CRUISETOUR : FAIRBANKS

COPPER RIVER TO FAIRBANKS

INTO THE NORTH

For the next instalment of my Princess Cruisetour journey in Alaska, I was heading even further north.

Not quite as far north as I have ever been, that honour is currently held (on land at least) by Akureyri in Iceland.

But if you have been following the story so far you will know my Alaskan adventure began in Anchorage, proceeded to Copper River and now the cruisetour would head as far north into Alaska as we would reach on this journey, Fairbanks.

However before that we had eight hours or so on a coach ride. We were about to see what Alaska was all about.

FAREWELL COPPER RIVER

At 9.30am our cruisetour group boarded the bus at the Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge for our day of travel.

At this point we were a few days into the tour. The people sitting around me were a chatty group.

In Copper River the participants on my Discovery excursion had included a couple from Oklahoma, who were on my bus. That was another new friendship with something in common as we’d spent time together.

A group tour is a great way to explore as a solo traveller, because people are generally friendly and look out for each other and our little group was bonding. I didn’t feel like I was on my own any more.

We set off on the road.

You quickly discover that scanning the trees for signs of wildlife is quite therapeutic.

People might argue that a cruisetour with long bus rides, to places as far afield as Fairbanks, would be quite tedious.

But you are on holiday and it was surprisingly relaxing.

And of course you are in Alaska, so its never boring for long.

WILDLIFE SPOTTING

One of the absolute highlights of a cruisetour in Alaska is wildlife spotting, and we began again in earnest on the road to Fairbanks.

Its a bit like going on safari, but with a different big five to collect in the wilderness of Alaska compared to the plains of Africa.

I started the day seeing several snowshoe hares, cute little things.

We upped the stakes in the mountains though with a bald eagle, perched in a tree, complete with a blizzard for scenic effect.

After that came a couple more moose. We had spotted those already on the way to Copper River and I was on the wrong side of the bus for a good look at these ones. But everyone moved out of the way so all of us got chance to have a look through the bus windows.

I was more lucky that another new addition, Caribou, was on my side. Caribou are close, but undomesticated, relatives of reindeer. They wander the open lands of Alaska.

But the absolute highlight of this day was spotting a herd of bison.

We stopped the bus at a distance where you needed the zoom on your camera for a good photo. They are magnificent creatures though.

We saw a fairly decent sized herd. You can only imagine what it would have been like in the days when hundreds of thousands roamed North America, before they were almost hunted to extinction.

Now they are a tourist’s dream and the cruisetour bus was filled with excitement, comparing photos, as we left the bison behind and carried ever onwards to Fairbanks.

THE ROUTE TO FAIRBANKS

Alaska Oil Pipeline

As you may remember, in Copper River I got up close to the Alaska Oil Pipeline.

Our driver and guide told us more about the benefits of this pipeline to the people of Alaska, as we followed its path northward. We also had a documentary video about it shown on the bus.

We had a few opportunities on this leg of the journey to stop off for another up close look at this engineering marvel.

Summit Lake, Paxson

The cruisetour headed along the main highway towards Fairbanks, which slowly rose in altitude.

That became more obvious as the vibrant green trees became a bit thinner and whiter as snow started appearing on the ground.

Eventually we passed above the tree line and the weather changed too.

The snow on the ground became snow in the air as a blizzard whipped around the bus.

We had a photo stop in the snow at Summit Lake, where the elevation of the road reaches a peak of over 3,200 feet.

This was what I expected from Alaska. Snow! It was marvellous because it was what I really imagined the place to be like.

In fact I don’t think we actually saw it snowing again after that, although we would see plenty more of the white stuff as the weeks continued.

Delta Junction

For lunch we stopped in the small town of Delta Junction, at Rika’s Roadhouse and Gift Shop.

Our meal for lunch was home made corn chowder, followed by a slice of strawberry and rhubarb pie with ice cream. Lovely!

The site also included the Delta Historical Society Museum and Big Delta State Historical park.

Here buildings recreated aspects of life in this remote area of Alaska, which sits on the shores of the Tanana River.

The roadhouse had been established to support travellers crossing the river by the local ferry on the Valdez to Fairbanks trail, though our cruisetour had the luxury of a modern bridge.

We had time to explore this free attraction, before we continued our journey. An excellent pit stop for lunch.

North Pole, Alaska

It was very much a case of four seasons in one day as the cruisetour continued from Copper River to Fairbanks.

We’d had pleasant weather, blizzards and now as we arrived at North Pole, it was pouring with rain.

This town was not far from the outskirts of Fairbanks.

In 1952 the area was renamed North Pole in the hope of attracting a toy maker to the area. Around the same time a trading post was opened in the area, which became known as the Santa Claus House.

And that was the place for our next stop on the route.

The Santa Claus House is now one great, year round, Christmas shop.

It was a bit strange visiting in May, but I did pick up a Christmas decoration of a moose by a fir tree. A reminder of my trip to Alaska that has hung on my Christmas tree every year since.

I decided against a photo with Santa Claus, although a couple of my bus buddies came back with one of those too!

We probably didn’t need quite as long a break here as we were in touching distance of Fairbanks itself. However it was fun to see.

THE CRUISETOUR ARRIVES IN FAIRBANKS

And so, after a long day on the road, we pulled into Fairbanks.

This is the largest city in the interior of Alaska (yes, I was in the interior now!) and the second largest in the state, after Anchorage.

Our home for the next couple of nights was the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge.

This one was quite a large, modern hotel building.

None of the rustic charm of the lodge at Copper River.

But instead it had its own perks, like a riverside terrace.

There I sat in glorious afternoon sunshine the next day, with my book and a glass or two of wine.

The weather flipping again to that of summer, as the temperature soared and young people played in the river while the odd speedboat zipped past.

Nothing like what I had expected in Alaska.

My Room

No disadvantage because I was a single traveller in this hotel either. My room had two single beds, which I generally dislike as I can only sleep in one.

However, in common with many American hotels I have stayed in, they were actually twin queen sized beds, so I was able to spread out with loads of room to myself.

The functional bathroom area was partitioned to the side.

I had no complaints.

And being a larger town we had cable TV. That was handy as I was staying there on the night of the “Game of Thrones” final episode, so I was able to watch it live.

As it happened I was quite glad for a night of normal TV. The hotel restaurant closed at 8.30pm and the bar, where I actually ate, finished serving food at 10.30pm.

So after dinner, and a couple of pints, a bit of evening TV was just the right level of entertainment.

Unlike the cruise ship leg of my adventure, that was still days away, in Fairbanks, common to most of the lodges, there is no real evening entertainment provided on the land portion of a cruisetour. Its worth bearing in mind.

However they are long, full days, so I never begrudged a reasonably early night.

FAIRBANKS CRUISETOUR DAY 2

One of the great things about our cruisetour itinerary in Fairbanks was that it came with some included excursions.

After an evening to ourselves in the hotel we were up for an 8.30am excursion.

It began with a five minute ride down the road where we met our ride for the morning. The paddle wheeler Discovery III.

DISCOVERY III

Discovery III was a four storey paddle wheeler, that would take us on our riverboat adventure along the Chena River.

However it also acted like a floating stage, as this trip was also part of a staged attraction, that I later recorded in my diary as one of the best trips so far.

We sailed down the river admiring the waterfront houses that could be both for locals and holiday homes.

Then, whether by good timing, or part of the show, a seaplane came in to land on the river.

Just an every day part of interior Alaskan life.

Dog Sleds

Our first stop along the river was to see the famous dog sleds.

This site was the home and kennels of the late Susan Butcher. Four time winner of the Iditarod and a local legend. We heard a bit of her life story.

I really didn’t know much about the Iditarod, although I’ve found out much more since.

Its a race that ceremonially begins in Downtown Anchorage at the beginning of March each year.

From here teams of dogs and their musher race approximately 1,000 miles to the interior city of Nome.

The gruelling race is now probably Alaska’s most famous sporting event.

From our vantage point on the top deck of Discovery III we were treated to a much smaller demonstration as a dog team whipped around the track before us.

The dogs so clearly loved what they were doing. What was there not to love about this.

Well they brought out the puppies just to make sure!

Chena Village

We carried on along the river to our next stop, where we began our introduction to Athabascan Indian culture.

From our stand on the boat we had a demonstration of how the ubiquitous local salmon is caught, filleted and dried as a food source.

Alongside a herd of domesticated reindeer showed a more exotic side of farming.

Then we carried on the dock in the recreated Chena Village.

Here walking around the trail we explored different aspects of the Athabascan way of life.

At strategic points we sat on log benches and watched presentations about life here from local people.

We heard about fur and fashion. Not quite so controversial when used as a sustainable part of life. The natives use the whole of the animals that are culled for food, clothing and a myriad of uses lost to people who merely buy processed meat. Nothing is wasted and this is not cheap throwaway fashion.

There were displays of shelter building. Pioneer log cabins.

And of course the relationship with wildlife.

Along the river I added a beaver to my wildlife count.

And bald eagles posed beautifully, with their own meal of salmon, on the river. I could have stayed just to watch them.

Lunchtime

After a good stay at the site it was back to the boat for our return journey downriver.

On the boat there was an up selling opportunity to buy tins of locally caught and prepared salmon.

We lined up for a tasting session, but I don’t pack light and my luggage allowance wasn’t going to cope with the weight of tinned souvenirs, however tasty.

Back at the dock in Fairbanks our cruisetour excursion paused for a lunch of stew and bread. Mass catering maybe, but delicious nonetheless.

Then it was back on the bus to our afternoon adventure.

GOLD FEVER

Gold Dredge #8

There’s gold in Alaska!

As my cruisetour progressed I would later follow the Trail of ’98 from the Klondike Gold Rush, but for now in Fairbanks we would see something more industrial.

It was a short drive to Gold Dredge number 8.

The dredging machine did as the name suggests and dredged the river for gold.

The excursion began on a narrow gauge railway. You know I love a train ride, of any size.

On this one we saw a bit of scenery, but it was really used to showcase the historial area.

Then we passed by the preserved dredger to hear its story. We had a chance to look around later.

Panning for gold

Next was a demonstration of a much less industrial was of gold extraction. One that would have been familiar to those on the Klondike trail. Panning for gold.

It looked so easy!

We arrived at our stop where we got off the train for our turn.

We were handed a bag of dirt, loaded with gold and given a pan and a seat at a trough of water.

I was rubbish at it!

The technique looked easy enough, but I was too cautious, not wanting to lose my flecks of gold.

In the end my little plastic container held a few small shiny specks of real gold!

They apparently weighed in at a value of $7. I suspect that was generously priced given the tiny size of my haul. Some made $12 or more! It was like a competition as my bus buddies compared our efforts.

There was an option to buy various kinds of jewellery to hold your haul or add to it.

Personally I kept my little plastic pot of gold as a unique souvenir of this really interesting activity.

I don’t think I’ll be making my fortune with a career panning for gold though.

FAIRBANKS BY CRUISETOUR

I enjoyed our trip to Fairbanks and can see why this is a popular stop on the cruisetour itinerary.

Having two excursions included in the price, and them both being really enjoyable and uniquely Alaskan, was a bonus.

For all I enjoyed my daytime adventures I still always think back to that afternoon glass of wine, sat in the sunshine overlooking the lively river.

A wonderful memory that comes back whenever I hear the name Fairbanks. It wouldn’t do for me, but I can totally understand why people choose to live in this remote place.

My northward trip into the interior of Alaska may have reached its peak, but we were about to see peaks of a different kind.

My Alaskan adventure was about to switch focus to the great mountain, Denali.