Moore's on the Move: Fairbanks, AK Friday, June 26, 2009

What a beautiful day we had…the sun was out all day and nary a raindrop. Our day started early…we left the park at 7:45 am and drove into Fairbanks to board a paddlewheel boat named Discovery III. We were going for a 3 1/2 hour ride on the Chena River. When we got there, we were offered free coffee in the gift shop and then once we boarded free coffee and doughnuts…Bob was a happy camper…er, boater! I am not sure how many people were on board but we counted at least 10 tour buses waiting for their passengers when we returned from our trip.

A small plane did a demonstration of how they take off and land from the water.

Some of the homes that we passed along the river…some grand…some not so grand. Hope you can see the sod roof under the blue tarp on this one…it was covered because they were doing some work on it.

Did you know the difference between caribou and reindeer is simply which side of the fence they are on? In the wild they are called caribou and once they are domesticated they become reindeer. We visited an Athabascan village (or a reasonable facsimile) which included a fish camp. It was very interesting and our guides were 2 young ladies of Athabascan heritage. One is in high school and the other is a student at UA-Fairbanks.

Whoops, there were actually 3 young ladies…one was at the fish camp. As usual…the women did most of the work in the village. Here the young woman is shown skinning and filleting salmon and preparing them to dry and go into the smokehouse. Once this process has been completed, the end product would be good for a couple of years.

Mark and Susan are waiting for one of the talks to begin.

After a couple of hours, we prepared to board the boat for our return to the dock…we were watched over by these 2 guys.

Now I have to backtrack a bit. Before we got to the village we were treated to a visit at a kennel were sled dogs are raised and groomed for racing. These dogs are famous because they are a part of the Trail Breaker Kennel which is run by David Monson who is the husband of the late Susan Butcher. Susan was the only woman to win the Iditarod 4 times. Her lead dog was Granite. When she got Granite as a puppy everyone told her that she needed to give him away to someone as a pet…he was small, timid and had knock knees. It is a very touching story…but bottom line is he became a champion as no other sled dog has been. Both Susan and Granite are no longer with us but there stories live on. Susan’s husband continues to run the kennel. After a demonstration of the dogs pulling an ATV (the motor has been taken out) we were able to meet David at the village. Bob and I bought the book that Susan and David wrote about Granite and David was nice enough to pose for a picture with us.

XXXX said it takes about one minute to teach the puppies what the word “go” means and about one year to teach them what “stop” means! When the mushers are running the dogs they have no control over what the dogs do except for voice commands.

One of the young ladies that works at the kennels is growing her own team of dogs and she is a novice musher. She had her dogs available for us to see and pet while at the village. “Lizard” stole our hearts…he loves to be near her and just could not get enough. She did nothing to get him to pose for us…he is such a ham! Once we got back to the gift shop, Bob and I had to have our picture make…Mush On! That is a picture of Susan Butcher with 2 of her dogs.

Okay, just a few more pictures and we are done for the day. This evening Bob and I took a drive northeast of Fairbanks to the Chena Hot Springs Resort. It is about 60 miles away but takes about an hour and a half. It was a beautiful drive. The hot springs are just that…hot springs. The resort is lovely and even has it’s own landing strip. Don’t know that we will be able to go back and enjoy the water.