Fairbanks, Alaska

 Good morning, my friends. We reached Fairbanks, Alaska, yesterday morning. As we left Delta Junction, I spotted the first barn I've seen in weeks! 

It's been my practice on this trip to read the Milepost between our current location and the day's final destination, taking pictures with my phone of anything that looks interesting. The Milepost has been helpful. If you're not familiar with it, it goes, literally, milepost by milepost and tells you what's there. Sometimes it's nothing. Sometimes it's a fuel stop. Sometimes it's a pullout along the road. Sometimes it's something of historical significance, and those always interest me the most. I was a terrible student of history when I was in school, but I'm fascinated by history, and I love seeing where things happened.

With that introduction, I'll say the first place of interest on yesterday's drive was the Big Delta. There is a state historical park devoted to it, but it meant turning off the main road. All I got was the sign. Sorry for the blur. Bumpy road. In fact, the road was pretty bad on the way to Fairbanks with two stretches where we followed a pilot car.

Nevertheless, we saw the "big delta" as we crossed over the Tanana River Bridge. You can see where the Delta River comes in from the left side of the image below.

Here's what the Milepost tells us about this area.

Just prior to crossing the bridge, we'd turned out at a large parking area where we could get a really good look at the Alaska oil pipeline.

Now before we walk around here, we need to talk about the rules. For one thing...no trespassing. Anyone caught climbing the fence will have to wait in the car. No exceptions.

Besides, you don't want bug-eyed Kash Patel on your a$$, do you? Well, do ya'?

Okay, so the pipeline crosses the river here, and it has its own suspension bridge.

So, let's walk over there by the river, shall we? Also...watch your step. Helmets wouldn't be considered overkill.

Looking left, there's the highway bridge. There's a boat launch here, and there were lots of cars, but no people.

Here's a little blurb about the boat launch and the pipeline.

As I walked back to the truck, I spotted this rustic structure we'd only just passed by. We were busy looking on the other side of the road for our pullout, and we missed seeing it as we drove in. Not sure what that is, but it appears abandoned.

Okay, here we go across the river.

A few miles down the road, the Milepost encouraged us to pull out for this stunning view of the mountains.

I zoomed in on these three.

Our Milepost identified them and gave us their height.

Looking to the left at the river, it looked like this:

Looking right, it looked like this:

We're seeing more and more wildflowers. Possibly wildflower season is only just getting started here in Alaska, and I'm looking forward to seeing more. When we visit Mt. Rainier, it's usually the end of July and beginning of August when we see the most wildflowers. My phone tells me these below are known as oxytropis sericea. (Why is it that botanical flower names have to be unpronounceable?)

We've seen these growing all along the roadsides. My phone tells me they are Hedysarum boreale.

There were scads of wild roses blooming here...very fragrant wild roses. The fragrance was strong enough to overpower the smell of our diesel engine.

Just a little way down the road, we pulled out here. There's nothing but the sign to mark what was once here.

A little to the right were two signs about the gold rush that were so faded as to be unreadable. I took this photo just to introduce what comes next.

So here's what the Milepost tells us about it. I hope y'all are enjoying these Milepost blurbs. These next ones are a little long, but I love the stories about this era in the history of the North American continent. Read them or don't. No one is keeping score.

On down the road, we passed by Eielson Air Force Base.

It's a sprawling base.

There are some big jets lined up.

And this is also the home of Alaska's Air National Guard.

Here are some smaller jets.

And here's what the Milepost tells us about the Air Force base.

Shortly after that, we crossed over another bridge.

The naming of this bridge was what interested me.

Here's what the Milepost tells us. And speaking of the "high water mark," we'll probably find that in today's wanderings.

The bridge is a part of the Chena Flood Control Project mentioned above.

The Milepost calls this a dam. It was really more of a levee on both sides of this stretch of green. You can see it at the top one-third of the image below.

And we crossed the bridge just before reaching North Pole.

There's Santa Claus's house!

I know because Santa Claus was standing right outside!

Even their light poles were decorated to look like candy canes.

Here's what the Milepost tells us about North Pole.

And, well, they didn't attract any toy manufacturers, but they got their own McDonald's. It's practically the same thing.

Apple maps navigated us to the RV park. When we turned off the main road we were greeted by this Fred Meyer! Only my Pacific Northwest friends will appreciate the significance of finding a Fred Meyer in Alaska. For the rest of you, just know that Fred Meyer was a real man who started a chain of grocery stores. After his death, Kroger eventually took over the stores, but our Freddy's stores are very popular in the Pacific Northwest, and we do our grocery shopping there all the time when we're back home. There are two in Fairbanks, as it turns out.

We arrived at the RV park too early to check in, and so we killed some time picking up a few groceries, using their restrooms, and filling our diesel tank. After checking in at the RV park, we walked to the Chena River just about 50 yards from our site. Looking to the right, it looked like this:

Looking to the left, it looks like this. And this is the direction of downtown Fairbanks.

Growing near the river bank, I noticed these itty bitty flowers. My phone tells me this is London Rocket.

So that brings me to today. Our planned activity for the day is to walk the Chena River Walk. I thought we'd have to drive downtown to find the beginning, but it turns out the end of the walk is right here at the RV park. So, we can start here and walk into downtown, snoop around, and then walk back. Sounds perfect, no? 

We've heard from the weatherman that Fairbanks is under a "heat advisory" for the first time ever. Temperatures here have been hotter than the mid-80's we're currently experiencing, but this is the first time it's been this warm for an extended period of time. Of course, it gets much hotter than this in the lower 48, and we are veterans of three years of living in Phoenix. We aren't as distressed about the warmth as native Fairbanksians. ("Fairbanksians." I just made that up.)

We have some other indoor activities planned for tomorrow. For now, we'll stick with the river walk, and there should be a good bit of relaxation mixed in. 

And I can't close without wishing a Happy Father's Day to all who celebrate!

Protestors, you made us proud yesterday. It was very uplifting seeing the millions who turned out all over the country and elsewhere in the world. For grins, here's a link with pictures to some of the best signs. You're welcome.