We surprised ourselves by spending two weeks in Fairbanks. Two weeks! The town had all the major shopping outlets you could need (Costco, Walmart, Safeway, Fred Meyer). We picked up an Amazon order at the UPS store. And we got our USPS Mail delivery (a story for the next blog post).
There were a number of side trips from Fairbanks that will be dealt with in upcoming blog posts. But I wanted to tell you about the city itself, the second largest city in Alaska and where 1/3 of the residents are in the military or in support roles.
We took up residence at the Elks Lodge ($21 per night versus $85 per night at the local KOA…woohoo!). Granted, we only had electric, no water or sewer. But no matter, we have learned how to manage our water consumption. We can go two weeks without dumping our tanks or taking on water. Go us!
The Elks Lodge is located on the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks. This shot was taken across the river from the Lodge (yellow building on the right). You can just make out Sandy, our RV, amongst the RVs on the left.The sites were tight. But the price was right. On this day things weren’t too bad. We would see more RVs arrive on the weekends.The best part of the Lodge was the deck on the back on the Lodge. It overlooked the river. Many an afternoon and evening were spent here. Alaska’s Elks Lodges are the best!From the Lodge, or anywhere along the Chena River for that matter, you could see all sorts of crafts in the water. The river is VERY fast flowing. Kayakers didn’t have to paddle, just steer. This is a father on a paddle board leading his kids down the river in tubes. No paddling really necessary!
All of Alaska seems to be really big on bike paths. Fairbanks was no different. We got out the eBikes one morning and took a 6 mile ride along the river.
Riding six miles on an eBike is really quite easy. Thank goodness!
We were amazed at what a foodie city Fairbanks was. Between restaurants and food trucks, there was no shortage of good eats. There were also a number of EXCELLENT breweries. I think we hit them all.
One of our favorite breweries was HooDoo Brewing. They had an outdoor patio that was hopping every time we stopped. Their inside space was pretty small. We found ourselves wondering what do they do in the winter??? Is the patio still open then?
Golden Days Festival
Little did we realize, but we arrived in town as Fairbanks’ Golden Days Festival was coming to its grand conclusion. Golden Days celebrates the founding of Fairbanks during the Gold Rush. The festival boasts Alaska’s biggest parade (seriously…you would have thought Anchorage would have it beat), a street fair, and the famous Rubber Duckie Race.
We found the Street fair. I, ahem, may have purchased a few things.The parade was pretty entertaining. Of course Goldies (not a typo…that is the duck’s name) the rubber duck had its own float.The local garbage company had one of its trucks in the parade.But what really made us laugh is the same garbage company has a “Dumpster Fire Response Unit” truck. How many dumpsters have to catch on fire before you feel compelled to buy your own fire truck to deal with said fires???This is the Lend Lease Monument. Borrowing from Altas Obscura; “This large monument features Russian and American pilots of the mid-20th century, and celebrates the strategic and social importance of Alaska as the staging ground for the America-Siberia Airway during World War II. Over 8,000 U.S.-made aircraft and countless supplies were ferried to the warring eastern front from the Lower 48 states and over Canada to Ladd Field in Fairbanks, where several hundred Russian pilots took to the cockpit and flew them across the frigid Bering Strait and into Russia for use in the Japanese, German, and Italian theaters of war.”
My ignorance of World War II history was showing, I’m still learning what a major part Alaska played in WWII.
The highlight of the Golden Days was the Rubber Duckie Race. Each duck had a number and people could buy tickets associated with the ducks’ numbers to win cash prizes. We are talking over 8000 ducks!
We were not positioned to see the ducks get dumped into the water. So this picture is from the Chamber of Commerce website.But we did see the ducks come floating down. Remember, the Chena River is pretty fast flowing, so the ducks were down the 1/4 mile course in no time at all. Here they come!We were near the end of the race course. Of course, we wondered how do they get all those ducks out? They enlisted the services of Alyeska Pipeline, the owners of the Alaska Pipeline. Booms were set up in the water to capture all the critters.And this is the finishing line. The first duck to arrive is the big winner. But how the heck to you figure that out? We saw a gentleman scooping a small number of ducks into a bag when they first arrived. All I can figure is they randomly select ducks from that bag for 1st place, 2nd place, etc. After the initial procurement, they put the dip nets into use to scoop out all the remaining ducks. All 7940 of them! “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
We also visited museums, a visitor’s center, parks and more. But that would be too much to detail here. These were the high points of Fairbanks, a town that totally surprised us!
What a great time! We are definitely going to have to talk about joining the Elks Lodge! But I don’t think our water tank is big enough to last 2 weeks. And what about a shower now and then? LOL Love all the places you went to, especially the lodge deck and the breweries.
Big difference from your other stops. I like that river (no paddling) but — going the other way — not so much.
BA
I didn’t see anyone going upriver! They would pull their water craft out downriver and then load them up on a truck.
Yup, definitely different than our other stops. But we needed a break from the wilderness.
What a great time! We are definitely going to have to talk about joining the Elks Lodge! But I don’t think our water tank is big enough to last 2 weeks. And what about a shower now and then? LOL Love all the places you went to, especially the lodge deck and the breweries.
Oh yeah…we need to talk. 🙂