Sunday's Fairbanks Adventure

Our Sunday morning started very leisurely with brunch of eggs and cinnamon rolls, and cleaning up. We headed into town to check out getting fuel in the morning and arrived early at the Discovery Tours for our paddle boat steamer trip. When we got there our next door neighbors from the RV Park were also going.
The Paddleboat Steamer, Discovery III was getting set up for us. It can hold 900 guests. We chose the third deck up called the Texas Deck, and sat out in the open area at the front, Twenty paddles were turned by hydraulic motors and needed only water that was 39 inches deep to navigate the Chena River. We saw homes of all sizes, shapes and conditions.
On our trip we saw the 1950 float plane take off, land and take off again. Our next encounter was visiting the Susan Butcher winning iditarod and Alaskan legend who won a total of four years with her lead dog, Granite. Sled dogs are Alaskan Huskies, bred for endurance and speed. They are well cared for and get to do what they love most RUN!
We stopped at an original Athabascan Indian Village and they showed how they prepared salmon for the dogs, how they tanned the various animal hides, some of the men's hunting jacket, maiden dress, and a winter parka with a sun hood of wolverine fur around the face because it kept the frost away from the face and timber wolf for the rest of it. We saw reindeer who were trying to get the velvet off of the antlers. One of the Athabascan guides explained the challenge of the old ways and living in the modern world.
After our fun adventure, we went back and had a great steak dinner and are looking forward to heading toward Denali tomorrow.





Leigh - Marilyn
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