels. She and her lead dog, Granite, won four Iditarod championships. Sled dogs are some of the world's best cared for athletes. They receive the best food and medical attention and they get to do what they love most, run. Mushers treat their sled dogs like part of the family, and the bond between them is as strong as the bond between human members of a family.

They also have a demonstration of an Alaskan Float Plane taking off and landing close to the boat. Alaska has the largest number of licensed private pilots of any other state in the Union. During the long winter months this is about the only way to get around from place to place. They can be equipped with wheels, floats or skies.

One place of great interest was a replica of an Athabascan Indian Village. They have lived in the Alaska area for over 12,000 years and it was not until about the early 1800's that they were exposed to outside influences. We learned that about 2,000 years ago some of the Tribe migrated south to Arizona and New Mexico and became known as Apaches and Navajo Indians.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words so here are a few pictures that will help you enjoy what we saw today.

Fairbanks, Alaska

Located in the heart of Alaska's Interior, Fairbanks the states 2nd largest city is approximately 1.488 driving miles north of Dawson Creek, British Columbia, the start of the Alaska Highway.

In 1901, Captain E.T. Barnette set out from St. Michael on the stern-wheeler "Lavelle Young" traveling up the Yukon River with supplies for his trading post which he proposed to set up at Tanana Crossing, the halfway point on the Valdez-Eagle trail. But the stern-wheeler could not navigate the fast-moving shallow Chena River.

In September 1902, Barnette convinced the 25 or so miners in the area to use the name "Fairbanks" for the town that he expected would grow up around his trading post.

On June 27, 2009, the State of Alaska celebrated it's 50th anniversary as a State of The United States.

Today, we went to see the Large Animal Research Center of the University of Alaska. This is where they are doing research on the Muskox, Caribou and Reindeer. The difference between Caribou and Reindeer is that Caribou are wild and Reindeer are tame. Both of these have antlers and the female keeps her antlers during the winter season which makes her "boss" then.

We also went to see the University Museum of the North. It was very interesting but the bad part of it is they would not permit the use of flash cameras in the museum. Thank goodness for my Canon DSLR camera and I was able to take some non-flash pictures I hope you like them.

North Pole, Alaska

YES VIRGINIA THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS

Here Is Proof

On our way into Fairbanks, AK. we passed the town of North Pole. We assumed that there must be some connection with Santa Claus since there was a Santa Land on the side of the road.

Today we drove there to check it out. I'll let the pictures I took settle any doubt you may have about what we saw.

Yea !! We Finally Made It To Alaska

After driving through rough roads in the Yukon Territory, we finally arrived in Alaska and the scenery is beautiful. The roads are a little better but they still have frost heaves that you have to be careful about.

We're in a real nice small RV Park in North Pole, Alaska. There is a rumor that there is someone special that lives here and tomorrow we're going into town and see if we can find this person. Maybe we can get a picture of him if we're lucky.

Enjoy the pictures that Jerry took. The ones of the clouds reflected in the lake were taken by me.

Haines Junction To Alaska

We thought we had left all the rough road behind us, Yea Right, we ran into about 30 more miles of this fun and games. Oh well they only have a few months during the year in which to repair the roads.

The worse part of the roads are the "frost heaves". Imagine taking about three speed bumps and stacking them one on top of another and then doing the same thing about four feet away, then drive the car over it. That will get your attention right quick. We drove through about 60 miles of that and you could not get over about 10 miles per hour safely.

Most of the pictures in this journal were taken by Jerry. For some reason she won't let me drive and take pictures too.

Heading To Alaska

We left Whitehorse, YT heading to Haines Junction en route to Alaska. The trip was only about 100 miles but it seemed like it took forever since the roads were terrible. They were doing a lot of road construction and most of it consisted of removing the blacktop and replacing it with sandy gravel. The dust was unbelievable and you could only see about 15 feet in front of you if you were lucky.

We did however drive a little further than Haines Junction and pulled into one of the convenient road side parking areas they have to spend the night and rest. We were tired and had enough of the ROUGH ROADS.

Jerry was able to get some good pictures of our trip and also of the rough roads. I hope you like them and feel sorry for us.

Whitehorse Sight Seeing

In addition to going to a grocery store and "Wally World", we decided to take a look at a couple of sights along the way.

The Woolly Mammoth and the World's Largest Weather Vane are something to see.

Tomorrow we'll be back "On The Road Again" heading to Haynes Junction for the night and then continue on to Alaska. If nothing happens, we should be in Fairbanks, Alaska on June 29Th.